New Delhi, August 5
World stocks sank for an eighth straight session on Friday, wiping $2.5 trillion off their value on the week, as concern ballooned over the slowing global economy and the spread of debt anguish into Italy and Spain. Closer home, it was a Friday free-fall for the Indian stock markets. Concerns over growth of the US economy pummeled the BSE Sensex to a 14-month low.

Investors were left poorer by over Rs 1.33 lakh crore after the crash. The total investors' wealth stood at Rs 6,349,524.09 crore - down from Rs 6,482,649.67 at the end of Thursday’s market closing.

Global equities were down 1.5 per cent on the day for a roughly 8.5 per cent loss this week. Emerging market shares stumbled 3.2 per cent on the day. After a huge fall in the US markets last night, the BSE Sensex fell by 387 points, or 2.19 per cent to 17,305.87- the level last seen on June 10, 2010. In intra-day trade, the market had lost over 702 points to slip below 17,000 points and touch a low of 16,990.91 points. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the plunge in the stock markets was purely due to external factors, like concerns over the US recovery and Euro Zone debt crisis, and hoped the volatility was temporary and the sentiment would recover soon. Phani Shekhar, fund manager, Angel Broking said the sell-off had been triggered by worries over a US slowdown. He said that the timing of the fall was surprising as it was expected in the run-up to the US debt deal on August 3. He said that oil and commodities prices had also fallen. This was good for the country in the long run. D K Aggarwal, CMD, Sanlam Investments said the rout in global equity markets could be attributed to fears of recession.

The possibility of a downgrade of US Credit rating and spreading of debt contagion in Europe to Italy and Spain from Greece, Ireland and Portugal also weighed in. Aggarwal said the spending cuts of $2.4 trillion over the next 10 years in the US was being viewed as rollback of fiscal stimulus. The European Central Bank’s recent offer asking banks to borrow any amount of money for six months sent a fear message across that there was fear of crisis in credit markets in the region. High liquidity in the capital and commodity markets because of fiscal and monetary stimulus now seems to be moving in reverse direction.

All the sectors were hit with software, auto, banks and the ADAG pack facing selling pressure in the Indian markets. - With Agency Inputs Box if needed FM blames external factors Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the plunge in the stock markets was purely due to external factors, like concerns over the US recovery and Euro Zone debt crisis, and hoped the volatility was temporary and the sentiment would recover soon. 

China -2.15%
Shanghai Composite

Japan -3.72%
Nikkei

Hong Kong - 4.29%
Hang Seng

US - 4.78%
S&P 500 (Thursday closing)

UK -2.71%
FTSE 100