Bloodbath continues on D-Street; Investors lose over Rs 8 lakh crore this week

New Delhi: Stock market bled profusely this week with Sensex lossing a massive 1,850 points by slipping below 35K-level, while the broader Nifty plummeted below the key 11,400-level by shedding 600 points.

On Friday's close, the BSE Sensex plunged 792 points Friday to end at a near six-month low. Today's market crash came after the RBI unexpectedly maintained status quo on the policy rate but changed its stance to "calibrated tightening" amid the rupee breaching the 74-mark immediately thereafter. The central bank kept the interest rate unchanged at 6.5 percent. The domestic currency was quoting 65 paise lower at 74.23 (intra-day) against the dollar soon after the RBI announced its monetary policy.

Led by the sharp sell-off in equities, the market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies tumbled Rs 5,02,895.97 crore to Rs 1,40,39,742.92 crore on Thursday. Adding today's m-cap figures the companies tumbled another Rs 3,79,124.7 to Rs 1,36,60,618.22. On the weekly basis, investors wealth eroded more than Rs 8.82 lakh crore.

Sentiments were also bearish largely in tandem with a sell-off in global markets as US Treasury yields surged to multi-year highs on robust economic data and comments from the Federal Reserve, sparking fears of accelerating inflation, news agency PTI quoting brokers said.

The 30-share index hit a low of 34,202.22, before finishing 792.17 points, or 2.25 percent down at 34,376.99. This is its lowest closing since April 23 when it had finished at 34,450.77 points. The gauge had lost 1,356.98 points in the previous two sessions on rupee woes and boiling crude oil prices.

The wider National Stock Exchange index Nifty too tanked 282.80 points, or 2.67 percent to close at 10,316.45 points. Intra-day, it hit a low of 10,261.90 soon after RBI's policy announcement.

Shares of Oil Marketing companies fell 16 percent each, a day after government's decision to reduce excise on fuel price. Concerned over the spike in fuel prices, finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday announced excise duty cut on petrol and diesel by Rs 1.50 per litre adding that  Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) will absorb Re 1 per litre on fuel.

The price cut sparked fears of the country going back toward the regulated regime where the prices of diesel and petrol were controlled by the government. Petrol prices were regulated until 2012, while diesel prices remained so until 2014.

With Agency Inputs