Investor wealth plunges Rs 1.71 lakh crore as stocks tumble

Investor wealth eroded by Rs 1.71 lakh crore Wednesday in tandem with a weak broader market where the BSE benchmark Sensex plunged over 550 points. The BSE barometer plummeted 550.51 points, or 1.51 per cent, to end at 35,975.63.

Led by the sharp loss in the equity market, the market capitalisation of the BSE-listed companies plunged Rs 1,71,287.84 crore to Rs 1,43,71,351.05 crore. The rupee breached the 73-mark for the first time to hit an all-time low of 73.41 (intra-day) against the US dollar.

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Meanwhile, Brent crude oil neared USD 85 a barrel.

“Despite government’s decisive move about IL&FS, the markets are under relentless pressure on the back of crude oil touching multi-year highs and the rupee making fresh all-time lows. The precarious positioning of international macros is simply not letting the pressure off the market.

“The last-man-standing industries such as large cap autos and IT have also started melting, almost leaving no place for markets to hide,” said Jagannadham Thunuguntla, Senior VP and Head of Research (Wealth), Centrum Broking.

In the Sensex pack, M&M was the biggest loser, tumbling 6.66 per cent, followed by TCS dropping 4.14 per cent.

From sectoral indices, the BSE auto index emerged the worst performer by declining 2.90 per cent, followed by teck 2.38 per cent and IT 2.23 per cent.

In the broader market, the mid-cap index fell 1.47 per cent, while small-cap index shed 0.40 per cent.

Domestic markets were closed Tuesday on account of ‘Gandhi Jayanti’.