Nifty: Market Movers: FII selling sinks banks as Asian Paints rallies post earnings

MUMBAI: Rising concerns over credit growth and likely selling by foreign portfolio investors are quickly making banks top the list of sectors not to be in this market.

The sector tends to suffer during bouts of risk-off in global equities, as was seen today and on Monday, due to the large exposure foreign portfolio investors have to these stocks. Dealers suggested that selling from FPIs intensified over the last two sessions, which may have contributed to the Nifty Bank index falling over 3 per cent.

On top of that, the sector is also facing questions over its growth runway given the cautious commentary from private sector giant HDFC Bank on credit growth. If the global growth recovery fails to reach its peak due to surging Covid-19 cases, that will have implications for growth at home. May the market gods have mercy on the sector.

Change in trend?

On Monday, when the benchmark indices were deep in red, their counterparts Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 managed to suffer less. Money managers argued this was because broader markets may continue to remain an avenue for outperformance even when benchmarks may see losses. That trend may have changed today.