Sensex, Nifty crash wipes out Rs 2.26 lakh cr from investor wealth

Total investor wealth fell sharply by Rs 2.26 lakh crore on  Tuesday with the benchmark BSE Sensex falling by 661 points , or 2.37 per cent.

Total investor wealth of BSE-listed companies plummeted by Rs 2,26,179.25 crore to Rs 1,01,00,507 crore.

The Sensex plunged 660.61 points or 2.37 per cent to settle at 27,188.38 after forecast of deficient monsoon and cautious stance of RBI on economic recovery.

This is the index's biggest single-day fall in almost a month.

Among the 30-Sensex stocks, 29 ended with losses led by State Bank of India , AXIS Bank, Hindalco Industries and ITC.

Bharti Airtel was the lone gainer among Sensex blue-chips.

Rate sensitive-realty, banking and auto-suffered the most as selling remained unabated throughout the day.

At the BSE, 804 stocks advanced, while 1,875 declined.

103 stocks remained unchanged.

"Equity benchmarks witnessed steep decline after RBI took a cautious stance on economic recovery even as it cut the policy rates by 25 basis points. Adding to pessimism, India Met Department's latest report on monsoon further dampened the sentiments.

"As a result, selling pressure was witnessed across the board but rate sensitive sectors lost maximum amongst all," said Jayant Manglik, President-retail distribution, Religare Securities Limited.

Monsoon in the country this year is expected to be "deficient", the Met department has projected while revising its forecast from "below normal" which is likely to trigger fears of a drought.

Meanwhile, home, auto and corporate loans are likely to cost less after RBI on Tuesday cut interest rate by 0.25 per cent for the third time this year to spur investment and growth but hinted there may not be any more cuts in the near-term sending stock markets into a tizzy.

RBI cut the repo rate (short-term lending rate) from 7.5 per cent to 7.25, but left all other policy tools like cash reserve requirement unchanged at 4 per cent and Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) at 21.5 per cent.

"Policy announcement by RBI was at par with the expectations of D-Street. But markets were in a bad mood post policy announcement as the news was already discounted," said Rohit Gadia, Founder & CEO, CapitalVia Global Research Ltd.

Foreign portfolio investors bought shares worth a net Rs 113.47 crore on Monday as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

Among the S&P sectoral indices, Realty slumped by 3.83 per cent, banking 3.46, FMCG 2.83 per cent, metal 2.11 per cent, Auto 2.08 per cent, capital goods 1.74 per cent, consumer durable 1.61 per cent, healthcare 1.58 per cent, IT 1.42, Power 1.29 per cent and Teck 1.23 per cent.

Of 30-share Sensex pack, 29 finished lower, while Bharti Airtel ended higher.

Contributing to sessions volatility included heavyweights such as SBI tumbling by 4.28 per cent followed by Axis Bank 4.20 per cent, Hindalco 3.97 per cent, ITC 3.95 per cent, Heromotoco 3.76 per cent, ICICI Bank 3.70 per cent, HDFC 3.55 per cent, Cipla 3.20 per cent, HUL 3.06 per cent, Bajaj Auto 2.88 per cent, HDFC Bank 2.65 per cent, M&M 2.56 per cent, Wipro 2.53 per cent, Tata Steel 2.29 per cent, Sun Pharma 2.12 per cent, L&T 1.95 per cent, Coal India 1.93 per cent, Dr Reddy 1.84 per cent, Infosys 1.80 per cent, Tata Power 1.45 per cent and Maruti 1.31 per cent.

Total market breadth continued to show negative trend as 1,875 stocks declined, while 804 advanced and 104 ruled steady. The total turnover jumped to Rs 3,086.68 crore from Rs 2,699.25 crore on Monday.