There seems to be no stemming the market slide.
Spooked by the news of Serious Fraud Investigation Office summoning CEOs of private banks in PNB case, the markets went into a free fall on Tuesday with the Sensex falling 430 points to hit three-month low.
The fall, for the fifth consecutive session, was led by a plunge in banking stocks.
The broader 50-share Nifty slid 109.60 points, 1.06%, to end at 10249.25.
On Tuesday, the Sensex started on a positive note and rose about 300 points, but gave up the gains soon. It hit a low of low as 33,216.19 during intra-day trade, before closing at 33,317.20, a drop of 429.58 points, or 1.27%.
This was the lowest closing for the Sensex since December 14 when it had finished at 33246.70 and also the biggest single-day fall since February 6, when it had lost 561.22.
The Sensex has shed 2,851 points since February when the fall began, with a 1,129-point drop coming in the last five sessions. The Nifty has dropped 524 points in February.
The Nifty PSU Bank index fell 2.87% to a four-month low. On BSE, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda, PNB and Kotak Mahindra Bank fell as much as 2.77%. The banking gauge hit a four-month low on Tuesday.
"The banking stocks are at a quarterly low and have gone almost under 24700 level. More weakness is expected in the coming days on the banking stocks and it might hit near 24000. Nifty will continue to be near 10200-10400 points," Chandan Taparia, derivatives and technical analyst at Motilal Oswal Securities, said.
The sentiment was also dampened as the central bank on Monday imposed a penalty of Rs 3 crore on Axis Bank for violation of NPA classification norms and Rs 2 crore on Indian Overseas Bank for not complying with the KYC regulations.
"PNB case continues to unravel and now it will spread to the private sector banks too," Arun Kejriwal founder, Kejriwal Research & Investment Service said. "We need to wait till March 31 when the long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax will expire. Also, a lot of things happening in the US is affecting the market. Donald Trump's increase in tariff of aluminium and steel imports is also creating a turmoil in the market," he said.
The broader market also continued to underperform on Tuesday. The Midcap and Smallcap indices fell 0.84% and 1.32%, respectively.
On the sectoral front, except BSE Consumer Durables (0.10%), all the sub-indices ended on the red zone. BSE Realty (-2.21%), BSE Telecom (-1.68%), BSE Bankex (-1.44%), BSE Auto (-1.36%) and BSE Finance (-1.35%) were among the biggest losers.
Sun Pharma, SBI, ICICI Bank, Mahindra and Mahindra and Maruti Suzuki were the biggest laggard on BSE falling as much as 2.95%. IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, HeroMoto Corp and Coal India gained, rising as much as 1.21%.
Among Nifty, Sun Pharma fell the most 3.30%, followed by SBI (3.09%), ICICI Bank (2.84%), UPL (2.70%) and Mahindra and Mahindra (2.66%) were the biggest losers.
"We will have to live with this market losses for more three weeks till LTCG expires and the financial year comes to an end," Kejriwal said.
Meanwhile, the foreign portfolio investors purchased shares worth Rs 620.08 crore on Tuesday while domestic institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 734.33 crore.
IN A FREEFALL
- This was the lowest closing for the Sensex since December 14
- The fall, for the fifth consecutive session, was led by a plunge in banking stocks
- The Nifty PSU Bank index fell 2.87% to a four-month low
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On Tuesday, the Sensex started on a positive note and rose about 300 points, but gave up the gains soon. It hit a low of low as 33,216.19 during intra-day trade, before closing at 33,317.20, a drop of 429.58 points, or 1.27%.
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