Stock Market Today: Equity investors poorer by over Rs 6.57 lakh crore in two days

A decline in equities for two sessions has eroded investors' wealth by more than Rs 6.57 lakh crore.

The 30-share BSE Sensex tumbled 872.28 points or 1.46 per cent to settle at 58,773.87 points on Monday.

In two straight sessions, the benchmark index has tanked 1,524.13 points or 2.52 per cent.

The weak trend in the broader market have pulled down the market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms by Rs 6,57,758.04 crore to Rs 2,73,95,002.87 crore (over Rs 273.95 lakh crore) in two days.

"While correction was overdue for sometime after the recent upsurge, fresh concerns of a likely hawkish stance by the US Fed in its September meet and strengthening dollar index turned investors jittery and triggered a massive fall in banking, IT, metal and realty stocks," Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail) at Kotak Securities Ltd, said.

According to analysts, fresh concerns related to the global economic growth have dampened investor sentiments.

"Negative global cues weighed on indices at the Dalal Street as Nifty ended below the psychological 17,500-mark and Sensex too fell way below its recently reclaimed psychological 60,000-mark.

"Blame the negativity to last week's Fed meeting minutes which pointed towards more aggressive rate hikes to curb inflation. If the last two days' trade is any indication, then expect investors to stay on the sidelines in the coming session," Prashanth Tapse - Research Analyst, Senior VP (Research) at Mehta Equities Ltd, said.

On Monday, Tata Steel was the biggest laggard in the Sensex pack falling 4.50 per cent, followed by Asian Paints, Wipro, Sun Pharma, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finance, UltraTech Cement and Bajaj Finserv. ITC and Nestle India ended higher.

All the BSE sectoral indices ended lower, with metal falling 2.69 per cent, followed by realty (2.47 per cent), basic materials (2.44 per cent), consumer discretionary goods & services (2.01 per cent), finance (1.88 per cent) and bank (1.88 per cent).

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge fell 1.80 per cent and the smallcap index declined 1.17 per cent.

"Consolidation was triggered in the market in anticipation of tighter monetary policy by the Fed and worries over a slowdown in global economic activity," Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said.