Dalal Street on Tuesday witnessed a bloodbath as the BSE benchmark Sensex crashed by 855 points and investors lost nearly Rs3 lakh crore of their wealth as shares of over 2,200 listed firms ended in the red. This is the worst-ever crash in five-and-a-half years as stock markets across the world went into a tailspin amid speculation about the probable exit of Greece from the Euro zone and oil prices cracking below the $50 per barrel mark.
Tracking a steep fall in the local share market, even the rupee washed out initial gains and ended with a loss of 16 paise at over-one week low of 63.57 against the Greenback. The BSE benchmark index Sensex closed at 26,987.46, down 854.86 points or 3.07 per cent while Nifty tanked 251 points, or 3 per cent, on massive selling across sectors. After crude oil price fell below $50 per barrel, the first time in almost five years, the markets were spooked by fears of an disorderly exit of Greece from the Euro zone.
Oil prices continued to drop, with the US benchmark contract briefly falling below $50 a barrel for the first time in more than five years on concerns about ample global supplies and weakening economic growth. Oil & gas, realty, metal, capital goods, auto, consumer durables and banking shares took the lead in the downslide. “The sharp fall in the markets came as a surprise and was likely driven by weak global markets. There are concerns about the weakness in the global economy (crude prices have been falling sharply) as well as the after-effects of a potential exit of Greece from EU,” said Kotak Securities, Head of Private Client Group Research, Dipen Shah.
The BSE 30-share gauge resumed with a downside gap and gradually moved southwards to break the 27,000-mark to a low of 26,937.06 before concluding at 26,987.46 — logging a steep fall of 854.86 points or 3.07 per cent. This its worst drop since the 869.65-point crash on July 6, 2009. As many as 29 out of 30 Sensex-based scrips closed in the red with the biggest loser ONGC falling 6 per cent while HUl was the lone gainer. In tandem with overall trends, the BSE small-cap and mid-cap indices lost 2.95 per cent each respectively.
The 50-issue NSE Nifty stumbled by 251.05 points, or 3.00 per cent, to end near the 8,100-level at 8,127.35. As stock markets crashed sharply, the marketplace was rife with speculation about a ‘fat finger trade’ in a future contract of benchmark Nifty even as NSE officials maintained that trading was normal.