Sensex extends fall; banks, Cipla drag

Reuters Market Eye - The Sensex and the Nifty fall around 0.3 percent. Shares extended their fall, led by a decline in banking stocks, after preliminary data released on Thursday showed India's slowest growth in a decade could be worse than anticipated as the economy is set to have grown 5 percent in fiscal year ending next month.

ICICI Bank down 0.9 percent, while State Bank of India drops 1 percent.

Shares in Cipla Ltd fall 2.8 percent, a day after the company's October-December net profit missed estimates.

State-run power utility NTPC Ltd's shares fell 2.3 percent after the floor price of its share sale, scheduled later in the day, was set at 145 rupees, or a 4.5 percent discount to its Wednesday's close.

 

(Reporting by Abhishek Vishnoi)