Sensex Down 240 Points In Early Trade; Nifty At 9,150

Indian shares opened lower on Wednesday as investors react to the latest developments related to earnings and the coronavirus crisis.

Despite all the stringent measures being taken by the government of India and states, the country has witnessed as many as 3,900 new coronavirus cases on the second day of Lockdown 3.0., with the total cases coming closer to 50,000 mark.

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex dropped 240 points, or 0.77 percent, to 31,212 in early trade, while the broader NSE Nifty index was down 55 points, or 0.59 percent, at 9,150.

State-run oil marketing companies BPCL, HPCL and IOC slumped 6-10 percent after a massive hike in excise duty on petrol and diesel.

Rallis India lost 6 percent after it reported a 49.62 percent decline in its consolidated net profit for the fourth quarter ended March.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone jumped nearly 4 percent. The company reported a 74 percent fall in net profit in the fourth quarter of FY20 due to a large foreign exchange loss.

Tata Coffee advanced 1.5 percent on reporting a 6 percent fall in quarterly net profit.

Persistent Systems rose about 2 percent on reporting a marginal drop in Q4 consolidated net profit.

NIIT Technologies soared 8.5 percent after its fourth-quarter consolidated net profit rose 7.68 percent from last year.

Yes Bank fell 2.6 percent ahead of its earnings release.