MAYHEM! Investors lose Rs 250,000 crore!

A meltdown in the stock market, which continued for third consecutive day today, has wiped off over Rs 2.5 lakh crore (Rs 2.5 trillion) from investors' wealth, as shares of even large industrial groups came under pressure.

The total investor wealth, measured in terms of cumulative value of all listed shares, fell by about Rs 1,22,000 crore (Rs 1,220 billion) on Friday, when the market benchmark Sensex fell by 297.50 points to its lowest level in over 18 months.

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Of the total loss of Rs 2,55,000 crore (Rs 2,550 billion) in three days, nearly Rs 1,10,000 crore (Rs 1,100 billion) has been lost in the shares of 30 Sensex companies.

The total valuation of all 30 Sensex companies now stands at Rs 26,69,703 crore (Rs 26,697.03 billion), while that of all listed companies on the BSE is Rs 58,17,227 crore (Rs 58,172.27 billion).

While promoters hold nearly 60 per cent of shares, the rest are with various investor classes, including institutional ones like foreign institutional investors, mutual funds, banks and insurance companies, as also individual investors like small retail shareholders and high net worth individuals.

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In the ongoing slump in the market, shares of even large industrial groups have fallen sharply.

The shares of RIL on Friday fell by 4.6 per cent, while losses were even higher for Tata

Steel, DLF and Jaiprakash Associates.

Coal India, SBI, Tata Power, Hindalco, Maruti, ITC, Wipro, Sterlite Industries, NTPC and Tata Motors also recorded losses of 2-4 per cent.

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Companies from Anil Ambani group were among the biggest losers. RCOM was down over 10 per cent, Reliance Capital plunged by nearly 12 per cent, Reliance Infra was down 7 per cent, Reliance Power by over 5 per cent and Reliance Broadcast  by about 4 per cent.

Reliance Mediaworks was the only exception in the group with a gain of 1.7 per cent.

The total valuation of the entire Anil Ambani group stood at about Rs 57,260 crore (Rs 572.6 billion) -- which is lower than that of a single company among the top 20 most valued firms.

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In Tata group also, shares of almost all the companies ended lower on Friday, while similar was the case for many other business houses like Aditya Birla, Vedanta, Adani, Mahindra and Bajaj groups.

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries lost its crown of the country's most valued firm to state-run ONGC, within days of reclaiming this position from another PSU major Coal India.