GLOBAL MELTDOWN OF MARKETS

ALL MAJOR INDICES RECORD HEAVY LOSSES

World Stock Markets today experienced major fall after a record-breaking loss on Wall Street as panicked investors fret over rising US borrowing costs and take profits after months of market euphoria. Frankfurt's DAX fell 1.97 per cent and Paris CAC lost 1.75 per cent. London's FTSE too fell 1.73 per cent. In Asia, Tokyo led a collapse throughout the region, briefly diving almost seven percent before closing down 4.7 percent. Hong Kong lost more than five percent in its worst day since summer 2015, while Sydney and Singapore each sank three per cent. Among other Asian markets Seoul lost 1.5 percent, Taipei sank five percent, Manila plunged 1.1 percent and Shanghai gave up 3.4 percent. Mumbai was 0.9 percent lower, Bangkok plunged 2.4 percent and Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur were also well down. Other assets were also hammered, with a slump in oil prices scything energy firms, while higher-yielding currencies have been hit by a flight to safe havens. Selling kicked in on Friday when official data showed another jump in US jobs and a rally in wage growth, fuelling fears that inflation will surge this year and that the Fed will be forced to raises rates more than expected. The so-called Vix volatility index more than doubled in US trade yesterday. Dealers tracked their colleagues in New York, where the Dow Monday suffered its worst points fall in history and wiped out all its 2018 gains, while the S&P 500 also took a beating to sit down for the year.

Global stocks have enjoyed months of surges fuelled by optimism over the US economy, corporate earnings and the global outlook. The winning streak was fanned by the passage of Donald Trump's massive tax cuts bill in December, which led several big-name firms to announce pay rises and bonuses. At the same time the economy continues to improve across the board. But while traders have been piling into equities, pushing many global indexes to record or multi-year highs, there has been growing concern on trading floors about elevated US Treasury bond yields -- at four-year highs -- and the likelihood of fresh Federal Reserve interest rate rises.

"How far it goes down? You tell me," Steven Wieting, Global Chief Investment Strategist at Citigroup, told Bloomberg TV. You cannot keep up this speed of decline "day after day after day without finding some sort of bottom rather quickly", he added, predicting further volatility.

Energy firms were among the biggest victims, with Inpex losing more than four percent in Tokyo, while CNOOC, PetroChina and Sinopec were down between five and 6.5 percent in Hong Kong. Sydney-listed Woodside Petroleum was off nearly four three per cent and BHP shed 2.7 per cent.

Tech giants were also targeted after disappointing earnings reports from Apple and Google parent Alphabet. Tencent, Sharp and Samsung all got a bloody nose. On currency markets the yen, considered a go-to unit in times of turmoil and uncertainty, climbed against the dollar.

The greenback, however, rose against the pound and euro thanks to the rate rise expectations. The commodity-dependent Australian dollar tanked one percent against its US counterpart, while South Korea's won, Indonesia's rupiah and the Mexican peso were among the other big losers.

Bitcoin continued its spiral downwards after some banks banned their customers from buying it with credit cards. The news is the latest to hit the cryptocurrency after recent crackdowns by authorities in India, South Korea, China and Russia.

SENSEX FURTHER DOWN 560 POINTS

Equities nursed losses for the sixth straight session today as the post-Budget sell-off continued amid a meltdown in the world markets. Investors saw a wealth erosion of more than Rs 2.72 lakh crore after the BSE Sensex plunged by 561 points to close at a one-month low of 34,195.94. The broader Nifty too shed 168.30 points to finish at 10,498.25. Domestic participants were also anxious ahead of the RBI policy meet outcome amid indications that the central bank will keep rates on hold in view of firming inflation.

The start was distinctly weak as the Sensex crashed by about 1,275 points to sink below the key 34,000-mark while the NSE Nifty plunged 390 points within minutes of opening. However, value-buying emerged at several counters during the late afternoon session. The Sensex finally ended at 34,195.94, down 561.22 points, or 1.61 per cent. This is its weakest closing since January 5 when the gauge had settled at 34,153.85. The 50-share NSE Nifty too closed down 168.30 points, or 1.58 per cent, at 10,498.25 -- a level last seen on January 3 when it closed at 10,443.20. Intra-day, it touched a low of 10,276.30 and a high of 10,594.15.

The Sensex has now lost 1,769.08 points since the Budget on February 1, which imposed a long-term capital gains tax on equities and projected a wider fiscal deficit than earlier targeted.

According to provisional data, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), who had been making persistent purchases, net sold shares worth Rs 1,263.57 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,163.64 crore yesterday.

In the Sensex pack, Tata Motors emerged as the worst performer by crashing 5.45 per cent, followed by TCS at 3.58 per cent. Other losers were RIL, Dr Reddy's, Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, Infosys, Maruti Suzuki, L&T, M&M, Hero MotoCorp, HDFC Bank, Adani Ports, NTPC, Wipro, Power Grid, Bajaj Auto and Kotak Mahindra Bank, declining up to 2.70 per cent.

Sector-wise, the BSE IT index fell the most at 2.80 per cent. Consumer durables, teck, realty, healthcare, FMCG, PSU, auto, metal, power, oil & gas, bankex and infrastructure stocks also kept low. Small-cap and mid-cap indices lost 2.19 per cent and 1.68 per cent, respectively.

Some stocks still hit 52-week highs

As the market rout continued, some stocks still managed to make gains, with over 30 companies hitting their 52-week high levels today and gains in blue- chips such as Bharti Airtel and Tata Steel cushioned the fall in the broader market to some extent. As many as 32 stocks hit their 52-week high on BSE today, including Polaris Consulting & Services. Among the 30-share Sensex stocks, four companies were trading in green led by Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, Larsen & Toubro and ICICI Bank.

On the other hand, over 200 stocks hit their 52-week lows on BSE today. Extending its falling streak for the sixth straight session, the 30-share index fell by 1,274.35 points or 3.66 per cent to 33,482.81. Stock market bloodbath has wiped out a staggering Rs 9.6 lakh crore from investor wealth in three days with the rout continuing amid sell-off in world markets.