The Indian equity benchmarks fell for second straight session on Tuesday dragged by losses in banking shares as they came under selling pressure a day after the government announced Rs 1.1 lakh crore loan guarantee scheme for the Covid-affected and an additional Rs 1.5 lakh crore under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) that was launched as part of Atmanirbhar Bharat package last year. The Sensex fell as much as 258 points and Nifty 50 index fell below its important psychological level of 15,750.
The Sensex ended 186 points lower at 52,550 and Nifty 50 index declined 66 points to close at 15,748.
Industry leaders and economists said on Monday government's new guarantees on bank loans to small businesses and tourism sectors, announced by the finance minister, would not be sufficient to boost economic growth.
Nine of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the Nifty PSU Bank index's 1.5 per cent fall. Nifty Metal, Private Bank, Bank, Financial Services, Media and Realty indices also dropped between 0.4-1.2 per cent.
On the other hand, FMCG and Pharma indices ended higher.
Mid- and small-cap shares also faced selling pressure as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.53 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index slipped 0.13 per cent.
Indian Oil was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 2.44 per cent to close at Rs 108. ONGC, Hindalco, Coal India, Kotak Mahindra bank, tech Mahindra, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Auto, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Life, Grasim Industries, Eicher Motors and JSW Steel also declined between 1-2 per cent.
On the flipside, Power Grid, Cipla, IndusInd Bank, Hindustan Unilever, NTPC, Divis Labs, Dr reddy's Labs, Asian Paints, Nestle India, Bajaj Finance, HDFC and Sun Pharma were among the gainers.
The overall market breadth was neutral as 1,658 shares ended higher while 1,577 closed lower on the BSE.
