Market crash: Investors lose $100 billion in 4 days

The four-day carnage in stock markets has left investors poorer by over $100 billion, while they suffered a loss of more than Rs 1 lakh crore in Wednesday’s trade.

Measured in terms of total market capitalisation of all listed companies, the investor wealth in Indian stocks on Wednesday fell to Rs 58,60,000 crore -- registering a loss of close to Rs 1,09,000 crore from Tuesday's level.

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The stock market benchmark Sensex on Wednesday lost another 340 points to close below the 18,000 level -- taking its total fall in last four trading sessions to over 1,400 points.

During the same period, the total market capitalisation has plunged by more than Rs 4.35 lakh crore.

However, the loss in terms of US dollar is much sharper, given a depreciation of about five per cent in rupee value in the past four trading days, beginning August 16.
The rupee on Wednesday hit a new bottom below Rs 64.5 level against the US dollar, from a level of Rs 61.43 on August 14.

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In the US dollar terms, the total market capitalisation has fallen from $1,025 billion to little over $900 billion in the past four days.

India was recently edged out of the elite global league of stock markets with a trillion-dollar market capitalisation and its valuation continues to slip further below with persisting weakness in stocks and rupee values.

The market benchmark Sensex on Wednesday closed at 17,905.91 points -- almost the same level that it was at a year ago (17,885.26 points on August 21, 2012).

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In the past one month, the Sensex has fallen by over 11 per cent, while it has dropped by more than seven per cent in the last seven days.

The markets were showing signs of strong revival early this year and the investors' wealth had topped Rs 70 lakh crore level, while moving closer to the record high level of about Rs 72 lakh crore scaled in January 2008.

After remaining mostly range-bound in the first five months of 2013, the markets started losing ground and the weakness continues amid concerns about domestic economy and adverse global cues.