Sensex Ends 300 Points Off Day's High, Nifty Settles Below 8,550

The Sensex fell 135 points to 28,101 and Nifty slipped 39 points to 8,525 led by losses in heavyweights such as ONGC, Tata Motors, Reliance Industries, Infosys and ITC.

For the most part of the day, the Sensex and Nifty traded on a firm note but selling pressure creeped in the last thirty minutes of trade as fears of washout of monsoon session of Parliament weighed on the market sentiment.

Meanwhile, reports surfaced which suggested that Land Bill has been deferred till next Parliament session as no consensus has been reached on controversial clauses.

Analysts say with key legislations like the Land Bill getting deferred till the next session of Parliament, indicates that reform process of the government is getting delayed.

From the intraday high levels, the Sensex plunged 400 points to hit day's low of 28,017.85 and the Nifty nosedived 124 points.

The broader markets also came under a mild selling pressure. The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices slipped marginally lower.

On the sectoral front, most of the sectors ended in the red. Metal, capital goods, oil & gas, IT and FMCG stocks were among the worst hit.

From the Nifty-50 basket of stocks, 16 stocks advanced while 34 stocks declined.

ONGC was the top Nifty loser, the stock fell 2.76 per cent to close at Rs 275. M&M, Tata Motors, NTPC, Idea Cellular, Cairn India, Coal India, RIL and Hindalco also fell 1.6-2.2 per cent each.

The overall breadth was negative as 1,527 stocks declined while 1,427 stocks advanced.

3:30 p.m.: Sensex falls 204 points to provisionally close at 28,032 and Nifty plunges 58 points to 8,506.

3:28 p.m.: Sources told NDTV that Land Bill has been deferred till next Parliament session as no consensus has been reached on controversial clauses.

3:18 p.m.: Nifty falls 124 points to 8,497.80 and Sensex plunges 397 points to 28,020.65 from the intraday high levels. Fears of washout of monsoon session of Parliament weighed on the market sentiment.

3:10 p.m.: The markets fell sharply in the late trades. The Sensex which was trading firmly higher suddenly fell over 150 points to 28,020 and Nifty plunged 52 points to slip below 8,500 levels.

3:10 p.m.: One can invest in PSU banks which have net NPA ratio of 2 per cent or less and have double digit credit growth, says G Chokkalingam of Equinomics Research.

3:05 p.m.: Allcargo Logistsics Q1 net profit at Rs 75.1 crore compared to estimate of Rs 65.7 crore.

3:01 p.m.: Adani Ports loss at Rs 418 crore against estimate of Rs 369 crore. Stock up 0.3 per cent at Rs 340.70.

2:28 p.m.: Tata Teleservices, Kiri Industries, Gujarat NRE Coke, Shakti Pumps, Alembic Pharma and Kirloskar Engineering were among the losers from the small-cap space.

2:13 p.m.: Mahindra & Mahindra, ONGC, Idea Cellular, NTPC, Sun Pharma, Coal India and Reliance Industries were among the laggards on the Nifty.

2:07 p.m.: Arindam Ghosh of Blackridge Capital Advisors says that capital goods will be biggest beneficiary as cyclical recovery starts to kick in more meaningfully. Given fast tracking of road and rail projects this is one sector where valuations look attractive. If one needs to play India growth story then this sector holds a lot of promise, adds Mr Ghosh.

1:45 p.m.: The Sensex came off the intraday high levels in the afternoon trades on the back of selling in heavyweights such as ONGC, Reliance Industries and Sun Pharma.

The Sensex was up 58 points at 28,295 and the Nifty was up 17 points at 8,582.

1:36 p.m.: The overall breadth remained positive as 1,635 stocks were advancing while 1,140 were declining. 

1:27 p.m.: BSE realty index advanced 1.6 per cent; Godrej Properties, Indiabulls Real Estate, D B Realty, Mahindra Life Space Developers and Unitech were among the gainers, up 2.4-6.8 per cent each. 

1:14 p.m.: Chambal Fertilisers Q1 net profit at Rs 146.3 crore against estimates of Rs 94.5 crore. Stock surges 11% to hit intraday high of Rs 70.65.

1:09 p.m.: Mukta Arts shares jumped by their daily permissible limit of 20 per cent on tie-up with Foxconn Technology, the world's largest contract manufacturer of electronic gadgets including iPhone. (Read full report)

1:01 p.m.: The markets continued to trade on a positive note in the noon deals. The Sensex was up 135 points at 28,372 and Nifty jumped 40 points to 8,604.

12:50 p.m.: Nomura has maintained sell on Sun Pharma for target price of Rs 792. Nomura says that Taro's results suggest that the intensity of the price increases has lessened and adds that  the management retains a cautious outlook due to strong competition and pressure on account of channel consolidation. (Click here for more brokerage calls)

12:25 p.m.: Gujarat State Petronet (GSPL) shares advanced 13 per cent to hit fresh 52-week high of Rs 141.30. (Read)

11:55 a.m.: HDFC was the top Nifty gainer, the stock jumped 2.5 per cent to Rs 1,331. Kotak Mahindra Bank, Asian Paints, Lupin, Power Grid, TCS and Bosch also advanced over 1 per cent each.

11:43 a.m.: Nifty 8,700 call option was the most active options contract on the National Stock Exchange. The premium on the contract jumped 24 per cent to Rs 68. As many as 3.35 lakh shares were added to the open interest of 4.2 million shares. 

11:37 a.m.: Unitech, Suzlon Energy, J P Associates, Subex, MRPL and Tata Motors were among the most actively traded stocks on the National Stock Exchange.

11:33 a.m.: Bank Nifty advanced 0.8 per cent; Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, Yes Bank, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, IndusInd Bank and Bank of India were among the gainers from the banking space.

11:26 a.m.: Avanti Feeds, Sharon Bio-Medicine, Ratnamani Metals & Tubes, GSPL and Godrej Properties were among the losers from the small-cap space.

11:18 a.m.: Metal stocks were facing selling pressure. The BSE metal index slipped 0.35 per cent; Welspun Corp, SAIL, Tata Steel, NMDC and Hindustan Zinc were among the laggards.

11:01 a.m.: UCO Bank shares fell over 4 per cent to intraday low of Rs 52.15 on Monday as the public sector lender's June quarter profit nearly halved on account of higher provisioning. 

The public sector lender on Saturday said its net profit declined to Rs 257 crore in the April-June quarter from Rs 521 crore last year. (Read)

10:53 a.m.: Divis Laboratories shares surged 8 per cent to hit 52-week high of Rs 2,129.90; the company on Saturday reported that its net profit jumped 45 per cent to Rs 243 crore compared to Rs 168 crore during the same period last year.

10:42 a.m.: Shares of Thomas Cook India surged over 5 per cent on Monday after the travel services provider announced acquisition of rival Kuoni  (Read)

10:30 a.m.: Shares of Sasken Communication Technologies jump 2.95 per cent to hit intraday high of Rs 250.60. Sasken's Rs 108 crore buyback offer has begun from today and will close on August 24. The company plans to buy back shares at Rs 260 per share.

10:27 a.m.: The initial public offer (IPO) of Power Mech Projects initial public offer (IPO) opened for subscription on Friday. The power infrastructure services player plans to raise up to Rs 273 crore at the higher end of the price band of Rs 615-Rs 640. The issue will close on Tuesday, August 11, 2015. (Click here to read this before investing)

10:00 a.m.: The overall breadth was positive as 1,351 stocks were advancing while 629 were declining on the BSE.

9:54 a.m.: The markets continued to trade on a strong note in the morning deals. The Sensex was up 165 points at 28,401 and Nifty advanced 52 points to 8,616.

9:51 a.m.: Tata Motors was down 0.65 per cent at Rs 390. The company on Friday said that its net profit  fell 49 per cent to Rs 2,769 crore, compared with the same period a year ago.

9:48 a.m.: Jaiprakash Associates falls 4 per cent to hit intraday low of Rs 11.30 after the company reported that its loss in the first quarter of current financial year widened to Rs 465 crore against loss of Rs 81 crore during the same quarter last year.

9:42 a.m.: Divis Labs, Torrent Power, Unitech, Glenmark Pharma, NLC, Union Bank and Bajaj Holdings were among the gainers from the mid-cap space.

9:35 a.m.: Broader markets were witnessing buying interest. The BSE mid-cap index advanced 0.7 per cent and the small-cap index jumped 0.5 per cent.

9:30 a.m.: From the Nifty-50 basket of stocks, 40 were advancing while 10 were declining.

BPCL was the top Nifty gainer, the stock jumped 2 per cent to Rs 974. Dr Reddy's Labs, Hindalco, Tata Power, BHEL, Asian Paints and Tech Mahindra also advanced 1 per cent each.

On the other hand, ONGC, Coal India, ITC, Grasim Industries and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the notable laggards.

9:20 a.m.: After opening on a flat note, the Sensex saw a sharp upmove in the opening deals. The Sensex jumped 100 points to 28,336 and Nifty advanced 42 points to 8,608.

9:08 a.m.: Sensex jumps 14 points to 28,250 and Nifty advances 12 points to 8,577 in the pre-market session.

9:00 a.m.: Rupee opens higher at 63.75 per dollar against Friday's close of 63.81.

8:25 a.m.: Below are the stocks which will be in focus today:

Tata Motors: Tata Motors will be in focus today as the company posted Q1 results post the market hours on Friday. The company reported net profit of Rs 2,769 crore. Analysts on average expected profit to be Rs 3,459 crore, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Tata Motors' sales fell 5.6 per cent to Rs 61,019 crore from Rs 64,683 crore during the same quarter last year.

REC Ltd: REC Ltd posted net profit of Rs 1,478.58 crore compared to Rs 1,282.79 crore during the same period last financial year. The Q1 numbers were better than what the Street had estimated.  In the first quarter, company saw loan growth of 20 per cent.

Sobha Ltd: Sobha shares may face downward pressure in trades today after its first quarter numbers failed to meet analyst estimates. 

J P Associates: J P Associates' loss widened to Rs 465 crore from Rs 80.61 crore during the same period last financial year. Its total income fell to Rs 2,392 crore from Rs 3,030 crore.

D B Realty: D B Realty's Q1 net loss came in at Rs 1.89 crore down from Rs 7.25 crore last financial year.

Lupin: Lupin has opened a R&D centre for inhalation products in Florida. 

Sasken: Sasken's Rs 108 crore share buyback offer from Sasken will begin on Monday. The buyback proposal will be through tender offer route. Offer will close on August 24 the company plans to buy back 19.48 per cent of share capital at Rs 260 share.

J K Tyre, Kesoram Industries: J K Tyre has clarified that there is no transaction between JK Tyre and Kesoram Industries. Reports surfaced last week which suggested that JK Tyre will buy Kesoram Industries' Uttarakhand tyre unit.

Nalco: According to Reuters report, Nalco wants to invest $2.6 billion in Iran. Investment is for setting up smelters and power plant in Iran.

Thomas Cook: Thomas Cook (India) will buy Kuoni's travel business in India and Hong Kong. The deal is valued at Rs 535 crore.

7:55 a.m.: The Sensex and Nifty are likely to edge lower in trades today tracking weak sentiment in other Asian markets after the US employment rose at a solid clip in July and wages rebounded after a surprise stall in the prior month, signs of an improving economy that could open the door wider to a Federal Reserve interest rate hike in September.

Rate hike in US would mean that the funds may move out of emerging market equities into the US bonds which will offer a higher interest rate post the rate hike.

Meanwhile, the SGX Nifty or Nifty futures traded on the Singapore Exchange was also indicating a weak start for the markets. The SGX Nifty was down 0.3per cent or 25 points at 8,573.