Investors' wealth erodes by Rs 8.50 lakh cr as markets tumble

Mumbai: Equity investors became poorer by Rs 8.50 lakh crore on Tuesday as markets came under a bear attack, with the benchmark Sensex falling almost 1,053.10 points.

Equity benchmark index Sensex tumbled 1,053 points to close below the 71,000 level on Tuesday, dragged down by index heavyweights HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries and SBI amid mixed global cues.

Following the decline in the benchmark index, the market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies eroded by Rs 8,50,820.81 crore to Rs 3,65,97,915.97 crore.

The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies stood at Rs 3,74,48,736.78 crore on January 20.

Domestic equities opened on a positive note but soon drifted into red witnessing a huge sell-off amid profit booking, said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.

Global sentiments turned cautious after a Fitch Group statement that South Asian economies would be most affected, amid rising hostilities in the Red Sea due to Houthi attacks and India's economic forecast faces a significant risk on account of a prolonged spell of disruptions, Khemka said.

Further, the Bank of Japan followed China and kept interest rates unchanged. Now investors are awaiting US GDP data due late today along with the European Central Bank rate decision due later this week. On the domestic front, this week is a truncated week with just three trading days.

Given weak global cues and mixed set of earnings released so far, the market is likely to consolidate and may drop a little further till the next set of fresh positive triggers, Khemka added.

Among the Sensex firms, IndusInd Bank was the biggest loser and fell 6.13 per cent, followed by SBI (3.99 pc), Hindustan Unilever (3.82 pc), Axis Bank (3.41 pc) and HDFC Bank (3.23 pc).

Midcap and smallcap indices witnessed more decline compared to the benchmarks.

The S&P BSE MidCap fell 2.95 per cent to close at 37,247.84 and the midcap index settled 2.79 per cent lower at 43,378.40. All the sectoral indices except healthcare settled with losses.

Realty and services indices fell the most by 5.46 per cent and 4.06 per cent, respectively. While metal declined 3.97 per cent, oil & gas lowered 3.96 per cent and energy went down by 3.70 per cent. Commodities, FMCG, financial services and capital goods were other laggards.

On the other hand, the healthcare index rose 1.02 per cent.

A total of 2,991 stocks declined while 938 advanced and 138 remained unchanged.