ET NEWS

Equity investors became poorer by Rs 9.69 lakh crore in two days of sharp fall in the stock markets, where the benchmark Sensex tumbled 1,555 points. The additional 25 per cent tariff imposed by the US on India came into effect on Wednesday, bringing the total amount of levies imposed on New Delhi to 50 per cent. Also, relentless foreign fund outflows dented investors' sentiment. On Thursday, the 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 705.97 points or 0.87 per cent to settle at 80,080.57. During the day, it dropped 773.52 points or 0.95 per cent to 80,013.02. In two days, the benchmark has plummeted 1,555.34 points or 1.90 per cent. The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms declined by Rs 9,69,740.79 crore to Rs 4,45,17,222.66 crore (USD 5.08 trillion) in two days. "Domestic equities ended lower as pessimism took hold following the implementation of tariffs on Indian goods, dampening investor sentiments. "While the cotton import duty exemption briefly lifted hopes of policy support to counter tariff impacts, triggering a short-lived intra-day recovery, investor mood remained fragile, with large caps declining and mid and small caps underperforming amid risk-off sentiment," Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Investments Limited, said. The domestic equity markets were closed on Wednesday on account of Ganesh Chaturthi. From the Sensex firms, HCL Tech, Infosys, Power Grid, Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Bharti Airtel and ICICI Bank were among the major laggards. However, Titan, Larsen & Toubro, Maruti and Axis Bank were among the gainers. The BSE midcap gauge dropped 1.09 per cent and the smallcap index declined 0.96 per cent. Among BSE sectoral indices, services tumbled 2.27 per cent, telecommunication (1.73 per cent), IT (1.68 per cent), BSE Focused IT (1.59 per cent), teck (1.59 per cent), realty (1.47 per cent) and utilities (1.26 per cent). Consumer Durables emerged as the only gainer. As many as 2,651 stocks declined while 1,458 advanced and 149 remained unchanged on the BSE.