Sensex records biggest fall in 6 years on global slowdown worries

Mumbai, February 12

Indian stocks recorded its biggest weekly fall in six years as the markets closed its trade on Friday after global slowdown triggered and poor quarterly results a day after equities saw a bloodbath.

BSE’s Sensex fell a massive 6.62 per cent and NSE’s Nifty 6.78 per cent after investors sought refuge in gold and bonds: the biggest weekly fall since July 2009.

Total investor wealth measured in terms of cumulative value of all listed stocks on BSE slumped by over Rs 7 lakh crore during the week.

Sensex has lost 12 per cent since the start of the year alone: it lost 807 points on Thursday — wiping off Rs 3 lakh crore investor wealth — as mounting bad debts also wreaked havoc. The index has fallen 23 per cent from its all-time peak of more 30,000 in nearly a year; a fall of 20 per cent from an all-time peak is considered a 'bear market'.

Meanwhile, attributing the recent crash in stock market to global factors, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said there was no need for "exaggerated panic" and investors should keep the economy's inherent strength in mind while investing.

Sensex resumed higher at 23,060.39 and hovered between 23,161.15 and 22,600.39 before falling 0.15 per cent to end at 22,986.12.

Nifty moved up marginally by 4.60 points or 0.07 per cent to close at 6,980.95: still a 21-month low.

Fifteen of 30 Sensex components ended higher that their previous close.

Car sales fell for the first time after 14 months of continued growth in January as discounts dried up during the month with automakers correcting inventory at dealer levels post year-end freebies dole out.

However, Tata Motors bucked the trend, ending 8.34 per cent higher at Rs 298.650.

Bharti Airtel rose 5.40 per cent to Rs 325.25.

M&M 3.77 per cent, Axis Bank 3.52 per cent, NTPC 2.44 per cent, Sun Pharma 2.09 per cent, HUL 1.53 per cent, HDFC 1.47 per cent, TCS 1.39 per cent and ITC 0.52 per cent gained.

However, BHEL fell 13.13 per cent followed by Adani Ports by 5.20 per cent, ONGC 4.56 per cent, L&T 3.53 per cent, Tata Steel 3.18 per cent, ICICI Bank 2.58 per cent, Lupin 2.36 per cent, Cipla 2.29 per cent, GAIL 1.99 per cent and RIL 1.75 per cent.

Among sectoral and industrials indices, telecom rose by 5.56 per cent, auto 1.72 per cent, teck 1.02 per cent, utilities 0.61 per cent, FMGC 0.39 per cent and IT 0.25 per cent.

Capital goods fell 3.05 per cent, oil&gas 2.47 per cent, energy 1.95 per cent, realty 1.26 per cent, metal 1.25 per cent, industrials 0.86 per cent and Healthcare 0.77 per cent.

Mid-cap and Small-cap indices fell by 0.78 per cent and 1.21 per cent, respectively.

The market breadth remained negative as 1,702 shares ended lower, 881 advanced, while 130 ruled steady of the total 2,713 stocks traded.

The total turnover rose to Rs 3,700.15 crore from Rs 2,972,11 crore on Thursday.

Overseas, Asian stocks fell as investors continued to dump riskier assets. Nikkei tumbled 4.84 per cent, while Hong Kong and South Korea indexes fell sharply by 1.22 per cent and 1.41 per cent, respectively.

European were trading higher, rebounding from previous session's steep losses, with some encouraging results and a rally in oil prices helping banks and commodity-related stocks to regain ground. Key indices in France, Germany and the UK rose by 1.25 per cent to 1.68 per cent. — PTI