Indian shares gave up early gains to drift into negative territory on Thursday as Biocon and Canara Bank posted disappointing quarterly results and the government formally kicked off banking reforms.
The benchmark BSE Sensex was down 70 points or 0.19 percent at 36,091 ahead of the expiry of January series derivative contracts. The broader Nifty index was down 11 points or 0.10 percent at 11,075.
PSU banks traded on a mixed note. IDBI Bank rallied 2 percent, Bank of India advanced 1.2 percent, Central Bank of India added 1.3 percent and UCO Bank jumped as much as 7 percent while SBI lost 2.2 percent.
Canara Bank lost 1 percent after its Q3 profit slumped 61 percent from last year.
Biocon tumbled 4.7 percent on reporting a 46 percent decline in quarterly profit.
InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, which operates India's biggest budget airline IndiGo, rose half a percent on reporting a 56 percent jump in third-quarter net profit.
Wipro slid 0.4 percent after it decided to pick up a minority stake in Harte Hanks.
Shriram Transport Finance shares declined half a percent. The company is selling its trading platform for used vehicles 'Shriram Automall' for Rs 156.37 crore.
by RTT Staff Writer
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