Nifty breaches 6000, Sensex tanks over 300 points; Lupin up 4%

3:50 pm Spectrum update: Four rounds of the spectrum auction, that is underway, have been completed with bids received in all 22 circles in 1800 MHz and three circles in 900 MHz, reports PTI.

The third round of spectrum auction started today with eight telecom companies in fray, from which the government expects to garner at least Rs 11,300 crore.

"The auction started at 9 am today," an official source said. The Department of Telecom has put on block around 385 MHz of radiowaves in the 1800 MHz band, and 46 MHz in the 900 MHz band.

As per the rules of the auction, every company has been given quota of 240 minutes to extend bid round. This means throughout the auction, each company can extend auction round by total of 4 hours.

3:40 pm Market closing: The market lost heavily in the final trading hour with the Nifty breaching 6000. The Nifty ended at 6001.80, down 87.70 points or 1.44 percent. The Sensex was down 304.59 points or 1.48 percent at 20209.26. About 1086 shares have advanced, 1419 shares declined, and 200 shares are unchanged.

Metals, auto, banking, IT stocks dragged the indices while pharma outperformed the market. Riding high on strong December quarter results, Lupin ended with a gain of 4.5 percent. GAIL, Dr Reddy's Labs, Sun Pharma, Cipla and Axis bank were gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers were Hindalco, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Bajaj Auto and BHEL.

3:30 pm Market outlook: Independent Analyst Anand Tandon given that elections are fast approaching and government is likely to take more steps, investors should stay away from such oil stocks.

Tandon also adds that there is very little happening in terms of the economic growth, companies are struggling. ''I do not see that changing anytime soon. Earnings will not suddenly rise and therefore, market will continue to remain in pressure,'' he adds.

3:20 pm Boardroom: The fourth quarter earnings will be better than the current quarter on the revenue side, believes Berger Paints' managing director Abhijit Roy. He said the company expects the fourth quarter volume growth to mirror trends of Q2FY14.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18's, Roy said that during the quarter the industrial side was hit due to a slowdown in the infrastructure sector. However, the decorative segment has been doing well and the auto segment has seen some movement forward.

The company went for a 2.2 percent price hike, effective February 1. It expects the carry-forward inventory of raw material, which was at a high cost in the third quarter, to go away in the next quarter.

3:10 pm Deal: Sembcorp Industries, a Singapore-based energy, water and marine group, has signed a conditional agreement to acquire 45 percent stake in NCC Power Projects, which is currently building a 1,320-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Andhra Pradesh for Rs 848 crore.

NCCPP is jointly owned by Gayatri Energy Ventures (GEVPL) and NCC Infrastructure Holdings (NCCIHL), a subsidiary of Indian conglomerate, NCC Limited (NCCL). Gayatri is Sembcorp's project partner for another power plant in Nellore district of AP, according to a press release issued by the Singaporean company.

Once the deal is through, Sembcorp will hold 45 percent of NCCPP, while the remaining 55 per cent will be held by NCCIHL. NCCPP's upcoming plant is located on a site adjacent to Thermal Powertech Corporation India (TPCIL), Sembcorp's first power plant investment in India.

3:00 pm Macro outlook: Samiran Chakraborty, head-research, Standard Chartered Bank feels FY15 GDP growth will be tepid around 5-5.5 percent on back of political uncertainly (elections). He expects FY14 GDP growth to remain below 5 percent and expects the advance estimate number to also show a below 5 percent. "FY14 GDP growth could look marginally better due to the FY13 revision," says Chaktraborty.

Equity benchmarks have not been showing any sign of recovery in last hour of trade, falling over a percent weighed down by financials, auto and technology stocks.

The Sensex plunged 234.79 points to 20,279.06, and the Nifty dropped 67.45 points to 6,022.05. About 1053 shares have advanced, 1337 shares declined, and 196 shares are unchanged.

Healthcare stocks are on buyers' radar; Dr Reddy's Labs rallied over 2 percent and Sun Pharma gained over a percent.

Lupin supassed street expectations with the third quarter (October-December) net profit rising 42 percent, driven by strong business growth in the US.

"Other markets like India are getting back on track also. Our consistent focus on ramping up operational efficiencies has led to higher margins and better profitability," Nilesh Gupta, managing director said.

Net profit increased to a record level of Rs 476.1 crore as against Rs 335.2 crore in same quarter last year while revenue grew 20.8 percent year-on-year to Rs 3,022 crore in the quarter gone by.

According to CNBC-TV18 poll, analysts had estimated net profit of Rs 452 crore on revenues of Rs 2,848 crore for the quarter.

1:55 pm Results:  Lanco Infratech missed street expectations on every parameter with the third quarter (October-December) loss widened to Rs 503 crore as against Rs 465 crore in same quarter last year, dented by forex loss and lower revenues.

Revenues fell 31.3 percent to Rs 2,397 crore in the quarter ended December 2013 from Rs 3,489 crore in a year ago period on account of lower income in both segments - EPC & construction and power.

Consensus expectations were loss of Rs 409 crore on revenues of Rs 2,767 crore for the quarter. Lanco reported a forex loss of Rs 79 crore during December quarter as against forex loss of Rs 43 crore in corresponding quarter of last fiscal.

1:45 pm Market outlook: Gautam Trivedi, MD and head of equities-india, Religare Capital Markets believes emerging markets may see a bigger sell-off going ahead .

''India has clearly done a lot better among EM currencies and EM markets, but the worst is not yet over,'' he says in an interview to CNBC-TV18's Sonia Shenoy and Latha Venkatesh.

He recommends staying invested in IT and pharma which are very good hedges against the currency and of course export oriented companies. Among midcaps, Trivedi is bullish on Firstsource Solutions with a target price of Rs 50.

1:35 pm Buzzing: United Spirits shares jumped 3.7 percent after Relay BV, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Diageo, increased its stake in the company to 28.77 percent from 26.37 percent on Friday, exchange data showed.

Relay BV bought 3.5 million shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange, whereas Oppenheimer Funds Inc sold 3.64 million shares via block deals on Friday, BSE data shows.

Diageo completed its takeover of United Spirits in July, almost eight months after the companies announced the deal because of legal and regulatory difficulties.

1:25 pm Macro data: Indian factories started 2014 on a high note, with activity growing at its fastest pace in nearly a year as domestic and overseas orders increased, according to a survey that also showed inflation accelerated.

The HSBC Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), compiled by Markit, bounced to 51.4 in January, its highest since March, from 50.7 in the previous month. The index, which gauges business activity in Indian factories but not utilities, spent three months below the 50 mark that separates growth from contraction before rising above it in November.

1:15 pm Oil and gas: Oil Minister Verappa Moily today said that CNG prices will be reduced by about Rs 15 per kg and piped natural gas by about Rs 5 per cubic meter.

He said that Indraprastha Gas and other city gas distribution firms will get cheaper domestic gas. IGL and city gas entities will get the entire requirement of gas from domestic fields against the previous 80 per cent, he added.

The market extended losses in afternoon trade with the equity benchmarks falling one percent weighed down by banks, auto, technology and oil & gas stocks.

The Sensex slipped 208.18 points to 20,305.67, and the Nifty declined 61.60 points to 6,027.90. Declining shares outnumbered advancing ones by a ratio of 1168 to 1028 on the BSE.

Country's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank fell more than 2 percent while shares of Tata Motors and Tata Steel plunged 3 percent each.

Bharti Airtel stock widened its losses to 3 percent as analysts believe the amount used for spectrum auction may have an impact on company's earnings of the company.

Sources say the third round of spectrum auction has begun in afternoon trade. CNBC-TV18 learnt from sources that Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance Jio were seen as top contenders in bidding for 900 MHz spectrum.

12:50pm Gayatri Projects gains 4% but NCC falls 3%
Gayatri Energy Ventures Private (subsidiary of Gayatri Projects) and NCC Infrastructure Holdings (wholly owned subsidiary of NCC) have entered into definitive agreements with Sembcorp Utilities Pte Singapore (wholly owned subsidiary of Sembcorp Industries) for divestment of 45 percent of the stake in NCCPPL.

NCCPPL is NCC Power Projects that is implementing  the 1320 MW coal fired power project near Krishnapatnam, Andhra  Pradesh.

Upon completion of the transaction, Sembcorp Utilities will hold 45 percent stake of NCCPPL and the remaining 55 percent will be held by NCC Infrastructure Holdings, which in turn will be jointly owned by NCC and Gayatri Energy Ventures.

12:40pm Oberoi Realty falls 5% post earnings
Mumbai-based Oberoi Realty's third quarter (October-December) consolidated net profit halved to Rs 68 crore from Rs 134.5 crore year-on-year, dented by lower revenues.

"Domestic and global economic headwinds continue to be challenging," Vikas Oberoi, CMD said.

Consolidated total income dropped 40.4 percent to Rs 170.5 crore from Rs 286.1 crore during the same period.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation plunged 47.4 percent to Rs 90 crore and operating profit margin slipped 690 basis points to 52.7 percent compared to same quarter last year.

Meanwhile, the private forest issue relating to the Mulund property has been resolved in favour of the company by the order dated January 30 of the Supreme Court.

12:30pm FII View
Rakesh Arora of Macquarie said the RBI's efforts over the past three months to boost forex reserves and the surprise rate hike earlier this week have helped India weather the Fed tapering storm better than other emerging markets.

"While volatility can't be ruled out, we are buyers on dips," he added.

12:20pm Petronet LNG talks to CNBC-TV18
Petronet LNG, the nation's biggest liquified natural gas buyer, reported over 57 percent drop in December quarter net profit as its newly commissioned plant at Kochi drained finances in absence of a pipeline to take gas to consumers.

The commissioning of the Kochi commissioning in the last quarter hit  bottomline, said RK Garg, director finance, Petronet LNG in an interview to CNBC-TV18. Moreover, Kochi would continue to be drag till the pipeline connectivity issue is resolved, he said.

However the Dahej operations are performing as per expectations and once the second jetty at Dahej which is likely to be commissioned by March comes up; the volumes will improve further said Garg.

Current volume at Dahej stands at 10 million tonne at 95 percent of capacity utilisation. Whereas, the volume utilisation at Kochi is only 5 percent in Q3 because there is a pipeline connectivity problem .

He is hopeful of the Kochi-Mangalore pipeline issue being resolved soon.

12:10pm Jaiprakash Power to announce Q3 earnings today
Jaiprakash Power Ventures will announce its third quarter (October-December) earnings today. According to CNBC-TV18 poll, analysts expect the company's loss to widen to Rs 117 crore from Rs 98 crore year-on-year.

The loss is on account of higher interest costs, lower merchant tariffs and start-up losses at Bina plant, where final tariff order is likely in Q4.

Total income is seen going up by 34.2 percent on yearly basis to Rs 573 crore in the quarter ended December 2013.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation may grow 24.1 percent to Rs 332 crore but operating profit margin is likely to fall 470 basis points to 58 percent compared to same quarter last year.

It is seasonally weak quarter for the company.

12:00pm Downward journey of the market continues but the Nifty has held on to 6050. The Nifty is down 28.80 points at 6060.70. The Sensex is down 106.24 points at 20407.61. About 1086 shares have advanced, 907 shares declined, and 173 shares are unchanged.

The rupee recovers from the initial weakness as foreign banks sell dollars in anticipation of dollar flows into India. However weakness in euro some Asian currencies restrict the rupee from rising further.

Bonds rise as the supply of gilts for the current fiscal will end after this week's auction. Prices were also supported on better than expected demand at Friday's gilt auction.

Asian currencies barring the Thai baht were mostly lower against the US dollar as concerns of a slowdown in China and fears of more consecutive cuts in the US Fed Reserve stimulus are making investors risk averse.

Asian markets trade in the red reacting to the weak Chinese manufacturing data over the weekend. The official Chinese PMI fell to 50.5 in January vs 51 in December. Nikkei leads the losses on the back of a stronger yen.

Commodities saw gold little changed after the 2 percent fall last week. Brent crude eased a tad after ending 4 percent lower in January.

11:02am HSBC Manufacturing PMI
India's HSBC Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) increased to 51.4 in January, highest since March 2013, as against 50.7 in pervious month.

The rise in PMI was led by output and new orders, with the latter supported by an improvement in new export orders, the report said.

10:59am Ashoka Buildcon gains 4% post road project win
The chief project officer of Karnataka State Highways Improvement Project has declared the consortium (Ashoka Buildcon and GVK Infra) as a selected bidder for the road project.

Ashoka Buildcon along with GVR Infra Projects, as a consortium (51 percent:49 percent) had submitted its bid for the project viz. ''Project No WAP - 2: - design, build, finance, operate, maintain and transfer (DBFOMT) the existing state highway (SH18) from Mudhol to Maharashtra Border (approximately length 107.937 Kms) in the State of Karnataka.

The project is on annuity basis with a concession period of 10 years and KSHIP cost of the project is Rs 317.60 crore.

10:52am Bajaj Auto January sales
Bajaj Auto's total sales for January declined around 8 percent year-on-year to 3.18 lakh units. However, sales were up 7 percent compared to December 2013.

Motorcycle sales were down around 7 percent year-on-year to 2.81 lakh units, but up 10 percent month-on-month. Exports rose 7 percent year-on-year but were down close to 10 percent sequential.

Analysts said the sequential improvement in sales could have to do with the fact that December sales across the industry are usually lower, as many buyers postpone their purchases to the new year. This is because the year of purchase influences the resale value of the vehicle.

January sales too are usually lower as many buyers wait for the Union Budget in February hoping for an excise duty cut that could make vehicles cheaper. This time, there will be no Budget in February, but a vote-on-accounts.

10:42am Lanco Infratech Q3 results
Lanco Infratech's third quarter consolidated net loss was widened to Rs 503.3 crore from Rs 417 crore in a year ago period.

Consolidated total income dropped 31 percent to Rs 2,397 crore from Rs 3,489 crore during the same period.

The stock gained 6 percent to Rs 7.60 on the BSE despite weak results.

Meanwhile, the board of directors, on February 1, proposed to obtain shareholders' approval through postal ballot process for implementation of corporate debt restructuring that approved by CDR Empowered Group on December 11.

10:32am Spectrum Auction Begins
Bharti, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications, Reliance Jio, Tata Teleservices, Telewings and Aircel are bidding for spectrum.

The government aims to raise Rs 11,300 crore from auction in FY14. The base price for 1,800 MHz is fixed at Rs 1,765 crore per MHz.

The nase price for 900 MHz in Delhi circle is fixed at Rs 360 crore per MHz while in Mumbai circle, that is fixed at Rs 328 crore per MHz.

10:22am FII View
Bharat Iyer of JP Morgan said there was a perception among some sections of the market that QE tapering would not adversely impact equity markets. "But Emerging Market ETFs have been seeing record redemptions over the recent past," he added.

Consequently, he believes the pace, extent and duration of QE taper needs to be watched and these could continue to influence equity market performance over CY2014.

10:11am The market continued to reel under pressure weighted down by metals, oil & gas, technology and capital goods stocks, tracking weak Asian cues. Shanghai Composite, Nikkei, Straits Times and Kospi slipped between 0.8-1.7 percent.

The Sensex declined 71.70 points to 20,442.15, and the Nifty fell 22.55 points to 6,066.95. About 792 shares have advanced, 649 shares declined, and 151 shares are unchanged.

Mahindra and Mahindra topped the selling list, falling 2.5 percent followed by Tata Motors with a 2 percent loss after subdued January sales numbers.

Bharti Airtel slipped 2% as the bidding for spectrum auction has begun today. The Department of Telecom has put on the block around 385 MHz of radiowaves in the 1800 MHz band, and 46 MHz in the 900 MHz band.

Technology stocks like TCS, Infosys and Wipro declined 0.6 percent each. Tata Steel and Hindalco Industries went down over 1.5 percent.

However, defensives like Sun Pharma and Dr Reddy's Labs are top gainers, rising 1.6 percent each followed by Cipal with a percent gain.

Hero Motocorp gained more than a percent ahead of January sales numbers due today.0

Tata Power too climbed over a percent as the company sold entire 30 percent stake in PT Arutmin Indonesia coal mines via subsidiaries for around USD 500 million.

10:00 am Telecom stocks in focus: Bharti Airtel , Vodafone, Reliance Jio Infocomm and five other telecom firms will battle it out at the spectrum auction today, from which the government expects to garner at least Rs 11,300 crore. The Department of Telecom has put on the block around 385 MHz of radiowaves in the 1800 MHz band, and 46 MHz in the 900 MHz band.

DoT has reduced the quantum of spectrum to be sold in 1800 MHz band in 10 circles, including Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai, from about a total of 403 MHz planned earlier. The final list of bidders also includes Idea Cellular , Telewings (Uninor), Reliance Communications (RCom), Tata Teleservices and Aircel.

9:50 am Stock in news: Shares of Tata Power jumped 3.5 percent intraday as it had agreed to sell its 30 percent stake in coal mining firm PT Arutmin Indonesia to Indonesia's Bakrie Group for USD 500 million.

The sale would go to increase its cash flow and reduce its consolidated debt, without affecting coal supply to its plants. Tata Power signed the agreement through its wholly owned units, the company said in a statement, without specifying them. T

he sale is subject to restructuring moves, which Tata Power plans to complete in the next three months, the statement added.

9:40 am FII view: Bharat Iyer of JP Morga says there is a perception among some sections of the market that QE tapering would not adversely impact equity markets. "Emerging Market ETFs have been seeing record redemptions over the recent past. Consequently, we believe the pace, extent and duration of QE taper needs to be watched and these could continue to influence equity market performance over CY2014," he said.

Rakesh Arora of Macquarie feels  RBI's efforts over the past three months to boost forex reserves and the surprise rate hike earlier this week have helped India weather the Fed tapering storm better than other EMs. "While volatility can't be ruled out, we are buyers on dips," he added.

9:30 am Result: Public sector lender IDBI Bank 's third quarter net profit dropped 75 percent to Rs 104 crore compared to same quarter last year, dented by a steep fall in non-interest income and slow growth in net interest income.

Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest expended, grew 5.3 percent to Rs 1,488.4 crore during October-December period. Other income or non-interest income fell 39 percent year-on-year to Rs 532 crore in the quarter gone by.

The market has opened on a weak note. The Sensex is down 86.65 points at 20427.20, and the Nifty is down 24.85 points at 6064.65.

M&M, Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel , ICICI Bank and Infosys are top losers in the Sensex. Among the gainers are Tata Power, Bajaj Auto , Maruti Suzuki, Sun Pharma and Hero Motocorp .

The rupee opened on a flat note at 62.69 per dollar on Monday as against Friday's closing value of 62.66 a dollar.

Agam Gupta of Standard Chartered believes the dollar has weakened against emerging markets currencies although equities continue to remain weak and that can feed into some negative sentiment for the currency markets. "Rupee is expected to trade in the range of 62.40-62.90/USD for the day," he added.

The euro licks its wounds near a ten-week low against the dollar this morning after soft euro zone inflation data rekindled speculation the European Central Bank may ease policy to stave off deflation.

Worries about capital flight from emerging economies also kept investors at arms length from risk assets, underpinning the yen over growth-sensitive, high-yielding currencies.

The dollar index recorded its best monthly gain in 8 months in January.

In commodities, crude prices fall in early Asian trade on concerns over oil demand after factory growth in China, the world's number two oil consumer, eased in January to a six-month low.

From the precious metals space, gold is little changed in early Asian trading after posting its first loss in six weeks, as the strength in the USD and the absence of key buyer china weighed on prices.