Sensex closes over 200 points lower, Nifty below 9500; IT stocks gain

3:30 pm Market at Close: Benchmark indices ended the session on a negative note, dragged by weak global cues. Key indices such as midcaps, banks and auto fell, while information technology (IT) stocks managed to offer some support to the Street.

The 30-share Sensex was down 223.98 points at 30434.79, while the Nifty closed lower by 96.30 points at 9429.45. The market breadth was negative as 711 shares advanced against a decline of 2,037 shares, while 164 shares were unchanged.

IT stocks Wipro and TCS were the top gainers for the day, while BHEL, Tata Motors, Yes Bank and Bosch fell the most.

Midcaps took a big hit as its index on the Nifty fell over 2 percent, followed by auto, PSU banks and metals.

3:10 Europe update: The pan-European Stoxx 600 is down by almost 0.5 percent so far today. European bourses are also extending the losses suffered yesterday. This is down to worries about the future of the Trump presidency.

3:05 pm Market Check: Benchmark indices extended losses from the morning session, with the Sensex testing 9400.

The Sensex was down 225.68 points at 30433.09, while the Nifty was down or at 9428.60. The market breadth was negative as 682 shares advanced against a decline of 1,995 shares, while 158 shares were unchanged.

2:45 pm Fundraising plan: The Mumbai-based Capital First plans to raise further debt capital of Rs 3000-4000 crore in this fiscal year even as Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC recently picked up incremental stake in the non-banking finance company.

Capital First saw its five-year long investor private equity firm Warburg Pincus partially exit its investments to reduce its stake to 36 percent from 61 percent, while as a part of the transaction, GIC picked up 8.93 percent additional stake taking its total shareholding in Capital First to 13.91 percent.

2:25 pm CESC restructuring scheme: The company has announced restructuring scheme which includes amalgamation of CESC Infra, Spencer's & Music World Retail with the company.

The company is going to list Haldia Energy, RP-SG Retail, RP-SG Biz Process Services on the exchanges.

The company also announced stock split of equity shares from Rs 10 per share into 2 shares of Rs 5 and will demerge its business into 4 units, which includes generation business, IT & 2 retail business.

2:10 pm Market Check: The benchmark indices were trading lower in the afternoon trade.

The Sensex was down 129.58 points at 30529.19, and the Nifty was down 71.60 points  at 9454.15. About 796 shares have advanced, 1809 shares declined, and 145 shares are unchanged.

BHEL, M&M, Tata Motors, L&T, HUL were top loser on the Sensex, while TCS, Wipro, Lupin, Infosys and ICICI Bank were the top gainers.

1:55 pm Axis Bank cuts home loan interest rates: After State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI Bank and HDFC, Axis Bank has decided to cut home loan interest rates by 30 basis points (bps) to 8.35 percent for loans up to Rs 30 lakh for the salaried segment borrowers.

Axis Bank rates are now the lowest in the industry as the State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC and LIC Housing Finance offer 8.35 percent to its women borrowers while the rest of the customers are offered home loans at 8.40 percent to boost affordable housing.

The revised rate will be with effect from May 16, the bank said.

1:35 pm Management Speak: The first infrastructure trust, IRB InvIT Fund listed on the bourses today at a price of Rs 102.50 per share.

VD Mhaiskar, CMD, IRB Infrastructure Developers said the listing of the InvIT has been a proud moment for the company, adding that underlying projects remains the core strength of this trust.

The trust has six projects, which would garner an EBITDA of around Rs 700 crore, he said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

1:15 pm Market Check: Tracking global cues, markets continued to be weak, but were off the day's low points.

The Sensex was down 101.51 points at 30557.26, while the Nifty was down 55.75 points at 9470.00. The market breadth, however, was negative as 774 shares advanced against a decline of 1,737 shares, while 146 shares are unchanged.

TCS, Wipro continued to gain, while BHEL, Larsen & Toubro, UltraTech Cement and Hindalco lost the most.

12:45 pm Ops in India: Swedish luxury car maker Volvo Cars today announced plans to start vehicle assembly operations in India this year. The assembly operations will be located near Bengaluru and focus on models based on Volvo's SPA modular vehicle architecture, Volvo Cars said in a statement.

12:35 pm Buzzing Stock: Shares of JK Lakshmi Cement tumbled over 7 per cent after the company reported a 19.4 percent decline in standalone net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 2017. The stock tanked 7 percent to Rs 478.55 on the BSE after a weak opening.

12:14 pm Market Check: Benchmark indices trimmed some of its losses from the morning session, with the Nifty advancing towards 9500-mark.

The Sensex was down 104.33 points at 30554.44, while the Nifty was down 52.50 points at 9473.25. The market breadth was negative, but was also seen narrowing, as 684 shares advanced against a decline of 1,730 shares, while 137 shares were unchanged.

IT stocks Wipro and TCS were the top gainers, while BHEL, Larsen and Toubro, Hindalco and Bharti Infratel lost the most.

The Nifty IT index soared over 2 percent on the back of a rally in tech stocks.

11:48 pm Corporate Update: Car market leader Maruti Suzuki has requested parent Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) to advance the commissioning date of the second production line which is under construction in Gujarat to 2018 from the earlier announced target of 2019.

The first production line of the Gujarat plant, having a capacity to produce 250,000 units a year, got commissioned in the last quarter of the last financial year. While work on the second such line is underway, Maruti believes that a third line will be necessary to cater to future rise in vehicle demand.

11:35 am EPFO to hike ETF investment: Retirement body Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is looking to increase its investment in exchange traded funds (ETFs) to 15 percent from the current 10 percent, Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya told reporters yesterday in New Delhi. He said in the upcoming Central Board of Trustees meet the issue of increasing investment in ETF will be taken up.

The retirement body has earned an ''encouraging return'' of over 13 percent on the investment made in ETF, he said.

11:20 am Market Check: Benchmark indices traded weak, with the Sensex and Nifty being below their fresh key milestones.

The Sensex was down 142.89 points at 30515.88, while the Nifty was down 62.50 points at 9463.25. The market breadth was negative as 585 shares advanced against a decline of 1,745 shares, while 131 shares were unchanged.

10:50 am HUL Swings: Shares of Hindustan Unilever swung between gains and losses through the morning session despite steady Q4 results as the global selloff could have rubbed on to the stock. Profit booking due to stellar run in the past few sessions could also have dragged the stock.

The FMCG major had posted 6 percent rise in its March quarter net profit at Rs 1,183 core against Rs 1,114 crore posted during the corresponding quarter of last year. Its volume growth came in much ahead of what analysts polled by CNBC-TV18 had accounted for.

10:29 am Buzzing Stock: Share price of United Breweries plunged 5 percent intraday Thursday on dismal numbers declared by the company in the quarter ended March 2017 (Q4FY17).

The company's Q4 net profit slipped 87.2 percent at Rs 6.7 crore versus Rs 52.4 crore, in the same quarter last year.

The operating profit (EBITDA) of the company was down 19.7 percent at Rs 101.1 crore and EBITDA margin was down 130 bps at 9.1 percent.

10:10 am Market Check: Benchmark indices continued to trade lower, amid global selloff on the back of a crisis in the White House, with the Nifty below 9500.

The Sensex was down 142.17 points at 30516.60, while the Nifty was down 60.65 points at 9465.10. The market breadth was firmly placed in the negative zone as just 576 shares advanced against a decline of 1,444 shares, while 90 shares were unchanged.

Wipro, TCS and Bank of Baroda gained the most, while BHEL, Axis Bank, Hindalco and Yes Bank were the top losers.

The Nifty IT index was the only gainer among major indices, which were all trading in the red.

10:00 am New Listing: IRB InvIT Fund, the first infrastructure trust to list on the exchanges, made its debut on the exchanges on Thursday at a price of Rs 102.50 per share.

The infrastructure investment trust had successfully closed its initial public offering (IPO) earlier this month, with the issue being oversubscribed 8.57 times. The issue was open to bidding between May 3 and May 5 and the offer had a price band of Rs 100-102.

9:50 am Oil update: Oil prices dipped on Thursday, weighed down by plentiful supply despite ongoing efforts led by OPEC to tighten the market by cutting production.

Brent crude was down 18 cents, or 0.3 percent, from its last close at $52.03 per barrel at 0244 GMT.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 16 cents, or 0.3 percent, at $48.91.

9:30 am Movement ahead of earnings: Shares of Bajaj Auto were down around a percent ahead of its results that will be announced later in the day.

Meanwhile, major public sector bank, Bank of Baroda gained over a percent in the morning trade. The bank too will be announcing its earnings on Thursday.

9:15 am Market Opens: Tracking weak global cues on the back of a selloff, the market on Thursday opened on a negative note.

The Sensex was down 133.62 points at 30525.15, while the Nifty fell 48.15 points at 9477.60. The market breadth was negative as 193 shares advanced against a decline of 734 shares, while 37 shares were unchanged.

Hero MotoCorp, Dr Reddy's, Hindalco and Adani Ports were the top losers on both indices, while Wipro, TCS and HDFC gained the most.

All major indices on the Nifty-midcaps, IT, pharma, auto and energy, others-were trading lower, driving the consolidation.

The Indian rupee opened lower by 19 at 64.34 per dollar on Thursday versus previous close 64.15.

According to Mohan Shenoi of Kotak Mahindra Bank, "The dollar weakened against most currencies due to political developments and mixed data from the US. The rupee is well supported on the back of custodial flows into the country."

IRB InvIT Fund will make its stock market debut soon after successfully closing its initial public offer earlier this month. The IPO of IRB InvIT Fund, the first in the InvIT space, was oversubscribed 8.57 times.

The institutional investors category was oversubscribed 10.81 times and other investors 5.89 times. The offer had a price band of Rs 100-102. InvITs or infrastructure investment trusts are those debt instruments that will be traded in the market and can act as investment vehicles for sponsors.

IDFC Bank, Credit Suisse Securities and ICICI Securities were the lead managers to the offer.

The units are proposed to be listed on the BSE and the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The issue was open to bidding on May 3-5.

Asian stocks fell on Thursday in line with global peers, and the dollar nursed deep losses against the yen as uncertainty mounted over US President Donald Trump's future following reports that he tried to interfere with a federal investigation.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.4 percent.

Japan's Nikkei shed 1.2 percent, Australian shares lost 1.1 percent and South Korea's Kospi declined 0.5 percent.

The S&P 500 and the Dow notched their biggest one-day fall since September 9 as investor hopes for tax cuts and other pro-business policies faded after reports that US President Donald Trump tried to interfere with a federal investigation set off alarm bells on Wall Street.

Former FBI chief James Comey said in a memo that Trump had asked him to end a probe into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn's ties with Russia, the reports said.