Indian stock market slips below trillion-dollar mark, rupee at record low

Mumbai, Aug 6: Indian stock market slipped below the trillion-dollar level in terms of total valuation of all listed companies on Tuesday morning, as downward pressure continued on rupee and share prices.

Rupee touched its all-time low level of Rs 61.51 against the US dollar in early trade and the stock market also lost further ground with a fall of over one per cent in the benchmark Sensex.

As a result, the total market capitalisation of all listed stocks in the country fell to nearly USD 992 billion (close to Rs 60.9 lakh crore), pushing India out of the elite global league of markets having a trillion-dollar valuation.

The BSE benchmark Sensex tumbled by more than 200 points in the late morning trade on fresh selling mainly in realty, metal, consumer durable, banking and captial goods sectors.

Indian stock market has been holding to the trillion-dollar level by a wafer-thin margin for last few days amid continuing weakness in stocks and rupee values.

At the end of Monday's trade, the total valuation of all listed stocks in India stood at Rs 61,55,448.63 crore (USD 1.011 trillion), while it had touched a low of USD 1.004 trillion last week.

With India out of this league, only 13 stock markets across the world currently enjoy a trillion-dollar status, led by the US (an estimated USD 20 trillion).

Other members of this elite club are - UK, Japan, China, Canada, Hong Kong, Germany, France, Switzerland, Australia, South Korea, Nordic region and Brazil.

While markets like Russia, Spain and South Africa have moved out of this club after enjoying a trillion-dollar status in the past, at least three more markets -- Brazil, South Korea and Nordic region markets -- are maintaining this level with small margins.

India had first entered the trillion-dollar club in June 2007, but moved out in September 2008, amid a global slowdown. It again got back into this elite league in May 2009 and had largely remained there since then, except for some brief periods.

Rather than the fall in share values, the rupee weakness has been the greater force behind the dollar-valuation plunge in the recent months.

Since the beginning of the current fiscal in April 2013, though the rupee valuation of Indian stock market has fallen by only about 4 per cent (from Rs 63.88 lakh crore to Rs 60.90 crore), but its dollar valuation has plunged by about 18 per cent (from USD 1,209 billion to USD 992 billion).

Rupee has depreciated by over 12 per cent during this period.