MUMBAI: Investors lost Rs 6.72 lakh crore in wealth on Thursday as stocks tanked in line with global markets taking cues from the Dow Jones and Nasdaq which fell overnight by 3.57% and almost 5% .
The Nifty and Sensex shed 2.6% each with the former correcting 431 points to close at 15809.4 and the latter by 1416.30 points to 52792.23 .
The top 5 Nifty losers were tech stocks -- Wipro , HCL Tech, Tech M, Infy and TCS -- which shed 5.4-6.25% reflecting the carnage on the Nasdaq.
The selling was led by FIIs who sold shares worth a provisional Rs 4899.92 crore.
DII buying worth a provisional Rs 3225.54 crore was not able to cushion the fall as retail investors also pressed the panic button with the Nifty Midcap 100 falling by almost 3% and the Nifty Smallcap 100 by 2.7% to 27271.9 and 8912.3 points each.
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Midcap and small-cap indices underperformed the frontline indices causing huge losses to retail investors who tend to invest in these counters.
The outlook for markets looks bleak in the near term with earlier supports becoming resistances.
"Nifty fell towards the previous swing low on the back of a gap down start. The trend has turned negative as the Nifty fell below 16000," said Rupak De, senior technical analyst at LKP Securities . "The immediate support is seen at 15671; below 15671 further correction towards 15400 looks possible. On the higher end, resistance is placed at 16000."
Analysts like SK Srivastava, founder, IndiaCharts, expects the Nifty to slide to 15200, implying an almost 4% downside.
The pessimistic mood was reflected by the fear gauge India Vix rising by 10% to 24.56. A reading above 20 signals negative market sentiment.