Indian Stock Market Slumps: Rs 18 Lakh Cr Loss in 6 Days

New Delhi, Feb 12 (PTI) Investors suffered an erosion of Rs 18 lakh crore in six days of market fall, where the BSE benchmark Sensex tanked 3 per cent, amid continuous foreign fund outflows and trade war worries.

The 30-share BSE Sensex, which had tanked more than 900 points intra-day, ended at 76,171.08, down by 122.52 points or 0.16 per cent following a recovery in bank stocks in the last hour.

During the day, the benchmark tanked 905.21 points or 1.18 per cent to sink below the 76,000-level and hit a low of 75,388.39.

Since February 4, the BSE bellwether gauge has slumped 2,412.73 points or 3.07 per cent.

The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms slumped Rs 18,04,418 crore to Rs 4,07,46,408.11 crore (USD 4.69 trillion) since February 4.

From the 30-share Sensex pack, Mahindra & Mahindra, ITC, Power Grid, Reliance Industries, IndusInd Bank, Adani Ports, Titan and Infosys were the biggest laggards.

Bajaj Finserv, Tata Steel, Larsen & Toubro, UltraTech Cement, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Tata Motors were among the gainers.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 4,486.41 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

"Markets were extremely choppy and gyrated sharply in intra-day trade. After crashing over 900 points in early trade, markets recouped lost ground in late trade but select profit-taking in IT, banking and auto stocks saw benchmarks end marginally lower," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research) at Mehta Equities Ltd, said.

The BSE smallcap gauge declined 0.49 per cent and midcap index went lower by 0.45 per cent.

"Equity markets displayed resilience today, with Nifty rebounding nearly 250 points from the day's low to close at 23,045, down just 26 points (-0.1 per cent). Market sentiment remained cautious amid concerns over US tariffs, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's hawkish stance on interest rates, and persistent FII outflows," Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Research, Wealth Management at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said.

Among BSE sectoral indices, realty tanked 2.58 per cent, auto (0.84 per cent), consumer discretionary (0.75 per cent), oil & gas (0.62 per cent) and BSE Focused IT (0.54 per cent).

BSE commodities, financial services, bankex, capital goods and metal were the gainers.

As many as 2,435 stocks declined while 1,534 advanced and 97 remained unchanged on the BSE.