The Indian benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty, were trading lower on Tuesday around noon dragged by heavy selling on growing concerns over economic growth and the rising coronavirus death toll.

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At 12:45 pm, the Sensex was trading lower by 409.61 points or 1 percent at 40,646.08 and the Nifty dropped 123.35 points or 1.02 percent to 11,922.45.

Among sectors, Nifty PSU Banks declined the most, falling over 3 percent, followed by Nifty Metals that fell more than 2 percent and Nifty Auto, Nifty Realty, Nifty FMCG and Nifty Pharma which declined more than 1 percent each. Nifty Media was the only sectoral index to trade in the green.

Nifty Midcap and Smallcap indices also plunged more than 1 percent each.

YES Bank, Bharti Infratel, NTPC, Tata Motors and IndusInd Bank were among the top losers on Nifty50 while Zee Entertainment Enterprises, Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, Infosys and GAIL India were the top gainers.

LIC Housing Finance shares fell over 6 percent after Credit Suisse downgraded its rating on the stock to ‘underperform’ from ‘outperform’ and slashed target price sharply by 36 percent to Rs 320 from Rs 500 per share earlier. Global brokerage house Credit Suisse said that the possibility of the company’s merger with IDBI Bank will remain an overhang. The stock has fallen more than 16 percent in the last three days on reports that the process of merger with IDBI Bank was likely to be expedited.

Shares of Network18 Media and Investments, TV18 Broadcast, Den Networks and Hathway Cable and Datacom rose between 5 and 20 percent after parent Reliance Industries announced the consolidation of its media and distribution businesses under Network18. RIL said that Network18, one of India’s largest listed media companies, will become an entity with about Rs 8,000 crore in annual revenue and benefit from substantial economies of scale.

Globally, Asian shares fell and Wall Street was poised to retreat from record highs on Tuesday after Apple Inc said it would miss its March quarter revenue guidance as the coronavirus slowed production and weakened demand in China.

(Disclaimer:

Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.)

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First Published:Feb 18, 2020 1:21 PM IST