Amid growing concerns of coronavirus, domestic equity market benchmarks Sensex and Nifty were trading lower after a gap up opening on Wednesday. S&P BSE Sensex was trading 88 points or 0.25 per cent down at 35,547, while the broader Nifty 50 index was ruling at 10,415, down 36 points or 0.35 per cent. “We expect Indian markets to remain under pressure in the near-term since the sentiments are weak on the worries of slowdown across the globe. Investors would continue to monitor crude oil prices, currency movement and the updates on spread of Coronavirus cases as these factors are keeping the markets on edge. On domestic front, inflation data such as IIP and CPI scheduled this week would be on investor’s radar,”Ajit Mishra, VP – Research, Religare Broking Ltd said.

RIL pips TCS to become most valued company- RIL was the top Sensex gainer today, with a growth of 3.71 per cent to Rs 1,154. In today’s trade RIL has reclaimed the tag of most valued company in terms of market capitalisation. In the opening deals, RIL mcap stood at 7,36,559.49 crore, while that of TCS was Rs 7,35,300 crore. However, as of 10.45 AM, the market value of the oil-to-telecom major slipped to 7,27,430.95 crore.

Tata Steel top Sensex loser- As many as 24 of 30 Sensex stocks were trading in red with Tata Steel as the top loser, down 3.8 per cent, followed by Infosys, Sun Pharma, ITC and IndusInd Bank. Conversely, RIL, Hero MotoCorp, Bharti Airtel and ICICI Bank were among the top Sensex gainers.

All sectoral indices trade in red- Barring Nifty Media, all the nifty sectoral indices were trading in red. Nifty Metal index slipped over 2.5 per cent dragged by Welspun Corp, Ratnamani Metals & Tubes, and Jindal Steel. Similarly, Nifty IT index was down 2 per cent weighed by Hexaware, Infosys and Mind Tree.

Global markets- Asian stocks fell amid growing skepticism about Washington’s stimulus package to combat the novel coronavirus outbreak. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan were down 0.04 per cent. Australian shares slid 1.31 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei index erased early losses to rise 0.24 per cent. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1,167.14 points, or 4.89 per cent, to 25,018.16, the S&P 500 gained 135.67 points, or 4.94 per cent, to 2,882.23 and the Nasdaq Composite added 393.58 points, or 4.95 per cent, to 8,344.25.

Coronavirus cases in India jump to 50- The cases of novel Coronavirus are increasing in India as the total number of confirmed cases has jumped to 50. Out of the 50 cases, 34 are Indian citizens while the remaining 16 are Italians who were on a tour to India.

Oil extends gains- Oil prices climbed for a second day on Wednesday as hopes U.S. producers would cut output lent support, but gains were capped by growing doubts about Washington’s stimulus package to fight the coronavirus, which continues to spread globally, Reuters reported. Brent crude futures rose $1.26, or 3.4 per cent, to $38.48 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained $0.91, or 2.7 per cent, to $35.27 a barrel.