Sensex posts biggest weekly fall in over 6 yrs

A day after bloodbath, the benchmark BSE Sensex today managed to end 34 points higher at 22,986.12, but logged its biggest weekly fall in over six years as fears of a global slowdown and disappointing quarterly numbers of blue-chips, especially banks, hammered stocks during the week.
Investors are fleeing risky assets and running to safe havens like gold and bonds. Both the indexes recorded their biggest weekly fall since July 2009 with Sensex falling 1,631 points or 6.62 per cent and Nifty down 508.15 points or 6.78 per cent.
The total investor wealth, measured in terms of cumulative value of all listed stocks on BSE, slumped by over Rs 7 lakh crore during the torrid week.

Moreover, since the start of the year, the Sensex has lost around 3,131.42 points or 12 per cent and logged weekly fall in five out of six weeks since then.
Sinking to its lowest level in 21 months, Sensex yesterday crashed 807 points to drop below 23,000-mark as concerns over global economy and mounting bad loans wiped off over Rs 3 lakh crore from the wealth of panic-stricken investors.
The Sensex has come off more than 23 per cent from its all-time peak of over 30,000, scaled nearly a year ago on March 4, 2015.

A fall of 20 per cent from an all-time peak is considered as a 'bear market' -- a term used for a sustained slide.

Meanwhile, attributing the recent crash in stock market to global factors, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said there was no need for "exaggerated panic" and investors should keep the economy's inherent strength in mind while investing.
The sensex resumed higher at 23,060.39 and hovered in a range of 23,161.15 TO 22,600.39 before ending at 22,986.12, showing a gain of 34.29 points or 0.15 per cent.
The NSE Nifty moved up marginally by 4.60 points or 0.07 per cent to close at 6,980.95 still closing at 21-month low.
Shares of Tata Motors ended 8.34 per cent higher at Rs 298.650, while Bharti Airtel rose 5.40 per cent to Rs 325.25.

Car sales fell for the first time after 14 months of continued growth in January as discounts dried up during the month with automakers correcting inventory at dealer levels post year-end freebies dole out.
Overseas, Asian stocks fell as investors continued to dump riskier assets. Nikkei tumbled 4.84 per cent, while Hong Kong and South Korea indexes fell sharply by 1.22 per cent and 1.41 per cent, respectively.
In the domestic market, 15 scrips out of the 30-share
Sensex ended higher while.
Major gainers were Tata Motors 8.34 per cent, Bharti Airtel 5.40 per cent, M&M 3.77 per cent, Axis Bank 3.52 per cent, NTPC 2.44 per cent, Sun Pharma 2.09 per cent, HUL 1.53 per cent, HDFC 1.47 per cent, TCS 1.39 per cent and ITC 0.52 per cent.

However, BHEL fell 13.13 per cent followed by Adani Ports by 5.20 per cent, ONGC 4.56 per cent, L&T 3.53 per cent, Tata Steel 3.18 per cent, ICICI Bank 2.58 per cent, Lupin 2.36 per cent, Cipla 2.29 per cent, GAIL 1.99 per cent and RIL 1.75 per cent.
Among sectoral and industrials indices, telecom rose by 5.56 per cent, auto 1.72 per cent, teck 1.02 per cent, utilities 0.61 per cent, FMGC 0.39 per cent and IT 0.25 per cent.
While, capital goods fell 3.05 per cent, oil&gas 2.47 per cent, energy 1.95 per cent, realty 1.26 per cent, metal 1.25 per cent, industrials 0.86 per cent and Healthcare 0.77 per cent.

Mid-cap and Small-cap indices fell by 0.78 per cent and 1.21 per cent, respectively.
The market breadth remained negative as 1,702 shares ended lower, 881 advanced, while 130 ruled steady of the total 2,713 stocks traded.
The total turnover rose to Rs 3,700.15 crore from Rs 2,972,11 crore yesterday.