Nifty ends below 7650, Sensex slips 274 points; BHEL, ITC up

3:30 pm Market close: Late sell-off spooks investors, as the market continues losing for six straight sessions. The Sensex was down 274.28 points or 1 percent at 25036.05 and the Nifty slips 89.20 points or 1 percent at 7612.50. About 565 shares have advanced, 2195 shares declined, and 156 shares are unchanged. 

BHEL, TCS, ITC, ONGC and NTPC were top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers were Vedanta, Tata Steel, Lupin, Coal India and Cipla.

2:58 pm Market Update: Benchmark indices sank further over the last half an hour of trade, with the Sensex down 282.86 points or 1.12 percent to 25027.47 and the Nifty down 90.05 points or 1.17 percent to 7611.65. Vedanta (-6 percent), Tata Steel (-4 percent), Hindalco (-3 percent) and Coal India (-3 percent) were the big losers in the Nifty.

Other laggards in the index were L&T (-1 percent), Zee Entertainment (-1 percent), HCL Technologies (-2 percent) and Cairn India (-2 percent).

Gainers included BHEL (3 percent), TCS (1 percent), ITC (1 percent) and Power Grid Corp (1 percent).

European shares were trading weak with Germany’s DAX down 44 points at 10629, France’s CAC down 17 points at 4663, and UK’s FTSE down 12 points at 6123. 

Key Asian markets ended on a bearish note. Taiwan’s Taiwan Index finished at the bottom of the heap, closing 114 points or 1.4 percent lower at 8229. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 191 points or 1 percent to 19301, Singapore’s Straits Times fell 14 points to 2861, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 101 points to 21803, and Korea’s KOSPI fell 0 points to 1948. China was the only exception to the bearish trend with the Shanghai climbing 3 points to close at 3473.

2:45 pm CAG on ONGC: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has rapped India's largest oil and gas producer ONGC for poor planning in hiring and use of drilling rigs that resulted in a loss of Rs 7,995 crore.

In a report tabled in Parliament today, CAG said the state-owned firm lacked uniformity in preparation of annual rig requirement plan (RRP), delayed rig acquisitions and hiring, was inconsistent in deployment and had inefficient
repair and refurbishment policy.

ONGC's non-productive time or idling time of rigs ranged between 19 and 23 percent over 2010-14. "The bulk of idling time costing Rs 6,418 crore was due to factors which could have been controlled by the company," CAG said.

2:30 pm No proposal to abolish STD charges: There is no proposal to abolish STD charges for mobile subscribers as of now, the Lok Sabha was informed today. Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said "at present there is no proposal under consideration to abolish STD charges for mobile subscribers as STD charges are under forbearance."

He said the impact of free national roaming on the revenues of service providers would depend on assumption of price elasticity, breakup of incoming and outgoing calls, termination and carriage charges. State-owned BSNL has launched free incoming voice call facility.

He said all 'wireless access service providers' have at least one tariff plan in which the incoming calls while roaming are free. The minister said the TRAI had estimated total impact on annual revenue on wireless access service providers at Rs 1627 crore.

2:15 pm Market Expert: Although Indian indices have seen a correction to the tune of 15 percent till now, they have not seen a free fall because of support from domestic institutional investors (DIIs), says Sashi Krishnan, CIO, Birla Sun Life Insurance , adding that this support will continue since there is yet no risk of redemptions from DIIs, he says.

In fact Nifty levels of 7500-7700 are good to buy into equities according to retail investors, says Krishnan in an interview to CNBC-TV18. India is poised for an economic recovery and so one is sure to make money in equities, he adds.

GST legislative issue could weigh on the market for the immediate term but structural reforms taking shape, it would help the long-term India story, says Krishnan.

According to him there are signs of pick up in investment cycle, which would bring in the DIIs and FIIS that have been waiting on the sidelines. Stalled projects too are slowly coming on track, he adds.

2:00 pm Market Check
The market extended losses in afternoon trade, weighed down by oil & gas, metals, healthcare and auto stocks despite positive European cues. The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 177.65 points or 0.70 percent to 25132.68 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 56.15 points or 0.73 percent to 7645.55.

The broader markets also fell further. The BSE Midcap was down 1.3 percent and Smallcap lost 1.9 percent. As far as market breadth is concerned, more than four shares declined for every share advancing on the BSE.

Reliance Industries, Sun Pharma, Axis Bank, Dr Reddy's Labs, Bharti Airtel, Hero Motocorp, Coal India, Vedanta, Tata Steel and Hindalco were down 2-4 percent while BHEL outperformed, up 3.4 percent followed by TCS.

1:50 pm Interview: Festive season, which is usually the best time for the company, was impacted this year by the floods in Chennai, says Anjan Chatterjee, Founder & Managing Director of Speciality Restaurants. The company has a pan-India presence and has various brands including Mainland China, Oh! Calcutta, Hoppipola and Sigree under its umbrella.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Chatterjee says despite the floods, he expects better year. The company plans to add 10 to 12 new restaurants every year, he says adding that the company is debt free and has cash for investments.

1:30 pm Economy: The Reserve Bank of India's September proposal to ask banks to move to the marginal cost method to calculate their base rates has left some banks jittery. Bankers say the move, on which detailed guidelines from the central bank are expected soon, will impact institutions with greater exposure to fixed tenure loans and impact profitability. The base rate is a rate set by a bank below which it cannot lend. Banks currently use a number of methods to calculate their base rates, such as using their average, blended or marginal cost of funding.

The market is still struggling as the Sensex is down 157.33 points or 0.6 percent at 25153. The Nifty slips 51 points or 0.7 percent at 7650.70. About 538 shares have advanced, 2081 shares declined, and 147 shares are unchanged.

BHEL, TCS, NTPC, ITC and M&M are top gainers in the Sensex. Among losers are Vedanta, Hindalco, Coal India, Bharti Airtel and Sun Pharma.

The biggest financial risk in 2016 may be the one that's been on stage all year. Financial markets have been living with the consequences of the energy deflation since mid-2014, and the fallout has been pervasive. The idea of another shock of that magnitude is unnerving to say the least.

More than a trillion dollars of market capitalization has been wiped off oil stocks worldwide.