Leaders Online: Stock markets fell sharply on Wednesday due to strong selling in the mid and small cap sectors. In today's trading session, the Sensex fell by as much as 1,100,000 points to below 72,700. Nifty fell below 22,000 with a drop of over 1 percent. The Sensex then fell 906 points to settle at 72,761. While the Nifty fell by 338 points to close at 21,997.
In today's session, small, mid-caps have lost momentum. BSE Midcap closed down 4.2 percent and BSE Smallcap 5.11 percent. All sectors except Nifty FMCG fell today. Nifty media, metal and realty indices were the worst hit. They each fell about 5 percent.
Economic TimesSmall cap index fell by up to 5 percent today, according to reports. This is the index's worst one-day performance since December 2022. While midcap fell by 3 percent. While the microcaps and SME stocks indices fell by 5 per cent each. Market capitalization of BSE listed companies fell by Rs 13 lakh crore to Rs 373 lakh crore due to today's fall. (Stock Market Crash)
Stock markets opened higher today on strong cues from global markets and buying by foreign investors. In particular, the market was supported by buying in ITC shares. But heavyweights Reliance and L&T fell, causing the Sensex to wobble.
'Hay' shares tumbled
The Sensex opened at 73,993 today. It then dropped to 72,515. Shares of Power Grid were the top losers on the Sensex. The stock fell 7 percent to Rs 263. Shares of NTPC and Tata Steel fell 6 percent each. Shares of Tata Motors, Titan, Bharti Airtel, Reliance, JSW Steel, Hindustan Unilever, LT, M&M, Sun Pharma, IndusInd Bank Wipro fell between 2-4 percent. Meanwhile, ITC shares were the top gainers. The stock rose more than 4 percent to Rs 423. Shares of Kotak Bank, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance rose marginally.
Nifty opened at 22,432 today. The Nifty then fell to 21,905. Coal India, Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, Power Grid, NTP fell between 6-8 percent on Nifty. While ITC, Kotak Bank saw an increase.
Adani shares tumbled
All 10 shares of the Adani Group saw a steep decline today. Some of its shares fell as much as 13 percent. This wiped off around Rs 90 thousand crore from their combined market capitalization by afternoon. Adani Green Energy fell 13 percent to an intraday low of Rs 1,650 on the NSE. Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports declined by 5 percent each.
Foreign institutional investors have also turned to buying Indian stocks. They have invested 3 billion dollars so far this month. But domestic factors have contributed to today's fall in the market. (Stock Market Crash)
SEBI's warning
After asking mutual funds last month to implement a system to protect the interests of smallcap and midcap investors, Sebi Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch has now issued a stern warning. Speaking on Monday, he had expressed concern over inflated valuations of small and mid-cap stocks. The repercussions of this are being felt in the market.
Mahadev Betting App Case
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has frozen shares worth Rs 1,100 crore held in the demat accounts of Dubai-based alleged hawala operator Hari Shankar Tibrewala in its probe into the multi-crore Mahadev online illegal betting app scam case. The ED has arrested two key associates of Tibrewala and has also seized assets of 13 entities associated with him. This led to Tibrewala's holdings in smallcap stocks. It is starting to sell flat. Tibrewala and his entities had stake in more than 30 listed stocks like Sigachi Industries, Gensol Engineering, Vikas Ecotech, Toyam Sports, LKP Finance etc. Most of these stocks have fallen after the ED action.
Read this:
