Equity investors become poorer by Rs 7.93 lakh crore in three days

Investors' wealth tumbled Rs 7.93 lakh crore in three days of market crash amid escalating tensions in the Middle East and weak global trends.

Continuing its downtrend for the third day running on Tuesday, the 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 456.10 points or 0.62 per cent to settle at 72,943.68. During the day, it slumped 714.75 points or 0.97 per cent to 72,685.03.

The market capitalisation (mcap) of BSE-listed companies was eroded by Rs 7,93,529.61 crore to Rs 3,94,25,823.46 (USD 4.75 trillion) in three days. In the past three days, the BSE benchmark tanked 2,094.47 points or 2.79 per cent.

"Markets extended their losing streak for a third straight session on the back of weak global cues as a sharp rise in US bond yields due to rising Middle East tensions has made equity markets less attractive and prompted investors to resort to profit-taking.

"Investors are fearing that the ongoing conflict could fuel buoyancy in crude oil prices and in turn weigh on inflation," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research) at Mehta Equities Ltd, said.

From the Sensex basket, Infosys, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Wipro, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finance, Tata Consultancy Services and Larsen & Toubro were the major laggards.

Titan Company, Hindustan Unilever, HDFC Bank, Maruti, Power Grid, Reliance Industries and ITC were the gainers. In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong settled lower. European markets were quoting in the red. Wall Street ended in negative territory on Monday.

"Escalating tension in the Middle East has turned sentiments sour leading to a rise in crude oil prices. Weak global cues and Rs 11,295 crore selling by FIIs in the last two days hurt domestic markets," Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,268 crore on Monday, according to exchange data. Among the indices, IT declined 2.32 per cent, teck (2.09 per cent), bankex (0.50 per cent), metal (0.36 per cent), capital goods (0.26 per cent) and commodities (0.24 per cent).

Energy, consumer discretionary, healthcare, industrials, consumer durables, oil & gas, and power were the gainers.