Sensex, Nifty come off heady heights, banking hits a wall

Stock benchmarks on Wednesday had a hard landing after flying to new highs, pulled down by banking stocks in the wake of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) action that rekindled fears about bad loans. The RBI has initiated a 'prompt corrective action' against Bank of India (BoI) for mounting bad loans, placing restrictions on it, including issuing of fresh loans and dividend distribution, BoI said on Wednesday. The open was positive for the 30-share Sensex, which hit a new high of 33,956.31, but gave in to the selling pressure due to NPA worries and settled at 33,777.38, down 59.36 points, or 0.18 per cent. The BSE index had closed at a record high of 33,836.74 on Tuesday, with a rally of 783.70 points in the previous four sessions. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty went up to a fresh peak of 10,494.45, but lost it by closing down 19 points, or 0.18 per cent, at 10,444.20. It had finished at a record high of 10,463.20 on Tuesday.