Sensex, Nifty Fall For Third Straight Day As Banks, Financials Drag

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes fell for third day in a row as financial and banking sector shares like HDFC, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Kotak Mahindra Bank and State Bank of India came under selling pressure after the country's largest private sector lender on Saturday said that its bad loans rose in April-June quarter. The benchmarks opened on a weak note and extended losses with the Sensex falling as much as 447 points and the NSE Nifty 50 index touching intraday low of 11,300. The benchmarks fell to their lowest since mid-May on Monday.

Monday's fall in stock markets came after Sensex dropped 560 points in Friday's session.

The Sensex plunged 306 points or 0.8 per cent to close at 38,031 and the NSE Nifty 50 index dropped 0.64 per cent or 73 points to 11,346.

Nine of 19 sector gauges compiled by BSE ended lower led by the S&P BSE Finance index's 2.3 per cent decline. S&P BSE Bankex, FMCG and Realty sector gauges also fell between 1 and 1.4 per cent each.

On the other hand, S&P BSE Energy index was top gainer, up 1.9 per cent. Oil & Gas and Metal sector gauges also advanced 1.9 and 1 per cent respectively.

Mid- and small-cap shares also witnessed selling pressure as the S&P BSE MidCap index fell 0.6 per cent and the S&P BSE SmallCap index declined 1.15 per cent.

HDFC Bank was among the top Nifty losers, the stock declined 3 per cent to Rs 2,303 after its gross NPAs as a percentage of total advances - a measure of asset quality - stood at 1.40 per cent, as against 1.36 in the previous quarter.

Bajaj Finserv, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Eicher Motors, Hindustan Unilever, Bajaj Finance,ITC and State Bank of India were also among the laggards.

On the flipside, Reliance Industries rose 2.3 per cent to Rs 1,278 after it reported an increase of 7 per cent in its quarter net profit. In a regulatory filing after market hours on Friday, Reliance Industries reported a net profit of Rs. 10,104 crore for the quarter ended June 30, as double-digit growth in the conglomerate's retail and telecoms businesses helped offset its worst oil refining margins in 18 quarters. Reliance Industries' net profit also beat analysts' estimates.

Yes Bank surged 9.5 per cent to Rs 91.15 on the back of heavy volumes.

Vedanta, Hindalco, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Zee Entertainment and Maruti Suzuki were also among the gainers.

The overall market breadth was negative as 1,707 shares closed lower while a little over 800 shares ended higher on the BSE.