Mukesh Ambani had a rough Monday as he lost $5.6 billion on the back of severe decline in Reliance Industries' share price. Ambani's losses stemmed from 31 per cent decline in crude oil prices as Saudi Arabia started a price war with Russia, aggravated by weak consumer sentiment due to rising cases of coronavirus in India and the world.
According to Forbes' Billionaires List, Ambani's net worth stood at $42.2 billion on March 9, 2020, 11.6 per cent or $5.6 billion lower than what was seen on 5:00 pm Eastern Time on Friday or 2:30 am IST on Saturday.
Ambani emerged as the second-biggest loser last week, after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Forbes reported, as global markets continued to fall due to coronavirus fears. With people shelving travel plans due to the deadly virus outbreak, oil prices have reached their lowest levels in several years. This affected share price of Reliance Industries, Ambani's oil-to-telecom conglomerate, which runs the world's biggest refining complex in Jamnagar, Gujarat.
ALSO READ: Reliance Industries share sees worst day in 12 years, loses top slot to TCS in market capitalisation
ALSO READ: Investors lose Rs 7 lakh crore after Sensex, Nifty crash 5%
Reliance Industries share price recorded its biggest fall in 12 years on the back of price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia, as well as weak sentiment around the large cap stock due to coronavirus. The scrip closed 12.35 per cent lower at Rs 1113.15, after reaching a low of Rs 1,094.95 on Monday. The company also saw its market capitalisation fall down to Rs 7.06 crore, yielding the top spot for most valuable company to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which has a market cap of Rs 7.40 lakh crore.
Saudi Arabia has slashed official selling prices for oil and announced plans to upscale crude oil production from next month after Russia did not support the 1.5 million daily barrels production cut proposed last week by Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The price cut comes at a time when oil demand has taken a major hit due to the coronavirus contagion.
ALSO READ: Why oil price crash is good for Indian economy
ALSO READ: Why oil marketing companies stocks are rising in a falling market