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Sensex cracks 1,800 points, Nifty slips below 10,000; SpiceJet plunges 16% Sensex cracks 1,800 points, Nifty enters bear market, slips below 10,000; SpiceJet plunges 16%.

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NEW DELHI: It’s official! WHO has declared coronavirus as ‘Pandemic’, triggering travel bans globally, and sending shock waves across financial and commodity markets.US President Donald Trump's much-awaited speech at Oval Office could not allay investor concerns, as US stock futures tumbled 4 per cent early on Thursday, in addition to a near 6 per cent slide in US stocks overnight, setting up stage for a terrifying start for domestic indices.In the opening trades, Sensex cracked 1,821 points or 5.21 per cent, to 33,876.13. Nifty50 officially entered in to bear market, falling over 20 per cent from the recent high. The selloff gathered pace as the session progressed.The 30-pack Sensex tanked 2,707 points to 32,990, its biggest ever fall in absolute terms. Its NSE counterpart Nifty slipped below 760 points and was trading below 9,700. Stock investors lost Rs 10.98 lakh crore worth of wealth. Panic was seen across-the-board with none of the sectoral index trading in the green. Smallcap indices tanked up to 11 per centWhat jumped was fear gauge India VIX (up 6.4 per cent). A rise in VIX suggests a likely jump in market volatility over the next 30 days.Pandemic is the spread of a disease across a large region while epidemic is widespread occurrence of a disease in a particular region. The definition matters a lot as it suggests the global trade could have serious repercussions.Aviation stocks were the worst hit.Shares of aviation majors including InterGlobe Aviation and Spicejet tanked up to 19 per cent after the government imposed stringent travel curbs to the country.SpiceJet plunged 18.80 per cent to Rs 49 while Interglobe Aviation slipped 10 per cent to Rs 1,039.95.“There is news flow going either way and people are really spooked. So, you will have to just wait it out. Hopefully we will find a bottom somewhere here,” said Santosh Rao at Manhattan Venture Partners.Just 126 of 1,700 active stocks on BSE traded higher. Nifty stocks plunged up to 11 per cent, with Tata Motors falling 11.92 per cent to Rs 88.10. YES Bank tanks 9.2 per cent to Rs 26.15. Tata Steel, Adani Ports, Vedanta and JSW Steel declined 8-9 per cent.Rao said that it is going to be a traders’ market. “We are in the deep end of the pool. It is not for the faint of heart. We really have to wait it out and let the dusts settle.” Brent crude was trading down $1.03, or 2.9 per cent, at $$34.76 a barrel. The sentiment was also hit after the US banned travel from Europe for 30 days.Rupee fell 64 paise down at 74.28 against the US dollar after the global financial market meltdown signalled that the world is staring at a coronavirus-led economic recession. Data showed FPIs have pulled Rs 29,261.63 crore worth of domestic stocks in the last 11 consecutive sessions.