‘Black Friday’ On D-Street: Sensex Tanks 1,600 Points, Nifty At 17,000

Sensex plunges as new Covid variant spooks investors; Barring pharmaceutical and healthcare stocks, all sectors slid deep into red territory

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New Delhi: Indian equity benchmarks — Sensex and Nifty50 —suffered major losses on Friday, tracking a sell-off across global markets amid concerns about a fresh Covid variant, which hammered the confidence of investors. 

The BSE Sensex plunged 1,680 points at 57,107 on Friday, while the NSE Nifty shed 509 points to settle at 17,026.

The stocks witnessed their biggest intra-day fall since April 12, 2021, and also their biggest weekly fall since January 29, 2021.

Reliance Industries, HDFC, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Infosys, and State Bank of India were among the top drags on the Sensex.

Just two stocks — Nestlé and Dr Reddy’s — among the Sensex 30 pack ended in green.  
Investors lost a whopping Rs 6.50 lakh crore in wealth in just two-hour of trading sessions due to the stock market crash on Friday.
Investor wealth, according to the data as measured by the BSE market capitalisation, showed investor wealth plunged by Rs 6.55 lakh crore to Rs 259.11 lakh crore from Rs 265.66 lakh crore a day ago.

The key benchmark indices witnessed a sharp decline as Sensex and Nifty dropped 2.87 per cent and 2.91 per cent, respectively.
The negative sentiment prevailed in the Indian market because of weak global cues. Stocks eroded fast as the new Covid variant (B.1.1.529), also known as the South African variant, sent shivers down the spine of investors. That is why no sector except the pharma sector is trading in the green in the domestic market. 
Indian stock markets have been declining for the past two weeks, but the news of the new Covid variant has added to the woes. The European Union has banned flights from South Africa.

Lockdowns have already been imposed in many European countries because of rising Covid cases. 
According to media reports, the B1.1.529 variant suddenly surging has mutations that could potentially mean higher transmissibility and the ability to evade vaccine defences. Scientists are worried in equal measure, and are talking about it as potentially the ‘next Delta’ variant.
Meanwhile, Asian stocks suffered their sharpest drop in two months on Friday after the detection of a new and possibly vaccine-resistant coronavirus variant sent investors scurrying toward the safety of bonds, the yen, and the dollar.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.3 per cent, its sharpest drop since September. Casino and beverage shares sold off in Hong Kong, and travel stocks dropped in Sydney.

A new mutation of the coronavirus that threatens the recovery made so far, giving the bears enough ammunition to send benchmark indices tumbling on Friday morning. According to the scientists, the variant, detected in South Africa, may be able to evade immune responses. British authorities think it is the most significant variant to date, worry it could resist vaccines and have hurried to impose travel restrictions on South Africa.