Investor wealth plummets by Rs 2.21 lakh cr as stocks tumble

New Delhi: Investor wealth dropped by over Rs 2.21 lakh crore on Tuesday after the BSE benchmark tumbled 624 points amid sell-off in global equities and domestic front-line companies.

The BSE 30-share key barometer tanked 623.75 points or 1.66 per cent to close at 36,958.16.

At close of trade, the market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies tumbled Rs 2,21,837.81 crore to Rs 1,39,46,997.40 crore.

"Negative global cues and selling pressure at higher levels marked the previous upswing as a probable retest of resistance post breakdown and hence the downward momentum continued," Mustafa Nadeem, CEO, Epic Research said.

"The big setback and the probable reason for this could be the shaking global markets and cues that we are getting at this point in time. Domestically we have been struggling lately with a credit crunch, higher cost of capital, slowing auto numbers along with tepid quarterly earnings and FIIs exiting," he said.

From the 30-share pack, 27 scrips closed with losses, led by Yes Bank, M&M, Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, HDFC, Maruti, Tata Steel and L&T, cracking up to 10.35 per cent.

At the BSE, 1,652 stocks declined, while 861 advanced and 148 remained unchanged.

Over 250 stocks were at their 52-week low levels on the BSE.

In the broader market, the BSE small-cap and mid-cap indices fell by up to 2.25 per cent.

"Markets have been tagging-along global markets in palpable risk-off sentiment due to multiple challenges of intensification of US-China trade war, sell-off in Argentina and Hong Kong markets," said Jagannadham Thunuguntla, senior VP and Head of Research (Wealth), Centrum Broking.