Market crash wipes off Rs 5.3 lakh crore of investor wealth

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Investor wealth slumped by a whopping Rs 5.3 lakh crore on Friday as the benchmark BSE Sensex crashed more than 1,900 points to post its biggest single-day fall in nearly ten months.

At the close of trade, the total market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies eroded by Rs 5,37,375.94 crore to Rs 2,00,81,095.73 crore.

The total market capitalisation of these companies stood at Rs 2,06,18,471.67 crore on February 25.

On Friday, the 30-share BSE Sensex settled 1,939.32 points or 3.80 percent lower at 49,099.99 — its worst one-day fall since May 4 last year.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty plunged 568.20 points or 3.76 percent to close the session at 14,529.15. It was the biggest single-day drop since March 23 last year.

"Going ahead the market may continue with its consolidation given weak global cues. Investors would closely track bond yields, geopolitical tensions and inflation data for further market direction and would monitor developments around new US stimulus announcement,” Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Retail Research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd said.

He noted that even high valuations does not provide much comfort and thus correction was long overdue.

"Investors should take this opportunity to buy on dips while traders should trade cautiously with stock-specific action and book profits in regular intervals,” he said.

Sector wise, banking index suffered the maximum loss with a decline of over 4.8 percent.

Financial and telecom indices too fell sharply by 4.9 percent and 3.85 percent, respectively.