Investors lose 3.54 lakh crore rupees in the Monday market crash

The equity benchmarks did a free fall on Monday. The major reason is believed to be the fear of lockdown and closing of the businesses. as surging Covid-19 cases and the imposition of restrictions in parts of the country took a toll on Dalal Street. Investors lost Rs 3.54 lakh crore during the session.

The ongoing health crises have now struck the pockets of the rich as well as the common man. Parts of India are going through the partial and localised lockdown. This put restriction on many economic activities which has mounted fear in Dalal Street. The targets of around 11 per cent GDP growth and above 30 per cent earnings growth for FY22 that the market had assumed before the second wave of Covid-19 struck the country are likely to be missed, said an analyst.

“The steady rise in test positivity cases and the steady decline in recovery rates are areas of serious concern. But this negativity need not reflect fully in the market since the global clues are positive. The sharp recovery in global growth led by the US and China augurs well for markets globally. Bulls would be reluctant to go long; bears would hesitate to go short massively. Time to wait and watch,” said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services. Fear gauge India VIX surged 10.2 per cent to 22.48 as traders grew nervous. The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies momentarily dropped below Rs 200 lakh crore during the session.

FACTORS HURTING MARKET
Good news

• Yields fall: The dollar index was languishing near a one-month low against its rivals. Benchmark US 10-year Treasury yields edged lower towards multi-week lows hit last week.
• ECB meeting: The European Central Bank (ECB) meets on Thursday. No changes in the rates and guidance is expected while preliminary data on Friday activity around the globe for April is due Friday.

Bad news

• Covid rampage: India registered 2,61,500 new cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total caseload to 1,47,88,109. The Union Health Ministry said that the daily coronavirus positivity rate in India has doubled to 16.69 per cent in the last 12 days.
• Lockdown: While strict lockdown-like restrictions have been imposed in Maharashtra, experts have called for a 15-day self-imposed lockdown in Gujarat. The Rajasthan government has ordered the closure of offices and markets from Monday to May 3.

The blue-chip stocks have shown some sign of positivity by five of them ended in the green. Shares of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories were the biggest gainer, up 1.5 per cent. Cipla and Divi’s Laboratories were also among the other gainers.

Broader markets
Broader market indices traded with cuts deeper than their headline peers in morning trade. Nifty Smallcap 100 ended down 2.4 per cent while Nifty Midcap 100 declined 2.1 per cent. The broadest index on NSE — the Nifty 500 — was closed 1.8 per cent lower.

Syngene, Cummins India, Dr Lal Pathlabs, Linde India, Future Retail and Thyrocare Technologies were gainers from the space while HEG, Bajaj Electricals, Hindustan Copper, AU Small Finance Bank, RBL Bank and Adani Total Gas were under selling pressure.

Global markets
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan the MSCI Asia-Pacific Index ended at 884.80, up 0.2 per cent.

On Friday, the S&P 500 gained 0.4 per cent to close at a new record high while clocking its sixth straight weekly gain. The Dow finished 0.5 per cent, also at a record high while the Nasdaq climbed 0.1 per cent. E-mini futures for the S&P 500 were down 0.3 per cent in early Asian trading.
source : https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/d-street-loses-rs-5-lakh-crore-in-30-minutes-key-reasons-behind-market-crash/articleshow/82138625.cms