Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices erased marginal morning gains and closed in the red on Tuesday after a massive sell-off in the previous session.
As the number of coronavirus cases outside China continued to increase, investors awaited clarity on its impact over the global economic growth.
China’s death toll crossed 2,663 but the World Health Organisation (WHO) said the epidemic peaked between January 23 and February 2 and has been declining since.
The BSE S&P Sensex closed 82 points lower at 40,281 while the Nifty 50 was down by 16 points to 11,813. Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty pharma slipping by 2.21 per cent.
Among stocks, Dr Reddy’s was the top loser with a fall of 2.67 per cent at Rs 3,091.50 per share. Sun Pharma too took a dip of 2.6 per cent to wind up the day at Rs 387.50 apiece.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries closed 1.73 per cent lower at Rs 1,420 per share. The other prominent losers included Eicher Motors, HCL Technologies, GAIL, Larsen & Toubro and IndusInd Bank.
However, those which gained were Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Steel and JSW Steel.
Meanwhile, Asian share markets tried to stabilise with South Korea’s hard-hit market edging up by 1.18 per cent. Japan’s Nikkei was down by 3.34 per cent as the Shanghai composite index fell by 0.6 per cent.
European and US stocks had suffered their biggest loses since mid-2016 on Monday amid fears that coronavirus was morphing into a pandemic which could cripple global supply chains and inflict greater economic damage than first thought.