New Delhi | Jagran Business Desk: The benchmark Sensex on Wednesday ended over 150 points below Nifty slipped marginally, losing the 8,800-mark as coronavirus cases continue to soar in the country.
After gyrating over 1,300 points from the day's high, the BSE Sensex ended 173.25 pts lower at 29,893.96, while NSE Nifty 50 slipped 43.45 pts to 8,748.75.
Major losers in the Sensex pack were TCS, Titan, ICICI Bank, SBI and ITC losing up to 3.9 per cent. On the flip side, shares of Sun Pharma, NTPC, IndusInd Bank and Bajaj Finance rose up to 4.7 per cent.
According to Paras Bothra, President of Equity Research, Ashika Stock Broking, volatility in the markets was on account of speculation that the central government was mulling lockdown extension beyond April 14.
Further, traders said Indian markets moved in sync with global benchmarks as worries over the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continued to weigh on investor sentiment, quoted PTI.
Stocks in Hong Kong, Seoul and Shanghai ended in the red, while Tokyo closed on a positive note.
In Europe, benchmark exchanges were trading around 2 per cent lower in the morning session.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, slipped marginally to USD 31.85 per barrel.
Rupee settled 70 paise lower at 76.34 (provisional) against the US dollar.
According to the Health Ministry, the death toll due to the novel coronavirus rose to 149 and the number of cases to 5,194 in the country on Wednesday.
Global tally of the infections has crossed 14 lakh, with over 82,000 deaths.
(with PTI inputs)
Posted By: James Kuanal
