Sensex ends below 41,000, slips 188 pts

Tuesday,   28-Jan-2020   03:52 PM (IST)

Metals continued to drag the indices down for the second straight session on Tuesday as investors weighed the impact of coronavirus to China's and the world economy. Additionally, volatility in the Indian equities ahead of the Union Budget for 2020-21, and disappointing December quarterly result by heavyweight Maruti Suzuki dragged the indices lower in the afternoon session. The S&P BSE Sensex plummeted 188.26 points, or 0.46 per cent, to end at 40,966.86 level. Bharti Airtel (down 5 per cent), Tata Steel (4 per cent), and Reliance Industries (3 per cent) were the top laggards at the 30-share index. On the upside, HDFC (1.6 per cent), Bajaj Finance (1.3 per cent), and Sun Pharma (1 per cent) were the top gainers. In the intra-day trade, the Sensex hit a low of 40,869.75. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader Nifty50 held the psychological mark of 12,000, and ended marginally above the level at 12,055.80-mark, down 63.20 points, or 0.52 per cent. On the sectoral front, Nifty Metal index was the top drag on the NSE, down over 2 per cent at  close. This was followed by losses in the Nifty Auto index, down over 1 per cent. On the contrary, Nifty Realty index was the top performer today, up 0.11 per cent at close. In the broader markets, weakness was witnessed in the mid-caps, while small-caps continued to fare better than the benchmarks. The S&P BSE mid-cap index ended 0.50 per cent lower at 15,679.84 level, while the S&P BSE small-cap was at 14,827.34, down 0.16 per cent.