The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes were on track to break their six-day winning streak as banking stocks came under selling pressure after the Supreme Court asked the Finance Ministry to clarify its stand on whether interest rate could be waived and interest on interest could be charged for the moratorium period. HDFC, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Axis Bank were among the top drags on the Sensex. Analysts said that profit-booking by traders was also visible as weekly futures and option contracts are set to expire today.
As of 1:17 pm, the Sensex was down 377 points or 1.11 per cent at 33,732 and Nifty 50 index fell 112 points or 1.11 per cent to 9,950.
Eight of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty Private Bank index's nearly 3 per cent fall. Nifty Bank, Financial Services and Realty indexes also fell between 1.7-2.5 per cent each.
On the other hand, Nifty Pharma index was top gainer, up 1.5 per cent.
Mid- and small-cap shares were also witnessing selling pressure as Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 0.5 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index declined 0.6 per cent.
Bajaj Finance was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 4.85 per cent to 2,295. IndusInd Bank, Asian Paints, HDFC, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Larsen & Toubro, Titan, Indian Oil, ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank also fell between 2.8-4.8 per cent.
On the flipside, Reliance Industries surged nearly 2 per cent to Rs 1,569 after its Rights Issue, the country's biggest rights issue, was subscribed 1.59 per cent.
Vedanta was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 4.4 per cent to Rs 101. Tech Mahindra, Sun Pharma, Cipla and Power Grid were also among the gainers.
The overall market breadth was negative as 1,255 shares were trading lower while 1,043 were among the gainers.
