October turns worst for world bourses; Indian mkts lose $62 bn

New Delhi, Nov 4 (PTI) October has proved to be the worst-ever month for world equity markets with investors losing an estimated 5.8 trillion dollars in the month, while Indian markets suffered a loss of nearly 62 billion dollars.

According to global index provider Standard and Poor's,
the total loss registered by 52 global equity markets so far
this year has been 16.22 trillion dollars amid increasing
concerns for the global economy slipping into recession.

"What do you get when you add the underlying concern of
the economy and the fear of a worldwide recession to a market
already devastated by credit issues? You get the worst-ever
month for global equity markets in modern history," Standard
& Poor's Senior Index Analyst Howard Silverblatt said.

The data compiled by Standard and Poor's shows that
Indian markets have plunged over 64 percent so far this year,
while investors have lost a whopping over 270 billion dollars
till October in 2008.

In October, Indian equity markets witnessed an erosion
of 61.94 billion dollars, with stock prices plummeting nearly
29 percent in the month.

The benchmark index Sensex dropped to below 10,000
from over 13,000, in October.

Overall, world equity markets saw a fall of more than 42
percent in stock prices, leading to a loss of over 16.2
trillion dollars till October this year.

So far this year, in the B.R.I.C. (Brazil, Russia, India
and China) region, Russia has been the worst-hit with stock
prices dropping by over 65 percent, followed by India (64.70
percent), China (58.87 percent) and Brazil (53.22 percent).

China equities have suffered a loss of 397.47 billion
dollars in market valuation, while Brazil and Russia have lost
over 308.01 billion dollars and 328.60 billion dollars,
respectively, so far this year.

Among the developed countries, equity valuation has
plunged by 34 percent in the U.S., while the U.K. saw a
drop of 45. 53 percent in the year so far.

U.S. equity markets registered a fall of 5.42 trillion
dollars in their market valuations, while in the U.K. investor
wealth has plummeted by 1.62 trillion dollars so far this
year.

In October, U.S. markets saw stock valuations plummeting
by as much as 2.66 trillion dollars and in the U.K. it was
close to 464 billion dollars. PTI MBH