Market rout: Rs 5-lakh cr investor wealth eroded in 2 days

Investors lost a whopping Rs 5

lakh crore in just two trading sessions, with the stock-market

rout prolonging over Budget proposals to tax equities coupled

with a global sell-off.

Post Union Budget on February 1, the 30-share Sensex has

plummeted by 1,150 points in two sessions.

The BSE benchmark Sensex slumped 309.59 points, or 0.88

per cent, to end at 34,757.16 today. The index had crashed

839.91 points, or 2.34 per cent, on Friday.

Led by a continuous sell-off, the market capitalisation

of BSE-listed companies plummeted by Rs 5,04,253 crore to Rs

1,47,95,747 crore in two straight sessions.

Investor sentiments have been hit after the government

announced in the Budget a proposal to levy 10 per cent long-

term capital gains (LTCG) tax on equities and projected a

fiscal deficit of 3.5 per cent of GDP for the current fiscal.

"Selling continued in the market as concern over bond

yield and weak global market impacted the sentiment. Upcoming

RBI monetary policy will be a key trigger for the market, the

outcome of which is expected to be status quo, but any

commentary over government's fiscal policy and concern over

rising yield will add volatility...," Vinod Nair, Head of

Research, Geojit Financial Services, said.

Among sectoral indices, the BSE capital goods index

declined the most, falling 2.65 per cent, followed by bankex

1.11 per cent.

In the broader market space, the small-cap index fell

0.37 per cent and mid-cap 0.09 per cent.

On the BSE, 1,753 stocks declined, while 1,027 advanced

and 196 remained unchanged.

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)