foreign portfolio investors fpis pulled a record 159 billion or rs 12 lakh crore out of the indian debt and equity markets in marchthe most in asiaaccording to nsdl datathe seesaw battle between the bears and the bulls continued on dalal street with the former dominating wednesdays session amid a rise in coronavirus cases in india worries surrounding a sharp drop in gdp growth rate also hit investor sentiment on dalal streetequity inventors lost rs 319 lakh crore as bse flagship sensex tanked 1203 points to 28265 broader nse nifty dropped 344 points to 8254 here are factors that are likely dragging markets lower advt covid count mountsindia has reported a sharp rise in new coronavirus cases in the last couple of days indicating a community transmission the country has reported nearly 1400 confirmed cases of covid19 including 35 deaths and 123 discharged patients given a fragile healthcare system if india is unable to keep the number of cases low it could be catastrophic meanwhile globally the number of cases surged to 860181 with 42345 deaths the us government is expecting over 100000 deaths from the virusfpis flee indian marketsforeign portfolio investors fpis pulled a record 159 billion or rs 12 lakh crore out of the indian debt and equity markets in marchthe most in asiaaccording to nsdl dataforeign trading desks have come under heavy pressure from redemption of etfs held by their clients heavy selling by them has dampened the spirit in indian marketsauto sales downmost auto companies reported a sharp drop in sales mainly because showrooms and factories have been shut due to lockdownmaruti suzuki india has reported total sales of 83792 units in march 2020 over 158076 units sold in march 2019a drop of 47 per cent ashok leyland reported 90 per cent decline in total vehicles sales at 2179 units in march the company had sold 21535 units in the same month last year ashok leyland said in a regulatory filing advt following this shares of auto companies fell nifty auto index dropped 2 per cent to 4638 fear of defaults looms largemore than rs 60000 crore of interest and principal on nonconvertible debentures ncds issued by corporates are coming up for payment in the next one month many companies which have low cash reserves are staring at a default in payments if lockdown continues going aheadmeanwhile many large listed companies have requested bond trustees in the last 24 hours to reschedule the dates of payments of debt securities they had floatedglobal markets in redmost major global markets also traded in the red mscis broadest index of asiapacific shares outside japan erased gains to trade 033 per cent lower shares in south korea hit hard by the virus fell 134 per centjapanese shares fell 348 per cent as a rapid increase in infections in tokyo fuelled speculation the government would place the capital on lockdownus and european futures foretold opening losses by these markets emini futures for the sp 500 slumped 227 per cent as dire