Market wipes out gains of 5 weeks in 9 sessions

Sensex has fallen 1,273 pts in the past nine trading days.

Real estate, consumer durables, bank, metals, capital goods and oil and gas shares that rose sharply during the Sensex’s journey to 17,400 from 16,000 have suffered the most with the benchmark index cruising back to 16,000 levels on profit-booking.

Investors have seen value erosion of Rs 459,442 crore in this correction compared to a gain of Rs 464,214 crore in the rally that preceded this fall. This indicates that investors have lost everything they gained in the recent rally.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have been net sellers worth Rs 5,035 crore in this correction period. Net FII inflows during the Sensex’s journey to 17,400 between September 7 and October 16 were Rs 18,900 crore.

The benchmark Sensex index has fallen 1,273 points in the past nine trading days. It today closed at a one-month low of 16,052.72, a fall of 7.35 per cent from its 17-month high of 17,326.01, touched on October 17.

The top five stocks from the Sensex-30 basket — ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, State Bank of India, Larsen & Toubro and Tata Steel —accounted for a fall of 777 points.

Of 3,031 stocks, as many as 78 per cent, or 2,376 stocks, have reported a fall in their market price. Only 20 per cent (611 stocks) reported a rise while prices of the remaining 45 stocks remained unchanged.

Most sectoral and broader indices underperformed the Sensex. Mid-cap and small-cap indices declined 9 per cent and 8.5 per cent, respectively. The realty index was the biggest loser, declining by 18.5 per cent to close at 3,820.4, from 4,687.2 on October 17.

IT and FMCG were the only two indices that bucked the trend and rose by more than 1 per cent, while healthcare (down 1.2 per cent) and auto (down 5.9 per cent) declined by less than the Sensex.

Wipro, the largest gainer, rose 9 per cent, while Tata Consultancy Services, ITC and Sun Pharmaceuticals gained 3 per cent.