Indian equities crash on demonatisation, Trump lead

Each of the 30 shares that goes into the 30-share Sensex basket was trading in the red. The key index opened as much as 1,339.76 points

Mumbai, Nov 9: India's benchmark sensitive index (Sensex) lost 1,688 points or around 6.12 per cent at one point on Wednesday, following the government's decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, as also on the surprise lead of Republican candidate Donald Trump in the US presidential elections.

Each of the 30 shares that goes into the 30-share Sensex basket was trading in the red. The key index opened as much as 1,339.76 points, or 4.86 per cent lower, at 26,251.38 points, against the previous close at 27,591.14 points. It then drifted 350 points more.

But subsequently, some of the losses were recouped. Around an hour into trading, the index was ruling at 26,674.43 points, with a loss of 916.71 points, or 3.32 percent, live data with the exchange showed.

Among the 2,279 stocks that were trading on the Mumbai bourse Wednesday, 2,056 declined, 162 advanced, while 61 remained unchanged.

"In a sudden move the government has demonetised the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes. This, with news of Trump leading the counts in US elections so far, is weighing heavy on our markets today," Angel Broking said.

At the National Stock Exchange, the Nifty was quoting at 8,238.55, down 305 points, or 3.57 per cent.

The situation was no different at other global markets. The US Dow fell 3.5 per cent, Australia's S&P ASX/200 lost 1.2 per cent, Japan's Nikkei was down 4.5 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.7 per cent and South Korea's Kospi was down 1.4 per cent.

IANS