Sensex and Nifty extended their fall on Monday as weak global cues added to the poor investor sentiment on Friday's Budget proposals.
The markets saw a bloodbath with the Sensex fell almost 700 points giving up the 39,000 level, while the Nifty50 has lost over 200 points, trading below 11,600.
According to an Economic Times report, over Rs 5 lakh crore of equity investor wealth got wiped out in last two sessions. Market capitalisation of all the BSE-listed companies plunged to Rs 148.43 lakh crore on Monday (around 11.40 am) from Rs 153.58 lakh crore at the start of Friday.
As of 2:08pm, Sensex was 764 points down at 38,748, while Nifty was down 240 points at 11,570.80.
The Nifty Midcap index fell over 2.8% (over 450 points), while BSE Midcap has also dipped nearly 2 percent.
The Bank Nifty fell over 770 points and Nifty PSU Banks shed over 5.5% leading the worst performers. In fact, no sector is advancing with all 43 down
A sell-off in the global markets was triggered as US reported strong job data, which faded hopes of an aggressive rate cut by the Federal Reserve.
Besides, Punjab National Bank's (PNB) admission on Saturday that it had been defrauded of Rs 3,805.15 crore by Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd (BPSL) dragged the PSU Bank index causing it to fall over 5 per cent.
During the afternoon trade, PNB was down 10.57 per cent or Rs 8.65 apiece to Rs 73.15.
Heavy selling was seen in PSU banks such as Bank of India, Union Bank of India and Canara Bank, which were trading over 7 to 10 per cent lower. Allahabad Bank, Syndicate Bank and Bank of Baroda declined in the range of 4 to 5 per cent.
At 1.27 p.m., the Sensex was trading 652.69 points or 1.65 per cent lower at 38,860.70. The benchmark index opened at 38,879.29, lower from its Friday's close of 39,513.39.
The broader Nifty slipped to 11,601.05, lower by 210.10 or 1.78 per cent.