Investors poorer by Rs 3.85 lakh cr in market selloff

A sharp plunge in the equity market made investors poorer by Rs 3.85 lakh crore on Friday as the BSE barometer Sensex plummeted over 1,400 points led by massive selloff in banking, metal and energy stocks.

Tracking the plunge in the indices, the market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies dropped by Rs 3,85,485.39 crore to Rs 1,43,99,995.94 crore.

In the opening trade, the 30-share BSE index plunged 1,459.52 points and was later trading over 900 points lower in afternoon session as sentiment in the market remained muted amid crisis at Yes Bank and rising concerns over the economic strain of coronavirus outbreak.

Capital-starved Yes Bank was on Thursday placed under a moratorium, with the RBI capping deposit withdrawals at Rs 50,000 per account for a month and superseding its board.

Shares of Yes Bank came under intense selling pressure as the session progressed on Friday and plunged nearly 85 per cent after the lender was placed under a 30-day moratorium.

The entire banking pack also came crashing, with RBL Bank trading 13 per cent lower, followed by IndusInd Bank which dropped 7 per cent, SBI 6.5 per cent and Axis Bank 3.55 per cent on the BSE.

The BSE bank index dropped 2.46 per cent.

From the 30-share pack, all the constituents were trading with losses led by IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, SBI and HDFC which plunged up to 7.3 per cent.

HDFC, Reliance Industries (RIL), ICICI Bank and Infosys were the major drag for the 30-share index in terms of index contribution.

RIL, the most valued firm in terms of market valuation, was quoting more than 3 per cent lower.

Sectoral indices like metal, realty, finance and energy were also trading with significant losses of up to 4 per cent.

Investors took the Yes Bank event very negatively because it raises a question on the stability of the overall Indian financial system, said Santosh Meenas, Senior Analyst, TradingBells.

According to him, the market is facing a double-whammy situation where the global markets are struggling on the back of coronavirus worries and Yes Bank fiasco is a setback event on the domestic level.