Sensex, Nifty Erase Gains As Banking, Auto Stocks Fall

Indian equity benchmarks erased gains as banking stocks like HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, State Bank of India and Yes Bank came under selling pressure. The S&P BSE Sensex which rose as much as 187 points fell 220 points from day's highest level of 38,832.61 and the NSE's Nifty 50 Index fell below psychologically important level of 11,600. Weakness in banking, auto, financial services and metal shares weighed on the upward momentum of the benchmark indexes.

As of 2:59 pm, the Sensex fell 0.11 per cent or 42 points to 38,602 and the NSE Nifty 50 Index declined 0.06 per cent or 8 points to 11,587.

Six off 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty Auto Index's 0.5 per cent decline. Nifty Private Bank, Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Bank, Nifty Fianancial Services and Nifty Metal Indexes also declined in the range of 0.2 and 0.4 per cent each.

On the flipside, Nifty Media, Nifty FMCG and Nifty Pharma Indexes rose between 0.3 and 1.14 per cent each.

Small-cap shares were underperforming their larger peers as the Nifty Smallcap 100 Index declined 0.6 per cent.

Maruti Suzuki was top loser in the Nifty 50 basket of shaares. The stock fell 2 per cent to Rs 7,174. GAIL, IndusInd Bank, NTPC, Tata Steel, Bharat Petroleum, State Bank of India, Bharti Airtel and Mahindra & Mahindra were also among the laggards.

On the other hand, Sun Pharma, Zee Entertainment, ONGC, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Bajaj Finance, Reliance Industries and Coal India were among the gainers.