PSUs, banks lead bear party

Heavy selling was witnessed in almost all oil scrips with IOC falling by about 10 pc and privatisation-bound HPCL dropped 9 pc with BPCL falling by over 8 per cent. ONGC, GAIL, IBP and the recently-listed Petronet LNG also closed substantially lower than yesterday’s price.

Today’s fall in PSU index was the second largest since the polling for the first phase began on April 20. The index lost over 7 pc during the last three trading days. Other privatisation-bound state firms like Hindustan Copper (6.25 pc), EIL (3.22 pc), SCI (6.58 pc), Nalco (5.03 pc) and STC (6.89 pc) also nosedived on nervousness on the fate of the disinvestment programme.

BHEL was quoted lower by over 4 per cent while MTNL was down by 4.87 pc. Market watchers expect the fall in PSU scrips to continue till a clear picture emerges on the political front. From a recent high of 3,325.94 touched on April 23, the Bankex has lost 338.10 points, or 10.16%.

Said stock dealer Pradeep Bhavnani, ‘‘there are concerns among investors that banking reforms will be slowed down if a coalition government comes to power.’’ Thanks to a Rs 22 crore loss, Bank of Rajasthan was down 12.66 pc to Rs 44.15. Similarly, SBI lost 1.85 pc value to Rs 617.25 and ICICI Bank was down 5.71 pc to Rs 283.15 and HDFC Bank down 3.39% to Rs 371.65 lost ground on sustained selling pressure.

A big performer till recent times, J&K Bank was down 11.02 pc to Rs 428.55 as selling continued following the bank’s disappointing Q4 results. From a recent high of Rs 525 touched on 23 April, the J&K Bank stock has lost 18.37 pc.