Closing Bell Friday: Sensex falls 287 pts, Nifty ends below 10,500; PSU Bank Index dips 2.5%
The benchmark indices ended off day’s low but remained under pressure during the day.
The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 286.71 points at 34,010.76 and the 50-share NSE Nifty was down 94.30 points at 10,451.20.
The PSU Bank index fell more than 2.5% as all stocks caught in a bear trap after PNB detected transaction fraud worth USD 1.8 billion (Rs 11,300 crore). PNB and Bank of Baroda were biggest losers, falling nearly 5 percent each. Bank of India, IDBI Bank, Union Bank, Syndicate Bank, SBI, Indian Bank, Canara Bank, Andhra Bank, OBC and Allahabad Bank were down 1-3 percent.
Fortis Healthcare slipped 20% to Rs 115 in noon deal trade, falling 24% from its intra-day high on BSE on back of heavy volumes after the Supreme Court (SC) allowed financial institutions to sell pledged shares of the company.
Demonetisation, Trump’s election lead to chaotic swings in the sensex
Benchmark indices slumped by almost 3% tracking weak global cues after US bond yields soared on expectations US President-elect Donald Trump’s policies would stoke inflation. Further, demonetisation move by the government dampened investor sentiment especially with fast moving consumer goods and consumer discretionary sectors to have an impact in the short term. In an effort to curb black money and counterfeiting the government in a surprising move announced the demonetisation of Rs 500 and 1,000 currency notes with effect from midnight Tuesday.