Bank Nifty loses steam

With SBI and Axis Bank shares shedding much of their gains and slipping into negative territory, the Bank Nifty appears to have lost steam and five of the 12 Nifty constituents are in the red in the afternoon trade today.

However, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank and Canara Bank are holding on to much of their gains, though they too had come off their day’s highs.

After the RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan sprang a surprise by cutting the repo rate by 0.25 per cent, the bank stocks were on a high with the Bank Nifty index opening strongly at 20,541. The significance of the momentum could be judged by the fact that half of the Bank Nifty stocks reached new yearly highs this morning.

But much of the momentum appears to have been lost and the index is trading at about 470 points lower than the day’s high. The Bank Nifty index which opened with high of 20,541 is now trading at about 20,072 and still up by about 111 points.

Among the gainers, it was Kotak Mahindra Bank which has retained its top gainer’s slot. The stock is trading at ₹1,444, up by ₹35.30. The stock had touched a new yearly high of ₹1,457.75 this morning. Canara Bank was up by ₹7.30 at ₹436.25 and ICICI Bank had gained ₹7.05 at ₹355.70. Yes Bank, PNB, BoB and HDFC Bank were the other bank stocks to trade in the green but marginally.

However, Axis Bank has come off sharply from its high of ₹654.90, which was also its 52 week high, and is trading at ₹625.65, a loss of ₹5.75. SBI was down by Rs 1.95 and is trading at ₹300.65. This stock also was  sharply down from its day’s high of ₹315.

While 7 Bank Nifty stocks are trading in the green, five others are down.

COMMENT NOW