The Indian equity benchmarks plunged on Monday as rising Covid-19 cases and fresh curbs in Maharashtra sparked worries about the pace of the country’s economic recovery, analysts said. The Sensex fell as much as 1,449 points and Nifty 50 index tumbled below its important psychological level of 14,500, the index dropped as much as 408 points at the day’s lowest level. The country’s coronavirus caseload jumped by more than 1 lakh to surpass 12.5 million on Monday. Maharashtra imposed stringent curbs including a complete lockdown on weekends.
The Sensex ended 870.51 points or 1.74 per cent lower at 49,159 and Nifty 50 index dropped 230 points or 1.54 per cent to settle at 14,638.
Selling pressure was broad-based as nine of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the Nifty PSU Bank index’s nearly 4 per cent decline. Nifty Bank, Financial Services, Private Bank and Realty indices also fell over 3 per cent.