Sensex Closes Over 200 Points Lower Paced by Losses In Banking Shares

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes declined on Wednesday led by losses in shares like ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Infosys, ITC, State Bank of India, HDFC and HDFC Bank. For most part of the day, the benchmarks traded in a rangebound manner and switched directions at least 10 times. However, with selloff in banking shares deepening in afternoon deals the Sensex fell as much as 386 points from day's highest level and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday low of 11,823.

The Sensex ended 229 points or 0.57 per cent lower at 40,116 and the Nifty 50 index declined 73 points or 0.61 per cent to close at 11,840.

All the 11 sector gauges compiled by National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the Nifty Media index's 4.5 per cent fall.

Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Metal, Nifty Private Bank and Nifty bank indexes also fell between 1.8-3.1 per cent each.

Mid- and small-cap shares also witnessed selling pressure as the Nifty Midcap 100 index dropped 0.7 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index fell 0.9 per cent.

Yes Bank was top loser in the Nifty 50 basket of shares, the stock fell 5.7 per cent to close at 68.85. GAIL India, Zee Entertainment, Adani Ports, Grasim Industries, State Bank of India, Hindalco, Vedanta, Axis Bank and IndusInd Bank also fell 2-5 per cent each.

On the flipside, Britannia Industries, Tata Consultancy Services, Reliance Industries, Nestle India, Bajaj Finserv and Hindustan Unilever were among the laggards.

The overall market breadth was extremely negative as 1,131 shares ended lower while 683 closed higher on the NSE.