Equity investors become poorer by Rs 6 lakh crore as markets crash

Investor's wealth eroded by Rs 6 lakh crore in a single day on Wednesday as the BSE benchmark Sensex tumbled over 790 points.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell by 790.34 points or 1.08 per cent to settle at 72,304.88. During the day, it slumped 872.93 points or 1.19 per cent to 72,222.29.

The market capitalisation (mcap) of BSE-listed companies eroded by Rs 6,02,338.56 crore to Rs 3,85,97,298.49 crore (USD 4.71 trillion).

"Investors resorted to heavy selling ahead of Thursday's F&O expiry. Weak Asian market cues and Dow Futures indicating a negative start also led to a massive round of profit-taking across the board as benchmark Sensex closed below the crucial 73k mark. "The pessimism can also be attributed to lack of direction ahead of Thursday's release of the January US Personal Consumption and Expenditures (PCE) index, the Fed's preferred measure of inflation that tracks consumer spending," said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.

Among the Sensex firms, Power Grid fell the most by 4.43 per cent.

Reliance Industries fell by 2 per cent, contributing 185.59 points to the markets slide.

Maruti, IndusInd Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Wipro, JSW Steel, Asian Paints, Tata Steel, Reliance and Titan were the other major laggards.

Hindustan Unilever, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services and Bharti Airtel were the gainers.

In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge declined by 1.94 per cent and midcap index went lower by 1.82 per cent.

All the indices ended lower. Utilities fell by 2.82 per cent, oil & gas declined 2.19 per cent, realty tanked 2.12 per cent, telecommunication dipped 1.92 per cent, services (1.89 per cent) and commodities (1.85 per cent).

A total of 2,963 stocks declined while 881 advanced and 77 remained unchanged.

In Asian markets, Seoul settled with gains while Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended lower.

European markets were trading mostly lower. The US markets ended mostly higher on Tuesday.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,509.16 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.