Mumbai: The equity markets slumped sharply on Tuesday as a sharp sell-off in the global bond market coupled with the delay in the passage of key reform bills like the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and land acquisition Bill triggered heavy selling on the domestic bourses. About two lakh crore of investor wealth has reportedly been wiped out. The market sentiment also remained highly cautious ahead of the release of India’s industrial output data for March and retail inflation figures for April 2015. Moreover, the uncertainty around the bailout talks between crisis hit Greece and its creditors also weighed on the sentiments.
The Sensex plunged 629.82 points to end the trading session at 26,877.48 while the 50-share Nifty tanked 198.30 points to close the day at 8,126.95. The rupee on Tuesday slipped below the 64 level mark against the dollar to end the day at 64.16 as compared to its previous days close of 63.85 per dollar.
“The government’s decision to refer the two crucial bills to a separate panel didn’t go down well with global investors. This gave a signal that the government, despite having a strong majority in the Lok Sabha is facing challenges in implementing its reform agenda,” said Udaya Narayan Dubey, V-P, institutional desk at R.K.Global.
Foreign investors remained heavy sellers on Tuesday. They offloaded shares worth Rs1,329.43 crore. “The fall in rupee triggered unwin-ding of long positions by overseas investors in the derivative market,” said Deven Choksey, managing director, K.R. Choksey Securities.
