Sensex Dives Over 1,300 Points, Nifty Below 17,150; HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance Among Top Drags

The Indian equity benchmarks on Monday extended fall to the third straight session led by selling in private sector banks and financial stocks. State-run banks, however, pushed higher after a batch of strong quarterly results.

As of 2:01 pm, the benchmark BSE Sensex tanked 1,325 points or 2.26 per cent to 57,320, while the broader NSE Nifty dropped 378 points or 2.16 per cent to 17,138.

Mid- and small-cap shares were in the negative zone as Nifty Midcap 100 index was down 1.01 per cent and small-cap shares were trading 1.09 per cent lower.

On the stock-specific front, HDFC Bank was the top Nifty laggard as the stock cracked 3.97 per cent to ₹ 1,463.55. HDFC Life, L&T, Bajaj Finance and SBI Life were also among the laggards.

In contrast, ONGC, PowerGrid, Tata Steel, NTPC and SBI were among the gainers.

On BSE, the overall market breadth was weak as 1,380 shares were advancing while 2,048 were declining.

On the 30-share BSE platform, HDFC Bank, L&T, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Titan and HDFC attracted the most losses with their shares sliding as much as 3.67 per cent.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has rescheduled the meeting of the rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) by a day in view of Maharashtra declaring a public holiday on February 7 to mourn the death of Bharat Ratna legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar.

The meeting will now begin on February 8 and the outcome would be announced on February 10.

Also, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) pulled out as much as ₹ 6,834 crore from Indian markets in the first four trading sessions of February.