Sensex, Nifty Extend Losses To Second Session; Yes Bank Slumps 14%

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes fell for second straight session weighed down by weakness in banking and financial services shares like HDFC, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, State Bank of India. The Sensex fell as much as 421 points and Nifty 50 index briefly dropped below 11,400. However, late buying in IT heavyweights like Infosys and TCS, energy giant Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, Maruti Suzuki and ITC helped the benchmark indexes trim losses by the end of the session.

The Sensex ended 155 points or 0.40 per cent lower at 38,667 and the NSE Nifty 50 index declined 0.33 per cent or 38 points to close at 11,474.

Nine of 11 sector gauges compiled by National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the Nifty PSU Bank index's 3.47 per cent fall.

Nifty Private Bank, Nifty Bank, Nifty Financial Services, Nifty Media and Nifty Pharma indexes also fell between 1.9 and 2.6 per cent each.

On the other hand, Nifty Information Technology index was top gainer, up 1.91 per cent.

Mid- and small-cap shares also witnessed selling pressure as the Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 1.51 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index slumped 1.67 per cent.

Yes Bank was top loser in the Nifty 50 basket of shares, the stock slumped 14.36 per cent to close at Rs 41.75. IndusInd Bank, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Zee Entertainment, Cipla, HDFC, Sun Pharma, Axis Bank, Vedanta, Britannia Industries and Tata Motors were also among the laggards, down between 2 and 6 per cent each.

On the flipside, Bharti Airtel, HCL Technologies, UPL, Infosys, ITC, TCS, Reliance Industries, Tech Mahindra and Adani Ports were among the gainers.

The overall market breadth was extremely bearish as 1,311 shares closed lower while 499 shares ended higher on the NSE.