Bears kept their hold on the Dalal Street for the fourth straight day on Thursday, as Sensex and Nifty settled with losses of over 2% each. After a negative start of the day, indices remained lower for the most part of the session, as exporters body Federation of Indian Export Organsations (FIEO) said export sector has started feeling the pinch of the outbreak of coronavirus as international buyers are asking to hold back shipments. Adding more worries among market participants, the Finance Ministry's data report showed that total liabilities of the government increased to Rs 93.89 lakh crore at the end of December 2019, up 3.2 percent as compared to the previous quarter. However, markets managed to stage recovery during late noon deals and settled off day's lows, after capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) relaxed certain listing disclosure obligations due to coronavirus pandemic, giving the companies a bit of a breather to compile their results. It allows listed companies to defer the disclosure of fourth quarter and annual earnings by 45 days to June 30. Besides, in order to maintain financial stability in the system in the wake of coronavirus outbreak in the country, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to inject liquidity of Rs 10,000 crore through open market operations (OMOs) on March 20. Finally, the BSE Sensex slipped 581.28 points or 2.01% to 28288.23, while the CNX Nifty was down by 205.35 points or 2.42% to 8263.45.

The US markets ended higher on Thursday erasing steep losses from earlier in the day as strong gains in big-tech shares led to a sharp turnaround. Some support came in as trump said he would not oppose barring companies from conducting buybacks if they receive federal assistance during the pandemic. Meanwhile, central banks around the world continue to offer major supportive measures to global financial markets. The European Central Bank announced a new Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program that will deploy 750 billion euro ($819 billion) to purchase securities to help support the European economy. The central bank said purchases will be conducted until the end of 2020 and include a variety of assets including government debt. The ECB's action follows similar initiatives by the Federal Reserve. The Fed announced earlier this month plans to pump an additional $1 trillion into the US economy through asset purchases and cut the federal funds rate to zero. The Fed also said it will create a backstop for prime money market funds. However, Coronavirus cases around the world top 236,000. In the US alone, more than 9,790 cases have been confirmed along with over 150 deaths. 

Crude oil futures ended sharply higher on Thursday, with US prices scoring their largest one-day percentage climb on record, as central banks around the world continue to offer major supportive measures to global financial markets. The European Central Bank (ECB) announced the launch of a 750 billion euro ($820 billion) emergency bond purchase scheme. The Bank of England cut the bank rate by 15 basis points to a record low of 0.1%.  Meanwhile, the Australian Central Bank lowered its interest rate to 0.25 percent - it's lowest ever as the coronavirus pandemic threatens to drag the country into its first recession since the early 1990s. Besides, traders created some fresh long positions in the contracts following the steep fall in the previous session that sent prices crashing down to over 18-year lows. Crude oil futures for April surged $4.85 or 23.8 percent to settle at $25.22 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. May Brent crude gained $3.59 or 14.4 percent to settle at $28.47 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Indian rupee fell sharply and breached the 75-mark against the US dollar on Thursday as market participants remained concerned over the sharp rise in coronavirus cases in India and its impact on the economy. Investor sentiment also remained fragile with exporters' body Federation of Indian Export Organsations (FIEO) stating export sector has started feeling the pinch of the outbreak of coronavirus as international buyers are asking to hold back shipments. Some concern also came with the finance ministry's data showed that total liabilities of the government increased to Rs 93.89 lakh crore at the end of December 2019, up 3.2 percent as compared to the previous quarter. A weak trend at Dalal Street coupled with US dollar's gain against other currencies overseas weighed on the local unit. On the global front, dollar resumed its relentless climb against major currencies on Thursday as wild financial market volatility and worries over tightening liquidity triggered by the coronavirus pandemic sparked an investor flight into cash. The last traded price of rupee was 75.07, 81 paise weaker from its previous close of 74.26 on Wednesday.

The FIIs as per Thursday's data were net sellers in both equity and debt segments. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 6549.95 crore against gross selling of Rs 11594.59 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 1399.55 crore with gross sales of Rs 4668.97 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 3.56 crore against gross selling of Rs 11.20 crore.

The US markets ended higher on Thursday as central banks and governments pledged support for the economic shocks from the coronavirus pandemic that's claimed more than 8,000 lives around the globe. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Friday following overnight gains on Wall Street. Indian markets closed in red on Thursday, with Sensex and Nifty hitting fresh three-year lows in intraday trade, as investors continued to fret about coronavirus pandemic and the risk of wider financial contagion. Today, the benchmarks are likely to get flat-to-positive start tracking gains in global markets. Some support will come with the Directorate General of Foreign Trade's (DGFT) statement that the government has removed import restrictions on certain chemicals including zinc dross; light, heavy, and full range naphtha. It has also allowed flying clubs to freely import aviation gasoline with certain conditions. Traders may take note of report that the Finance Commission has constituted an 8-member panel to review the fiscal consolidation road map of the both state and central governments. The panel will be headed by 15th Finance Commission Chairman N K Singh. Though, there may be cautiousness as India reported its fourth coronavirus death on Thursday while the total COVID-19 cases rose to around 173, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people to stay indoors and called for Janata Curfew on March 22. Traders may be concerned with Chief Economic Adviser KV Subramanian's statement that India's growth is set to fall in the coming months as coronavirus-induced lockdowns and restrictions continue to disrupt economic activity, affecting a wide swathe areas, from shops and restaurants to street hawkers to factories. Also, there may be some cautiousness as Crisil warned that the Covid-19 pandemic will leave the economy crippled next fiscal pulling down the growth to a low of 5.2 per cent, against earlier forecast of the GDP printing of a 5.7 per cent expansion. Banking stocks will be in focus with a private report that banks' exposure to the travel and hospitality sectors is at risk because of the economic disruption from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). There will be some reaction in tourism and hospitality stocks with the Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality (FAITH) report that the coronavirus impact could render 3.8 crore people jobless, which is around 70 per cent of the total workforce in the tourism and hospitality sector. 

Support and Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)

Nifty Top volumes

• Dr. Reddy's Laboratories has launched Naloxone Hydrochloride Injection USP, 2 mg/2 ml (1 mg/ml) Single-dose Prefilled Syringe, approved by the USFDA. 
• Kotak Mahindra Bank has sold 8.50% of its stake and Kotak Mahindra Prime, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank, has sold 11.50% of its stake in ECA Trading Services. 
• Reliance Industries' telecom arm Reliance Jio Infocomm is going to offer mobile services on an eSim-equipped Motorola smartphone that will start selling in the country from April 2. 
• The credit rating agency, CARE has revised JSW Steel's Long Term (Bank facilities, Non Convertible Debenture) rating to AA- Outlook (Stable) from AA Outlook (Negative).