Sensex below 28,000-mark as weak Asian cues dent sentiment; banking stocks ease

Mirroring weak Asian equity markets trend, domestic stock indices also edged lower amid weakness in banking and oil & gas stocks, said dealers. After adding 33 points to yesterday’s close, the Sensex touched a high of 28,163.41 in early trade but soon lost ground as investors turned cautious. As selling intensified thereafter, the benchmark Sensex slipped below the crucial 28,000-mark and dropped 172 points to touch a low of 27,957.92. [caption id=“attachment_2418348” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] At 12pm, the 30-share Sensex was at 27,990, down 139.71 points, or 0.5 percent, while CNX Nifty was at 8,660.75, down 38.65 points, or 0.4 percent. Other Asian indices in the region such as Nikkei, Straits Times, Seoul Composite were subdued with a negative bias. Banking shares came under selling pressure. There has been growing concerns about several debit cards of public and private banks facing risk from the fraudsters. According to National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), there were complaints of fraudulent withdrawal through cards issued by 19 banks. As many as 641 customers have been affected. The total amount involved is Rs 1.3 crore as reported by various affected banks to NPCI, it said in a release. Among the stocks impacted, shares of Axis Bank fell 2.2 percent to Rs 527.10, HDFC declind 1.5 percent to Rs 1,338.90, SBI eased nearly a percent to Rs 257.50 and ICICI Bank was down 0.5 percent at Rs 276.25. Other laggards in the Sensex pack were Reliance Industries, which fell 2.2 percent to Rs 1,063.70, even as the company reported second quarter earnings that surpassed analysts expectations. ONGC dropped 1.4 percent to Rs 277.65. Shares of Asian Paints, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel and Tata Motors were down around a percent each. However, select IT shares bucked the trend. Shars of TCS rose 0.6 percent to Rs 2,413.95 and Wipro was up 0.3 percent at Rs 497.10. Later today, the Bengaluru-headquartered firm will announced its second quarter earnings.