India stocks, rupee slide as oil wipe-out signals growth woes

Bloomberg

India’s benchmark stock gauge and currency fell, as a plunge in oil prices heightened investor concerns about global growth.
The S&P BSE Sensex Index fell 3% to 30,692.12 as of 11:41 am in Mumbai, while rupee drop 0.3% to 76.7450 per US dollar, near a record low touched mid-April. Asia’s third-largest economy is near a standstill amid a prologued lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
While India is a net importer of crude, a collapse in oil futures on Monday amid stagnant global demand exacerbated recession fears. All major equity markets in Asia declined on Tuesday, with the regional MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropping 1.8%. India’s NSE Nifty 50 Index lost 2.7%, the most since April 1 and yields on local 10-year government bonds fell 2 basis points to 6.19%.
India’s government and central bank are trying to cushion the economic effect of virus-enforced closures with fiscal and monetary policy measures. Some makers of information-technology hardware in India, farmers and industries in rural areas resumed operations even as the lockdown was extended until May 3.
“Efforts to ramp up the economy once the lockdown has been lifted may take a toll as the lack of employees as well as demand may strike down hard on industrial activity,” analysts at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd. wrote in a note to clients.
With earnings season underway, Infosys Ltd. refrained from projecting full-year revenue for the first time in years, joining a growing list of businesses around the world struggling to assess the fallout of the Covid-19. So far, four Nifty 50 members have reported quarterly results.
‘With equities wobbling, a pall cast on global demand and a stronger dollar in its wake, reflex may be for capital to leak out of emerging markets – India included,” Vishnu Varathan, head of economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank Ltd. in Singapore.

India has recorded 18,601 cases and 592 deaths linked to the global health crisis, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
All but one of the 19 sector sub-indexes compiled by BSE Ltd. declined, led by a gauge of metal companies
ICICI Bank Ltd. was the biggest drag on the Sensex, falling 7.2%, while IndusInd Bank Ltd. dropped the most, slumping 8.9%