Investors lose Rs 6 lakh cr as Sensex drops 495 pts on foreign outflows

New Delhi: Investors' wealth slumped Rs 6 lakh crore on Thursday as markets fell sharply amid unabated foreign fund outflows.

Falling for the third day running, the BSE Sensex tanked 494.75 points or 0.61 per cent to settle at 81,006.61. During the day, it tumbled 595.72 points or 0.73 per cent to 80,905.64.

The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms tanked Rs 6,03,862.06 crore to Rs 4,57,25,183.01 crore (USD 5.44 trillion).

"Rising domestic inflation data released this week and continued FII selling weighed on the market sentiments. This along with disappointing Q2 earnings from major companies added to the pressure," Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Research, Wealth Management at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said.

From the 30 Sensex firms, Nestle declined over 3 per cent after the FMCG major reported a decline of 0.94 per cent in its net profit at Rs 899.49 crore for the second quarter that ended September 2024, as some of its key brands faced softer consumer demand and high commodity prices.

Mahindra & Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finserv, Titan, Tata Steel, Maruti and Axis Bank were among the other big laggards.

However, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Power Grid, Larsen & Toubro and State Bank of India were among the biggest gainers.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,435.94 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

The BSE midcap gauge declined 1.65 per cent and smallcap index fell 1.42 per cent.

Among the indices, realty tumbled 3.76 per cent, auto (3.48 per cent), consumer discretionary (2.45 per cent), consumer durables (2.28 per cent), commodities (1.77 per cent), oil & gas (1.54 per cent) and power (1.48 per cent).

BSE IT and tech emerged as the only gainers.

A total of 2,690 stocks declined while 1,272 advanced and 102 remained unchanged on the BSE.