Indian benchmark indices end negative on Friday but manage to stay off the day's low
Mumbai, Feb 16 (IBNS): Indian benchmark indices ended on negative note on Friday but managed to claw back from the day's low, according to media reports.
At the close of business hour on Friday, BSE Sensex was down 286.71 points at 34,010.76 and NSE Nifty was down 94.30 points at 10,451.20.
Meanwhile, as the market continues to debate over the alleged PNB scam and the involvement of billionaire diamond jeweler Nirav Modi and his associates and partners, the State Bank of India (SBI) has said that it has an exposure of USD 212 million (about Rs 1,360 crore) in respect to letter of undertaking issued by Punjab National Bank to Nirav Modi, but does not have any direct exposure to the absconding jewellery designer, reported moneycontrol.com.
India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), on Friday, on the advice of the Enforcement Directorate, suspended the validity of passports of billionaire diamond jeweler Nirav Deepak Modi and his alleged partner Mehul Chinubhai Choksi, with immediate effect for a period of four weeks, according to media reports.
The MEA also said that they have been asked to respond within one week as to why their passports should not be impounded or revoked, media reports said.
On Friday, according to reports, ED summoned Nirav Modi in connection with the over Rs 11,000 crore fraud case detected by Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Wednesday.
Also, the INTERPOL (Interpol) has issued a diffusion notice against Nirav Modi, his wife Ami Modi, brother Nishal Modi and alleged partner Mehul Choksi, according to media reports on Friday.
The diffusion notice is a request for cooperation or alert mechanism, less formal than an actual Notice but is also used to request the arrest or location of an individual or additional information in relation to a police investigation.
On Friday, share price of Punjab National Bank dropped a further 2 percent on top of its 21 per cent fall in the previous two consecutive sessions, according to market reports. Gitanjali Gems too fell 19 per cent on top of 20 per cent decline in the previous session.
Top gainers on Friday included Ambuja Cements, Infosys, Cipla, Dr Reddys Labs, Asian Paints, TCS and Kotak Mahindra while Eicher Motors, Tech Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Bharti Airtel, SBI, Yes Bank and ICICI Bank were some of the key stocks that declined.
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