Sensex, Nifty tumble for 3rd day

Mumbai, Jul 28: Falling for the third straight session on Monday, benchmark Sensex tumbled by 572 points to close at nearly a two-month low due to heavy selling in Kotak Mahindra Bank, forex outflows and uncertainty related to the India-US trade deal.

The 30-share BSE barometer tanked 572.07 points or 0.70 per cent to settle at 80,891.02, a level not seen since June 4. During the day, it slumped 686.65 points or 0.84 per cent to 80,776.44.

The 50-share NSE Nifty declined 156.10 points or 0.63 per cent to close at a nearly two-month low of 24,680.90. As many as 35 Nifty shares declined, and 15 advanced.

Analysts said disappointing quarterly results and continued selling by FIIs dragged stock markets down for the third session in a row. Nifty has tanked over 2 per cent or 539 points while Sensex retreated by 1,835 points or 2.2 per cent to trade at near two-month low levels.

Among Sensex firms, Kotak Mahindra Bank tumbled the most by 7.31 per cent after the company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 4,472 crore for the June quarter, and flagged stress on the retail commercial vehicle portfolio due to adverse macroeconomic conditions.

The profit in the year-ago period was Rs 7,448 crore, but it had included gains of over Rs 3,000 crore on its stake sale in the general insurance arm, while the net profit for the March quarter stood at Rs 4,933 crore.

Bajaj Finance dropped 3.64 per cent amid asset quality concerns, while Bharti Airtel fell by 2.35 per cent.