Bloodbath on D-St | Sensex registers worst loss ever, loses over 1,900 points due to crude oil collapse, coronavirus

Indian equities witnessed an unprecedented bloodbath on Monday with all gains made in the past two and half years wiped out, as the crude war and Yes Bank collapse weighed heavy on the market.

The benchmark indices, which usually outperform the broader markets, collapsed by over 5% -- the biggest fall ever in the terms of the points.

Before closing with losses of 1,942 points (5.17%) at 35,634.95, the 30-share BSE Sensex, in the intraday collapsed by over 2,300 points. Among the indices in BSE, the benchmark Sensex bled the most in the day, indicating a huge outflow of the foreign funds -- who usually park their monies in blue-chip stocks. During the day foreign investors withdrew a net of Rs 6,595.56 crore from the Indian equities.

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The stocks of oil companies and banks were the worst hit in the day. On BSE Sensex, ONGC was the biggest loser of the day with share tanking 17%, followed by Reliance (12.52%) and IndusInd Bank (12.06%).

The sentiment in the markets was heavily negative, with a paltry 316 advances as against 2,202 declines. During the day Rs 6.8 lakh crore of the investor wealth was wiped off -- with investors losing all the fresh monies they had made over their investments in past two and a half years.

"Markets suffered it biggest fall in recent times as a combination of Ncovid-19 coupled with Yes Bank and other domestic travails leaving investors wondering whether they should bottom fish or catch the proverbial falling knife," said Anubhav Srivastava, Partner, Infinity Alternatives.

On the other hand, broader index -- 50-share NSE Nifty -- crumbled to close at 10,451.45 points, down 538 (4.9%).

At NSE, the media, metal and bank indices were the worse hit -- all tanking in the range of 6.5% to 8%.

"Nifty index started the week on a negative note due to sharp sell-off across the globe. Blood-bath was seen across the street as the cases of Corona Virus rises outside China and huge fall in Crude price," says Chandan Taparia of Motilal Oswal.

Other global indices also witnessed the meltdown in the equity. At the time of filing this copy Italian index, Milano Indice di Borsa was the worst loser, with a crash of over 10%.

Meanwhile, as foreign investors pulled out from the Indian markets, the rupee tanked to sub-74-level for the first time in 16 months and is nearing an all-time low of 74.45, despite crude oil prices tanking. The domestic currency ended the day's trade with a 43 paise loss at 74.15 against the US dollar.