Key equity benchmarks came off day's low in morning trade. Shares declined across Asia amid concerns about fresh pandemic lockdowns in Europe. At 10:22 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 244.22 points or 0.64% at 37,789.92. The Nifty 50 index lost 89.15 points or 0.79% at 11,161.40.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 1.86% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 2.44%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 352 shares rose and 1842 shares fell. A total of 94 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty PSU Bank index fell 3.09% to 1,287.30, extending declined for fifth day in a row. The index has lost 10.32% in five sessions.

Among the index constituents, Canara Bank (down 5.23%), Indian Overseas Bank (down 4.69%), UCO Bank (down 3.56%), Indian Bank (down 3.27%), Bank of India (down 3.09%), Union Bank of India (down 3.07%), Bank Of Baroda (down 3.03%), Bank of Maharashtra (down 2.59%), Jammu and Kashmir Bank (down 2.56%), SBI (down 1.48%), Punjab National Bank (down 1.47%) and CBI (down 0.67%) declined.

Punjab National Bank (PNB) skid 0.49% to Rs 30.50. The financial regulator of Kazakhstan has revoked the license of Tengri Bank on account of failure to observe prudential standards and other mandatory norms and limits. PNB holds 41.64% stake in the lender.

Banks stocks came under heavy selling pressure amid media reports that almost all Indian banks were involved in a number of suspicious transactions between 2010 and 2017. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalism (ICIJ) obtained a top-secret Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) prepared by Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), which mentions these transactions.

Reports suggested that between 2010 and 2017, a number of Indian banks (public, private and foreign) helped facilitate transactions red-flagged by the US Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) for suspected money laundering, terrorism, drug dealing and financial fraud. Indian banks reportedly received $482,181,226 from outside the country and transferred from India $406,278,962. These transactions were red flagged to the US authorities.

Separately, the media reported that Indian public sector banks (PSBs) reported frauds worth over Rs 19,964 crore in total 2,867 cases during the April-June quarter of the ongoing fiscal year.

Stocks in Spotlight:

GMM Pfaudler hit a lower circuit of 10% at Rs 4717 after the company kicked off an offer for sale (OFS) by the promoters at a floor price of Rs 3,500 per share. The OFS floor price is at steep discount of 33.22% compared to GMM's Monday closing price of Rs 5241.10 per share.

Through the OFS, the company's promoters proposes to sell over 25.71 lakh equity shares and additional 15.21 lakh equity shares in the case of oversubscription. The promoters held 1.09 crore shares or 75% stake in the company as on 30 June 2020.

As on 10:05 IST, the OFS received subscription for 2008 shares or 0.09% against the base non-retail offer size of 23.14 lakh shares.

Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company (SPARC) rose 2.96% to Rs 173.90 after the company said it licensed commercialization rights of Elepsiatm XR to US-based Tripoint Therapeutics. The drug is indicated as adjunctive therapy for the treatment of partial onset seizures in patients 12 years of age and older.

Under terms of the license agreement, SPARC will be eligible to receive tiered royalties ranging from 15% to 50% on net sales. Tripoint will be responsible for all US regulatory submissions and payment of annual PDUFA fees for Elepsia XR 1000 mg and Elepsia XR 1500 mg. The initial term of the agreement shall be 5 years and may be further extended as per mutual agreement between the parties.

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