For Narendra Modi's Rajasthan rally, Muslims asked to wear burqas, skull caps

Mumbai, Mar 13:  Investor wealth worth nearly Rs 12 lakh crore was wiped out in less than 15 minutes of trading on the stock exchanges on Friday, with the two benchmarks, the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty, crashing over 10 per cent.

The 30-share BSE Sensex plummeted 3,380.59 points, or 10.31 per cent, to 29,397.55. It hit an intra-day low of 29,388.97, falling up to 3,389.17 points.

Trading was halted for 45 minutes in the early session after the index hit its lower circuit limit.

The BSE and NSE benchmark indices, however, pared most losses with the Sensex trading 835.40 points, or 2.55 per cent, lower at 31,942.74, and the Nifty was down 253.25 points or 2.64 per cent at 9,336.90 at 10.40 am.

The mayhem on Dalal Street eroded investor wealth worth Rs 12,92,479.88 crore, taking the total m-cap to Rs 1,12,78,172.75 crore on the BSE at 1020 hours.

The m-cap of BSE-listed companies stood at Rs 1,25,70,652.63 crore at the end of trading on Thursday.

Traders said besides global selloff, incessant foreign fund outflows also weighed on investor sentiments.

On a net basis, foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 3,475.29 crore on Thursday, data available with stock exchanges showed.

On the BSE, 1,279 scrips declined, while 193 advanced and 40 remained unchanged.

Volatility heightened in global markets as benchmarks world over went into panic mode, insinuating a freakish selloff.

Bourses in Shanghai dropped over 3.32 per cent, Hong Kong 5.61 per cent, Seoul 7.58 per cent and Tokyo cracked up to 7.97 per cent.

Wall Street lost 10 per cent in overnight trade.

More than 1,30,000 cases of the novel coronavirus have been recorded in 116 countries and territories, killing at least 4,900 people.

The number of coronavirus patients in India has risen to 74, as per the health ministry.

New Delhi, May 13: With an increase of 3,525 COVID-19 cases reported in the last 24 hours, India's tally of positive coronavirus cases rises to 74,281 cases, as of Wednesday, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The tally is inclusive of 47,480 patients who are active coronavirus cases and 24,385 patients who have been cured/discharged and one patient migrated.

With an increase of 122 deaths due to COVID-19 reported in the last 24 hours, the number of deaths in the country now stands at 2,415.

According to the ministry, Maharashtra has the most number of positive COVID-19 cases with 24,427 positive cases that include 5,125 patients recovered and 921 fatalities.

Gujarat has reported 8,903 COVID-19 cases inclusive of 3,246 recovered patients and 537 deaths due to the coronavirus.

Tamil Nadu reported 8,718 positive coronavirus cases with 2,134 patients recovering from the disease and 61 succumbing to the infection.

Delhi's tally of COVID-19 cases stands at 7,639 cases with 2,512 patients recovering and 86 patients died due to coronavirus.

Meanwhile Arunachal Pradesh (one case reported--now recovered), Goa (seven cases reported--all seven recovered), Manipur (two cases reported--both recovered) and Mizoram (one case reported--now recovered) have reported no new cases of COVID-19.

New Delhi, Mar 9: Petrol and diesel prices registered a drop across the country on Monday as global oil prices plummeted around 30 per cent after Saudi Arabia slashed prices and set plans for a dramatic increase in crude production in April.

In New Delhi, petrol price fell by 24 paise intra-day and stood at Rs 70.59 per litre. Diesel in the national capital was retailed at Rs 63.26 per litre on Monday as against Rs 63.51 on Sunday.

The retail price of petrol in Kolkata saw a drop of 23 paise to Rs 73.28 per litre. The diesel price fell by 25 paise in the eastern metropolitan city to retail at Rs 65.59 per litre.

In Mumbai, petrol price was Rs 76.29 per litre as against Rs 76.53 a day earlier. Diesel was retailed at Rs 66.24 per litre, 26 paise lower than on Sunday.

In Chennai, petrol was retailed at Rs 73.33 per litre, 25 paise lower than a day earlier. Diesel price saw a fall of 26 paise to retail at Rs 66.75 per litre in the southern metropolitan.

Global crude oil prices fell by as much as a third following Saudi Arabia's move to start a price war with Russia amid worries over the spread of coronavirus.

Brent crude futures were down 13.29 dollars or 29 per cent at 31.98 dollars a barrel by 04:33 hrs GMT after earlier dropping to 31.02 dollars, their lowest since February 12, 2016.

Brent futures were on track for their biggest daily decline since January 17, 1991 at the start of the first Gulf War.