Rs crashes by 71 paise, Sensex slides 605 points
25 Jun 2016 1:16 AM GMT
In a bloody carnage on Dalal Street, market benchmark Sensex plunged by 604.51 points today to 26,397.71, its biggest single-day fall in nearly four months, as a shock victory for ‘Leave’ camp in the UK referendum sent markets across the world into a tailspin. As a result, total investor wealth, measured in terms of cumulative market value of all listed stocks, tanked nearly Rs 1.79 lakh crore.
The rupee also took a sharp plunge of 96 paise (intra-day) against the US dollar to crash below the 68-level, but RBI intervention to infuse liquidity helped the local currency recoup some early losses.
Britain voted to leave the EU today in a deadly blow to the 28-nation bloc, forcing Prime Minister David Cameron to announce resignation in the wake of defeat in the referendum whose result triggered a panic reaction in world markets. Global markets went into a tizzy with Japan’s Nikkei tumbling 7.92 per cent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 2.92 per cent.
European stocks was also trading lower with London Stock Exchange’s FTSE index down 5 per cent after crashing 9 per cent in early deals. Domestic stocks, which had plunged close to 1,100 points in early trade, recouped some of the losses on value-buying in pre-close session and talking-up by influential policymakers, including Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan. After opening lower at 26,367.48, the BSE Sensex continued to slide, hit by plunging global markets, forcing the index to crack the 26,000-mark and touch a low of 25,911.33.
However, value-buying in key bluechips, helped the index recover part of the lost ground to close the session 604.51 points or 2.24 per cent down at 26,397.71. This was the index’s weakest closing since February 11.
The 50-share NSE Nifty, which cracked below 8,000-level to hit a low of 7,927.05 during the session, managed to recover part of the initial losses and settled 181.85 points or 2.20 per cent down at 8,088.60. Companies with large exposure to the UK, led by Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Bharat Forge, Infosys, TCS, Hindalco and Tech Mahindra, lost heavily.
Gold up Rs 1,215 to 26-month high of Rs 30,885
Gold prices zoomed to 26-month high of Rs 30,885 per ten gram on Friday in the biggest single-day gain of Rs 1,215 since August 2013 as Britain voted to exit the European Union leading to bloodbath in global equity and currency markets.
It was gold’s highest closing level of Rs 30,730 after April 28, 2014 in the bullion market here. The rupee too hit a four-month low of 68.21 against the US dollar, making the dollar-quoted gold expensive. Silver also registered a steep rise of Rs 1,000 to Rs 42,300 per kg, largely in tandem with global trend as money flew to safe-haven investments following trouble over Brexit — Britain’s exit from EU.
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