Sensex slumps over 300 pts, Rupee above 67/$

Markets have extended the losses on account of profit booking and weakening rupee. Sensex and Nifty have slumped by 2% each weighed down by financials and index heavyweight RIL.

At 1245 hrs, the Sensex was down 346 points at 18,540 and the Nifty slipped 118 points to trade at 5,433.

China’s economy is strengthening after a two-quarter slowdown, with a manufacturing gauge rising to a 16-month high in August.

Investors are now anxiously waiting for any fresh measures with Raghuram Rajan taking over the reins of RBI as the new governor on September 5.

The rupee weakened in trade today. At 12:45PM, the partially convertible rupee was trading at 67.03 per dollar against the yesterday’s close of 66.02 against the dollar on the Interbank Foreign Exchange.

On the sectoral front, BSE Bankex has plunged by almost 3% followed by counters like Oil & Gas, Power, Capital Goods, FMCG, Consumer Durables, Healthcare and Realty, all declining between 1-2%. Infact, all the major BSE sectoral indices are trading weak zone.

The main losers on the Sensex at this hour include Hero Moto, HDFC, RIL, Sun Pharma and ICICI Bank, all falling down between 3-5%.

Banking shares were under pressure trading lower by up to 5% after the Indian rupee falls nearly 2% breaches 67 per dollar in noon deal trades.

ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, YES Bank, Federal Bank, Canara Bank and Bank of India were down by 3-5% on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The markets breadth in BSE remains weak with 1,105 declining and 840 advancing.