The last hour of Monday’s trading session on stock markets resembled the Indian cricket team’s batting collapse against the Black Caps. The Sensex was up more than 600 points till 2.30 pm but gave up all its gains and slipped into the negative territory within minutes after reports emerged that two new cases of coronavirus have been reported in the country.

Experts told BusinessLine there is lot of fear around Covid-19 even though the numbers being reported in India are insignificant. The markets are likely to remain on the edge in the near future.

Gold, meanwhile, has been on a dream run. Gold futures on the MCX touched a high of 42,343. The low point during the day was ₹41,646 and last week’s close was ₹41,397. The yellow metal had touched a high of ₹43,788 per 10 gm last week.

The Sensex closed 153 points down or 0.4 per cent lower at 38, 144. The Nifty fell 69 points or 0.62 per cent to 11,132. Gold prices had swung by ₹1,100 on Friday when global prices of the yellow metal, which were trading at around $1,700 an ounce, fell below $1,600. But Monday saw prices moving up yet again.

“Detection of new cases of coronavirus in India has nipped the nascent pull-back in the Indian equity market. Though the new developments are worrying and the volatility could sustain in the immediate term, the more than double-digit correction does offer an opportunity for investors. The past experience also shows that the market returns following a 12-15 per cent correction tend to be quite healthy over the next 3-6 months,” said Gaurav Dua, Head, Capital Market, Sharekhan BNP Paribas.

On Monday, foreign portfolio investors sold stocks worth ₹1,354 crore. Domestic investors made net purchases worth ₹1,138 crore.

In Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo ended with significant gains as investors began value-buying in recently-hammered equities.

Germany’s Dax index was trading lower by 1.4 per cent and the CAC index of France was down by over 1 per cent.