Sensex plunges 1,624 points, investors’ wealth down Rs7,00,000 cr

The Mumbai Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex crashed by 1,624.51 points on Monday - its biggest single-day fall - wiping off over Rs7,00,000 crore from investors' wealth on a sharp global sell-off triggered by a Chinese rout.

The BSE Sensex ended the day 5.94 per cent down at 25,741.56 points as investors dumped shares across all sectors, including energy, banking, auto, IT, infrastructure and real estate

The broader 50-share NSE Nifty closed at 7,809, down 490.95 points, or 5.92 per cent, following heavy selling pressure. All 50 constituents of Nifty were in red with Tata Motors and ONGC losing the most up to 6 per cent.

In percentage terms the full-day loss was biggest in six and half years since a 7.25 per cent rout on 7 January 2009.

In terms of intra-day fall, today's plunge is highest in over seven years since a 2,062-point plunge on 21 January 2008. Overall, this was the third-highest intra-day fall.

As the China rout gathered pace, Sensex crashed, going down by 1,624.51 points at close, making it the biggest crash in about seven years and the fourth biggest-ever for the BSE benchmark index.

The broader National Stock Exchange benchmark Nifty futures contract opened with a huge gap down for the second consecutive trading day. The contract opened at 8,010 and recorded a high of 8,074 only to close sharply lower at 7,931.8 points.

Despite the bloodbath at Dalal Street, the offer-for-sale by the government to divest its 10-per cent stake in Indian Oil Corporation was oversubscribed, with institutional investors cornering a bigger share.

The rupee was also hit a fresh two-year low of 66.66 versus the US dollar, on the back of sell=off by foreign funds and heavy dollar demand.

The downfall began right at the word go when markets opened this morning and the BSE's 30-share index fell by as much as 1,741.35 points in the intra-day before recouping a small portion of the losses.

Sentiment also took a knock after crude oil prices softened to multi-year lows amid deepening concerns about weak Chinese growth and global oversupply.

The total investor wealth, measured in terms of cumulative market value of all listed stocks, tanked by more than Rs 7 lakh crore and crashed below Rs10,00,000 crore mark to end the day at Rs95,33,105 crore.

Promoters of listed companies accounted for over half of these losses at about Rs4,00,000 crore while foreign investors also took a hit of close to Rs1,500,000 crore. The loss in the accounts of retail investors is estimated at about Rs75,000 crore while institutional investors took a hit of about Rs1,00,000 crore.