Stock mkt fall wipes out Rs 1.59 lakh cr from investor wealth

Investor wealth eroded sharply by Rs 1.59 lakh crore today as stock market saw a big sell off, pulling down the BSE benchmark Sensex by 556 points.
The total market capitalisation of all the BSE listed firms declined by Rs 1,59,620 crore to Rs 1,02,64,003 crore.
The Sensex ended at 27,886.21, down 555.89 points or 1.95 per cent. This was the fourth consecutive session of downtrend in the 30-share index.
"With over 550 points fall, the Sensex has lost over 1,200-points in the last 4 trading sessions primarily on account of nervousness surrounding the March quarter earnings, which has witnessed a shaky start.

"While expectations from results are already low, concerns with respect to delayed recovery in corporate earnings in the backdrop of a slower-than-expected economic recovery has overtaken sentiments in the short-term," said Hitesh Agrawal, Head of Research at Reliance Securities.
The development on taxation front pertaining to global investors is also acting as a short-term headwind for the market, he said.

Among the 30-Sensex stocks, 28 ended with losses led by RIL which plunged 4.46 per cent. Only Sun pharma and ICICI Bank managed to end with gains.
Sector-wise, the BSE realty index suffered the most by losing 2.78 per cent, followed by FMCG, capital goods, IT, power 2.04 and oil and gas.

The BSE smallcap index fell 2.17 per cent while the midcap index ended 2.02 per cent lower.
At the BSE, 1,964 stocks declined and 871 advanced while 99 remained unchanged.