Sensex tanks 501 pts, Nifty closes below 25k on selling in bank stocks, foreign fund outflows
Mumbai, Jul 18 (PTI): Benchmark Sensex tanked 501 points while Nifty closed below the 25,000 mark on Friday due to selling in banking shares after muted quarterly earnings and foreign fund outflows.
Falling for the second straight day, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined by 501.51 points or 0.61 per cent to settle at 81,757.73. During the day, it shed 651.11 points or 0.79 per cent to hit a low of 81,608.13.
The 50-share NSE Nifty dropped 143.05 points or 0.57 per cent to close at a month's low of 24,968.40.
Analysts said investors turned cautious over banking stocks in response to Axis Bank's latest financial results, which fell short of market expectations.
Among Sensex firms, Axis Bank tumbled the most by 5.24 per cent after it reported a 3 per cent dip in its June quarter consolidated net profit at Rs 6,243.72 crore, impacted by the implementation of changes in non-performing assets and loan upgrade policy.
Devarsh Vakil, Head of Prime Research, HDFC Securities, said Axis Bank's latest financial results fell short of market expectations.
"Notably, Axis Bank's GDR tumbled 4.8 per cent to USD 64.30 on Thursday, following a deterioration in the bank's asset quality during the June quarter," he said.
Among blue-chip bank stocks, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and State Bank of India ended lower.
Following the decline in bank stocks, the BSE Bankex ended 1.33 per cent lower at 62,741.65.
Bharat Electronics, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Titan and Eternal were also among the laggards from the Sensex pack.
However, Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, HCL Tech and Infosys were among the gainers.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,694.31 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.
"A broad-based sell-off was observed amidst a disappointing initial set of earnings from the finance and IT sectors. Elevated valuations in large-cap stocks, coupled with significant net short positions held by FIIs, have contributed to a cautious sentiment among investors," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.
"Additional tariff threats are also casting a shadow on India over its trade relationship with Russia. Despite these pressures, the medium-to-long-term outlook for India remains optimistic, supported by low inflation levels and proactive monetary authority committed to sustaining economic growth," Nair added.
The BSE smallcap gauge declined 0.64 per cent and midcap index dipped 0.62 per cent.
Among BSE sectoral indices, capital goods dropped 1.50 per cent, followed by bankex (1.33 per cent), industrials (1.08 per cent), telecommunication (0.99 per cent), power (0.90 per cent) and consumer durables (0.90 per cent).
Metal, services and BSE Focused IT ended higher.
On the weekly front, the BSE benchmark tumbled 742.74 points or 0.90 per cent, and the Nifty declined by 181.45 points or 0.72 per cent.
In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi and Japan's Nikkei 225 index settled lower, while Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended in positive territory.
European markets were trading with gains. The US markets ended higher on Thursday.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.92 per cent to USD 70.16 a barrel.
On Thursday, the Sensex dropped 375.24 points or 0.45 per cent to settle at 82,259.24. The Nifty ended lower by 100.60 points or 0.40 per cent to 25,111.45.
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Karnataka open to making Tulu second additional official language: Minister
Bengaluru (PTI): Minister Shivraj Tangadagi on Wednesday told the Legislative Assembly that the Karnataka government is in favour of declaring Tulu as the state’s second additional official language.
He said the government is studying the measures adopted by West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, both of which have additional official languages.
The minister was responding to a question by Puttur Congress MLA Ashok Kumar Rai during Question Hour.
Tulu is predominantly spoken in the coastal districts of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada, and legislators across party lines from these regions, including Speaker U T Khader, have been demanding that the government declare it as the state’s second additional official language.
At present, Kannada is the state’s only official language, while English is also used for official purposes as an additional language.
"I am continuously following it up. We have written to West Bengal and sent a committee of officials to Andhra Pradesh, where Urdu was recently declared the second official language. The committee has gathered information and returned, but is yet to submit its report," Tangadagi said.
He added that once the report is submitted, a meeting involving the Speaker, district in-charge ministers, and legislators from Tulu-speaking districts will be convened with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. "I want to assure you that we are in favour of this," he said.
Earlier, noting that several states have two or three additional official languages, Rai demanded that Tulu be declared an official language at the earliest, stating that it would not impose any financial burden on the government.
"Tulu has a history of 3,000 years, has its own script, and is included in Google Translate. The language is being researched in Germany and France, and universities have allowed examinations in Tulu," Rai said, adding that this was a unanimous demand of 13 legislators from Tulu-speaking Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts, with no opposition.
Saying it had been a long-standing demand, Rai added that a Cabinet meeting was likely to be held in Mangaluru in the coming days and urged that a decision be announced there.
BJP MLA Vedavyas Kamath also demanded early action to declare Tulu an official language. He even spoke in Tulu in the House with Speaker U T Khader, who hails from a Tulu-dominant region and speaks the language fluently.
Kamath said a committee headed by educationist Mohan Alva, constituted by the previous BJP government to examine the issue, had studied the matter in detail and compiled all relevant information.
