The markets have seen a sudden, vertical fall in noon trades on the back of the widening crack in the banking space. The Sensex is quoting at 15839, lower by 25 points and the Nifty is at 4764, down eight points. The bankex has slipped more than 2%, with the likes of ICICI Bank, SBI and Yes Bank losing between 2% and 4% each.
Moody's action in lowering its rating on Italy's bonds by three notches to A2 from Aa2 may have been the immediate trigger for the downside.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Updated at 1253hrs)
Markets continued to trade on a firm note in the noon deals. The Sensex was at 15,984, up 119 points and the Nifty advanced 40 points to 4,811. Earlier in the day, the Sensex touched a high of 16,019.
Meanwhile, the European markets have opened higher. CAC 40 index opened higher by 2.4% to 2,919, DAX has advanced 128 points to 5,345 and the FTSE is at 5,063, up 119 points.
Back home, J P Associates remained the top gainer among the Sensex stocks. The stock gained 4.6% to Rs 72. Sterlite Industries added nearly 3% to Rs 108. DLF, ITC, Tata Motors, HDFC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro and Sun Pharma were also among the gainers, up nearly 2%-3% each.
On the other hand, frontline banking stocks continued to witness selling pressure. State Bank of India was the top loser on the Sensex. The stock lost nearly 2% to Rs 1,752. ICICI Bank was down 1.5% to Rs 788 and HDFC Bank was also trading in the red. Maruti Suzuki and Reliance Industries were also among the laggards on the benchmark index.
On the sectoral front, BSE Realty index was the top gainer, up 1.9% or 32 points to 1,700. BSE FMCG index also gained 1.6% to 3,862 and the Metal index jumped 168 points to 10,566. Capital Goods, Auto, IT, Healthcare and Power indices were also trading higher by 0.7%-1.4% each in trades thus far.
The BSE banking index- Bankex was the only loser on the sectoral charts, down nearly 1% to 10,145. Earlier in the day, the Bankex had touched a 18-month low level of 10,028 after the global credit rating agency Moody’s Investor Service cut the standalone rating of India’s largest public sector bank, State Bank of India (SBI) due to concerns over capital and rapid deterioration in asset quality.
D B Realty was the top gainer among the realty stocks, up 6% to Rs 52. DLF, Anant Raj Industries, HDIL, Unitech, Indiabulls Real Estate and Oberoi Realty also gained 0.6%-3% each. Among the banking stocks, Indusind Bank, lost 2.3% to Rs 240. Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Yes Bank, bank of Baroda, Union Bank, Federal Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were also trading in the negative territory.
The broader markets were trading on a flat note. The BSE mid-cap index was up 6 points at 5,942 and the small-cap index was trading marginally lower, down 2 points to 6,702.
The overall breadth was neutral as 1,291 stocks were advancing while 1,155 stocks were declining.
