The New Nation - Internet Edition

PTI, New Delhi

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.