Sensex, Nifty drop over 1.5%; ICICI, SBI tank on RBI data

Moneycontrol Bureau

The BSE Sensex is down over 1.5 percent at 19,356 and the 50-share Nifty slips 1.57 percent at 5857, heading towards their biggest single day fall since October 8, 2012.

The fall was on the back of weak Asian cues on talk of a hedge fund liquidating big global positions in commodities and worries that the US Federal Reserve could wind down its bond-buying programme.

ICICI Bank shares fall 3.3 percent and State Bank of India falls 2 percent after RBI data showed that loan growth continues to remain a concern.

Reliance Industries shares fall nearly 2 percent, retreating after a 3.1 percent surge on Wednesday.

ABB shares fall 3 percent after the company reported a 74 percent fall in Oct-Dec net profit at Rs 167.7 million.

The top gainers (barely) on the Sensex: GAIL (0.06 percent) and Bajaj Auto (0.02 percent).