Sensex Falls Over 300 Points, Nifty Near 11,650; Yes Bank Shares Plunge

Domestic stock markets started Tuesday's session on a weak note dragged lower by Yes Bank whose shares plunged after the private sector bank reported a quarterly net loss. The S&P BSE Sensex fell as much as 313.87 points to 38,753.46, while the NSE Nifty moved to 11,655.90, down 98.75 points from the previous close. Selling in banking and auto stocks pushed the markets lower. At 11:40 am, the Sensex traded 152.20 points lower at 38,915.13 and the Nifty was down 46.10 points at 11,708.55.

Besides Yes Bank, Indiabulls Housing Finance, IndusInd Bank, Bharti Infratel, Hero MotoCorp and Maruti Suzuki India - trading between 2.26 per cent and 6.63 per cent lower - were among the prominent laggards on the 50-scrip index at the time.

Yes Bank, IndusInd Bank and Reliance Industries were the top contributors to the declines on Sensex.

Shares in Yes Bank plunged as much as 29.76 per cent in morning deals, after the private sector lender reported a net loss of Rs. 1,506 crore for the quarter ended March 31 as provisions soared over nine-times. Yes Bank had posted a net profit of Rs. 1,179 crore for the corresponding period a year ago.

Equities in other Asian markets fell with MSCI's broadest gauge of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropping 0.7 per cent, after weak Chinese manufacturing data underscored weakness in the world's second-largest economy.

Japan's financial markets remained closed for a national holiday.

The Sensex and Nifty had closed 0.87 per cent and 0.97 per cent higher on Friday respectively. The domestic financial markets remained closed on Monday as nine states including Maharashtra voted under Phase 4 of the general election.

(With inputs from Reuters)