Viral fear, growth blues stalk Street
Live MintFresh virus fears rode on other weak signals to send the markets tumbling on Monday, wiping out ₹11 trillion of investor wealth in a day. News of two cases of the Chinese-origin human metapneumovirus being detected early Monday in India added a new negative to the markets already impacted by low corporate earnings and economic growth sentiment, and a local currency that continued its slide against the dollar. “The decline was much more in India than in other markets, which makes the outbreak of the virus a negative on top of other negatives, like tepid quarterly updates by banks signalling lower loan growth, falling rupee, and economic growth concerns,” said Andrew Holland, chief executive officer of Avendus Capital Public Markets Alternate Strategies. “Valuations are expensive, so any negative news tends to increase the downside risks to Indian markets,” Sanjeev Prasad, managing director and co-head at Kotak Institutional Equities, said about the impact of the new virus. The fine print Broader benchmarks Nifty Midcap 150 and Nifty Smallcap 250 fell 2.5% and 2.88%, respectively, implying nervousness by retail investors, who flock to small and midcaps.