Volatility-hit Sensex closes 72 pts down; Bankex sinks 2.5%

The sell-off in heavyweights SBI, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Bharti and BHEL compelled the Indian equities to close moderately down after a very volatile session.

A recovery attempt - first in the opening trade and again when Europe opened - saw the Sensex rally 150 points intra-day, but succumbed to profit booking later on.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 72.45 points or 0.46%, to close at 15,792.41 despite positive European cues. The 50-share NSE Nifty plunged 20.85 points or 0.44% to end at 4,751.30, which is the fourth consecutive the fall for the market.

Financials dented the market for second straight session, especially SBI. Daniel Tabbush, head-regional banks research of CLSA said many negatives are already priced in for SBI, but he still sees some downside for the stock. He sees more downside risk in private banks as well. "High valuations are a key risk for Indian private banks," he said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

The BSE Bankex crashed 2.5%. SBI plunged 4% in today's trade as well. ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank were down 2.7% while HDFC gained 1%.

Heavyweight Bharti Airtel declined 0.8% post Telecom secretary said it would issue notices to 5 telecom companies (including Bharti Airtel, Reliance Comm, Idea Cellular) for revenue misreporting. Idea Cellular down 2.7% and Tata Tele fell 1% while Reliance Communications gained 1.8%.