Sensex falls 93 points, IT stock gain cap decline
3:40 p.m. Sensex ends 93 points lower at 21,740; Nifty closes at 6,483. Gains in IT stocks helped cap the losses.
3:20 p.m. Selling pressure increases in late trade. Sensex down 96 points to 21,736 while Nifty is off 41 points to 6,482.
3.10 p.m. Nitin Jain, head of business for Capital Markets (Individual Clients), Edelweiss Capital, says Indian markets could move up by 3-4 per cent ahead of elections. If there is a favourable outcome on May 16, when the counting of votes will take place, the Nifty could rally 10-15 per cent if there is a favourable outcome.
His stock bets: ICICI Bank, Repco Finance and EIL
2:50 p.m. Tata Steel is down 2.3 per cent after rising 4.6 per cent yesterday. Tata Steel shares had gained on Wednesday on hopes that the geopolitical standoff between Russia and Ukraine would benefit the Indian steel maker. (Read story)
2:40 p.m. Some selling pressure seen in late trade with Sensex down 74 points at 21,758 and Nifty off 35 points at 6,489. (Track markets)
2:30 p.m.Shares in state-run oil marketing companies fell sharply on Thursday on reports that they may be asked to share higher-than-expected subsidy burden (for selling fuel product at below market cost) for the current quarter.
2:10 p.m. Veteran market analyst Pashupati Advani said this rally looks a bit tired. He likes hospital stocks, pharma space and some mid-cap cement companies.
Gains in IT stocks helped Indian market cap the fall. The BSE IT index was up over 2 per cent.
(See: TCS, Wipro, Infosys soar as rupee weakens on Fed outlook)
1:21 p.m. RIL shares were flat at Rs 903 after gaining 3.7 per cent in the past four sessions. The Supreme Court will hear PIL against gas-price hike on March 24. The Cabinet had approved gas price hike in June last year and notified it in January this year.
1:10 p.m. Citigroup says Unilever may want to increase stake in HUL again. In the April 2013, Unilever came out with an open offer @600/share for HUL which saw its stake increase to 67.3 per cent.
HUL shares were up 1.8 per cent to Rs 571.
12:40 p.m. Shares of MCX and FTIL were up today despite Sebi ordering FTIL to sell stakes in stock exchanges. (Read story)
shares were up over 1 per cent after RBI allows more banks to import gold (Read)
11:35 a.m. Polaris Financial Technology Ltd today rose as much as 11 per cent extending its gains to over 50 per cent in 3 days ever since after the software services firm said its board had approved a split of the company into two businesses. (Read story)
Market analyst Sarvendra Srivastava's top trading bets includes Polaris on which he has a target of Rs 215 on Polaris and stop-loss of Rs 194.4
11.30 a.m. The Sensex and Nifty are trading with a negative bias, but some stocks have moved sharply based on brokerage recommendations.
1) JSW Energy shares up over 5 per cent after JP Morgan recommended buy on the stock. (Read more)
2) Idea Cellular up around 1.5 per cent after BNP Paribas maintained its buy call on the stock. (Read more)
3) NTPC trading flat. Credit Suisse maintains its outperform call on the stock. (Read more)
4) Barclays has upgraded JSW Steel to overweight, shares flat (Read more)
11:15 a.m. Market analyst Sarvendra Srivastava's top trading bets
HCL Tech: Buy with a target of Rs 1510 and a stop loss of Rs 1364.
Godrej Industries: Buy with a target of Rs 315 and a stop loss of Rs 284.4.
BPCL: Sell with a target of Rs 410 and a stop loss of Rs 460.6.
11:02 a.m. Arindam Ghosh, director of BlackRidge Capital Advisors told NDTV's Prashant Nair that 3-5 per cent gains in markets are possible before elections. (See story)
11:00 a.m. Shashi Bhusan of Prabhudas Lilladher, says correction in IT stocks a buying opportunity and the demand for IT services continues to be strong. His top picks: Infosys and Wipro.
In midcaps, the correction in Mindtree and Persistent Systems also makes them good buys, he adds.
10:50 a.m. Markets off day's low: Sensex down 30 point to 21,802, Nifty off 15 points to 6,508
10:40 a.m. Vineet Arora, EVP & Head-Product & Distribution of ICICI Securities, says the response to CPSE ETF has been encouraging. It is a good time to enter into this energy-heavy ETF given the discounts offered to the retail investors and the energy sector is becoming less regulated, he added.
10:25 a.m. IMD Director General L S Rathore told NDTV Profit that there is not enough data to say that El Nino lies ahead. First monsoon forecast on April 25.
CLSA had earlier said that risks of El Nino weather phenomenon is rising. Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA-ML) on Thursday warned of a rising risk of El Nino and said in case it kicks in, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will be unable to achieve its glided path for the consumer price index-based inflation.
10:15 a.m. Market update: Sensex down 83 points at 21,749, Nifty off 30 points to 6,494
10:05 a.m. Veteran market analyst Pashupati Advani says that if oil prices fall to nearly $80 the energy-heavy CPSE ETF could see big gains.
(See: CPSE ETF gets bids for Rs. 1,800 crore, retail buyers show interest)
10:00 a.m. Veteran market analyst Pashupati Advani says the Indian markets are benefitting as foreign investors are pulling money from other emerging markets. Besides, every time there are elections, there is new hope, he added.
09:45 a.m. Market update: Sensex down 53 points to 21,779, Nifty off 20 points at 6,503 (Track markets)
Arindam Ghosh, director of BlackRidge Capital Advisors, says Indian markets could move up further by 3-5 per cent till the elections and the volatility is likely to go up as the event draws closer.
09.30 a.m. Market analyst Saumil Trivedi says 50-100 point correction on the Nifty looks possible, but there is nothing to be alarmed about. Cements, metals and engineering names such as ABB, Cummins, L&T, Bharat Forge are piling on strength, which are signs that big bets are being placed with conviction. This market is unlikely to go down in a hurry and investors should stick to the bullish view.
Saumil is tracking three stocks closely to get a sense of markets. 1) Infosys should not break its 200 DMA of 3160. 2) SBI has a major resistance at 1750, which corresponds with 6,575 levels on the Nifty. 3) L&T: A break below 1200 will signal weakness in markets, but it should hold this level.
Saumil's stock picks:
1) Sell Adani Enterprises: Target of 302, stop loss of 330
2) Apollo Tyres: Sell with a target of 125, stop loss of 139.
09: 16 a.m. Markets open lower over Fed's hawkish rate outlook: Sensex down 0.20 per cent, Nifty off 0.26 per cent (Track markets)
09.10 a.m. Gaurang Shah of Geojit BNP Paribas says sub-6500 open on Nifty cannot be ruled out. Don't expect recovery today and early next week and flight to safety in pharma, IT stocks is possible. High beta may correct.
09.00 a.m. Rupee opens lower at 61.38 per dollar versus Wednesday's close of 60.95.
08.35 a.m. Nifty futures on the Singapore exchange traded down by 26.50 points (-0.40%).
08.30 a.m. Major Asian indices are currently trading in red. Nikkei is trading down 0.52 per cent, Hang Seng trading down 0.89 per cent, Kospi down by 0.79 per cent and the KLSE down marginally by 0.18 per cent.
08.15 a.m. Global cues are the key to Indian markets today. Overnight, the Fed voted to cut its monthly bond purchases from $65 billion to $55 billion, in line with what analysts were expecting. (Read full story here)
The Federal Reserve also said that it will raise short-term interest rates starting in 2015. At a press conference, newly appointed Fed Chair Janet Yellen was asked how much time would need to pass between when the Fed ends its bond-buying program - which is expected to end in the second half of 2014 - and when the Fed would raise interest rates. Yellen responded that the Fed could consider raising interest rates in "six months or that type of thing" from when the bond-buying program would end.
A timetable of six months was much sooner than investors had predicted. Stock and bond prices steepened in their decline after she made her comments.
The reaction to Yellen's remarks and the Fed's announcements was far more noticeable in the bond market.
The yield of the 10-year U.S. Treasury note, a benchmark for many kinds of loans including mortgages, rose to 2.77 percent from 2.67 percent Tuesday, a large move. The sell-off was even more pronounced in two-year and five-year Treasury notes.
The US dollar had its biggest one-day gain since August 2013 and gold had its worst day since December. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 114.02 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 16,222.17. The Dow fell as much as 209 points before erasing some of its loss.
8:00 a.m. The Sensex and Nifty closed flat on Wednesday as frontline IT stocks took a hit amid muted revenue guidance given by IT major TCS. TCS ended the day with 4 per cent losses, but metal and banking stocks supported markets. (Read the full story)
(With inputs from Reuters)