Domestic stock trading on Monday resumed after a 45-minute halt, with equity benchmark Sensex plummeting further to 3,186 points and the broader Nifty sinking below 7,900 level.
Stock exchanges paused trading for 45 minutes after Sensex plunged 10 per cent, hitting its lower circuit limit, within the first hour of opening of the session.
As an automatic mechanism to curb freefall in the market, trading is halted in the market for 45 minutes when an exchange plunges 10 per cent before 1 pm.
Continuing its downward spiral, domestic BSE Sensex was trading 3,185.84 points, down 10.65 per cent at 26,730.12. It hit an intra-day low of 26,645.83.
Similarly, the NSE Nifty cracked 923.95 points, or 10.56 per cent, to 7,821.50 after resumption of trade.
Axis Bank was the top loser on Sensex, cracking up to 21 per cent, followed by IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, UltraTech Cement and Kotak Bank.
According to traders, extreme lockdown measures taken by government in India and world over has put immense pressure in investor sentiment.
As the virus cases climbed, the central and state governments in the country decided to lock down 75 districts from where Covid-19 cases have been reported to break the chain of transmission, and the health ministry said states would earmark hospitals to exclusively treat coronavirus patients.
Putting in place a tighter framework to curb high market volatility, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Friday announced revising market wide position limit for stocks in the derivatives segment, flexing dynamic price bands and other measures for one month starting from March 23.
These steps would limit short selling of shares as well as reduce volatility in individual stocks.
Stock exchanges and regulatory officials, however, dismissed suggestions about curtailment of trading hours in wake of the pandemic.
Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul plunged up to 4 per cent, while Tokyo was trading with gains.
Incessant foreign fund outflow also kept domestic market participants risk-averse, traders said.
On a net basis, foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 3,345.95 crore on Friday, data available with stock exchanges showed.
Meanwhile, Brent crude oil futures fell 3 per cent to USD 26.17 per barrel.
