Mumbai: The government has asked Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to study the trading pattern in banking stocks and urgently submit a report.

"I am disappointed with what has happened with banking stocks and have already asked SEBI chairman G N Bajpai to look into it and urgently report," Union Finance Minister Jaswant Singh said addressing the 'Business Today' function on June 9.

"Sadly, we have witnessed fractures in investors' confidence from 1990's to 2003 and we have to collectively work to correct the impression about stock markets," he said.

"We have to work for more and greater transparency and be responsible to shareholders, who are the most important stakeholders," the Minister added.

Scrips of public sector banks have been witnessing intense volatility in the last few days, especially in those stocks where banks have announced their plans to return equity to the government.

PTI