Early trading sees market declines; Kotak Mahindra Bank plunges more than 12 percent

Mumbai: Due to strong selling at Kotak Mahindra Bank and outflows of foreign funds, equity benchmark indexes saw a drop in early trading on Thursday, giving up the gains of the previous four days.
To reach 73,556.15, the 30-share BSE Sensex fell 296.79 points. At 22,305.25, the NSE Nifty fell 97.15 points.

Kotak Mahindra Bank fell more than 12% off the Sensex basket after the RBI forbade the business from providing credit cards and onboarding new clients online.

The RBI on Wednesday prohibited Kotak Mahindra Bank from accepting new clients through its online and mobile banking channels and from issuing new credit cards with immediate effect, taking action against the lender’s persistent noncompliance with IT regulations. The regulator discovered “serious deficiencies” in the lender’s IT risk management.

The other significant laggards were Mahindra & Mahindra, Asian Paints, Titan, Hindustan Unilever, and Maruti.

Among the winners were the State Bank of India, Axis Bank, Sun Pharma, and Nestle.

The BSE benchmark increased 1,363.95 points, or 1.88 percent, during the previous four days.

Shanghai and Hong Kong traded well in the Asian markets, but Seoul and Tokyo were quoted lower.

Wednesday’s closing hours on Wall Street were uneventful.

The benchmark for world oil, Brent crude, increased by 0.02 percent to USD 88.04 a barrel.

According to exchange statistics, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded stocks worth Rs 2,511.74 crore on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, the BSE benchmark increased by 114.49 points, or 0.16 percent, to end the day at 73,852.94. At 22,402.40, the NSE Nifty increased 34.40 points, or 0.15 percent.