Rs 5.55 lakh cr gone in a week; blame SBI, Sebi blacklist of 331firms

The week gone by was one of wealth destruction for equity investors, as rising geopolitical tensions between the US and North Korea and Sebi clampdown on suspected shell companies wiped out Rs 5.56 lakh crore of stock investors’ wealth in just five sessions.

Aggregate market capitalisation of the BSE-listed firms slipped sharply from 132.59 lakh crore on August 4 to Rs 127.06 lakh crore on August 11. During the period, the BSE Sensex tumbled 1,111 points, or 3.44 per cent, to 31,213 from 32,325.

Selling pressure remained high on stocks from sectors like realty and auto. The BSE Realty index slipped nearly 10 per cent during the week, while the auti and Capital goods indices declined 6 per cent and 4 per cent, respectively. BSE bankex plunged 3.48 per cent to 27,098 in five sessions. All othet sectoral indices on BSE ended in the red.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices slipped 4.60 per cent and 5.59 per cent, respectively.

Here is a look at the sectors and stocks that hogged limelight during the week:

Special 331
Investors were spooked by markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi) direction on August 7, 2017 to the stock exchanges to initiate action against 331 firms that it suspects to be shell companies listed on the bourses. However, the Securities Appellate Tribunal later stayed trading restrictions imposed on JKumar Infraprojects, Prakash Industries, Parsvnath Developers, Kavit Industries and Kkalpana Industries, SQS India BFSI, Pincon Spirit, and Signet Industries. Here is the complete list of 331 suspected ‘shell’ companies: http://bit.ly/2tpgidw

Free to float
State-run Cochin Shipyard on Friday had an impressive debut on the bourses despite a slump in the broader market. Within seconds of being listed, the stock climbed up 9 per cent and within minutes it was trading over 22 per cent higher at Rs 522 a share against the issue price of Rs 432.

Bumpy ride
Shares of Tata Motors plunged 14 per cent for the week ended August 14 and took a hit of Rs 19,171 crore on its market valuation. The auto major’s June quarter earnings failed to meet market expectations this week. Tata Motors reported a 41.54 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 3,199.93 crore for the June quarter of the current fiscal, benefiting from one-time gain relating to changes made to JLR pension plans. It had posted consolidated net profit of Rs 2,260.4 crore in April-June of last financial year.

Weight loss
Shares of SBI on tumbled over 5 per cent on Friday, eroding Rs 13,724.51 crore from its market valuation, after the bank’s bad loans spiked for the quarter ended June 31. The scrip plummeted 5.36 per cent to settle at Rs 280.65. Asset quality of the bank slipped substantially because of higher accruals of bad loans from the books of associates, it said. There were slippages with gross NPAs rising to 9.97 per cent of gross advances as on June 30, 2017, from 7.40 per cent as at end-June 2016. Net NPAs or bad loans soared to 5.97 per cent of the net advances by June end, up from 4.36 per cent in the year-ago period.

Bitter pill
The Nifty pharma index slipped for the eighth consecutive session this week on account of subdued quarterly numbers from drug majors. Nifty Pharma index has tanked over 10 per cent since August 1. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries on Friday posted a huge net loss of Rs 1,291 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2017 on standalone basis, which is over eight times the net loss of Rs 152 crore incurred in the same period year ago.

Cool down
Symphony dipped over 12 per cent to Rs 1215.40 on August 11 from Rs 1385.65 on August 4. The company on Thursday reported 23.82 per cent fall in net profit at Rs 24.04 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2017 against Rs 31.56 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Security on duty
Shares of Security and Intelligence Services (SIS) listed on bourses on August 10. The scrip erased early gains to close with a loss of over 7 per cent against the issue price of Rs 815 in debut trade on Thursday. The scrip settled 1.81 per cent up at Rs 770.40 on Friday.