While the benchmark indices may only be 11-15 per cent off their all-time highs, the dollar value of holdings at the peak has fallen by half or even three quarters.
In fact, the value of the Sensex adjusted for the relative loss in the rupee’s value is close to levels previously seen in early 2009.
A foreign investor who had holdings worth $100 in November 2010 or January 2008 (the last two times the market peaked near 21,000) would now be worth $43 and $26, respectively.
The Sensex has fallen 11.65 per cent since its all-time high of 21,004.96 in November 2010; the rupee has fallen 45.44 per cent since then.
So, while in absolute terms, the Sensex has only dropped to 18,558.13, for a foreign investor, the losses are about 57 per cent.
Adjusted for the fall in the currency, the equivalent Sensex value of his holdings is sub-10,000.
The previous high of the Sensex was January 8, 2008, at the peak of the bull-run; it hit a closing high of 20,873.33.
The Sensex has fallen 11.09 per cent in absolute terms.
At that time, the rupee’s exchange rate against the dollar was 39.27.
Relative to the dollar, it has lost 63.73 per cent.
The Sensex value adjusted for the rupee’s fall is sub-6,000.
So far this year, foreign institutional investors have been net buyers by Rs 61,583 crore (Rs 615.83 billion), though they have been net sellers by Rs 19,633.4 crore (Rs 196.33 billion) in the
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