Nifty ends below 8200; telcos fall as Rel Jio extends free offer

3:30 pm Market closing: The market has ended in red. The Sensex was down 92.89 points or 0.3 percent at 26559.92 and the Nifty slipped 31.60 points or 0.4 percent at 8192.90. About 1112 shares advanced, 1563 shares declined, and 139 shares were unchanged.

Telecom stocks ended in red reacting to Jio's free offer. GAIL, Sun Pharma, Hero MotoCorp, Dr Reddy's Labs and Bajaj Auto were gainers while Asian Paints, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, M&M and Bharti are losers in the Sensex

2:55 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks extended losses in last hour of trade with the Nifty breaking 8200 level, dragged by ICICI Bank, Asian Paints, Tata Motors, M&M and Bharti Airtel.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 63.77 points at 26589.04 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 27.55 points to 8196.95.

The BSE Midcap was down 1 percent as about 1509 shares declined against 1084 advancing shares on the exchange.

2:46 pm Auto sales: Hinduja Group flagship company Ashok Leyland today reported a 7 percent increase in total sales at 9,574 units in November 2016.

The company had sold 8,971 units in the corresponding month last year.

Sales of heavy and medium commercial vehicles rose by 10 percent to 6,928 units last month as against 6,297 units in the year-ago period, the company said in a statement.

However, light commercial vehicle sales declined by 1 percent to 2,646 units as compared to 2,674 units in November last year, it added.

2:36 pm Buzzing: Canada-based asset management company Brookfield is in exclusive talks to take over Bharti Infratel, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting agencies.

The firm is likely to bid at around Rs 400 per share for the majority stake in the telecom tower infrastructure provider.

Other interested investors like KKR, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and BlackStone are likely to bid for minority stake in Bharti Infratel, the subsidiary of Bharti Airtel.

Bharti Infratel shares gained 4 percent.

2:26 pm Auto sales: Utility vehicles and tractors manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra said it sold 32,499 units in November, lower by 22 percent compared with 41,590 units sold in year-ago period. Weak domestic performance post currency demonetisation impacted overall sales growth.

Domestic sales declined 24 percent year-on-year to 29,814 units while exports increased 22 percent to 2,687 units in the month gone by.

Sales were lower than analysts' expectations. Nomura had expected M&M's sales to fall 9.5 percent while Motilal Oswal estimated a 14 percent degrowth.

2:14 pm Europe update: European markets were slightly lower as investors focused on political developments in Italy and key data releases after the oil-producing cartel OPEC agreed to cut production. The Stoxx 600 was 0.24 percent lower.

2:00 pm Market Check
Equity benchmarks and broader markets remained volatile in afternoon trade. Oil & gas, healthcare and FMCG stocks continued to support the market but the selling in banks and telecom stocks capped upside.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 38.36 points at 26691.17 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 1.15 points at 8225.65. The BSE Midcap was down half a percent amid consolidation as market breadth was negative.

About 1366 shares declined against 1153 advancing shares on the BSE.

Telecom stocks like Bharti Airtel (down 1.5 percent), Idea Cellular (down 3.5 percent) and Reliance Communications (down 4 percent) were under pressure after Reliance Jio Chairman Mukesh Ambani said all subscribers will get voice, data, video and full bouquet free till March 31, 2017. Reliance Industries gained 1 percent.

1:50 pm The Jio call: Addressing stakeholders and customers, Ambani said, "I want to announce today that starting December 4, every new Jio user will get Jio data and voice, video and full bouquet of content will be free till March 31, 2017."

1:45 pm European markets: European markets opened slightly lower on Thursday as investors focus on political developments in Italy and key data releases after the oil-producing cartel OPEC agreed to cut production.

The Stoxx 600 started Thursday's trading 0.07 percent lower.

Investors continue concerned with political uncertainty in Italy ahead of a key referendum on Sunday and its implications on the banking system. The Italian central bank warned Wednesday that the country's top three banks would need to hold further capital against their assets from 2018.

1:40 pm The Jio call: Addressing stakeholders and customers, Ambani said,

• Delivering much higher speed than any other mobile operators in India
• Working on the 8 percent towers which are experiencing congestions in connectivity
• 92 percent of towers have been experiencing high data speed
• 8 percent of Jio towers have experienced congestion due to high usage

Once delivered, Jio sim can be activated in 5 mins after KYC and Expect this facility to reach 100 cities by December 31, 2016.

• 1:35 pm The Jio call: Thanking customers for achieving 50 million subscribers, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani says:
• In 3 Months, Jio has become fastest growing technology company
• Jiio has grown faster than Facebook, Whatsapp or Skype
• On average Jio customer is using 25 times more data than average  Indian customer
• Jio customer today is consuming data at par or more than sophisticated users anywhere in the world
• Jio has signed up 6 lakh customers every day for last 3 months

1:30 pm Market outlook: There may not be any long-term positive impact from demonetisation, says Arvind Sanger, Geosphere Capital in an interview with CNBC-TV18. It will only lead to a postponement of earnings recovery. The pain will continue well into the March quarter of current fiscal, says Sanger. OPEC in its meeting yesterday, agreed to cut output after 8 years. This will lead to a long term positive for crude price. It may be positive for oil producing nations like Russia, but will be a negative for importers like India and China. Crude price rise and other global cues may hamper RBI's ability to cut rates, he says. He also does not see the Indian market rally due to the global pressures.

The market is flat as the Sensex is up 12.90 points or at 26665.71, and the Nifty down 1.20 points at 8223.30. About 1111 shares have advanced, 1331 shares declined, and 134 shares are unchanged.

GAIL, ONGC, Reliance, Dr Reddy's Labs and Lupin are top gainers while Asian Paints, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Adani Ports and M&M are losers in the Sensex.

Gold prices moved down by 0.50 percent to Rs 28,243 per 10 ten grams in futures trading as participants trimmed positions amid weak global cues. Analysts attributed the fall in gold futures to offloading of positions by traders in-line with a weak trend overseas as the dollar's surge to the highest in at least a decade and signs that the US Fed is moving closer to increasing rates, eroded the metal's appeal as a safe-haven asset.

12:58 pm Market Update: The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 17.42 points at 26670.23 and the Nifty fell 1.15 points to 8223.35.

The market breadth continued to be negative. About 1327 shares declined against 1110 advancing shares on the BSE.

12:45 pm Stake sale: Apollo Hospitals today said its clinics subsidiary Apollo Health and Lifestyle has raised Rs 450 crore by selling 29 percent equity stake to World Bank's arm IFC, to fund its growth plans.

Apollo Health and Lifestyle (AHLL) has received "investments of Rs 450 crore from International Finance Corporation (IFC) and IFC Asset Management Company. The investment will fuel AHLL's expansion plans", Apollo Hospitals Enterprise said in a BSE filing.

It further said: "IFC along with its associated entity has has made a primary equity infusion of Rs 450 crore thereby acquiring 29.03 percent stake in Apollo Health and Lifestyle Ltd."

AHLL currently operates multi-specialty clinics, dental centres, diagnostics, diabetes clinics, dialysis, women and children hospitals (cradle), fertility centres and surgical centres across the country, with presence in 17 states and over 400 touch points.

12:32 pm Market Expert: UR Bhat of Dalton Capital Advisors said that if the demonetisation woes taper off in the next 10-15 days, the market will get busy with other things.

Trading in Nifty, he said, he would be cautious with a negative bias because in addition to demonetisation drive, a lot more factors play a role. He flagged uncertainty around the Italian referendum on Sunday, Donald Trump policy, and US potential interest rate. All this will keep markets in reasonable jitters, he said.

If FIIs continue their selloffs without being offset by DII inflows for a couple of more months , then Indian market may not be able to handle it.

12:20 pm Excise duty scrapped: The government has scrapped excise duty on branded gold coins, which was at 1 percent.

Titan Company gained 2 percent and TBZ jumped 7 percent. Gitanjali Gems was up 6 percent.

Titan Company told CNBC-TV18 that gold coins contributed 10 percent to total sales.

Meanwhile, PR Somasundaram of India World Gold Council said he wouldn't see much of an immediate impact as branded portion of gold coins is very small. Branded gold coins are sold at a margin of 5-6 percent.

12:00 pm Market check: Indian equity benchmarks remained directionless in noon trade but Asia continued to be positive with the Nikkei rising a percent following oil production cut.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 6.88 points at 26645.93 and the Nifty declined 10.20 points to 8214.30.

The BSE Midcap slipped 0.7 percent after rising for four consecutive sessions. The market breadth was also negative. About 1311 shares declined against 1039 advancing shares on the exchange.

GAIL and ONGC climbed 2-3 percent after OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) yesterday announced oil production cut.

Lupin rose 1.6 percent after expanding partnership with Eli Lilly in India to market & sell Eglucent. Its Swiss arm has received US FDA approval for Antara capsules that is used to treat cholesterol issues.

However, ICICI Bank, Asian Paints, Tata Motors, Adani Ports and Bharti Airtel fell 1-2.6 percent.

Oil prices shot up more than 12 percent, smashing trading volume records, after producer club OPEC and Russia cut a deal to reduce output to drain a global supply glut, but analysts warned prices could recede as other producers stand by to fill the gap. Brent and US crude futures were trading 1 percent higher, at the time of writing this article.

11:45 am Cash shortage: Government has cut short the deadline of using old Rs 500 notes at petrol pumps and for buying airline tickets at airports till December 2 instead of December 15 announced earlier.

With effect from December 3, 2016, old Rs 500 notes cannot be used for purchase of petrol, diesel and gas at the stations operating under authorisation of public sector oil marketing companies and for buying airline tickets at airport counters, a government notification said.

While junking old 500 and 1,000 rupee notes on November 8, the government had allowed their use for utility bill payments for 72 hours.

11:30 am Sales data: Maruti Suzuki, the country's largest car manufacturer, beat analysts' expectations on November sales front due to strong performance in domestic business despite currency demonetisation. The company said on Thursday that it sold 1.35 lakh units in November, a growth of 12.2 percent compared with 1.2 lakh units sold in year-ago period. Sequential growth was 1.5 percent. Domestic sales increased 14.2 percent year-on-year to 1.26 lakh units in the month gone by while exports fell 9.8 percent to 9,225 units, the lowest sales since June 2016. Nomura had estimated flat sales at 1.21 lakh units and Motilal Oswal expected it to fall 5 percent at 1.15 lakh units due to currency demonetisation announced by the government on November 8.

The market is in consolidation mode with the Nifty holding 8200. The 50-share index is down 3.40 points at 8221.10 and he Sensex is up 20.53 points at 26673.34. About 1029 shares have advanced, 1148 shares declined, and 109 shares are unchanged.

GAIL, ONGC, Lupin, Cipla and Reliance are top gainers while Asain Paints, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, Adani Ports and Bharti Airtel are losers in the Sensex. Aviation stocks like SpiceJet, Jet Airways and InterGlobe are down despite fuel price cut by around 3 percent.

Crude prices, the dollar and bond yields were sharply elevated early on Thursday after OPEC agreed to a deal to reduce output to clear a supply glut that has crunched oil prices and stoked global deflationary pressures.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries on Wednesday agreed to its first output cut since 2008, with Saudi Arabia accepting "a big hit" on its production. Non-OPEC Russia will also join output reductions for the first time in 15 years to help OPEC prop up oil prices.

US crude oil soared more than 9 percent overnight to a one-month high just shy of USD 50.00 a barrel.