Banking shares hit by CRR hike fears

Banking shares were hit on Friday by the sudden spurt in inflation rate, which gave rise to fears of the Reserve Bank of India raising the cash reserve ratio. Inflation rate, based on wholesale price index, shot up to 6.68 per cent for the week ended Mar 15, from 5.92 per cent in the previous week. HDFC Bank April was down 2 per cent, with open interest up 67,800 shares or 2.9 per cent. ICICI Bank near month contract slipped 1.6 per cent. The contract added 6.7 lakh or 10.5 per cent in open interest. Kotak Bank April shed 2 per cent while it added 2.24 lakh shares or 17 per cent in open interest. IDBI April soared on short covering. The contract shed 5.1 lakh shares or 3.1 per cent in open interest while price was up 3.3 per cent. Union Bank of India April contract price was up 2.5 per cent while it shed 1.42 lakh shares or 2.8 per cent in open interest. Canara Bank April gained 1.8 per cent while open interest shed 48,800 shares or 3.4 per cent. NSE Bank Nifty Index lost 0.42 per cent to 6939.90 and was the worst performing sector.