The Indian equity markets continued their losing streak for the third straight session on Monday, with Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) benchmark Sensex falling 1,184.15 points, or 3.05 per cent, since July 18. As a result, investors have lost over Rs 4 lakh crore in market wealth in the last three sessions on the domestic bourses.
Extending its losses, the equity markets ended lower Monday with the BSE Sensex closing at 38,031, down 305 points and the NSE Nifty ending 82 points down to settle at 11,337.
In trading session today , investors lost Rs 4.37 lakh crore in market wealth as selling continued in the equity market due to persistent concerns over an economic slowdown and weak corporate earnings dented trader's sentiments.
From Rs 151.35 lakh crore market wealth on July 5 when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her first Budget, market capitalization of BSE listed firms dipped to Rs 144.76 lakh crore in trade on July 22. The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies eroded by Rs 4.37 lakh crore in three days.
"Indian markets continued their losing streak on Monday led by muted domestic sentiments and unsupportive global cues. With lack of any fresh positive domestic triggers and uncertain global cues, we maintain our cautious stance on the Indian equity markets. We expect stock specific volatility to remain high in the coming sessions, as the markets are likely to be driven by the on-going earnings season," said Ajit Mishra, vice-president (research), Religare Broking Ltd.
Among the individual stocks, HDFC twins were among top laggards on the BSE, with HDFC tumbled 5.09 per cent and HDFC Bank slipped 3.32 per cent. Kotak Mahindra Bank (-3.08%), Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (-2.67%) and Bajaj Finance (-2.21%) were among other notable losers. Over 600 stocks hit their 52-week low levels on the BSE.
"Markets entered a bearish phase as investors turned sellers due to concerns over extension of economic slowdown and weak corporate earnings hurting the sentiment.
"This correction has expanded to large-caps which until now were attracting FII (foreign institutional investor) inflows, but concerns over tax and muted Q1 (first quarter) results will continue to impact," said Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services Ltd.
The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was weak. On BSE, out of total 2903 shares, 903 shares advanced, 1822 declined and 178 remained unchanged.
On the sectoral front, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and financial stocks were among top losers, falling 1.43 per cent and 1.42 per cent, respectively.
(With PTI inputs)
Edited by Chitranjan Kumar