Bank, financial stocks drag markets down

Mumbai: Markets buckled under selling pressure on Monday as wary investors offloaded banking and financial services stocks amid a drumbeat of negative news from the sector.

The BSE Sensex tumbled 155.24 points or 0.40 per cent to finish at 38,667.33, while the broader NSE Nifty dropped 37.95 points or 0.33 per cent to 11,474.45. On monthly basis, the Sensex has gained 3.57 per cent or 1,334 points; while the Nifty rose 4.16 per cent or 459.65 per cent in September.

Market sentiment was jolted by a slew of reports highlighting governance and structural issues in the financial services space, traders said.

In the broader market, the BSE Smallcap index was the worst hit with a drop of 1.17 per cent, followed by the midcap gauge, which fell 1.12 per cent. BSE Largecap too under-performed the benchmark, sliding 0.42 per cent.

Sectorally, bankex suffered the most by dropping 2.62 per cent, followed by finance 2.44 per cent and realty 1.63 per cent. On the other hand, telecom was among the top sectoral gainers, rising 4.60 per cent.

IT index rose 2.62 per cent. Of the 19 sectoral gauges compiled by the BSE, 13 closed in the red and six ended higher.

Recent government measures to prop up the slowing economy could not cheer the markets and investors are keenly awaiting the RBI monetary policy for further cues, analysts said.