The downward trend on the stock markets, brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, resumed on Monday, with both the Sensex and the Nifty crashing nearly 8%. The indices had made huge losses last week too, but had closed Friday’s session with significant gains.

The BSE Sensex closed the day 2,713.41 points lower at 31,390.07, while the National Stock Exchange Nifty 50 ended 757.80 points down, at 9,197.40.

The slide had started early in the session, as Indian markets responded to the United States Federal Reserve slashing key interest rates to almost 0%.

The biggest losers on the Sensex were IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, HDFC, Axis Bank, and ICICI Bank. On the Nifty 50, IndusInd Bank, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Vedanta, and HDFC incurred the most losses.

The stocks of Yes Bank, India Cements, Avanti Feeds, GIC Housing Finance Limited, SH Kelkar & Company Limited gained the most on the Sensex. Meanwhile, Yes Bank was the sole gainer on Nifty 50.

Other Asian markets also fell sharply on Monday, with the Hong Kong Hang Seng ending the day 969.34 points lower than the previous day’s closing. The Australia ASX All Ordinaries closed 532.50 points or 9.52% lower while Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 429.01 points to close at 17,002.04.

The Indian rupee, which dropped to a record low of 74.50 against the dollar during the day, closed 50 paise lower at 74.25.