Investors lose over Rs 18 lakh crore as equities remain under pressure for the sixth day

During six days of market decline, investors’ wealth has fallen by over Rs 18.17 lakh crore, with sentiments remaining extremely bearish despite rate hikes by global central banks, unrelenting foreign fund outflows, and a rise in crude oil prices.

In six days, the 30-share BSE Sensex has dropped 3,959.86 points, or 7.15 percent. During the day on Friday, it fell to a one-year low of 50,921.22.

During this period, the continuous weak trend in equities has dragged down the market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms by Rs 18,17,747.13 crore to Rs 2,36,77,816.08 crore.

On Friday, the BSE benchmark fell 135.37 points, or 0.26 percent, to 51,360.42.

Titan fell the most among Sensex companies on Friday, down 6.06 percent, followed by Wipro, Dr Reddy’s, Asian Paints, Sun Pharma, L&T, and UltraTech Cement.

Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, ITC, and HDFC Bank, on the other hand, were among the winners.

In the broader market, the BSE smallcap index fell 0.88 percent on Friday, while the midcap index fell 0.68 percent.

Oil and gas fell the most among the BSE sectoral indices, by 3.07 percent, followed by consumer durables (2.68 percent), energy (1.86 percent), healthcare (1.60 percent), consumer discretionary goods and services (1.59 percent), and utilities (1.59 percent) (1.57 per cent). Finance, banking, metals, and real estate all finished in the black.