Shares of public sector undertaking (PSU) banks were trading lower for the fifth straight trading session on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) with the CNX PSU Bank index hitting five-month low today.

At 1449 hours, CNX PSU Bank index, the largest loser among sectoral indices, was down 1.6% at 3,444 points compared with 0.15% fall in the CNX Nifty and a marginal 0.10% rise in Bank Nifty.

Banking shares are in demand with the Bank Nifty surging 581 points to 20,542 in early morning deal on NSE after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cut the repo rate by 25 bps to 7.5% today.

Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of India, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and State Bank of India are up between 2-3%.

US-based private equity firm Carlyle group beat off stiff competition to acquire a 49% stake in PNB Housing Finance from Destimoney Enterprise Pvt Ltd.

PNB Housing Finance is the mortgage finance arm of one of India’s largest public sector lenders, Punjab National Bank, which owns 51%, and is the fourth largest housing finance company in the country.

Banking shares have extended losses for the second straight session on National Stock Exchange (NSE) after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan decided to leave repo rate unchanged at its credit policy meet yesterday.

Bank Nifty, the banking share index is down 1.2% or 235 points at 19,148 at 10.15 hours. Meanwhile, the benchmark CNX Nifty is down 22 points at 8,734.75.

Shares of Punjab National Bank are trading lower b y 7% to Rs 178 on the BSE after gross NPAs as a percentage to total advances rose to 5.97% from 4.96% in the same quarter an year ago.

Meanwhile, the country's second largest public sector bank by assets had reported net profit of Rs 755.41 crore for the October- December quarter of the 2013-14 financial year.

If reports are to be believed, a proposal is brewing in the corridors of North Block to merge the UTI Mutual Fund with the fund arm of one of its shareholders and country’s largest bank State Bank of India. The ill-conceived proposal could not have been more ill-timed.

It comes at a time when UTI is looking to consolidate under a new chief after being headless for a few years. The market conditions have improved dramatically and this could have helped the fund house, which still has the best mix of funds, be it the asset type (equity vs debt) and the geographical spread, to surge forward.

Benchmark indices extended gains after a firm opening on Friday led by financials and index heavyweights ITC and Reliance Industries.

At 9:30AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 189 points a 27,696 and the 50-share Nifty was up 56 points at 8,340.

Shares in Punjab National Bank and JK Tyre and Industries were trading higher by up to 8% after both the stock turned ex-stock split today.

JK Tyre and Industries has surged 8% to Rs 129, while Punjab National Bank gained nearly 4% to Rs 225 in early morning deals on the BSE.

Shares of most of the frontline banks are trading lower between 1-4% on profit booking after rallying 20% in past one and half months.

Canara Bank, Bank of India, Federal Bank, Yes Bank, Punjab National Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank and Bank of Baroda are down between 2-4%, while State Bank of India (SBI), IndusInd Bank and Axis Bank are down 1% each on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Government-owned Punjab National Bank's net profit in the quarter ended September 30 grew 13.8 per cent to Rs 575 crore on robust growth in other income.

It had reported net profit of Rs 505 crore in the corresponding (July-September) quarter of 2013-14.

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