Market closing: Investors lose over 2 lakh crore in a day

Domestic equity benchmark indices, after having opened at fresh all-time highs on Wednesday morning, ended the day’s trading session deep in the red.

At close, Sensex was 694.92 points, or 1.56 per cent, down at 43,828.10 while Nifty was at 12,858.40, down 196.75 points or 1.51 per cent.

The strong selloff significantly eroded the market-capitalisation of BSE-listed firms. Investors lost about 2.2 lakh crore in a single day as the cumulative m-cap of BSE-listed firms dropped to Rs 172.6 lakh crore on November 25 from 174.82 lakh crore on November 24.

Global markets

World shares rallied to a record peak on Wednesday following an overnight surge that saw the Dow Jones benchmark crack 30,000 for the first time as investors cheered a dramatically improved global outlook. 

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei rallied 0.5% to a 29-year high while MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gave up early gains to trade down 0.2% as Chinese shares were capped by worries about rising debt defaults.

In commodities, oil rose for the fourth straight session on Wednesday as the market shrugged off an industry report showing US crude stockpiles rose more than expected, extending a rally driven by hopes that a Covid-19 vaccine will boost fuel demand.

(With inputs from Reuters)