Business

Nifty Bank cracks 3% to 11-month low as SBI, HDFC & Union Bank tumble. More pain ahead?

Published

3 hours ago

23 March 2026

Nifty Bank cracks 3% to 11-month low as SBI, HDFC & Union Bank tumble. More pain ahead?

The Nifty Bank index tumbled more than 3% on Monday, dropping below the 52,000 mark for the first time since April 2025, with PSU bank stocks like Union Bank of India, PNB and others leading losses. Market experts say the broader bias remains negative, and a sell-on-rise approach is preferred.

The index dropped to 51,791 in the morning session on Monday, dragged by losses in financial stocks. Union Bank of India and Punjab National Bank (PNB) declined around 5%, while Canara Bank, AU Small Finance Bank, Bank of Baroda and IDFC First Bank shares fell over 4% each. IndusInd Bank, Yes Bank, Federal Bank, State Bank of India (SBI), HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and ICICI Bank meanwhile declined in the range of 1.5-4%.

The sharp decline comes amid broader market weakness, as the rupee hit fresh lifetime lows and US bond yields gained, amid persistent FII selling and escalating war between Iran and the US-Israel. Indian rupee extended its sharp decline against the US dollar, falling to 93.84 against the US dollar to break its previous all-time low of 93.7350, which it had hit on Friday. The rupee, which is one of the most exposed currencies to oil price increases, has weakened nearly 3% since the war in the Middle East began.

Foreign investors have been strongly selling Indian equities since the beginning of the war in the oil-rich Middle East amid a global risk-off sentiment in markets. FIIs extended their selling streak for the 16th consecutive session on Friday, net selling Indian shares worth Rs 5,518 crore, according to data on NSE.

The fall in bank stocks also comes amid concerns over what impact prolonged Middle East war and elevated oil prices can have on the Indian economy. While India is not directly involved in the war between Iran and the US-Israel, the rising oil prices and other factors may bear an impact on the Indian economy in the short term, as per analysts. “With 80% energy import dependence, higher crude prices directly impact the growth, current account deficit (CAD), inflation, the rupee, and fiscal balances. The overall macro effect will depend on the pass-through to consumers and government interventions through duties, subsidies, and fuel price controls,” said Motilal Oswal Financial Services in a report earlier this month.

Also read: Rs 13 lakh cr rout! 7 key factors behind today’s D-St bloodbath

“A USD10pb rise in oil could add 30–50bp to inflation, with CPI potentially approaching 5% if crude averages USD100pb. These risks are further amplified by shipping disruptions, higher war-risk insurance premiums, rising fertiliser prices, and vulnerabilities in LPG supply, increasing the likelihood of broader energy and food price pressures,” the brokerage added.

Technical view

Bank Nifty has witnessed a breakdown in short-term structure, indicating a shift towards a lower high–lower low formation, said Vatsal Bhuva, Technical Analyst at LKP Securities. “RSI at 28 signals an oversold condition, suggesting a possible pullback; however, the broader bias remains negative, with a sell-on-rise approach preferred in the 54,500–56,000 resistance zone,” the analyst said.

Bajaj Broking also noted that the index last week formed a high-wave candle with a lower high and lower low, signalling continuation of the corrective decline. “Volatility is likely to remain elevated in the near term, driven by uncertain global cues and rising geopolitical tensions, which continue to weigh on market sentiment,” it added.

Also read: Gold extends fall after worst week in 43 years. More pain or time to buy the dip?

A sustained move below Thursday’s low of 53,240 could trigger further downside, with potential targets at 52,500 and 51,800 in the coming sessions, according to Bajaj Broking, adding that these levels correspond to the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement of the rally from the January 2025 lows and coincide with the low of the breakout candle formed in April 2025.

“On the upside, the Thursday gap zone between 54,689 and 54,150 is expected to act as immediate resistance. The overall bias remains bearish as long as the index stays below this zone,” it added.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

Business

LaGuardia flight cancellations, delays grow after Air Canada plane collision

Published

50 seconds ago

23 March 2026

NewsAdmin

LaGuardia flight cancellations, delays grow after Air Canada plane collision

Atlanta and New Orleans travelers are frustrated with long waits at TSA security checkpoints amid the partial government shutdown, as travel peaks during spring break. (WAGA, WVUE)

Flight cancellations and delays are increasing at New York City’s LaGuardia Airport after an Air Canada Express flight collided with a fire truck while landing late Sunday night.

At least 295 flights departing from LaGuardia were canceled as of 10:30 a.m. ET on Monday, while 15 were delayed, according to data from flight tracking website FlightAware.

The tracker also showed at least 288 flights headed to LaGuardia were canceled as of 10:30 a.m. ET on Monday, and 19 were delayed, according to FlightAware.

FlightAware’s figures show that between LaGuardia’s scheduled arrivals and departures, a total of 582 flights have been canceled and 34 delayed.

LAGUARDIA PLANE CRASH AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL AUDIO REVEALS FRANTIC CALL FOR TRUCK TO ‘STOP, STOP, STOP’

A damaged Air Canada Express jet at LaGuardia Airport.

Debris hangs from a damaged Air Canada Express jet that had collided with a ground vehicle at New York’s LaGuardia Airport in Queens, New York on March 23, 2026. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)

The Air Canada Express CRJ-900 jet, operated by the airline’s regional partner Jazz Aviation, was carrying 72 passengers and four crew members and arrived from Montreal. It was designated as Flight 4686 and the collision crushed the nose of the airliner.

Both the pilot and first officer were killed, according to Jazz and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, while dozens of injuries were reported.

FRUSTRATED PASSENGERS LASH OUT AT LONG TSA LINES; GOP MESSAGES TO ‘THANK A DEMOCRAT’

People sit at Terminal B of LaGuardia Airport, after an Air Canada Express jet collided with a ground vehicle, in Queens, New York on March 23, 2026. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)

Kathryn Garcia, executive director of the Port Authority, said 32 of the 41 injured had been released, while nine remained in the hospital with “serious injuries.”

Garcia said the fire truck was responding to a separate United Airlines aircraft that had declared an emergency when it “reported an issue with odor.”

Air traffic control audio indicated that the fire truck was cleared to cross Runway 4, at taxiway “Delta,” before controllers frantically tried to get the fire truck to stop.

TSA UNION LEADER WARNS AIRPORT SECURITY RISKS WILL ‘GET WORSE’ AS MAJOR TRAVEL EVENTS LOOM

Stranded travelers sleep on the ground as their flights were cancelled after an Air Canada Express jet collided with a ground vehicle at New York’s LaGuardia Airport in Queens, New York, on March 23, 2026. (Bing Guan/Reuters)

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it was deploying a team of experts to investigate the incident, while the Federal Aviation Administration said the airport was expected to remain closed until 2 p.m. ET.

LaGuardia is one of the busiest airports in the country. It served over 30 million annual passengers in 2025, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, with a wide range of airlines operating at the airport.

The departure board at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport

A screen at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport shows canceled flights to New York’s LaGuardia Airport after an Air Canada Express jet collided with a ground vehicle there, in Arlington, Virginia, on March 23, 2026. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

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The flight disruptions stemming from the incident at LaGuardia come amid travel disruptions caused by the weeks-long partial government shutdown of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which has led to a rise in absences among workers at airport security screening lines.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Business

Pauline Black helps celebrate hub funding

Published

8 minutes ago

23 March 2026

NewsAdmin

Pauline Black helps celebrate hub funding

The Lottery funding for the Destination Ball Hill group will allow it to expand services for locals.

Business

Pfizer Lyme disease vaccine fails trial, company to seek FDA approval

Published

17 minutes ago

23 March 2026

NewsAdmin

Pfizer Lyme disease vaccine fails trial, company to seek FDA approval

A tick (Ixodida) – carrier for several diseases of humans and animals, for exampel the dangerous Lyme disease, babesiosis, anaplasmosis, Powassan virus disease and many more.

Fhm | Moment | Getty Images

Pfizer on Monday said it will seek regulatory approval for a Lyme disease vaccine candidate despite the shot failing a late-stage trial.

Pfizer said the vaccine missed the trial’s statistical goal because not enough people in the study contracted Lyme disease to be confident in the results. Still, the company said the shot reduced the rate of infection by more than 70% in people who received the vaccine versus placebo, efficacy the company thinks is strong enough to take to regulators.

“The efficacy shown in the VALOR study of more than 70% is highly encouraging and creates confidence in the vaccine’s potential to protect against this disease that can be debilitating,” Pfizer Chief Vaccines Officer Annaliesa Anderson said in a statement.

A vaccine for Lyme disease isn’t expected to become a best-seller for Pfizer, with the company’s partner Valneva estimating peak annual sales of $1 billion. Pfizer expects overall revenue of around $60 billion this year, with its Covid-19 vaccine representing more than $5 billion of that forecast.

But Pfizer had billed the Lyme vaccine results as one of its major catalysts this year, and it represented a chance to introduce the only human vaccine for Lyme disease.

Moving forward with a shot that technically failed a clinical trial under an administration that has preached stricter scrutiny for vaccines may prove risky for Pfizer, and it could serve as a litmus test for vaccine policy in the U.S.

Lyme disease is an illness caused by bacteria most commonly spread to humans from ticks. It can cause arthritis, muscle weakness and pain. About half a million Americans are diagnosed with or treated for Lyme disease every year, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Despite the disease’s prevalence, especially in the Northeast, there isn’t a vaccine for humans available. A company that would later become GSK introduced a shot called LYMErix in 1998 but pulled it only a few years later after public concerns about safety tanked demand. That experience hobbled development of Lyme vaccines for humans, though multiple companies now make them for dogs.

Pfizer and Valneva have faced their own setbacks. In 2023, the companies dropped about half of the participants in the Phase 3 trial because of quality concerns with third-party clinical trial site operator Care Access. The trial had initially enrolled about 18,000 people and after the cuts ended up with about 9,400.

The companies’ vaccine targets the outer surface protein A of the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. A vaccinated person creates antibodies that are passed to a tick and prevent the bacterium from being transferred from the tick to the human. The series involves three shots in the first year, then a booster dose the following year.

The companies said they didn’t observe any safety concerns in the trial.

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Business

How Companies Are Cutting Back On CAPEX By Leasing Infrastructure On Demand

Published

25 minutes ago

23 March 2026

NewsAdmin

Maven Capital Partners has invested £2.6 million in PowerPhotonic, the precision optics specialist whose technology underpins high-power laser systems used in aerospace, defence, healthcare and semiconductor manufacturing.

Capital expenditure has been a huge obstacle for companies that rely on a lot of heavy equipment or infrastructure. Construction, logistics, mining and manufacturing firms have traditionally gone out and bought the gear they need in order to keep running.

While owning the gear gives them control, it also locks up a ton of capital, piles on maintenance bills, and leaves them exposed to the risk of underutilising their assets when they’re not in use.

A big shift is going on right now. Across multiple sectors, companies are moving away from the old model of buying and owning big-ticket assets and are instead turning to on-demand access to the gear and infrastructure they need. This change is revolutionising how capital is allocated in these businesses, and how they manage their risks.

The Problem with Being a Capital-Heavy Business

Ownership used to be seen as a necessity in industries where having access to that gear was essential to getting the job done. Contractors buy excavators, transport companies buy truck fleets, and manufacturers build extra capacity so they can meet demand without relying on outside help.

But this model creates a whole host of problems:

You need to shell out loads of cash upfront to buy the gear.
The gear depreciates quickly, leaving you with a fraction of what you paid for it after just a few years.
There are ongoing costs for maintenance and storage on top of that.
You’re stuck with the gear even when you don’t need it – which is a waste of money.
And there’s the risk that you’ll buy a lot of gear and then struggle to use it all when demand drops.

In reality, loads of companies end up with gear that’s not being used very much. That equipment bought for peak demand just sits there idle between projects or during downturns, which means you’re throwing good money after bad on cash that’s not really generating any value.

This is getting worse as margins get tighter, competition gets fiercer, and the pressure to get your capital allocation just right gets more intense.

The Shift Towards Access Over Ownership

So, to get around these problems, companies are starting to adopt the “access over ownership” model. Instead of buying gear that may not even get used all that much, businesses are turning to leasing or renting the equipment and infrastructure they need on demand.

This model is already well established in other areas. Cloud computing made it so that you don’t need to have all the IT hardware lying around on site. Mobility platforms let people use cars without having to buy them. And the same idea is being applied to physical gear and infrastructure now.

In construction, for example, contractors are ditching their own fleets and instead using hired gear to do the job. They keep a core set of assets that they own and use, and then rent or lease the rest as needed for specific projects or phases.

This way, businesses can match their spending to their actual needs.

What Are the Financial Benefits of On-Demand Infrastructure?

One of the key benefits to this approach is that it lets you cut back on capital expenditure. By not having to shell out a fortune upfront to buy the gear, you can keep your capital free for other important priorities like expansion, updating your tech, or hiring more staff.

Some of the key financial benefits are:

You don’t need to throw down loads of cash upfront to buy some new gear.
Your cash flow is more predictable, because you’re only paying for the gear when you need it.
You avoid all the depreciation costs that come from owning stuff that’s not generating a good return for you.
You save on maintenance and storage costs.
And your operating expenses become more predictable, which makes it easier to budget and plan.

By treating access to equipment as an operational expense, rather than a capital expense, you get more flexibility and can respond better to changing market conditions.

How On-Demand Infrastructure Improves Asset Utilisation

Another huge problem with the old model is that you end up with a lot of underused assets. Some gear gets used a lot, while other stuff just sits there idle for ages. This reduces your overall return on investment and makes it more expensive to get the job done.

But if you lease or rent the gear you need on demand, you can match your usage to your needs more closely. The gear is used when you need it, and then it’s back on the market when you don’t.

This approach also means you can get access to the specialist gear you need for specific tasks, without having to buy it and then stick it in a warehouse somewhere.

It Lets You Be More Flexible and Scalable

In today’s business world, demand can change overnight. Project pipelines can go up or down, timelines get changed, and market conditions shift. And in that kind of environment, having the flexibility to scale up or down quickly is a huge advantage.

On-demand infrastructure lets you scale your operations without being tied to a fixed asset base. If demand goes up, you can get more gear to meet the demand – and if demand drops, you can cut back and save yourself some cash.

And that’s especially useful in construction, where different projects need different types and volumes of gear at different times.

Digital platforms are making it all a lot easier to track down and get access to the gear you need. Platforms like Quotor give you a view of what’s out there, so you can find the gear you need without having to buy it yourself.

Reducing the Risk of Uncertain Markets

Finally, on-demand infrastructure reduces the long-term risk of buying a lot of gear that may not get used as much as you thought. In industries where the market is volatile – and that’s a lot of industries right now – the risk of buying gear in a boom and then having it go unused in a bust is a real problem.

But if you’re only leasing or renting the gear you need, you’re not committing to anything long-term. You can adjust your resource usage as the market changes – which means you can avoid the costs of maintaining gear that’s not being used.

This risk reduction is getting more and more important as industries have to deal with all the volatility in the market right now.

Technology is Making It All Happen

At the end of the day, all this is being made possible by the rapid advancement of digital technology. Online platforms, data analysis and real-time tracking are all making it easier for businesses to find, compare and access the resources they need.These technologies are making it a lot clearer where you can find the equipment you need and how much it’s going to set you back, which lets companies make decisions alot faster and with alot more info. And to top it off, they just make it a lot easier to get the equipment you need from multiple suppliers without all the hassle that’s usually involved.

As more and more businesses get on board with digital technology, on-demand infrastructure is going to become a whole lot more integrated into how it’s done in the industry, especially in places where equipment is a big deal.

A Shift in How Companies Approach Capital

The idea of on-demand infrastructure is part of a much bigger change in how companies think about capital – rather than just tying up their cash in physical assets they are really starting to value things like flexibility, efficiency, and being able to adapt quickly.

This shift doesn’t mean they aren’t going to own any assets anymore. Lots of companies are still going to have the equipment that really matters to them right up front. But the balance is shifting. People are getting pickier about what they own, and instead they are using access models to fill in the gaps and handle the day to day things that are hard to predict.

In construction this is a pretty fundamental change in how equipment is sourced & used.

Wrap Up

The UK property market continues to evolve, with increasing demand for speed, certainty and flexibility driving growth in the fast house sale sector.

House buying companies — often referred to as cash property buyers — have become a significant part of the market, offering homeowners an alternative to traditional estate agent sales. For many sellers, particularly those facing time pressure, these companies provide a streamlined route to completion.

However, the sector is far from uniform. Business models vary widely, from direct cash purchasers to hybrid platforms reliant on investor networks. As a result, understanding which companies deliver consistently is key.

Below is a business-focused overview of some of the leading house buying companies operating in the UK in 2026, based on scale, structure and market presence.

1. Springbok Properties

A scaled operator with structured sales models

Springbok Properties

is one of the most established and recognisable companies in the UK fast-sale property sector.

From a business standpoint, what differentiates Springbok is its multi-route sales model. Rather than relying on a single acquisition method, the company offers a range of structured solutions designed to align with different seller priorities — including speed, price and certainty.

This operational flexibility allows Springbok to handle higher volumes of transactions while maintaining relatively consistent completion timelines.

The company has also built significant brand equity, supported by a large volume of customer reviews and a strong digital presence.

Business strengths

Nationwide operational scale
Structured, multi-channel sales model
Strong brand recognition and review footprint
Ability to process high transaction volumes

For sellers and investors alike, Springbok represents one of the more mature and systemised operators within the sector.

2. The Property Buying Company

Direct acquisition model with strong market visibility

The Property Buying Company operates primarily as a direct purchaser, which simplifies the transaction process and reduces reliance on third-party buyers.

From a business perspective, this model offers clarity and speed, making it attractive to sellers seeking straightforward transactions.

The company has invested heavily in marketing, giving it strong visibility within the UK property sector.

Business strengths

Direct buying model
Clear and simple transaction structure
Strong brand awareness

Strong national brand presence
High lead generation capacity
Streamlined enquiry process

Sector Insights: A Market in Transition

The growth of house buying companies reflects broader structural changes within the UK property market.

Key trends include:

Increased demand for chain-free transactions
Rising adoption of PropTech and digital workflows
Greater awareness of alternative selling routes
A shift toward speed and certainty over maximum price

As a result, the sector is becoming more competitive, with companies refining their models to improve efficiency and conversion rates.

Key Considerations for Sellers

From a business and consumer perspective, due diligence remains essential.

Sellers should assess:

Whether the company is a direct buyer or intermediary
The transparency of the valuation process
Evidence of completed transactions and reviews
Membership of recognised industry bodies

Understanding these factors can help mitigate risk and ensure a smoother transaction.

Conclusion

House buying companies have established themselves as a viable and growing segment of the UK property market.

While the sector includes a wide range of operators, companies such as Springbok Properties, The Property Buying Company and Good Move demonstrate how scale, structure and transparency can differentiate businesses in an increasingly competitive landscape.

As market conditions continue to evolve, the demand for fast, reliable property transactions is likely to remain strong — ensuring that house buying companies play an increasingly important role in the future of UK real estate.