PSUs and Adani stocks contribute almost half of BSE’s market capitalization loss

On Tuesday, a significant 6% fall in benchmark indices wiped out an incredible ₹31 lakh crore of investors’ wealth in a single day.

The widespread sell-off also saw all but one sector index end in the red. The only sector that resisted Tuesday’s rout was the Nifty FMCG index.

The consumer staples gauge gained nearly 1% as investors increased their defensive bets amid uncertainty over the election results.

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Unsurprisingly, stocks of public sector undertakings (PSUs), leaders of the current bullish trend, took the lead, followed by stocks controlled by billionaire Gautam Adani.

While the market valuation of PSU shares shrank by ₹11.3 lakh crore, the Adani group’s valuation shrank by ₹3.6 lakh crore.

The two together lost ₹15 lakh crore, accounting for half of the total market capitalization loss on Tuesday.

The latest figures indicate that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party is unlikely to hold a majority on its own in the 2024 elections, and the streets have become nervous.

The government may not function as well as it did in the past decade, when the prime minister’s office exercised tight control over all government machinery, strategists including UBS’s Sunil Tirumalai wrote.

“As the BJP does not have a simple majority, the negotiating powers change significantly within the alliance,” UBS wrote in a note to investors. He further adds that since the BJP does not have a simple majority, the bargaining powers change significantly within the alliance.

While State Bank of India (SBI) saw the biggest loss among PSUs, Adani Enterprises and Adani Green Energy lost ₹80,250 crore and ₹62,000 crore, respectively.

Shares of SBI fell as much as 14.4 per cent in Tuesday’s trade, wiping out a whopping ₹1.2 lakh crore.

This is followed by Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), Hindustan Aeronautics and ONGC.

The Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap indices lost 8% each on a day when the number of stocks finishing in the red far outnumbered gainers.

On the NSE, more than 16 stocks lost value on Tuesday for every gainer.

The Nifty50 Volatility Index, which tracks the expected volatility of the index, rose 28%, its highest level since February 24, 2022.

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