Mumbai: Banking stocks today suffered the brunt of the continued fall in the markets amid investors fearing that the decline in the share prices of global banks would cast its shadow on the domestic front.

Led by ICICI Bank, which declined 7.87 per cent, shares of other major lenders dipped in the range of 3-8 per cent. Private lenders were more battered than their PSU peers as HDFC Bank suffered a loss of nearly 7.30 per cent to Rs 822.25.

State Bank of India settled at Rs 1,092.55,up 1.21 per cent, while Union Bank gained 1.81 per cent at Rs 146.30.

"The decline in private sector banks stocks was sharper than their PSU counterparts as investors are now choosing to go for safe investments which are secured by government," domestic brokerage firm SMC Global Vice President Rajesh Jain said.

Mirroring the fall, the BSE banking index settled at 4,398.29 points, down 4.32 per cent. During the day it had plunged 6.48 per cent to the day s low of 4,298.67 points.

Analysts feel that the fear factor is gripping investors as they are looking for safest place to park their money. "With a significant depreciation in the rupee foreign institutional investors are pulling out money and looking for better destinations.

A kind of fear psychosis is gripping the market and domestic investors are looking for a safe haven," Taurus Mutual Fund Managing Director R K Gupta said.

All the constituents of the banking index ended in negative territory and the hardest-hit was the scrip of ICICI Bank, which had plunged to an intra-day low of Rs 312,down 10.26 per cent from the previous close.

Source : PTI