What a day today (Fri 13th Mar 2020) turned out to be in the markets! A 10% fall shortly after opening triggered the lower circuit, led to a halt in trading in the NSE and there was a recovery! Sensex recovered 4% intraday! Nifty 3.81%. Here is why we witnessed something special today.
Earlier today we found that we are in the middle of the biggest Sensex Crash but it could be a healthy one for market homogenisation. This is the intraday Sensex movement from 11 to 13th Mar 2020. The opening, closing, highest and lowest prices are shown.
The reason for such a large variation is said to be short covering. This is when trader short a stock -borrow shares and sell it immediately in the hope they can re-buy at a lower price. This could drive down the market if prevalent. When (if) the price falls lower, they would re-purchase at a lower price for profit. This would drip up the price and is possibly why the market bounced back after trading was halted.
The last two days panned out like this
- 12-Mar-20
- open 34472.5
- high 34472.5
- low 32493.1
- close 32778.14
- 13-Mar-20
- open 31214.13
- high 34769.48
- low 29388.97
- close 34103.48
On 13th, The variation bet its low and opening or (low-open)/low is -5.8%
This is the 28th biggest variation.
| Date | l(ow-open)/low |
| 17-May-04 | -15.8% |
| 22-May-06 | -11.2% |
| 17-Apr-99 | -10.8% |
| 16-Mar-92 | -10.8% |
| 27-Oct-08 | -10.5% |
| 21-Jan-08 | -10.4% |
| 24-Oct-08 | -10.2% |
| 22-Jan-08 | -9.2% |
| 07-Jan-09 | -8.8% |
| 02-May-00 | -8.3% |
| 05-Nov-08 | -8.0% |
| 17-Oct-08 | -7.9% |
| 31-Mar-97 | -7.7% |
| 29-Feb-00 | -7.6% |
| 14-Sep-01 | -7.3% |
| 18-May-06 | -6.9% |
| 14-May-04 | -6.8% |
| 06-Jul-09 | -6.7% |
| 19-May-06 | -6.5% |
| 23-Feb-00 | -6.5% |
| 19-Apr-00 | -6.4% |
| 10-Mar-92 | -6.3% |
| 19-May-09 | -6.3% |
| 06-Apr-00 | -5.9% |
| 08-May-00 | -5.9% |
| 27-May-92 | -5.9% |
| 12-May-92 | -5.9% |
| 13-Mar-20 | -5.8% |
| 11-Nov-08 | -5.8% |
If that does not sound impressive, try this. The (close-low)/low is 16% on Mar 13th. This is the biggest such variation since 02-01-1991! Even during the 2008 crash, the biggest was 10.6% (27-10-2008) and during the Harshad Mehta Scam, it was 10.2% (16-03-1992).
Today the (high-low)/low = 18.3%. Only one instance was bigger, 18.8% on 17-05-2004.
Finally, the (low-previous close)/previous close = -10.3% today. This is the sixth biggest variation.
| Date | (Low -Prv close)/Prev Close |
| 17-May-04 | -16.6% |
| 21-Jan-08 | -10.8% |
| 22-Jan-08 | -12.9% |
| 24-Oct-08 | -12.3% |
| 27-Oct-08 | -11.5% |
| 13-Mar-20 | -10.3% |
We have just witnessed something special today! Once again, interesting times ahead.
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