Sensex loses 258 points, Nifty ends below 8550; Wipro falls 4%

3:30 pm Market close: After lots of struggle, the market ended lower. The Sensex was down 258.53 points or 0.9 percent at 28112.31 and the Nifty slipped 68.25 points or 0.8 percent at 8521.55. About 1276 shares advanced, 1583 shares declined, and 140 shares were unchanged.

Wipro lost 4 percent while ICICI Bank, Lupin, Tata Motors and GAIl were among laggards in the Sensex. Top gainers were Cipla, Hero MotoCorps, Sun Pharma, TCS and Bharti Airtel.

3:10 pm Earnings: Crompton Greaves disappointed street on Friday with the consolidated net profit sliding 75 percent year-on-year to Rs 16 crore, dented by power system business that posted a loss during April-June quarter. Forex gain failed to boost the bottomline.

Consolidated total income from operations fell 8 percent to Rs 3,165 crore compared to Rs 3,441.5 crore in the year-ago period. According to analysts polled by CNBC-TV18, profit was estimated at Rs 75.2 crore on revenue of Rs 3,460 crore for the quarter.

Crompton, which is in the business of management and application of electrical energy, earned other income of Rs 45.56 crore, about 47 percent higher over Rs 31.04 crore in the corresponding quarter of last fiscal. During the same period, forex gain shot up multi-fold to Rs 52.8 crore from Rs 7.5 crore.

2:50 pm RBI: The Reserve Bank of India on Friday fixed the reference rate of rupee at 63.8916 against the US dollar and 70.1210 for the euro as against 63.7138 and 69.6264 respectively on Thursday.

According to a RBI statement, the exchange rates for the poThe Reserve Bank of India on Friday fixed the reference rate of rupee at 63.8916 against the US dollar and 70.1210 for the euro as against 63.7138 and 69.6264 respectively on Thursday. und and the yen against the rupee were quoted at 99.1023 and 51.56 per 100 yen, respectively, based on reference rates for the dollar and cross-currency quotes at noon.

2:30 pm Pharma analysts: Surajit Pal, Pharma Analyst at Prabhudas Lilladher is not very keen on holding pharma biggies, given the newsflows that are associated with them. Lupin first quarter earnings have been disappointing and Pal believes the pain is going to continue for two-three months. Another big-ticket stock Sun Pharma too have seen a steep fall after it issued profit warning. Pal advises investors to wait for 2-3 quarters before taking a decision on stock.

The market is struggling with the Sensex down 143.79 points or 0.5 percent at 28227.05. The Nifty is down 31.60 points or 0.4 percent at 8558.20. About 1335 shares have advanced, 1375 shares declined, and 152 shares are unchanged.

Axis is up 1 percent after it posted June quarter results. Hindalco, Sun Pharma, TCS and HDFC are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are ICICI Bank, Wipro, Lupin, GAIL and M&M.

The government today slashed the import tariff value on gold for the second straight week to USD 354 per 10 gm in line with weak global prices of the precious metal. The import tariff value is the base price at which the customs duty is determined to prevent under-invoicing. Usually, the tariff value on gold and silver is revised on a fortnightly basis and the last revision was on July 16.

01:30 pm Market Update: The Sensex extended fall in afternoon trade, down 174.18 points or 0.61 percent to 28196.66. The Nifty breached 8550 level, down 43.40 points or 0.51 percent to 8546.40.

ICICI Bank and Wipro topped the selling list, falling nearly 4 percent.

01:20 pm Earnings: Vodafone reported an acceleration in its main quarterly sales growth as a cable TV acquisition in its biggest market Germany helped to lift sales and consolidate an overall return to growth for the British firm.

The world's second-largest mobile operator, which reported a return to quarterly sales growth for the first time in nearly three years in May, has been hit hard by the constraints on consumer spending in its big European markets, fierce competition in India and by regulator-imposed price cuts around the world.

It said first-quarter organic service revenue grew 0.8 percent, ahead of the 0.1 percent it recorded in the previous three months. That was slightly ahead of forecasts, with analysts expecting growth of around 0.5 percent.

Vodafone said organic sales in Germany, where Vodafone is battling against the incumbent Deutsche Telekom, were down 1.2 percent, compared with the 3.5 percent fall in Q4, but that was helped by the inclusion of its Kabel Deutschland TV business. Vodafone's British market also returned to growth while Italy also showed signs of stabilising.

01:00 pm Market Check
Equity benchmarks continued to see marginal selling pressure with the Sensex falling 89.47 points to 28281.37 and the Nifty declining 17.80 points to 8572. About 1362 shares have advanced, 1188 shares declined, and 157 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

Jeff Chowdhry is not worried about the Indian market's expensive valuation. He says that is because the market comprises of very good companies that are expensive and very poor companies that are cheap. ''I would rather buy quality and I am willing to pay for it,'' says the Senior Emerging Market Fund Manager at LGM, adding ''buying cheap stocks has been the mistake of my career.

IDFC, one of the top five most active stocks, gained more than 4 percent after getting banking license for its IDFC Bank. Tech Mahindra rallied 2 percent as the IT company announced partners for its intelligent electric vehicle charging system project along with Ontario-based local distribution company, Niagara-on-the-Lake Hydro.

12:40 pm Earnings: Power and automation technology company ABB India missed street expectations on Friday with the second quarter net profit rising 20.3 percent year-on-year to Rs 57.4 crore. However, revenue and operational performance met street forecast.

Total income from operations increased by 6 percent to Rs 1,931.6 crore in June quarter from Rs 1,822.2 crore in the year-ago period. Profit was expected at Rs 67.5 crore on revenue of Rs 1,950 crore for the quarter, according to the average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

ABB has received orders worth Rs 1,895 crore during the quarter, down 6 percent compared to Rs 2,019 crore in the corresponding quarter of last fiscal.

12:15 pm Interview: A better product mix and higher capacity utilisation boosted June quarter margins for Granules India, its Managing Director C Krishna Prasad told CNBC-TV18. Granules India's total income grew 14.6 percent to Rs 199 crore and net profit was up 18.3 percent to Rs 27.15 crore for the first quarter of FY16.

Prasad said the pharmaceutical formulation intermediates (PFI) contributed 30 percent to sales, finished dosages (FD) was 30 percent and the active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) contributed 39 percent. He expects a 20 percent plus topline and bottomline growth for FY16. The company is targeting 80 percent capacity uitilisation for the PFI segment in next two years, he said.

12:00 pm Market Check
The market continued to be under pressure, tracking the weakness in Asia. The Sensex fell 69 points to 28301.84 and the Nifty declined 14.95 points to 8574.85. However, the broader markets marginally outperformed benchmarks.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rose 0.4 percent and 0.25 percent, respectively. About 1391 shares have advanced against 1000 shares declined on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Asian markets ex-China remained mostly lower led by continued slump in commodities. Brent crude fell below USD 56 dollar mark and gold slipped further.

Lupin fell further, down 1.5 percent in addition to 5 percent loss in previous session post earnings. Gavi's arm Wintac is not part of the acquisition, Lupin's Chief Financial Officer S Ramesh told CNBC-TV18. Lupin on Thursday said it would be acquiring US-based generic company Gavis for USD 880 million. He also said there are no data integrity issues with respect to USFDA inspection at Goa unit. He expects margins to consolidate between 26-29 percent.

Market will focus on Reliance Industries and Axis Bank as they will report Q1 numbers today. Strong petchem performance may drive Reliance's earnings this quarter, according to a CNBC-TV18 poll. Axis Bank may see a 17 percent profit growth and net interest margin could see pressure of around 10 basis points.

Jaiprakash Associates plunged 5 percent as rating agency CARE revised ratings assigned to the bank facilities and downgraded bank loans worth Rs 25,000 crore to 'D' which signifies that the instruments are in default or expected to default soon.

11:50 am  Inflation? Former Reserve Bank of India governor Chakravarthi Rangarajan criticised a government move that proposes to give majority control of a monetary policy committee (MPC) to its nominees, and questioned how the central bank would successfully meet its inflation targets without control over it. The proposal relates to the Finance Ministry releasing a draft financial code yesterday that suggested government nominees will have a majority (four) on a seven-member MPC that will formulate monetary policy. The interestingly-worded paper also said the RBI chairperson (likely referring to the governor) will not have veto power over decisions of the committee.

11:30 am Buzzing: Shares of IDFC jumped 5 percent intraday as RBI has granted banking licence to its arm. ''The Reserve Bank of India has granted banking licence to "IDFC Bank for undertaking banking business in India under Section 22(1) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949,'' a statement to the exchanges says.
 
Earlier, Madras High Court had approved demerger between IDFC and IDFC Bank and their respective shareholders and creditors. IDFC realigned its businesses to comply with the corporate structure requirements of the RBI New Banking Guidelines and demerge its financing undertaking to IDFC Bank.

The market is slipping away as the Sensex is down 84.38 points at 28286.46. The Nifty is down 18.45 points at 8571.35. About 1323 shares have advanced, 908 shares declined, and 130 shares are unchanged.

Cipla, Hindalco, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma and HDFC are top gainers while Wipro, GAIL, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors and Lupin are among laggards in the Sensex.

Timothy Moe, Goldman Sachs said the brokerage expects the Fed to raise interest rates in December.

"The market is split between September & December, and the actual timing will be data dependent, but the US tightening cycle will certainly be a focus in H2FY16," he added.

According to him, history suggests Asian markets tend to rally into Fed hikes & fade after, but the limited data points reduce the reliability of the conclusion. The brokerage stays overweight on China, India, Korea & Taiwan, Moe said.

Oil prices rose in Asia following recent losses but analysts said the rebound is unlikely to be sustained because of a global crude glut. Analysts said the prospects of Iranian oil returning to the oversupplied market after Tehran reached a deal with major powers over its nuclear ambitions is dampening appetite.

10:50 am FII view: Jeff Chowdhry is not worried about the Indian market's expensive valuation. He says that is because the market comprises of very good companies that are expensive and very poor companies that are cheap ''I would rather buy quality and I will willing to pay for it,'' says the Senior Emerging Market Fund Manager at LGM, adding ''buying cheap stocks has been the mistake of my career. Chowdhry is bearish on China and feels investors looking at emerging markets beyond China would prefer India, Indonesia and Philippines, and not Brazil or Russia.

10:30 am Buzzing: Share price of Bank of Baroda increased 2 percent intraday. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has lifted restrictions on buying of shares of the company by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs).

According to RBI, the foreign shareholding in Bank of Baroda is now below prescribed threshold limit.

The company is going to announced it first quarter (Q1FY16) results on July 30, 2015.

Earlier in this month, it had reduced its base rate by 10 basis points from 10 percent to 9.90 percent and bench-mark prime lending rate (BPLR) by 10 basis points from 14.25 percent to 14.15 percent with effect from July 13, 2015.

The market is still down. The Sensex is down 64.33 points at 28306.51 and the Nifty is down 13.00 points at 8576.80. About 1090 shares have advanced, 668 shares declined, and 106 shares are unchanged.

Axis Bank, Hindalco, TCS, Bajaj Auto and Sun Pharma are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Wipro, ICICI Bank, GAIL, M&M and Lupin are among losers.

Oil prices rose in Asia following recent losses but analysts said the rebound is unlikely to be sustained because of a global crude glut.

Brent crude for September advanced 17 cents to USD 55.44. Over the week WTI is down more than 4.0 percent and Brent has lost nearly 3.0 percent. Analysts said the prospects of Iranian oil returning to the oversupplied market after Tehran reached a deal with major powers over its nuclear ambitions is dampening appetite.

09:50 am Earnings Poll: Crompton Greaves's earnings are expected to be muted in first quarter of FY16 as consolidated revenue is seen rising 0.5 percent year-on-year to Rs 3,460 crore, according to a CNBC-TV18 poll. Consolidated profit is likely to increase 17.4 percent to Rs 75.2 crore in June quarter compared to Rs 64 crore in the corresponding quarter of last fiscal.

the rupee against euro) may impact growth in overseas business while domestic business growth is likely to remain largely sedate.

Power systems business is expected to report muted growth whereas consumer products business may show some signs of improvement during the quarter.

Analysts expect weak performance in subsidiaries to continue as margin recovery continued to get delayed and expect international subsidiaries to report losses of Rs 38-40 crore in Q1FY16. According to poll, additional provisions are likely in the Hungary business, which may add to margin volatility.

09:35 am FII View: Timothy Moe, Goldman Sachs said the brokerage expects the Fed to raise interest rates in December.

"The market is split between September & December, and the actual timing will be data dependent, but the US tightening cycle will certainly be a focus in H2FY16," he added.

According to him, history suggests Asian markets tend to rally into Fed hikes & fade after, but the limited data points reduce the reliability of the conclusion.

The brokerage stayed overweight on China, India, Korea & Taiwan, Moe said.

09:15 am Market Check
The market opened lower, tracking weakness in global peers. The Sensex fell 91.41 points to 28279.43 and the Nifty declined 24.45 points to 8565.35. About 495 shares have advanced, 278 shares declined, and 71 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

GAIL, Lupin and Wipro lost 1-3 percent post Q1 earnings. Vedanta and ICICI Bank slipped over 1 percent. However, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Auto, TCS, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, Cairn India, BPCL and HCL Tech are early gainers.

Bank of Baroda rallied over 1 percent after RBI lifted restrictions on FIIs to buy shares in Bank Of Baroda. "Foreign shareholding in Bank Of Baroda now below prescribed threshold limit," said RBI.

Asian markets ex-China witnessed selling pressure following downtrend on Wall Street last night.

The Indian rupee continued its downtrend and falling towards 64 per dollar mark. It has opened lower by 22 paise at 63.97 per dollar today against 63.75 in previous session.

The dollar-rupee pair is trading at five-week low.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity said, "Expect market to trade cautiously today as investors are short of confidence. Investors are expected to trade watchfully ahead of data due for the day."

He further added, "Rupee is expected to trade rangebound to slightly weak taking cues from a stronger dollar. Range for the day is seen between 63.20-64/dollar today."