Equity indices close in the red, private banks drag

Equity indices close in the red, private banks drag

Equity benchmark indices slipped over 1.5 per cent during the afternoon session on Wednesday as heavy selling was witnessed in banking stocks.

The BSE SandP Sensex closed 561 points or 1.58 per cent lower at 34,869 while the Nifty 50 dropped by 166 points or 1.58 per cent at 10,305.

Except for Nifty FMCG, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the negative terrain with Nifty private bank down by 4 per cent, financial service by 2.9 percent, and realty by 2.6 per cent and pharma by 2.4 per cent.

Among stocks, ICICI Bank tumbled by 7.1 per cent to wind up the day at Rs 349.35 per share.

IndusInd Bank dropped by 6.6 per cent and Axis Bank by 4.1 per cent while State Bank of India slipped by 4.1 per cent.

The other prominent losers were Power Grid Corporation, Hindalco, Cipla, NTPC and Bajaj Finserv.

However, Asian Paints added gains of 3.8 per cent to close at Rs 1,748 per share.

FMCG major ITC was up by 3.3 per cent and Nestle India by 1.1 per cent while auto majors Eicher Motors, Hero MotoCorp and Tata Motors added marginal gains.