Domestic equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty witnessed a hreavy sell-off in the opening trade on Thursday following global markets which tanked after the World Health Organisation (WHO) called the novel coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic. S&P BSE Sensex crashed over 1,700 points to trade below the crucial 34,000 mark, while Nifty 50 slipped more than 20 per cent from its record high to 9,916 points. “Global impact of coronavirus which is still spreading at high rate in countries other than China and collapse of oil prices are having a catastrophic effect. Rate cuts and stimulus measures are not working at the time being,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said.

All 30 Sensex stocks deep in red- All 30 Sensex stocks were trading in deep sea of red. Tata Steel was the top Sensex loser, down over 10 per cent to Rs 269, followed by ONGC, RIL, SBI and Axis Bank.

Nifty PSU Bank index down 8.4%- All 11 Nifty sectoral indices were trading in the sea of red with Nifty PSU Bank index falling over 8 per cent dragged by Indian Bank, Canara Bank, Punjab & Sind Bank and PNB. Similarly, Nifty Media index too slipped 8 per cent weighed by weakness in Inox Leisure, Jagran and Sun TV.

Investors lose Rs 7 lakh crore wealth- Within first 60 seconds, investors had lost Rs 7.03 lakh crore worth of wealth in the initial market rout. S&P BSE Sensex saw its market capitalisation slip from 137.13 lakh crore on its previous closing to 130.10 lakh crore on opening today.

Global markets- US President Donald Trump banned all travel from Europe to US for 30 days, except from United Kingdom, to contain coronavirus blow. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 2 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei lost 3.3 per cent. Australia’s benchmark dived 3.7 per cent while South Korea’s Kospi fell 2.7 per cent. US stocks plunged on Wednesday, with the Dow confirming a bear market for the first time since the financial crisis. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1,464.94 points, or 5.86%, to 23,553.22, the S&P 500 lost 140.85 points, or 4.89%, to 2,741.38 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 392.20 points, or 4.7%, to 7,952.05.

Government suspends all tourist visas until April 15- In an attempt to fight corornavirus outbreak, government in its latest travel advisory has canceled the visas of all foreigners. From March 13 till April 15, no traveler from any country of the world will be able to travel in India.

FIIs sell Rs 3,515.38 crore worth of stocks-Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were sellers of domestic stocks to the tune of Rs 3,515.38 crore while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers to the tune of Rs 2,835.46 crore on Wednesday, according to the data available with NSE.

Oil falls 6%- Oil prices slumped again on Thursday amid a broader market rout after the United States banned travel from Europe following a declaration that the coronavirus outbreak is now a pandemic. Brent crude was trading down $2.12, or 5.9 per cent, at $33.67. US crude was down $1.87, or 5.7 per cent, at $31.11, Reuters reported.