Market plunges over sell-off in banking stocks, investors lose Rs 3.28 trn

A sharp plunge in the equity market made investors poorer by Rs 3.28 trillion on Friday as the BSE barometer Sensex plummeted over 1,400 points in early trade led by massive sell-off in banking, metal and energy stocks.

Tracking the plunge in the indices, the market capitalisation of the BSE-listed companies dropped by Rs 3,28,684.5 crore to Rs 1,44,31,224.41 crore.

In the opening trade, the 30-share BSE benchmark index plunged 1,459.52 points. Later, it closed 893.99 points lower at 37,576.62 as sentiment in the market remained muted amid crisis at Yes Bank and rising concerns over the economic strain of the coronavirus outbreak.

Capital-starved Yes Bank was on Thursday placed under "moratorium", with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) capping deposit withdrawals at Rs 50,000 per account for a month and superseding its board.

Shares of Yes Bank came under intense selling pressure on Friday and plunged nearly 85 per cent during the day after the lender was placed under a 30-day moratorium. It later closed at Rs 16.20, down 56.04 per cent.

The entire banking pack also came crashing, with RBL Bank closing 14 per cent lower, followed by SBI which dropped 6.19 per cent, IndusInd Bank 5.62 per cent, ICICI Bank 3.67 per cent and Axis Bank 2.90 per cent on the BSE.

The BSE bank index dropped 3.46 per cent.

From the 30-share pack, 27 constituents closed with losses led by Tata Steel, SBI, IndusInd Bank, HDFC and ICICI Bank which plunged up to 6.5 per cent.

HDFC, Reliance Industries (RIL), ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI and Infosys were the major drag for the 30-share index in terms of index contribution.

RIL, the most-valued firm in terms of market valuation, fell more than 3 per cent lower.

All BSE sectoral indices ended in the red, with metal plunging 4.40 per cent, followed by bankex, finance, energy, realty, oil and gas, power and industrials.

Investors took the Yes Bank event negatively because it raises a question on the stability of the overall Indian financial system, said Santosh Meenas, senior analyst, TradingBells.

According to him, the market is facing a double-whammy situation where the global markets are struggling on the back of coronavirus worries and Yes Bank fiasco is a setback event on the domestic level.

"The Indian markets witnessed huge sell-off in today's (Friday) session led by weak global cues and Yes Bank debacle which spooked investor sentiments," Ajit Mishra, vice-president (research), Religare Broking, said.

On the BSE, 1,919 scrips declined, while 527 advanced and 128 remained unchanged.

More than 600 stocks hit their one-year-low level on Friday.