Worst week since ‘08 crisis: Indian stocks tumble as coronavirus fears grip global markets, plunging Sensex by nearly 1,300 points

Indian stock indices continue to plummet amid growing fears of the COVID-19 virus, with markets seeing their worst week since the 2008 financial crisis, tanking both the S&P BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty by over three percent.

The Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex index shed more than 1,100 points in the early hours of trading on Friday, falling by some 2.8 percent, while the Nifty – a benchmark of the National Stock Exchange – took a hit of more than 2.9 percent and dropped by some 340 points. The sharp decline is days in the making, with selloffs across multiple sectors driving markets lower for the sixth day in a row. The banking, automotive, petrol and metals industries have been the most severely affected.

Though India’s three confirmed coronavirus patients have since recovered, recent COVID-19 flare-ups across Asia and parts of Europe have shocked markets around the world, sending indices from Japan to the US into a downward spiral and wiping out all gains made in 2020 on the S&P 500, as well as the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

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