Indian equities ended lower on Tuesday, August 8 amid reports that the Securities and Exchange Board of India requested that 331 entities should be investigated on suspicion of being shell companies. The names of these companies were not disclosed. Meanwhile, it was reported that shell companies, once proven as such, may have to be delisted. Recapping the benchmarks, the Nifty 50 receded 0.78% to 9,978.55, and the BSE Sensex slid 0.80%, settling at 32,014.19. By 10:31 GMT the USD/INR pair weakened 0.25% to 63.685, while the EUR/INR decreased 0.04% to 75.2707. The 10-year Indian government bond yield stood at 6.457%. In the banking sector, State Bank of India, Canara Bank and Punjab National Bank plunged 2.43% and 2.17% amid profit-taking. The session’s outliers included O&G names with Bharat Petroleum and Indian Oil sliding 4.29% and 4.16%, respectively. Tata Steel outperformed the broader market, up 2.73% on the back of upbeat quarterly earnings. The world’s second-largest automotive aluminum supplier Hindalco Industries was well bid, surging 3.18% after its subsidiary Novelis posted a four-fold increase in quarterly profit. The daily chart shows that the BSE Sensex continues to trade within a rising band, while the Slow Stochastic Oscillator is bear-friendly at this point. As a result, a downturn towards the lower end of the band can be expected in the short term.