Investors had little to cheer today as they lost Rs 77,000 crore with the Sensex taking a hit of 298.16 points or 1.83 per cent. Across the market, over 1700 stocks declined.
The sentiment was also impacted by the global equities diving on deepening Eurozone crisis that drove investors to shift capital away from riskier assets.
No counter could escape the investor wrath as selling was across-the-board with all BSE sectoral indices closing with losses. Among the 30 Sensex stocks, 28 counters logged losses.
Among Sensex stocks, Tata Motors was the biggest loser dropping 7.34 per cent on a 29 per cent drop in April vehicle sales of JLR.
At the Interbank Foreign Exchange market, the rupee opened sharply lower at 54.06 and mostly remained bearish. Intra-day it plunged to all time low of 54.56, surpassing the previous all-time low of 54.30 recorded in December last year. It finally closed at 54.50.
A depreciating rupee raises import costs, thereby pushing up prices of important items in the economy. The domestic currency has been under pressure from a slew of factors such as concerns over a record trade deficit, which widened to over 10.9 per cent of gross domestic product in the last fiscal, and signals of deteriorating economic fundamentals.
Worried over the deteriorating global economic situation and its impact on India, Mukherjee announced that the government would resort to "unpopular" austerity measures to deal with fiscal problems but made it clear there is no need for pressing the "panic button". (MORE) PTI TEAM