Sensex tumbles by 298 points, banking stocks bleed

Equity indices plummeted on Thursday as selling pressure built up throughout the trading session due to profit booking.

The BSE S & P Sensex closed 298 points or 0.78 per cent lower at 37,880 while the Nifty 50 wound up 79 points down at 11,235. At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), all sectoral indices were in the red.

Nifty PSU bank slipped by 2.9 per cent, private bank by 2.8 per cent, realty by 2.1 per cent, financial service by 1.9 per cent and metal by 1.4 per cent.

Among stocks, beleaguered Indiabulls Housing Finance lost by 18.85 per cent to close at Rs 195 per share as the Reserve Bank of India denied its proposed merger with the troubled Lakshmi Villas Bank.

Banking stocks were the worst sufferers with IndusInd Bank dropping by 6 per cent, Yes Bank by 5.4 per cent, ICICI Bank by 3.2 per cent, State Bank of India by 2.6 per cent and HDFC Bank by 2 per cent.

The other prominent losers were GAIL, Tata Motors, Vedanta, Tata Steel and Hindalco.

However, Bharti Airtel gained by 4.3 per cent while Grasim edged higher by 3.6 per cent and index heavyweight moved up by 2.6 per cent. Hindustan Lever and HCL Technologies witnessed gains of over 1 per cent each.

Meanwhile, Meanwhile, Asian indices traded marginally higher as market participants watched for developments on the US-China trade front ahead of high-level negotiations.

Markets in Taiwan were closed on Thursday for a holiday but Japan's Nikkei gained by 0.45 per cent and Shanghai shares rose by 0.78 per cent.