Markets Trade Lower; Banking Stocks Dive Again

Benchmark indices were trading sharply lower in trade once again, with the Sensex down 800 points, while the Nifty was down 235 points in trade.

Global cues were extremely weak, with the Japanese Nikkei seeing cuts of near 4 per cent, while most other markets, including the Hang Sang were down in trade.

Banking stocks were once again leading the set of losers with stocks like HDFC Bank, HDFC, Axis Bank and IndusInd Bank among the top losers. In fact, IndusInd Bank was once again among the big losers dropping as much as 10 per cent in trade initially, but recovering later.

Other losers in trade were Bajaj Finance, Mahindra and Mahindra, ONGC and Bharti Infratel. Cipla, Teach Mahindra and Dr Reddy's were among the gainers from the Nifty stocks. Several shares also dipped to 52-week lows, including the likes of Future Retail, Vedanta, Indian Oil Corporation and Oberoi Realty.

Meanwhile, the rupee opened slightly weaker in trade at 75.19 to the dollar, as against its Friday' s close of 74.85 to the dollar.