Bank Nifty under pressure, index slumps over 200 pts amid broad-based selloff; Axis Bank, AU Small, ICICI Bank top bears

14 Jan 2022 , 10:35 AM

Selling pressure was witnessed in Bank Nifty on Friday led by broad-based selloff, especially in heavyweight stocks. Major banking stocks entered the negative tone after inflation pressure is turning out to be a major worry for market players. Index heavyweight AU Bank further pulled the index downward.

Rapid resurgence in active Covid cases due to Omicron spread continues to be a toublesome factor for markets however, investor sentiments got a positive push with the Commerce and Industry minister Piyush Goyal statement that India’s strong Start-up ecosystem will help the country to change from assembly line economy to knowledge-based economy. The Indian government will announce the country’s WPI’s inflation for December 2021 later today.

At around 10:35 AM, Bank Nifty was trading at 38,268.50 lower by 201.45 points or 0.52%. The index has touched an intraday high and low of 38,364.50 and 38,095.15 respectively.

On the index, 9 scrips have declined while 3 scrips have advanced.

Axis Bank was the worst-hit tumbling over 2.5% followed by AU Small Finance Bank shedding nearly 2%. ICICI Bank and IndusInd Bank dipped more than 0.5% each.

SBI and Kotak Bank dropped 0.49% each while Federal, PNB and IDFC First Bank fell around 0.4% each. 

On the positive side, RBL Bank took lead surging by 2.5% followed by Bandhan Bank advancing 0.8%. HDFC Bank traded marginally higher.

Unfavourable base effect pushed India’s consumer price index (CPI) or retail inflation to a five-month high at 5.59% in December 2021 compared to 4.91% in the previous month. Last year, in December, CPI stood at 4.59%.

Further, India’s Industrial Production (IIP) growth pulled back to 1.4% in November 2021 compared to 4% growth in the previous month. The quick estimates of the index stood at 128.5. The factory output is at nine months low in November this year.