Investor wealth erodes by Rs 5.12 lakh crore in 4-day fall in stock markets

Investors' wealth eroded by Rs 5.12 lakh crore in four straight days of fall in the equity markets which witnessed profit-taking after a record-breaking rally and caution ahead of the results of the Lok Sabha polls.

The 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 667.55 points or 0.89 per cent to settle at 74,502.90 on Wednesday. It fell below the 75,000-mark during the day and tanked 715.9 points or 0.95 per cent to 74,454.55.

The barometer fell amid selling in bank stocks and weak global trends.

In four sessions since May 24, the benchmark gauge dropped 915.14 points or 1.21 per cent amid profit-taking by cautious investors. The BSE benchmark Sensex hit an all-time high of 76,009.68 on May 27.

The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies eroded by Rs 5,12,921.96 crore to Rs 4,15,09,713.94 crore (USD 4.98 trillion) in the four sessions to Wednesday.

From its all-time peak, the BSE benchmark is down 1,506.78 points or 1.98 per cent.

The combined market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies hit the USD 5-trillion milestone for the first time on May 21.

The NSE Nifty declined 183.45 points or 0.80 per cent to 22,704.70.

"Nifty dropped by 183 points, marking the fourth consecutive decline as election jitters triggered intense selling. The Sensex fell by nearly 668 points to 74,503," said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd..

From the Sensex pack, Tech Mahindra, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Bank, UltraTech Cement, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries and Infosys were the biggest laggards.

Power Grid, Sun Pharma, Nestle, ITC and Bharti Airtel were the gainers.

"Nifty opened gap down and remained under pressure throughout the session to finally close with a loss of 183 points at 22,704 levels. Weak global cues along with uncertainties surrounding election outcome seemed to have led to this sharp fall over the last 14 trading sessions," Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said.

The BSE midcap gauge declined 0.38 per cent while smallcap index climbed 0.23 per cent.

Among the indices, bankex declined 1.37 per cent, financial services (1.32 per cent), oil and gas (0.95 per cent), realty (0.88 per cent) and services (0.60 per cent).

Healthcare, industrials, telecommunication, capital goods, metal and power were the gainers.

As many as 2,136 stocks declined while 1,680 advanced and 113 remained unchanged on the BSE.