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Biggest One-Day Fall for Sensex, Nifty at 7,600 Levels, Rupee Hits All-time Low, and Top Cues in Focus Today
Tue, 24 Mar Pre-Open

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It was mayhem on Dalal Street yesterday. Indian share markets traded deep in the red as Sensex posted its biggest one-day fall ever in absolute terms.

The benchmark indices crumbled after India went into the lockdown to contain the spread of Coronavirus pandemic.

In the morning trade yesterday, trading was once again halted for 45 minutes as the Sensex hit a lower circuit limit of 10%. The sell-off continued after trading resumed.

This was the second instance of trading halt in a span of 10 days. Earlier, on March 13, Nifty hit lower circuit in the opening deals for the first time since May 2009.

At the closing bell yesterday, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 3,934 points (down 13.2%) and the NSE Nifty stood down by 1,135 points (down 13%).

The BSE Mid Cap index ended down 12.9%, while the BSE Small Cap index stood down by 12.3%.

All sectoral indices ended deep in the red with stocks in the banking sector, automobile sector and finance sector witnessing maximum selling pressure.

In a recent article, we dive deep and show you how bad the coronavirus impact has been for individual sectors. You can read the same here: Worst Hit Indian Sectors Amid Coronavirus Pandemic: 10 Points to Know

Also, what is the best way to protect your investments amid the corona crash?

Our special report, How to Trade the Coronavirus Crash, has the answer. Just claim your FREE copy here...

In the video below, Ajit Dayal, founder of Quantum group, shares his views on the impact of the Coronavirus crisis and the oil price war on the Indian economy and the stock market.

He also talks about the market crash and how to invest your hard-earned money across various assets in these difficult times.

Tune in to find out more...

Mutual Funds Industry Seeks Exemptions Amid Coronavirus Crash

The mutual fund industry has sought certain exemptions from the markets regulator pertaining to compliance requirements for order executions following government's work-from-home directive, meeting sectoral exposure norms in debt schemes amid liquidity crunch, and consider increasing borrowing limits as redemptions could spike amid coronavirus scare.

In a letter by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi), the industry body informed the regulator that in the current situation, it may not be possible for MFs to conduct dealing operations from MFs' premises and so dealers have to operate from alternate site, or their residence.

Further, MFs want the regulator to have a lenient view if any participant is unable to comply with new regulatory norms within stipulated timelines amid the limitations and challenges posed by the coronavirus scare.

The industry body has highlighted the liquidity crunch in debt markets following the coronavirus outbreak, which would make it difficult for MFs to meet sectoral limits in debt schemes and exit from unlisted debt securities.

MFs have asked to give the industry time till June 30, 2020, to re-balance to the revised sectoral limits, and said that any breaches by any participant will be passive in nature.

Speaking of mutual funds, Tanushree Banerjee wrote to you about an irreversible megatrend in the mutual funds space. It is the growth in the assets under management (AUM) of the Indian mutual fund industry.

This is evident in the chart below...

New High for Mutual Fund AUM

Here's what Tanushree wrote about it in one of the editions of The 5 Minute WrapUp...

  • After a few hiccups in the first half of this fiscal, strong inflows into mutual funds have taken the industry's AUM to a new high.

    Can we call it a saturation point?

    Far from it!

    The total AUM of India's mutual fund industry is just about 13% of India's GDP.

    This megatrend of financialisation of savings has a long runway ahead of it.

This is one of the megatrends that will help what Tanushree calls the Rebirth of India.

She has identified the 7 best stocks that will profit from the Rebirth of India. You can read about these top 7 stocks here.

Rupee Hits Fresh All-Time Low

The Indian rupee hit fresh all-time low of 76.15 against the US$ yesterday.

This was seen as forex market continued to grapple with economic uncertainties due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The domestic unit plunged nearly 84 paise to 76.15 in the early trade yesterday against the previous close of 75.19 against the greenback.

Sustained selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) further weighed on the market sentiment and meant losses for rupee.

Speaking of FIIs, how has the FII trend been so far this year? What has changed in recent weeks and months? And what's behind the heavy movement of foreign funds in India?

In the article titled How Coronavirus Hit FII Flows - 6 Points, we dive deeper and answer these questions.

Gold Prices Fall Sharply

In news from the commodity space, gold prices in India fell sharply yesterday, tracking a decline in global rates. On MCX, April gold futures fell 1% to Rs 39,895 per 10 gram, after rising as much as to Rs 40,937 earlier in the session yesterday.

Gold prices in India have seen a sharp correction since hitting a record high of about Rs 45,000 per 10 gram.

In global markets, gold prices were lower as investors rushed for cash despite announcement of stimulus measures by many central banks to limit the economic damage from the coronavirus outbreak.

On Friday, prices had risen as much as 3% as a wave of fiscal and monetary stimulus from central banks across the globe temporarily halted a run for cash.

In one of his videos, Vijay Bhambwani shares his view on gold and silver prices. He talks about how the bullion prices will move in the short term.

You can check the same here: Will Gold and Silver Prices Fall because of the Coronavirus?

Falling Foreign Exchange Reserves

According to weekly data released by the Reserve Bank of India, the country's foreign exchange reserves fell for the first time in almost six months to US$481.9 billion in the week ended March 13, after touching a record high of US$487.2 billion.

In the reporting week, the reserves declined by US$5.4 billion. It had touched a life-time high of US$487.2 billion in the week to March 6, after it rose US$5.7 billion.

The last time forex reserves declined was in the week to September 20, 2019, when it had fallen by US$388 million to US$428.6 billion.

The fall in forex reserves in the week to March 13 was on account of decrease in foreign currency assets (FCA), a major component of the overall reserves. FCA declined by US$3.8 billion to US$447.4 billion in the reporting week.

To know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.

For information on how to pick stocks that have the potential to deliver big returns, download our special report now!

Read the latest Market Commentary


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