Market sells off on global cues

Investors wealth on Monday plummeted by as much as Rs 2.73 lakh crore in a day, led by giants like RIL and DLF, as the benchmark Sensex nosedived by 900 points.

The combined market capitalisation of all the listed companies on the Bombay Stock Exchange dropped to Rs 56,14,884.87 crore from Rs 58,87,846.18 crore on Friday.

The BSE Sensex settled at 16,677.88 points as against 17,578.72 on Friday last. Analysts attribute the meltdown to weak global cues and the budget after-effects.

"The downfall was mainly because of global cues on concern of US recession, besides budget also had its negative impact. Concerns over uncomfortable US data and a further interest rate hike in the Fed meet on March 10, suggests that US is going towards major recession," Taurus Mutual Fund Managing Director R K Gupta said.

The 30-share index, Sensex, accounted for nearly 42 per cent of the total market cap. The combined market valuation of the 30-blue chips also decreased by Rs 1,27,343 crore to Rs 23,18,914.14 crore.

Among the blue chip stocks, corporate behemoth Reliance Industries was the biggest loser with the firm's market cap falling over Rs 22,000 crore to Rs 3,35,029 crore. The RIL scrip ended down six per cent at Rs 2304.75.

Other major losers include -- country's largest real estate firm DLF, State Bank of India, NTPC as their market value decreased between Rs 11,000 to 10,000 crore.

Dlf's market cap decreased to Rs 1,21,844 crore, losing over Rs 11,200 crore. Sector wise, the banking stocks suffered the brunt of the meltdown with the BSE Bankex settling down 6.72 per cent at 9,434.44.

Analysts have advised retail investors to stay away from the markets as there is uncertainty and they should wait till the markets stabilise.