Nifty Drops Below 9,000 Points, Zee Plunges 10%

Benchmark indices dropped in trade, as worries remained on rising coronavirus infections from across the globe. Weak global cues and rising infections in India and China, also played spoilsport. In India, the total number of infections surged past the 9,000 mark, while the infections in China rose to a 6-week high.

The Sensex was trading 535 points lower, while the Nifty was down 155 points in trade. Shares in HDFC fell as much as 2 per cent, despite reports that the People's Bank of China had picked a more than 1 per cent stake in the housing finance company.

Shares in Avenue Supermarts, which owns and operates retail chain DMart, fell more than 5 per cent, after the company said operations of half of its stores are closed.

Zee Group shares too fell, after reports that lenders had invoked pledged shares Among the stocks that fell were Zee Entertainment, which dropped almost 10 per cent in trade.

Barring Nifty Pharma, all sectoral indices trade with losses. Dr Reddy's was the top gainer on the Nifty 50 index. The top losers from the space were Zee Entertainment, Bajaj Finance, Titan Company, Mahindra and Mahindra and ONGC.

Meanwhile, crude prices surged after OPEC agreed in a production cut with Russia.