Sensex down nearly 300 points; HDFC, HDFC Bank top losers

Bank shares were among the top losers on concerns of lower net interest margins post cut in base rates

Benchmark share indices extended losses with bank shares leading the decline after weak first quarter GDP growth and core sector growth in July.

At 11:40AM, the 30-share Sensex was down 292 points at 25,991 and the 50-share Nifty was down 94 points at 7,877.    

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap was down 0.8% and Small-cap index eased 0.4%. Market breadth continued to remain weak with 1,490 losers and 692 gainers on the BSE.

India's GDP during the first quarter ended June 30,2015 slowed down to 7% compared with 7.5 per cent in the previous quarter.

Core sector growth slowed to 1.1 per cent in July after a growth of 3% in June, mainly on account of low expansion in coal output and contraction in steel, crude oil and natural gas production.

Further, Nikkei purchasing managers' index (PMI) data showed that factory production expanded at a lower pace in August 2015 compared to the previous month. PMI for August stood at 52.3 against six-month high of 52.7 in July.

The Indian rupee rebounded in today's trade and was trading higher by 27 paise at 66.21 to the US dollar compared to the previous close.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net sellers in equities to the tune of Rs 551 crore, as per provisional stock exchange data.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian market were trading lower after weak China PMI data for August. China's official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for August 2015 eased to three-year low at 49.7 compared with 50 in July.The Nikkei down nearly 4% while Shanghai Composite was down 1.5%. Hang Seng eased 0.8% while Straits Times was trading 0.4% lower.

SECTORS & STOCKS

Bank shares were the top losers on concerns that net interest margins could be hurt incase the cut in base rates are not offset by a similar cut in deposit rates. HDFC Bank which cuts its base rate by 35 basis points to 9.35% effective from today was down 1.6%. Among other banks, Axis Bank, SBI and ICICI Bank were down over 1.1-2.8% each.

Among the index heavyweights, Reliance Industries, ITC and HDFC were down 1.6-2.9% each.

Most pharma shares witnessed profit taking after gains in the previous session. Cipla, Dr Reddy's Labs, and Lupin were down 0.8-1.6% each. However, Sun Pharma was up  1.3% on successful completion of the acquisition of GSK's opiates manufacturing facilities in Australia.

IT majors Infosys and TCS were among the top gainers up over 1% each on hope of order inflows from the US amid encouraging US GDP data.

Among other shares, Inox Wind has moved higher by 6% to Rs 387 on the BSE after the company announced that it has bagged an order for a 100 MW wind power project at Lahori, Madhya Pradesh from Ostro Energy.