Sensex Trades Lower; Banking Stocks Weak

Benchmark indices opened the day marginally lower, with the Sensex trading with losses of 88 points, while the Nifty was trading with losses of 33 points.

Shares in oil marketing companies and oil and gas exploration companies were marginally weak, on reports that the government was looking at enhanced dividend from these companies.

Shares in Wipro was weak, after its results disappointed the street. Net profits at the firm fell 3.8 per cent sequentially. The fall came amidst a good set of numbers reported by Infosys.

Banking stocks were down, thanks to higher than expected retain inflation that was reported. PSU bank were under some selling pressure. Yes Bank, which dived almost 8 per cent on Tuesday, was down another 2 per cent in trade. Most analysts expect the stock to continue to be under pressure.

Meanwhile, most Asian markets were trading with losses, with the Japanese Nikkei and the Shanghai Composite both down in trade. It's likely that the markets would continue to exbibit volatility in the days to come, with a chance of a downside risk high, given the way markets have rallied.

Meanwhile, the Indian rupee opened marginally lower in trade by 12 paise, and was last seen trading at 70.99, as against a close on Tuesday of 70.87.