The Indian stock market has taken a beating as rising COVID-19 cases have made traders and investors concerned. Sensex is down 1,203.31 points or 2.41 percent at 48826.52, and the Nifty tumbled 336.70 points or 2.26 percent at 14530.70.
Bank and financials plunged the most falling over 3 percent with Nifty PSU Bank tumbling over 4 percent at 11:48 hours.
Among the PSU banking names, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and State Bank of India fell 4-6 percent followed by Central Bank of India, Union Bank of India and Indian Bank.
Investors now await the RBI MPC outcome and Q4 earnings to get cues for the market. Experts believe that the market will see some churn in positions in the near term which will keep the market volatile.
“The upcoming Q4FY21 earnings season will begin in a week’s time, so investors’ focus will be shifting back to fundamentals. Revenue growth, margins expansion and management commentary will be key things to watch out for,” said Ajit Mishra, VP Research, Religare Broking.
PSU Banks are under additional pressure after sources said public sector banks may have to bear a burden of Rs 1,800-2,000 crore arising due to a recent Supreme Court judgement on the waiver of compound interest on all loan accounts which opted for a moratorium during March-August 2020.
Also Read: SC order on interest waiver: PSU banks may have to take Rs 2,000 crore hit
The judgement covers loans above Rs 2 crore as loans below this got blanket interest on interest waiver in November last year. Compound interest support scheme for loan moratorium cost the government Rs 5,500 crore during 2020-21 and the scheme covered all borrowers including the prompt one who did not avail moratorium.
According to banking sources, initially, 60 percent of borrowers availed moratorium and gradually the percentage came down to 40 percent and even less as collection improved with ease in lockdown. In the case of corporates, this was as low as 25 percent as far as public sector banks were concerned.
Moneycontrol independently could not verify the report.
Also Read: Sensex, Nifty nosedive: 4 reasons why market is losing ground today
Nifty Financial Services shed 3 percent with Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv trading lower by over 5 percent each. These are followed by HDFC, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services, Shriram Transport Finance Corporation, Muthoot Finance and Cholamandalam Investment among others.
Banks and financials are the top Sensex losers including names like IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, SBI and HDFC while HDFC Bank, HDFC, ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank are the top negative contributors.
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