PTC Web Desk: Investors faced substantial losses as the stock market witnessed a sharp downturn on Wednesday. During the afternoon session, the Sensex took a significant hit, plummeting by 1109 points to 72,558, accompanied by pronounced sell-offs in the mid-cap and small-cap segments.
The Nifty also suffered as market conditions worsened, dropping by 422 points to 21,913, erasing gains made earlier in the day and reflecting a prevailing pessimism among investors on Dalal Street. The total losses incurred by investors amounted to a staggering Rs 14 lakh crore, causing the total investor wealth to shrink from Rs 385.64 lakh crore to Rs 371.69 lakh crore compared to the previous session.
Several leading stocks, including PowerGrid, NTPC, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, Titan Company, and Tata Motors were major contributors to the downturn observed on the Sensex. The market sentiment remained overwhelmingly negative, with 223 stocks hitting their 52-week lows while only 89 shares managed to reach their 52-week highs on the BSE.
Market breadth remained predominantly negative, with only 351 out of 3,926 stocks trading in the green while the majority of 3,526 stocks were in the red zone, and 66 stocks remained unchanged. All 19 sectoral indices on the BSE experienced losses, particularly in sectors such as oil and gas, metals, consumer durables, and capital goods.
The BSE auto index also recorded a significant decline of 1108 points, reaching 46,839 amid the market slump. Additionally, 1013 stocks hit their lower circuits, while 125 shares defied the trend and hit their upper circuit limits on the BSE.
The mid-cap and small-cap indices also experienced notable declines, with the BSE midcap index dropping by 1602 points to 37,635, and the small-cap index slipping by 2079 points to reach 40,752, indicating weakness in broader market sentiment.
In terms of FII-DII data, foreign institutional investors purchased equities worth Rs 73.12 crore on a net basis on Tuesday, while domestic investors bought shares amounting to Rs 2358.18 crore, according to provisional NSE data.
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