Markets trade lacklustre; banking weighs

The markets continue to trade in the negative zone, on back of selling pressure being witnessed in banking, realty, mid-cap and small-cap stocks. The Sensex is currently at 19,886 down 94 points and Nifty is lower by 22 points at 5970.

ICICI Bank leads the Sensex losers charts, the stock is trading at Rs 1112 down 3.3%, Tata Motors, State Bank of India, DLF, Jaiprakash Associates and HDFC Bank are the other losers on the BSE 30 share index. At the same time Hindalco Industries, index heavyweight Reliance Industries, ONGC and Maruti Suzuki are among the gainers on the Sensex.

Banking stocks are witnessing heavy selling pressure after the Reserve Bank of India asked the banks to raise deposit rates and cut lending rates to raise the savings and investment rates in the country. The rise in deposit rates will put pressure on banks interst margins.

The BSE banking index- Bankex is the top sectoral loser the index has shed more than 2.66% or 364 points at 13,367, BSE Realty index is down 1.36% 2900 and the FMCG index is at 3555 lower by 35 points. Meanwhile, the BSE Oil & Gas index is the top gainer on the sectoral charts higher by nearly 1.4% or 143 points at 10,554.

All the banking stocks are trading in the red Union Bank of India, Bank of India, IDBI Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, and Indusind Bank are among the top losers lower by more than 3% each.

The broader markets continue to underperform consecutively for the second day, the BSE small-cap index has shed 102 points at 9668 and the mid-cap is at 7789 lower by 65 points.

The overall market breadth is extremely negative, out of 2657 stocks traded on the BSE 1770 stocks are declining while 798 stocks are advancing.