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Sensex tanks over 1,450 points, Nifty below 11,000 amid Coronavirus fears, YES Bank crisis

The shares of private lender YES Bank fell to the lowest in a decade on Friday after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) superseded its board the previous day.

Sensex tanks over 1,450 points, Nifty below 11,000 amid Coronavirus fears, YES Bank crisis

Bombay Stock Exchange. (File Photo: IANS)

The Indian equity indices slumped on Friday in early trade as the BSE Sensex index nosedived as much as 1459.52 points to hit 37,011.09 on the back of Coronavirus scare and the RBI’s decision on YES Bank.

The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange was trading at 10,938.75, lower by 330.25 or 2.93 per cent from its previous close.

The slump across the sectoral indices was led by the finance and banking stocks as a new wave of fear about the spread of the Coronavirus and its economic impact gripped investors globally.

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Also, on Thursday, the Reserve Bank of India superseded the board of troubled private sector lender YES Bank and imposed a 30-day moratorium on it “in the absence of a credible revival plan” amid a “serious deterioration” in its financial health.

During the moratorium, which came into effect from 6 pm on Thursday, YES Bank will not be allowed to grant or renew any loans, and “incur any liability”, except for payment towards employees’ salaries, rent, taxes and legal expenses, among others.

Withdrawals from the bank have been capped at Rs 50,000 per depositor with few exceptions till April 3.

The shares of private lender YES Bank fell to the lowest in a decade on Friday after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) superseded its board the previous day.

During the early trade on Friday, YES Bank shares were down by Rs 12.85 a share or 34 per cent to Rs 34.87 a share from its previous close while SBI fell over 6 per cent to trade at Rs 269.20 a share.

The Nifty private bank and PSU bank index plunged over 4 to 6 per cent.

Meanwhile, while denying that any negotiations took place to acquire equity in YES Bank, State Bank of India (SBI) has said that it has given an in-principle approval to explore investment opportunity.

In a regulatory filing to exchanges, SBI was responding to queries from the bourses as media reports had surfaced on Thursday morning regarding SBI to acquire Yes Bank.

Replying to a question on negotiations held with Yes Bank and from when, SBI said that no such negotiations took place.

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