New Delhi: Bank stocks witnessed selling pressure today as the scrips fell up to 4 per cent after the Reserve Bank kept the key policy rates unchanged.
Shares of Punjab National Bank dipped 3.68 per cent, Bank of Baroda lost 2.58 per cent, AXIS Bank went down by 2.19 per cent, SBI lost 1.62 per cent and Kotak Mahindra Bank 1.55 per cent on BSE.
Led by the losses in these stocks, the BSE bank index was trading 0.55 per cent down at 23,186.39 during the fag-end of the trade. The benchmark BSE Sensex also plunged over 180 points soon after the policy announcement.
The 30-share index later pared some of the losses but was still trading in the negative at 28,286.68 points in pre-close session, down by 48.48 points or 0.17 per cent over the previous close.
For the second time in a row, the Reserve bank today opted for a status quo in its key rates but shifted the stance of the monetary policy from 'accommodative' to 'neutral'.
Accordingly, the repo rate at which it lends to the system stands at 6.25 per cent and the reverse repo rate at which it absorbs excess liquidity is also retained at 5.75 per cent.
