Financials led the losses in the markets for the second consecutive day. ICICI Bank, HDFC, HDFC Bank and SBI alone accounted for over 50% of the day's losses on the BSE benchmark index - the Sensex. While the Sensex shed 197 points at a close of 20,301, these four financial majors accounted for a loss of 113 points.
The NSE Nifty was down 66 points at 6,080.In the broader markets, the midcaps and the smallcaps indexes were also down 1% each.
Taking cues from Asian and US markets, our markets opened in red. Among rate sensitive - banking and realty exhibited weak movement from the word go itself. The metal pack too faced selling pressure owing to fall a overnight in fall in base metal prices. Accentuated selling in mid-noon trades, saw the Sensex tumble to a low of 20,245. While select metal stocks recovered partially towards the close. The Bankex, auto and realty indices ended with losses of around 2% each.
Elsewhere in Asia, Taiwan Weighted dropped nearly 2% while Shanghai Composite, Nikkei and Seoul Composite lost between 0.1% -0.5%. On the other hand, Hang Seng, Jakarta Composite, KLSE Composite and Straits Times gained 0.2% - 0.8%.
In tune with the negative sentiments in the international market, the Europeean indices opened in the negative. CAC and DAX are down nearly 1% and FTSE has shed 0.8%
Among the sectoral indices, FMCG and IT up 0.7% and 0.3% respectively were the only indices that closed in the positive. Realty down 2% along with bankex were the top draggers closely followed by Auto and Capital Goods.
The draggers in the banking space were Yes Bank, Canara Bank down 4% each followed by ICICI Bank, Federal Bank, Axis Bank, IDBI Bank, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Union Bank - down 2-3% each.
ICICI Bank contributed the most to Sensex's fall, down 3% to Rs 1,070. Bajaj Auto and Hero Honda shed 3.6% each at Rs 1,378 and Rs 1,904, respectively. DLF, Reliance Infrastructure, HDFC, Larsen & Toubro slipped 2-3% each.
Telecom stocks fell. Reliance Communications slipped 2.8% to Rs 140. Bharti AIrtel dipped 1.5% to Rs 350.
Tata Steel, ONGC, HDFC Bank, Tata MOtors, SBI, Sterlite and Maruti were among the other losers.
Meanwhile, FMCG stocks staged a smart rebound. Hindustan Unilever added 1.4% to Rs 326. ITC was up 1.4% at Rs 180.
Hindalco, TCS and Tata Power advanced over 1% each in today's trades.
The market breadth was negative. 1,864 stocks declined while 1,020 advanced on the BSE.