Indian markets declined around 2% on Monday due to the coronavirus pandemic continuing to spread outside of China, Mint reported. The BSE Sensex tanked 806.89 points to close at 40,363.23, while the National Stock Exchange Nifty dived 251.45 points to finish at 11,829.40.

All sectoral indices on the National Stock Exchange ended in the red. The NSE metal index was down about 5.5% while banking and auto stocks fell around 1.5% and 3.5%.

Tata Steel declined over 6% on the BSE, becoming the top loser. Other major losers on the 31-share index were Tata Motors, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Maruti Suzuki and Titan Company. On the NSE, stocks of JSW Steel declined the most, by over 8%, followed by Vedanta, Tata Steel, Hindalco and Tata Motors.

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The top gainer on both indices was Thomas Cook. On the Sensex, other top gainers were Swan Energy, GMR Infrastructure, Tube Investment and Shilpa Medicare Limited. On the Nifty, these were Swan Energy, Tube Investment, GMR Infrastructure and Shilpa Medicare Limited.

Other major Asian markets also fell sharply, CNN reported. The Australia ASX All Ordinaries declined 165 points or 2.28%, the Hong Kong Hang Seng 467.08 points or 1.71%, the Taiwan TSEC 50 Index 151.48 points or 1.30%, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 92.41 points or 0.38%. Only the Shanghai index closed almost flat, losing just 8.44 points or 0.28%.

The Indian rupee declined 29 paise to close at 71.94 against the United States dollar on Monday.

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Gold prices rose sharply on a weaker rupee, PTI reported. The price of the metal soared by Rs 953 to Rs 44,472 per 10 gram in New Delhi. Silver prices also rose by Rs 586 to Rs 49,990 per kg from Rs 49,404 per kg.

“Gold prices continued upside with international spot gold prices opening higher on Monday, rallying above $1,680,” HDFC Securities Senior Analyst (Commodities) Tapan Patel said. “Spot gold for 24 karat in Delhi rallied as much as Rs 953 on weaker rupee and strong international prices.”