Financial sector woes haunt markets

Mumbai: Indian equities continued to reel under selling pressure for a fourth straight session on Thursday as GST shortfall, financial sector woes and renewed concerns over global trade presented a cocktail of worries for investors.

Market participants also maintained a cautious stance awaiting the Reserve Bank's monetary policy outcome due on Friday.

After opening on a negative note, the 30-share BSE Sensex swung between a high of 38,310.93 and a low of 37,957.56, before settling at 38,106.87, showing a decline of 198.54 points or 0.52 per cent.

Likewise, the 50-share NSE Nifty closed down by 46.80 points or 0.41 per cent at 11,313.10. The benchmark indices -- Sensex and Nifty -- were pulled down mainly by losses in metal and banking stocks.

Globally, markets came under an immense pressure after the United States said it would impose new tariffs on European goods, triggering worries for the already global economy.

Besides, a series of negative headlines in the Indian banking and financial sector have been playing in the minds of investors, pulling the benchmark indices down for the past couple of sessions.

Sectorally, metal was the worst hit with 3 per cent fall, followed by basic materials (1.78 per cent), finance (0.98 per cent), banking (0.90 per cent) and telecom (1.48 per cent).

On the other hand, oil & gas emerged as the top gainer by rising 1.85 per cent, followed by realty (1.14 per cent), energy (0.87 per cent), consumer durables (0.48 per cent), auto (0.38 per cent) and FMCG (0.16 per cent).

The Indian rupee rose 20 paise to settle at 70.90 against the American currency on Thursday. Brent futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.28 per cent to $57.53 per barrel.