Nifty ends with modest cut; Bankex dips 2.9%, oil & gas up

Equity benchmarks closed rangebound session with a modest cut. Indices lost around 0.8% during the day but managed to show smart recovery in last one hour of trade, could be due to positive European cues. Overall the market consolidated for third consecutive session.

Financials were on sellers' radar for another session on Tuesday, especially after RBI governor asked banks to trim interest margins. The BSE Bankex cracked 2.86%; heavyweights SBI and ICICI Bank plunged 3-3.5%. Axis Bank was top loser on Nifty with 4.2% cut. Kotak Mahindra Bank was also down 3.3% and PNB down 2.5%; HDFC Bank declined 1.3% and HDFC fell 0.57%.

Realty and FMCG companies' shares along with TCS, Tata Motors, Jaiprakash Associates, Ranbaxy and Reliance Communications were also witnessed selling pressure.

On the other side, buying in oil & gas, cement, select technology, auto, metal and capital goods companies' shares along with Bharti Airtel limited losses to major extent.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 19,934.64, down 46.67 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 15.70 points or 0.26% to settle at 5,976.55, after seeing recovery of 110.2 points & 36.85 points from day's low.

Vibhav Kapoor of IL&FS said that the markets are unlikely to retest 5,700 in December, though there are some value concerns at higher levels of 6,200-6,300.