Surprise opening: Market red turns blood red in a matter of minutes

It was a normal morning after this unstable one, but suddenly on May 22 it became jaw dropping shocking in afternoon. The Indian markets crashed very hard and the small, large investors were sweating out in the open during the day. Nifty declined by 301 points to 24512, and Sensex declined by more than 1000 points to 80596. Traders were lambasted throughout the evening.

Out of 2,740 stocks listed on the NSE, a whopping 1,600 plunged deep into the red just after market open. Only 1,060 managed to stay in the green—and even those were barely hanging on.

The Bell, Not So Sweet Coming Into Markets as Bad Turns at the Opening

The opening was a modest red but after that. Off by 273pts to 81,323 and after 79 point loss for the Nifty that settled at 24733. That plain red turned into instant death drop.

By 9:25am Sensex was down by 718 points; Nifty to 182. It surged just half-an-hour later, Sensex to 80873; Nifty below 24500 and panic broke out.

Biggest Losers and sole survivors

By around 9:30 AM Mumbai time, the Sensex was already in freefall. Only four stocks managed to stay positive—Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, and Eternal. The rest of the chart? Painted completely in red.

Biggest loser Mahindra & Mahindra. They all got a massive hit: Power Grid, Bajaj Finserv, Tech Mahindra and Tata Motors

So What Caused This Bloodbath? Global Cues Come Hard

Markets closed strong yesterday, ironically. What happened last nights in US markets—a Dow shed 816 points, S & P 500 dropped 95 and Nasdaq slumped 270. The Asian markets—Japan’s Nikkei and Korea’s Kospi, followed by Hang Seng futures—all opened red as the wave of global fear started surfing into these continents.

On top of that, high gold prices —an immediate call to panic–Middle East missile threats and an Indian-US trade deal not yet signed on the dotted line and you have major chaos.

Bottom line

This was the sudden cheap crash that left blazes behind.

More than none it was faith. First of all, retail investors were the most surprised equivalent to watch their portfolios literally be destroy. This might just be the slip-up some need to see. There are some who think it is a signal.

The truth is this: May 22 didn’t fall in the market, it screamed as hell. And it hit hard.