Brokerage houses have seen a dip in their daily volumes and so have the daily market traders kept themselves away from routine trading. The situation has prevailed since January 21-22, but with the rise in STT from 10-15 per cent getting implemented today the NSE saw its traded quantity standing at 3,921 lakh as against the last five trading days average of 5,890 lakh. The traded value at NSE stood at Rs 11,000 crore against the last five days average of Rs 14,181 crore. “This will see even more day traders staying away from the market,” said Nirmal Jain, chief executive officer, India Infoline.

According to Sudip Bandyopadhyay, director and CEO, Reliance Money, “It is a short term impact and so once the overall situation in the market improves the investors will come back to the market.” For NSE the average daily turnover for the CM (capital market) segment has fallen significantly. The average daily turnover fell from Rs 19,441 crore in the month of January to Rs 13,342 crore in the month of February. The brokerage houses too have been feeling the pressure, Reliance Money, which has a big retail base and has a total of 2 million demat accounts saw a dip in its daily trading volume from a level of Rs 3,000 crore in January 2008 to between Rs 2,000- Rs 2,500 crore in the month of March.

Bandyopadhyay said, “Volatility has impacted the whole market and the number of regular daily traders for us has fallen from 2.5 lakh in January to around 1.5-1.75 lakh.”