Nifty ends below 7400, Sensex tanks 316 points; TCS, HUL outperform

3:30 pm Market clsoing: The market has ended at lower levels, falling 2.6 percent in last three sessions. The Sensex closed down 315.68 points or 1.3 percent at 24223.32, and the Nifty slipped 93.75 points or 1.3 percent at 7361.80. About 593 shares have advanced, 2075 shares declined, and 95 shares are unchanged.

HUL, TCS and Bajaj Auto were top gainers while BHEL, Tata Steel, NTPC, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank were major losers.

2:58 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks extended losses again in late trade. The Sensex tanked 303.25 points or 1.24 percent to 24235.75 and the Nifty fell 84.90 points or 1.14 percent to 7370.65.

About four shares declined for every share advancing on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

2:40 pm Earnings: Gateway Distriparks' third quarter earnings missed analysts' expectations on Wednesday with the third quarter consolidated profit falling 43 percent year-on-year to Rs 30.9 crore on high base in a year-ago period, weak operational performance and lower revenue growth.

Revenue declined 2 percent to Rs 268 crore in quarter ended December 2015 compared to Rs 273.7 crore in year-ago period, dented by container freight station (CFS) business.

CFS revenue slipped 12 percent year-on-year to Rs 78.2 crore with EBIT margin contracting 900 basis points while rail logistics revenue increased 2 percent to Rs 189.8 crore with EBIT margin down 600 basis points in Q3.

2:20 pm Aurobindo in News: Drug firm Aurobindo Pharma has received final approval from the US health regulator to manufacture and market generic Isosulfan Blue injection in the American market.

The company has received final approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to manufacture and market Isosulfan Blue injection 1 percent (50 mg/5 mL) single-dose vials, Aurobindo Pharma said in a statement.

The product is expected to be launched in the fourth quarter of the current fiscal, it added.

The company's product is generic version of Covidien's LymphazurinTM injection 1 percent, Aurobindo Pharma said.

2:00 pm Market Check: The market trimmed losses in afternoon trade with the Sensex down 158.17 points to 24380.83 and the Nifty down 49.70 points to 7405.85. The market breadth was pathetic as about four shares declined for every share advancing on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, HDFC, NTPC, Axis Bank, L&T, SBI and ONGC were down 1-3 percent while HUL and Sun Pharma gained 1-3 percent.

European equities extended losses today as investors remained cautious amid continued oil price volatility. The pan-European STOXX 600 was down around 0.8 percent.

In Asia, stocks closed sharply lower, after Wall Street sold off as much as 2 percent on Tuesday. Two consecutive sessions of declines in oil prices have erased most of last week's four-day gains, and was partly responsible for the drop in equities. During Asian trade, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures and Brent futures for slipped but bounced back in early European trade.

1:50 pm New IPO: Quess Corp, a staffing services and business solutions provider co-promoted by Thomas Cook India, has approached markets regulator Sebi for an initial public offer (IPO) to raise Rs 400 crore.

The company has filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for the public issue of its equity shares.

As per the DRHP, the company intends to use Rs 157.9 crore towards incremental working capital, Rs 80 crore for acquisitions and other strategic initiatives, Rs 70.7 crore for capex and Rs 50 crore towards debt repayment, apart from general corporate purposes.

1:40 pm Market outlook: The market could correct another 5 percent from current levels near term, Raamdeo Agrawal, Joint MD, Motilal Oswal Financial Services tells CNBC-TV18. However, Agrawal is positive in his outlook from a 12-month perspective.

On volatile commodity prices, he says crude have to stabilise first for other commodities as well to settle down.

He says private sector banks are a good bet but investors should wait till the bad loan issues are resolved.

1:30 pm Result poll: Two-wheeler manufacturer Bajaj Auto's third quarter earnings are expected to be weak on lower volume growth and exports, though domestic volume growth was strong. Profit is seen falling 5.9 percent year-on-year to Rs 810 crore and revenue may decline 3.3 percent to Rs 5,466 crore in Q3, according to analysts polled by CNBC-TV18. Earnings will be announced on February 4.

Sales volume in December quarter declined 3 percent to 9.51 lakh units YoY due to slowdown in many export markets. Export volumes fell 16 percent YoY to 4.1 lakh units in Q3 due to sharp slowdown in demand in Africa and Latin America. Lack of availability of dollars in key markets also impacted export sales.

However, domestic volume growth was strong, up 9.5 percent YoY to 5.41 lakh units in third quarter, led by strong growth in domestic three-wheelers and additional volumes of CT 100.

The market is still continuing its downtrend. The Sensex is down 175.18 points or 0.7 percent at 24363.82 and the Nifty is down 48.05 points or 0.6 percent at 7407.50. About 496 shares have advanced, 2006 shares declined, and 75 shares are unchanged.

HUL, Sun Pharma, Coal India, Bajaj Auto and M&M are top gainers while BHEL, Tata Motors, Axis Bank, NTPC and Hindalco are losers in the Sensex. Among most active stocks are Crompton Greaves and SpiceJet

Asian stocks closed sharply lower on Wednesday, after Wall Street sold off as much as 2 percent overnight amid a plunge in oil prices.

The losses on the mainland came despite China's Caixin purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the services sector showing activity expanded at its fastest pace in six months in January. The index rose to 52.4 in January from a 17-month low reading of 50.2 in December.

But after the global market rout since the beginning of the year, some are seeing glimmers of light at the end of the tunnel.

12:55 pm Market Update: The Sensex fell 198.43 points or 0.81 percent to 24340.57 and the Nifty declined 58.20 points or 0.78 percent to 7397.35.

The market breadth remained weak as five shares declined for every share advancing on the BSE.

12:40 pm Ashok Leyland's expansion: Hinduja flagship firm Ashok Leyland plans to set up two assembly plants in Africa besides doubling capacity at Ras al-Khaimah facility in the UAE this year as part of its global expansion.

The company, which will unveil a school bus and a commercial vehicle later today at the Auto Expo here, will invest around Rs 100 crore in these overseas commercial vehicles assembly plants. "We are looking at a couple of smaller assembly plants in Africa.

We haven't identified the location yet. Besides, we are also looking to double the capacity of our Ras al-Khaimah facility," Ashok Leyland Managing Director Vinod K Dasari told PTI here on the sidelines of the expo. On investments, he said as these are small facilities the company could invest around Rs 40-50 crore on each.

12:20 pm Market Outlook: The market could correct another 5 percent from current levels near term, Raamdeo Agrawal, Joint MD, Motilal Oswal Financial Services tells CNBC-TV18. However, Agrawal is positive in his outlook from a 12-month perspective.

On volatile commodity prices, he says crude have to stabilise first for other commodities as well to settle down.

12:00 pm Market Check
The market remained under pressure in noon trade following consistent fall in Asian peers and oil prices. The Sensex fell 237.60 points or 0.97 percent to 24301.40 and the Nifty declined 72.80 points or 0.98 percent to 7382.75, led by banking & financials, oil, infra and auto stocks.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were down 1.5-2 percent. Even the market breadth remained pathetic as about five shares declined for every share advancing on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

BHEL and Vedanta topped selling list on Sensex, down more than 4 percent followed by Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, L&T, Axis Bank, SBI, ONGC and Hindalco Industries with 2-3 percent loss while HUL outperformed, up 2.5 percent.

Asian stocks traded sharply lower, after Wall Street sold off as much as 2 percent overnight amid a plunge in oil prices. Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 3.36 percent, while the Topix fell 3.46 percent. Australia's ASX 200 extended losses, finishing down 115.72 points, or 2.32 percent, at 4,877.60. Chinese markets followed rest of Asia lower, with the Shanghai composite down 1.28 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index declined 2.68 percent, after falling as much as 3.32 percent at market open.

Oil futures extended losses into a third session in Asian trade today, as US crude stocks last week surged to more than half a billion barrels and as Iran plans to boost exports from March. Brent crude declined 0.6 percent to USD 32.5 a barrel and US oil lost 0.4 percent to USD 29.76 a barrel.

11:55 am Exclusive: Rata Tata is likely to pick up two percent sake in AirAsia India Joint Venture in his personal capacity. Currently the shareholding of AirAsia India, the Indo-Malaysian low cost carrier headquartered in Bengaluru is that it is a joint venture with AirAsia Berhad led by Tony Fernandes holding 49% of the airline, Tata Sons holding 40.06% and Arun Bhatia's Telestra Tradeplace having the remaining 10% in the airline.

As per sources Tata Sons plans to buyout Telestra Tradeplace's stake and will take the stake to 48 percent and Ratan Tata to buy 2 percent.

11:45 am Auto expo: Maruti Suzuki today launched its compact SUV Vitara Brezza at the Delhi Auto Expo. It is the first model that has been developed by a team led by an Indian engineer. It will also showcase concepts of hatchback Ignis and Baleno RS. When CNBC-TV18's Ronojoy Banerjee caught up with Kenichi Ayukawa MD & CEO, Maruti Suzuki, he said Brezza was the company's statement for 'Create in India'. He said the company was gearing up for 2 million sales annually by 2020, adding that despite challenges they have seen growth in volumes and market share. According to him India is a most important strategic and production base for Suzuki.

11:30 am Services activity: Activity in India's services sector increased at its fastest pace in over a year and a half in January as demand accelerated, allowing firms to build up a much bigger backlog of orders, a business survey showed on Wednesday.

The Nikkei/Markit Services Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 54.3 in January from 53.6 in December, the seventh straight month above the 50-level that distinguishes growth from contraction.

January also marked the seventh consecutive month of expansion in new business, with that sub-index rising to an 11-month high of 54.1 from 53.8. Respondents cited better weather and stronger underlying demand as the main drivers.

Selling pressure continues in market as the Sensex is down 220.21 points or 0.9 percent at 24318.79. The Nifty is down 67.55 points or 0.9 percent at 7388. About 373 shares have advanced, 1752 shares declined, and 62 shares are unchanged.

HUL, Sun Pharma, Cipla, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp are top gainers while BHEL, Tata Motors, SBI, ONGC and L&T are losers in the Sensex.

Gold rose by Rs 124 to Rs 26,906 per ten grams in futures trading today as speculators enlarged their positions, tracking a firming trend overseas.

Analysts said speculators widened their bets, tracking a firming global trend as losses in equities and oil boosted safe-haven demand, bolstering its position as this year's best performing commodity, and as investors reduced expectations of further US rates rises. Globally, gold inched up 0.09 percent to USD 1129 an ounce in New York yesterday.

10:55 am Market Update: The Sensex tanked 246.48 points or 1 percent to 24292.52 and the Nifty declined 75.50 points or 1.01 percent to 7380.05.

About 362 shares have advanced, 1753 shares declined, and 56 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

10:40 am Rajan on NPAs: Bankers may be complaining that the March 2017 deadline for cleaning up their balancesheets is short, but RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said it is a "fair span" to complete the work.

"There is a process by which we hope to clean up bank balancesheets. Clean up... for potential losses by March 2017. We think that's a fair span of time by which one can hope this is largely done," he told reporters from wire agencies during an interaction.

Rajan made it clear that provisioning for the potential bad loans is a "moving target", which will keep moving as per movement in bad assets.

RBI has initiated the exercise by identifying specific troubled accounts and asking lenders to classify them as non-performing over the next two quarters.

10:20 am Crompton crashes: Investors offloaded big lot of equity shares of Crompton Greaves Wednesday following losses, provision for impairment of value of subsidiaries and slump in order inflow during December quarter. Even immediate step down of MD and CEO also impacted the stock that crashed 28.5 percent intraday.

The Avantha Group company posted a consolidated loss of Rs 107 crore in Q3 due to lower revenue and weak operational performance. Profit stood at Rs 274.3 crore in year-ago period and Rs 52.14 crore in preceding quarter.

Revenue during the quarter declined 14 percent to Rs 2,067.8 crore compared to Rs 2,409.3 crore year-on-year and operating profit margin contracted significantly to 0.4 percent from 2.6 percent in same period.

The company has not reported numbers from its consumer business, which hived off recently. Even it has not disclosed any timeline for listing of this business.

Its consolidated order inflow slipped 12 percent YoY to Rs 2,104 crore and orderbook was lower by 7 percent YoY to Rs 7,954 crore at the end of December 2015.

10:00 am Market Check
The market is still struggling to keep feet firm in early trade. The Sensex is down 202.93 points or 0.8 percent at 24336.07 and the Nifty slips 63.60 points or 0.8 percent at 7391.95. About 361 shares have advanced, 1431 shares declined, and 44 shares are unchanged.

HUL is up 2 percent while Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, Sun Pharma and Tata Steel are other top gainers in the Sensex. Among losers are BHEL, ONGC, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank and SBI.

Oil futures extended losses into a third session in Asian trade, as US crude stocks last week surged to more than half a billion barrels and as Iran plans to boost exports from March.

Weekly inventory data from the US Department of Energy's Energy Information Agency is due later. Iran is aiming for crude exports of 2.3 million barrels per day in the fiscal year beginning on March 21, the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

9:55 am Auto launch: Maruti launched its compact SUV Vitara Brezza at the Delhi Auto Expo. It is the first model that has been developed by a team led by an Indian engineer. It will also showcase concepts of hatchback Ignis and Baleno RS.

RS Kalsi, Executive Director- Marketing and Sales, Maruti Suzuki speaking at the expo said the company has introduced various models and introduced hybrid technologies in Ciaz and Ertiga.

The company is also coming up with new facilities in Gujarat which will be operational by January 2017.

With regards to Nexa, he said the experience has been wonderful, they already have done 50,000 in 6 months, as well as have set up 100 outlets in a span of 5-6 months. It is the fastest growing network as far as automotive retail is concerned said Kalsi, adding that customers are delighted with it.

9:45 am Commodities: Manish Kabra, Vice President - European equity and quant strategy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Research says, commodities, credit market, stock are virtually in recession territory.

There are some long term secular trends which are deflationary like debt levels, deleveraging of financial sector, poor demographics etc all are creating a secular backdrop of growth, he adds.

9:35 am FII View on Earnings: Mahesh Nandurkar, CLSA says among the 54 companies under his coverage that reported earnings for the December quarter so far, only 6 companies saw FY17 earnings upgrades and 35 saw downgrades.

According to him, downgrades were largely driven by weaker revenue trend. He says margin continues to improve YoY, adding overall, consensus has lowered FY17 earnings estimates by 3 percent during 2016 and earnings growth for FY17 is now down to 18 percent.

Nandurkar feels downside risk to earnings is still not over but the low base should help the YoY numbers for the next quarter and FY17.

9:15 am Market Check
The market has opened sharply lower following correction in global peers and crude oil prices. The Sensex fell 254.69 points or 1.04 percent to 24284.31 and the Nifty declined 82.80 points or 1.11 percent to 7372.75.

ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, BHEL, ONGC, Cairn India, Vedanta, Idea Cellular and Bank of Baroda were down 2-2.5 percent while HUL gained over a percent.

The Indian rupee slipped below 68 a dollar mark in the early trade today. It has opened lower by 21 paise at 68.19 per dollar against previous close of 67.98.

Pramit Brahmbhatt, Veracity said taking cues from global equity market sell-off, he expects rupee to depreciate further and will head towards Rs 68.50/USD mark.

According to him, range for the day will be Rs 67.5-68.25 per dollar.

US dollar fell against the euro and yen after a drop in oil prices suggested US inflation would stay low and prevent the Federal Reserve from hiking interest rates at a steady pace this year.

Sharp cuts were seen in the global markets, with US market ending sharply lower on back of oil price crash and weak earnings. The major indices fell nearly 1.8 percent.

Asian markets also saw selling off. Yen strengthened to sub 120 levels leading to nearly four percent cuts in export companies like Toyota, Honda and Nissan.

In Europe, markets tumbled over the oil prices. In earnings, oil major BP reported an annual loss of USD 6.5 billion in 2015, its worst in 20 years amid volatility in oil prices. The company's shares closed down 8.7 percent.

In commodities, Nymex crude slipped below the USD 30 per barrel weighed by concerns about demand and rising supply.