Sensex Finishes On A Weak Note; ICICI Bank Falls On SFIO Probe

Indian share markets continued to trade negative following losses in Asian and US stocks and as PNB fraud investigation widened. At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex finished lower by 284 points. While, the NSE Nifty finished lower by 95 points. Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Midcap Index and S&P BSE Small Cap Index ended down by 1.3% & 2.1% respectively.

Barring consumer durables stocks & FMCG stocks, all sectoral indices ended the day in red with capital goods stocksand power stocks leading the losses.

Overseas, Asian stock markets finished broadly lower today with shares in Hong Kong leading the region. The Hang Seng is down 1.03% while Japan’s Nikkei 225 is off 0.77% and China’s Shanghai Composite is lower by 0.55%. European markets are lower today with shares in Germany off the most. The DAX is down 0.47% while France’s CAC 40 is off 0.39% and London’s FTSE 100 is lower by 0.18%.

The rupee was trading at Rs 64.96 against the US$ in the afternoon session.

ICICI Bank share price fell 2.5% as the bank’s senior officials were summoned by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) with regard to the PNB scam.

Automobile stocks ended the day on a mixed note with Force Motors share price & Escorts Ltd share price leading the losers. Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) today reported 2.6% decline in global sales at 39,911 units in February.

Sales of Jaguar brand of vehicles in February were at 11,565 units, a fall of 5.2%.

Further, Land Rover range posted sales of 28,346 units in the month, down 1.5%.

Reportedly, solid demand in China (up 3.3%) and other overseas markets (up 1.5%) was offset by lower sales in the UK (down 15.2% for the month) and Europe (down 6.9%), where trading conditions remained challenging.

Tata Motors, on the consolidated level, derives ~80% of its revenue from JLR, which had witnessed EBITDA margin decline in FY16 and FY17 on account of weakness in volumes growth, model mix and forex losses.