Investor's lose $40 B on budget day

By Sriparna   |   Wednesday, 28 February 2007, 18:30 IST
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MUMBAI: The stock market's intra-day loss of 678 points on budget day, stripped off as much as $40 billion from investors. The loss of 540 points is the biggest one-day fall for the Sensex on the Budget day in the past ten years, although the market has moved downwards on five occasions out of the past ten Budget days. The second biggest fall of 300 points was recorded at the time of budget announcement in 2000. The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex, closed below the 13,000 milestones with a plunge of 540 points from the previous close, reported a national daily. The combined market cap of 30 companies in BSE Sensex declined by about $15 billion on budget day, with companies like Satyam Computer, Gujarat Ambuja, Wipro, HDFC, ACC, TCS, Tata Steel, Maruti, Grasim and Infosys leading the way. Cement stocks and information technology were among the worst hit with proposals like higher excise duty for cement and increased tax burden for the technology firms, while increase in dividend distribution tax for all companies added to the broad-based selling pressure on the bourses.