Sensex falls by 268 points amid weak investor sentiment, PSU banks under pressure

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], Aug 21 (ANI): Equities failed to gather momentum on Wednesday as investors remained cautious amid dwindling foreign portfolio investments and weak corporate earnings.
The BSE S&P Sensex closed 268 points or 0.7 per cent lower at 37,060, while the Nifty 50 was down by 37 points or 0.9 per cent to 11,919.
All sectoral indices were in the red at the National Stock Exchange. Nifty PSU banks suffered the most and slipped by 2.95 per cent. Nifty metal was down by 2.89 per cent while realty edged lower by 1.99 per cent, media by 1.45 per cent, private banks by 1.04 per cent and pharma by 0.93 per cent.
Among stocks, Gautam Thapar-led CG Power and Industrial Solutions Ltd plummeted by another 20 per cent to Rs 11.80 per share, a day after it dropped by 19.84 per cent when the company's Risk and Audit Committee raised red flags on five counts.
The committee found under-stated liabilities, related party transactions, unauthorised guarantees, understated net worth and company personnel transactions among other irregularities, prompting government authorities to take note.
Yes Bank, which owns 12.8 per cent stake in the fraud-ridden CG Power, lost by 8.6 per cent to close the day at Rs 65.06 per share.
Tata Motors was down by 9.6 per cent, Indiabulls Housing Finance by 8.9 per cent, Grasim by 4.7 per cent and Tata Steel by 4.5 per cent. The other prominent losers were GAIL, Coal India, UltraTech Cement, IndusInd Bank, and ONGC which lost between 2.7 and 4 per cent each.
However, auto stocks gained marginally. Hero MotoCorp, Maruti, Eicher Motors and Bajaj Auto gained between 0.4 to 1.6 per cent. IT majors Infosys and Tech Mahindra, FMCG firms Hindustan Lever and Britannia along with private lenders HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were in the positive zone.
Meanwhile, Asian shares were mixed as worries about the global recession and trade wars continued. Traders awaited the Group of Seven summit this weekend for clues on what additional steps policymakers will take to boost economic growth.
Japan's Nikkei slipped by 0.28 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up by 0.15 per cent. The Shanghai Composite Index and South Korea's KOSPI too showed some gains.
But US President Donald Trump showed no signs of backing down in his tussle with China, saying that a confrontation is necessary even if it causes short-term harm to the US economy. (ANI)