A total $147.16 billion worth of investors wealth is estimated to have been wiped out as Indian bourses witnessed the biggest intra-day fall on Thursday. Incessant selling gripped both Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex and the National Stock Exchange’s Nifty, which fell 2919 points and 868 points respectively.
After the historical fall of the 30-share index, Sensex closed at 32,778 points, while the 50-share Nifty settled at 9590 points. Only a month back on 12 February, Sensex was trading at 41,459 points and Nifty at 12,174 points.
According to data from bourses, investors suffered losses to the tune of $147.16 billion in Thursday’s fall alone. It was the most significant dip that the BSE and NSE have witnessed over the years.
Market expert Vivek Mittal told Sputnik, “Indian equity markets have fallen in response to Covid-19 being declared a pandemic by the WHO. It shows that the market had not factored in the potential threat from Covid-19 and had underestimated it.”
Indian shares had also fallen this Monday (9 March) on the back of multiple factors in addition to Covid-19 fears such as oil shock emanating from the collapse of the OPEC–Russia production cut deal and a crisis for the Indian private lender Yes Bank.
The previous biggest ever fall on the Sensex was on 24 October 2008, when the bourse lost 1070 points.