Rs 83,249cr M-cap wiped out in 5 days

ONGC, Reliance lead decline - Sensex scrips lose Rs 44,216cr.

The current bear grip has wiped out Rs 83,249 crore in market capitalisation in the last five trading days between March 8 and March 15, 2004.

Only 453 stocks have increased shareholders' wealth by Rs 2,329 crore, while 1,740 firms have lost a whopping Rs 85,580 crore.

While the market capitalisation of ONGC declined by Rs 8,969 crore to Rs 1,12,363 crore, the Reliance counter lost Rs 7,526 crore to end with a market cap of Rs 75,816 crore.

Reliance Industries was also the major drag on the Sensex, accounting for nearly a fifth of the Sensex's fall of 393.59 points in the last five days.

ICICI Bank and Tata Steel pulled down the Sensex by around 32 points each while Tata Motors, SBI, Larsen & Toubro, Grasim and Infosys Technology together dragged the Sensex down 134 points.

As many as 16 Sensex stocks underperformed the markets, registering a value depreciation of over 6.98 per cent. Hero Honda lost 16.35 per cent to Rs 450.10, Tata Steel is down 13.63 per cent to Rs 388.50, Grasim is down 12.72 per cent to Rs 1069.45 and Tata Motors is down 12.54 per cent to Rs 467.80.

Gujarat Ambuja Cement, ACC and Tata Power have lost over 10 per cent each. HCL Infosystem bucked the trend with a price appreciation of 25.93 per cent in the last five trading days.

The stock moved up from Rs 603.45 on March 8 to Rs 759.90 today. Bombay Dyeing gained 22.31 per cent to Rs 171.05 while ABB moved up by 7.76 per cent to Rs 757.55.

Among groups, A category stocks were the major losers shedding market cap worth Rs 74,380 crore (down 6.75 per cent). B1 group shares depreciated lost Rs 7,424 crore (down 6.77 per cent), while B2 and Z group stocks lost Rs 1,445 crore (4.45 per cent).