Intra-day volatility in stock markets last week led to a notional loss of Rs 220,621 crore (Rs 2,206.21 billion) worth of investors' wealth.
The 30-scrip Sensex yo-yoed by over 1,000 points during five trading days of the week if one takes into account the levels of the index daily -- the previous day's closing level of Sensex, the day's high and the day's close.
Stock brokers said the day traders were hit hardest by the intra-day volatility. Day traders are not investors. They normally buy or sell shares during the day and square off transactions intra-day.
The high volatility notionally shaved off Rs 31,815 crore (Rs 318.15 billion) wealth on Monday, Rs 39,499 crore (Rs 394.99 billion) on Tuesday, Rs 77,986 crore (Rs 779.86 billion) on Wednesday, Rs 21,553 crore (Rs 215.53 billion) on Thursday and Rs 49,768 crore (Rs 497.68 billion) on Friday.
The erosion of wealth is the difference between the market capitalisation of the scrip at day's high level and at closing levels.
The volatility perked up the turnover on both the Bombay Stock Exchange as well as the National Stock Exchange. The combined turnover last week rose by 21.2 per cent to Rs 51,412 crore (Rs 514.12 billion) from Rs 42,420 crore (Rs 424.20 billion) during the week ended November 26.
The number of shares traded on the both exchanges rose from 211.43 crore (Rs 2.114 billion) shares to 250.74 crore (Rs 2.507 billion) shares.
As many as 46 stocks witnessed intra-day value erosion between Rs 1,000 and Rs 9,000 crore (Rs 10-90 billion). For 43 scrips, the erosion was between Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 5-10 billion); for 202 stocks between Rs 100 and Rs 500 crore (Rs 1-5 billion); and for 162 stocks between Rs 50 and Rs 100 crore (Rs 500 million and Rs 1 billion).
The oil and gas giant ONGC witnessed intra-day value erosion of Rs 8,692 crore (Rs 86.92 billion), followed by Reliance Industries Rs 8,043 crore (Rs 80.43 billion), NTPC Rs 7,957 crore (Rs 79.57 billion), Bharti Tele Rs 7,329 crore (Rs 73.29 billion), Wipro Rs 6,666 crore (Rs 66. 66 billion), and Indian Oil Rs 5,546 crore (Rs 55.46 billion).
The Sensex consolidated last week gaining 72.58 points to close at 8961.61. The index gained 105.91 points on November 28 and 155.97 points on December 1 and lost 63.58 points on November 29 and 142.35 points on November 30.
The Sensex got into a volatile mode after crossing the 9,000 level on Monday, November 28. It gained 105.91 on Monday to close at 8,994.94 over Friday's (November 25) close of 8,889.03. So, the day's volatility was 10.69 points.
After opening six points up on Tuesday, Sensex was down 124.83 points from the day's high and by the time it closed it lost 63.78 points, marking an intra-day volatility of 190 points.
On Wednesday, the Sensex witnessed an intra-day volatility of 265 points between the day's high and low levels. It gained 102.83 points in the morning at 9,033.99 and went down by 265 points to 8,768.80 to close at 8,788.81, losing 142.35 points.
On Thursday, the Sensex was up 190 points from the day's low before settling at 8,944.78, up 155.97 points. On Friday, it was up 113.19 points in the morning to decline by 114.27 points from the day's high level before settling at 8,961.61.