BS Bank Aspirex falls 2% in November

A fall in stock price of heavy weights such as L&T Finance Holdings, LIC Housing Finance and IDFC has led the BS Bank Aspirex to underperform the market during the month of November. These three stocks, which account for about 41 percentage points of total BS Bank Aspirex weightage, have skidded two – nine per cent.

BS Bank Aspirex slipped 1.91 per cent to close at 787 points on November 29, after surging 21 per cent in past two months. The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) S&P BSE Sensex had declined 1.76 per cent, while the National Stock Exchange (NSE) CNX Nifty dipped 1.95 per cent during the month. The index has gained 13% in the month of October and rose 7.4% in September.

Of the 16 companies that comprise the BS Bank Aspirex, a total 10 firms have seen market price appreciation in the range of one – eight per cent.

Among individual stocks, Tourism Finance Corporation and India Infoline have rallied nearly eight per cent each at Rs 21.80 and 60.25 on the BSE respectively. Srei Infrastructure Finance surged six per cent, while Bajaj Finance and IFCI gained five per cent each in November.

Meanwhile, Tata Sons, the holding unlisted company of the Tata Group and Value Industries, promoted by Venugopal Dhoot, have withdrawn their banking license applications ahead of the RBI announcements of the shortlisted aspirants by January.

Earlier, the Mahindra & Mahindra group had announced it was not applying for a banking license as guidelines did not favour large non-banking financial companies like Mahindra Finance.

Of India's biggest corporate houses, only the Aditya Birla Group, the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group and L&T now remain in the reckoning.

According to Business Standard reports, a committee headed by former RBI governor Bimal Jalan will carry out the first-level screening of applications to set up new private banks, at its second meeting scheduled to be held on December 16.