NEW DELHI: The S&P BSE Sensex plunged as much as 86 points in trade on Wednesday following muted trend seen in other Asian markets. The fall in the index was led by losses in ITC, HDFC Bank, Tata Motors and L&T.

Tracking the momentum, the 50-share Nifty index also came under some bit of pressure but was trading above its crucial psychological level of 7700.

HDFC Bank Ltd. inaugurated four new branches in Chhattisgarh to take its number of branches in the state to 55.

Of the new branches, two had come up in Raipur and one each in Bilaspur and Korba, a press statement issued by the bank here said. All the branches are urban and will offer the full range of world-class banking solutions to meet the needs of the local population.

HDFC Pension Fund Management Co. Ltd has been ousted for a second time from the pension fund management race, prompting it to challenge the regulator in court.

On 23 July, seven pension fund managers (PFMs) got their letters of appointment, but HDFC Pension Fund was rejected.

MUMBAI: Solid gains in Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank and HDFC shares helped the benchmark sensex on Wednesday log its first rise in three sessions and end about 96 points higher to reclaim the 26,000 level despite sharp losses suffered by Larsen &Toubro.

HDFC Bank, India’s second-largest private lender, on Monday said its net profit for the quarter ended June stood at Rs 2,233 crore, an annual rise of 21 per cent, the least in a decade. Higher interest income and lower provisions aided the bank’s earnings growth during the quarter.

This was the fourth consecutive quarter when the annual rise in HDFC Bank’s quarterly profit after tax was below 30 per cent. The rise in the bank’s quarterly net profits had exceeded 30 per cent (year-on-year) for about a decade, till the first quarter of 2013-14.

Amid speculation of a possible merger of Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) and HDFC Bank, in which the former has 22.5 per cent stake, senior officials of both entities have termed such an idea premature.

Speculation in this regard had gained momentum after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said banks didn't have to maintain cash reserve ratio (CRR) and statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) for funds raised through long-term bonds to fund infrastructure and affordable housing. The regulator also allowed banks exemption from meeting priority sector lending (PSL) targets on such funds.

HDFC Bank Ltd, India's second-biggest private sector lender by assets, reported on Monday a 21 percent rise in quarterly profit, lagging estimates, although asset quality remained stable.

The Mumbai-based bank said net profit rose to Rs 2233 cr for its fiscal first quarter to end-June from Rs 1844 cr a year earlier. Analysts had on average forecast a net profit of Rs 2321 cr, according to Thomson Reuters data.

The benchmark indices have erased some of its early gains with IT major Infosys and Tata Motors contributing nearly 36 points to the decline.

The barometer index, Sensex is up 123 points at 25,765 and Nifty is up 34 points at 7,698 levels.

Bangalore/Mumbai: HDFC Property Fund, the private equity arm of Housing Development Finance Corp. Ltd, has raised $250 million (around Rs.1,500 crore today) through an offshore fund. It hopes to raise another $150 million by the end of the year, said a person directly familiar with the development who did not want to be named.

On Friday, HDFC Property Fund informed the BSE that it had raised the capital through its second international fund, saying “the recently closed fund will focus on investing primarily in residential property developments in major cities across India”.

The benchmark BSE Sensex bounced back by 225 points in early trade on fresh buying in banking, capital goods, consumer durables, power and realty stocks on the back of higher Asian cues.

Asian stocks firmed up ahead of a packed week of economic data that will test investor hopes for a pick-up in the US as well as the global economy.

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