Sensex tumbles: Rs 18 lakh crore lost as bloodbath continues

Investors’ wealth has tumbled by over Rs 18.17 lakh crore during six days of market decline, with sentiments remaining extremely bearish amid rate hikes by global central banks, unrelenting foreign fund outflows and a jump in crude oil prices.

The 30-share BSE Sensex has tanked 3,959.86 points or 7.15 per cent in six days of decline. It hit its one-year low of 50,921.22 during the day on Friday.

The continuous weak trend in equities has dragged down the market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms by Rs 18,17,747.13 crore to Rs 2,36,77,816.08 crore during this time (June 9-June 17).

“Globally as well as domestically, equity markets saw carnage in the last couple of trading sessions as central banks across the world make aggressive rate hikes … Persistent FIIs selling and rising COVID cases have also dented sentiments,” said Siddhartha Khemka, Head – Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.

The BSE benchmark declined 135.37 points or 0.26 per cent to settle at 51,360.42 on Friday.

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“The dominant theme impacting equity markets globally is the synchronised global monetary tightening and the consequent fears of economic slowdown,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Titan fell the most among the Sensex firms on Friday, tanking 6.06 per cent, followed by Wipro, Dr Reddys, Asian Paints, Sun Pharma, L&T and UltraTech Cement.

On the other hand, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, ITC and HDFC Bank were among the gainers.

In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge declined by 0.88 per cent on Friday, while the midcap index dipped 0.68 per cent.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, oil and gas fell the most by 3.07 per cent, followed by consumer durables (2.68 per cent), energy (1.86 per cent), healthcare (1.60 per cent), consumer discretionary goods and services (1.59 per cent) and utilities (1.57 per cent). Finance, bank, metal and realty ended in the green.

“Undertone of the market continues to remain bearish with weak global cues dampening investors sentiment. Investors are trading with caution after the aggressive rate hike by the US Fed. Moreover, FII selling is showing no signs of easing, which continues to have a bearing on the markets,” Amol Athawale, Deputy Vice President – Technical Research, Kotak Securities Ltd, said.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital market, as they sold shares worth Rs 3,257.65 crore on Thursday, as per the exchange data.