The benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange lost another 1.24 per cent (80.99 points) to close Wednesday at a two-month low of 6454.46.
Selling was reported across all sectors, with scrips of consumer durable, banks, public sector companies and technology companies reporting the largest losses. But select fast moving consumer goods company counters were in the limelight today.
Dealers said selling pressure came from all quarters, the bearish undertone being set by the lack of fresh FII buying.
According to data posted on the Securities and Exchange Board of India website, FIIs sold equity worth Rs 42.50 crore (Rs 425 million) on Tuesday after buying a small amount of equity worth Rs 43.80 crore (Rs 438 million) on Monday.
Dealers said though mutual funds have been buying consistently, their buying has been swamped by the wave of selling from other quarters. Domestic mutual funds bought equity worth Rs 91.29 crore (Rs 912.9 million) on Tuesday, on top of the purchases of Rs 142.34 crore (Rs 1.42 billion) on Monday.
In the BSE Sensex basket, 19 out of the 30 scrips closed lower. The breadth of the market was negative, with losers outpacing gainers 19:5.
Sustained selling pressure in the last 9 trading days since March 10 has knocked off 6.98 per cent (Rs 1, 24,418 crore) from investor wealth, measured in terms of the market capitalisation of stocks traded on the BSE.
The BSE's market capitalisation has declined from Rs 17,83,360 crore (Rs 17833.6 billion) on March 10 to Rs 16,58,942 crore (Rs 16589.42 billion) on March 23 and the 30-scrip Sensex, has lost 6.6 per cent (453 points) in value.
The erosion in the investor wealth has been spread across the board: eight in every 10 stocks traded in the last nine trading days has indeed lost value. Only 10 sectors of the 112 sectors classified by Business Standard Research Bureau showed some gains.
These gains, however, were small, ranging between one per cent and six per cent. The other 102 sectors succumbed to the selling pressure of the last nine trading days and the average loss in value works out to 7.13 per cent.
Scrips in the banking, refineries, power, information technology and diversified sectors were the major losers in value and their combined loss in value accounts for more than half of the fall in the market capitalisation.
Bank stocks have been the largest
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