Bankex hit the most in market turmoil

BSE's banking sector index Bankex slumped the most among the sectoral indices on BSE, declining 6.76% to 8,957.69.

The market saw a sharp trend reversal in the lattar part of the trading session. The BSE Sensex had surged 482.84 points to strike all-time high of 19,198.66 in afternoon trade.

However the market pared gains in mid-afternoon trade and Sensex lost as much as 944.66 points to touch a low of 17,771.16 in late trade. Sensex swung 1,427.50 points in today’s trade.

As per provisional closing, Sensex settled 937.70 points or 5.01% lower at 17,778.12

All the sectoral indices on BSE posted sharp losses. BSE Auto Index (down 2.11% at 5,360.35), BSE FMCG Index (down 1.55% at 2,067.77), BSE Consumer Durables index (down 0.01% to 4,772.60), BSE Health Care Index (down 0.76% at 3,751.54), BSE IT Index (down 0.50% at 4,653.08), and BSE TecK index (down 3.47% to 3,903.76) outperformed the Sensex.

BSE Capital Goods Index (down 5.19% at 15,951.10), BSE PSU index (down 5.68% to 8,286.09), BSE BSE Realty (down 5.60% to 9,280.65), BSE Oil and Gas Index (down 5.34% at 10,376.17), and BSE Metal Index (down 5.71% at 14,821.50), were underperformers.

State Bank of India (down 10.04% to Rs 1645), ICICI Bank (down 7.78% to Rs 1030), and HDFC Bank (down 6.16% to Rs 1370), were the key losers banking pack.

Bank shares suffered a sharp setback today on speculation that Reserve Bank of India will hike cash reserve ratio (CRR) at Mid Term Review Of Annual Policy slated on 30 October 2007. The growth in the economy and unbated inflow of foreign capital might prompt central bank to intervene with the sterilisation tools. CRR is the amount the commercial banks need to maintain with the RBI.

The market breadth was weak on BSE with 936 scrips advancing as compared to 1,801 that declined, while 323 remained unchanged.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 11570 crore