Sensex tanks 248 points, Nifty ends below 8900; ITC down 2%, ONGC up

3:30 pm Market closing: The market has closed lower on profit booking. The Sensex was down 248.03 points or 0.8 percent at 28797.25, and the Nifty slipped 85.80 points or 0.9 percent at 8866.70. About 1138 shares advanced, 1612 shares declined, and 199 shares were unchanged.

ONGC, Wipro, TCS, GAIL and Relaince were top gainers while Axis Bank, Bajaj Auto, ITC, Hero MotoCorp and HDFC were losers in the Sensex.

2:50 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks extended losses again in last hour of trade as the Sensex fell 216.73 points to 28828.55 and the Nifty declined 72.80 points to 8879.70.

2:35 pm Macquarie on IRB InvIT Fund IPO: Macquarie has maintained outperform rating on IRB Infrastructure Developers with a target price of Rs 313 as the IPO of infrastructure investment trust will be game changer for the company.

"Divestment through IRB InvIT Fund should help deleverage balance sheets, free up capital for growth and enable better value discovery," the brokerage house says.

IRB InvIT Fund, an infrastructure investment trust, has filed draft red herring prospectus with SEBI for Rs 4,300 crore initial public offering. The initial public offer consists of a fresh issue by the Trust, and an offer for sale by the company & its subsidiaries - Modern Road Makers, Aryan Toll Road, ATR Infrastructure and Ideal Road Builders.

2:20 pm Interview: English print media industry is growing at around 2 percent while the Hindi print media is seeing a healthy growth of about 10 percent, says Prashant Panday, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, ENIL. The television and radio industry witnessing around 10-12 percent growth, he adds.

The biggest advertiser across ENIL's TV and radio business is the Central Government, says Panday. Government ads contributed to around 12 percent to ENIL's total revenue last fiscal.

Revenues from State Governments vary from State to State, he adds.

Ad revenues from the auto and consumer durables sector is slowly picking up.

2:00 pm Market Check
Equity benchmarks recouped some losses in afternoon trade with the Nifty reclaiming 8900 level, supported by oil & gas and select technology stocks. However, FMCG, banking & financials, infra and auto stocks continued to keep the market under pressure.

The Sensex was down 164.67 points at 28880.61 and the Nifty fell 49.50 points to 8903.

ONGC extended gains, rising 4 percent followed by Reliance Industries, TCS, Wipro and GAIL with over 1.5 percent upside whereas ITC, HDFC, Tata Motors, Axis Bankk, L&T, SBI and ICICI Bank fell 1-2.5 percent.

European stocks were lower after North Korea claimed its fifth nuclear test and investors continued to digest the European Central Bank's policy decision.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.38 percent with nearly all sectors in negative territory. Investors have been left disappointed after the ECB kept its benchmark refinancing rate at 0 percent Thursday and did not change its trillion-euro bond-buying plan, saying the program will run until the end of March 2017 or beyond if necessary.

1:55 pm Exclusive: United Breweries Chairman Vijay Mallya has submitted a plea to trial court saying that he wants to return to India. But Mallya caveats it by saying that it will be difficult to do so because his passport was revoked this year. In April 2016, Mallya's Indian passport was revoked by the Ministry of External Affairs after numerous summons by the Enforcement Directorate failed to get him back to the country. His recent plea to come back is to comply with a summons order for a 1995 Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) violation case against him.

1:45 pm Market outlook: Domestic equity funds have infused inflows worth Rs 6,500 crore and the market is seeing sustained flows on the retail side, according to Harish Krishnan, Senior Vice-president and equity fund manager at Kotak Mutual Fund. He told CNBC-TV18 that the returns from investments too have been good from retail and SIPs, adding that consumer, consumer discretionary, auto ancillary, cement, capital goods and exports make good bets. Investments in such sectors in the next 2-3 years can see healthy returns.

1:30 pm Upcoming IPO: ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company initial public offer (IPO) will open for subscription on September 19 and close on September 21. The first IPO by an insurer in India and biggest in nearly six years has fixed its price band of the issue at Rs 300-334 per share. The insurance company from ICICI stable is aiming to raise Rs 5000 crore through an initial public offering. The insurer is a joint venture between banking major ICICI Bank and UK's Prudential Corporation Holdings. ICICI Bank has around 68 percent stake in the company, while Prudential holds 26 percent. The public offer comprises up to 18,13,41,058 equity shares of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company, representing about 12.65 per cent of its equity share capital for cash, through an offer for sale by ICICI Bank, as per the draft papers.

The market is still under pressure with the Sensex is down 247.26 points or 0.8 percent at 28798.02. The Nifty is down 75.80 points or 0.8 percent  at 8876.70. About 1015 shares have advanced, 1498 shares declined, and 161 shares are unchanged.

ONGC, GAIL, Wipro, TCS and Reliance are top gainers in the Sensex while ITC, HDFC, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Motors and Axis Bank are losers in the Sensex.

Oil prices retreated today, taking a chunk out of the previous day's rally as investors digested data suggesting last week's plunge in US stockpiles was likely a one-off.

Both main contracts soared more than two dollars Thursday after the energy department said US inventories dropped 14.5 million barrels, the sharpest rate in 17 years.

But analysts said the decline was attributed to the suspension of imports and shutdown of some production owing to Hurricane Hermine, which passed through the Gulf of Mexico in late August, and warned of a rebound next week.

Traders are awaiting a meeting of OPEC and Russia later this month aimed at addressing a two-year-old global supply glut and overproduction that saw prices hit a near 13-year low below USD 30 at the start of 2016.

12:55 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks continued to fall with the Sensex falling 235.52 points to 28809.76 and the Nifty down 71.85 points to 8880.65.

12:45 pm Europe opening: European stocks opened lower as markets remained disappointed after the European Central Bank (ECB) chose not to extend its stimulus program.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.31 percent.

European stocks closed lower on Thursday after the ECB kept its benchmark refinancing rate at 0 percent and did not change its trillion-euro bond-buying plan, saying the program will run until the end of March 2017 or beyond if necessary.

12:35 pm Buzzing: Kaya shares surged more than 9 percent intraday Friday as to strengthen network in UAE region, Middle East subsidiary acquired 75 percent stake in Sharjah-based company.

"Kaya Middle East, DMCC, a foreign subsidiary of Kaya, has entered into an agreement for acquiring 75 percent beneficial interest in Minal Medical Centre, Dubai and Minal Specialized Clinic Dermatology, Sharjah," the skin care clinics operator said in its filing on September 9.

The agreement will become effective on fulfilling of certain conditions precedent and obtaining the requisite statutory approval/s, which will take approximately 4 months.

Minal Medical Centre and Minal Specialized Clinic Dermatology carry out business of skincare, body & hair services and reported revenue of AED 11.17 million in CY15.

12:20 pm Likely reduction in hydrocarbon imports: India aims to reduce its hydrocarbon imports by 10 percent by 2022 through increasing domestic output, fuel efficiency and the use of alternative energy, its oil minister said on Friday.

India currently imports 70-75 percent of its energy requirements, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan told reporters.

The minister spoke on the sidelines of a roadshow in Singapore for investors to explore oil and gas in India.

"A good number of companies are taking our data," Pradhan said, although he declined to name those who have shown interest.

The minister also said there will no cess or duties assessed on new oil and gas exploration projects.

12:00 pm Market check: The sell-off continued in noon trade as weak global cues and profit booking after sharp rally from last week weighed. Banking & financials, auto, FMCG, auto and infra stocks remained under pressure.

The Sensex fell 246.39 points or 0.85 percent to 28798.89 and the Nifty slipped 79.50 points or 0.89 percent to 8873 while the broader markets recovered a bit from day's low, falling 0.4-0.6 percent.

The market breadth remained weak as about 1485 shares declined against 915 advancing shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Oil prices pulled back on profit-taking after settling more than 4 percent higher a day earlier, following a surprisingly huge drawdown in US crude stocks as Gulf Coast imports slumped to a record low.

Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude futures have gained about 6 percent this week and are on course for their biggest weekly gain in three weeks, after major producers Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed on Monday to cooperate on stabilizing the oil market.

London Brent crude for November delivery was down 1.1 percent at USD 49.44 a barrel after rising above USD 50 for the first time in two weeks and settling up 4.2 percent, on Thursday.

11:30 am Interview: Speaking to CNBC-TV18 Vineet Nayyar, Executive Vice Chairman of Tech Mahindra said that lower orders for IT companies in India were not because of economic slowdown but was because of tech disruptions like cloud computing. ''The mega trend is technology change.'' He belives that one has to compete and reinvent ourselves to stay in the game. Asked if Tech Manhindra will be cutting orders, he admitted there was a marginal disruption. ''Like every other IT company, we have our own challenges and solutions. Yes. The growth rates aren't going to be 20 percent,'' he said. He thinks that orders shrinking for certain verticals is pervasive. In certain countries, you have the traditional business going on still, even in the US and England. "We feel that to exist to grow and to compete we will have to move to the newer platforms very quickly," he said.

The market is still struggling with the Nifty under 8900. The 50-share index is down 72.75 points or 0.8 percent at 8879.75 and Sensex is down 223.28 points or 0.8 percent at 28822. About 795 shares have advanced, 1375 shares declined, and 130 shares are unchanged.

ONGC, Wipro, GAIL, TCS and Reliance are top gainers while Hero MotoCorp, HDFC, Axis Bank, ITC and Bajaj Auto are losers in the Sensex.

Oil prices pulled back on profit-taking after settling more than 4 percent higher a day earlier, following a surprisingly huge drawdown in US crude stocks as Gulf Coast imports slumped to a record low.

Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude futures have gained about 6 percent this week and are on course for their biggest weekly gain in three weeks, after major producers Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed on Monday to cooperate on stabilising the oil market.

10:40 am Interview: State-owned oil marketing company Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) is looking to strengthen its retail and refining infrastructure as it believes that business expansion will help the company improve its margins by USD 2-3 billion.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, MK Surana, CMD of HPCL said that it will bring in better operational efficiency to improve its gross refining margins (GRMs) going ahead and will maintain GRMs if there is an upward stability in crude.

On the capex front he said that the company has earmarked Rs 20,900 crore for its Visakhapatnam refinery expansion and plans to add another 500 outlets this year.

10:20 am FII View: Mahesh Nandurkar of CLSA said global liquidity would continue to play a major role in market valuations and a rate hike by the Fed later this month was a risk.

In model portfolio, the brokerage house remained heavily overweight on financials, largely in private banks including HDFC, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank and Bank Of Baroda among PSUs.

Other large overweights are Power Grid, Reliance Industries, oil marketing companies, HCL Technologies, ITC and Ambuja Cements, he said, adding the brokerage house added IndiGo as a discretionary consumption play.

10:00 am Market check: Equity benchmarks extended losses in morning trade with the Nifty falling below psychological 8900 level, dragged by banking & financials, auto and FMCG stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex slipped 221.81 points to 28823.47 and the 50-share NSE Nifty lost 74.50 points to 8878.

The broader markets also traded in line with benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices losing 0.7 percent each. About 1167 shares declined against 828 advancing shares on the exchange.

HDFC, ITC, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors and Axis Bank were top contributors to Sensex's fall, down 1.5-2 percent whereas TCS, ONGC, Reliance Industries, Wipro and Dr Reddy's Labs bucked the trend.

9:55 am HPCL: Indian state-owned oil and natural gas company Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) is looking to strengthen its retail and refining infrastructure as it believes that business expansion will help the company improve its margins by USD 2-3 billion.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, MK Surana, CMD of HPCL said that it will bring in better operational efficiency to improve its gross refining margins (GRMs) going ahead and will maintain GRMs if there is an upward stability in crude.

On the capex front he said that the company has earmarked Rs 20,900 crore for its Visakhapatnam refinery expansion and plans to add another 500 outlets this year.

9:45 am IIP poll: The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for July is expected at around 1.37 percent compared to 2.1 percent for the earlier month as per a CNBC-TV18 poll. Core sector, which is 38 percent of IIP slowed in the month of July to 3.2 percent versus 5.2 percent in June. Core sector saw a slowdown in coal, fertilizer, steel, cement, electricity. Meanwhile, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for August, 2016 is expected to come in at 5.3 percent versus 6.07 percent reported in the earlier month. It is estimated to come in range of 5 to 5.3 percent.

9:35 am Upcoming IPO: ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company initial public offer (IPO) will open for subscription on September 19 and close on September 21. The first IPO by an insurer in India and biggest in nearly six years has fixed its price band of the issue at Rs 300-334 per share. The insurance company from ICICI stable is aiming to raise Rs 5000 crore through an initial public offering.

The insurer is a joint venture between banking major ICICI Bank and UK's Prudential Corporation Holdings. ICICI Bank has around 68 percent stake in the company, while Prudential holds 26 percent. The public offer comprises up to 18,13,41,058 equity shares of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company, representing about 12.65 per cent of its equity share capital for cash, through an offer for sale by ICICI Bank, as per the draft papers.

9:23 am Market slips: The Sensex is down 119.48 points or 0.4 percent at 28925.80, and the Nifty is down 47.60 points or 0.5 percent at 8904.90.
 
About 632 shares have advanced, 620 shares declined, and 67 shares are unchanged.

The market has opened in red as the Sensex is down 11.85 points at 29033.43. The Nifty is down 15.70 points or 0.2 percent at 8936.80. About 192 shares have advanced, 47 shares declined, and 17 shares are unchanged.

YES Bank is down 5 percent while BHEL and Hero MotoCorp are laggards in the Sensex. Among gainers are Bajaj Auto, ONGC, Cipla, M&M and TCS.

The Indian rupee fell in early trade Friday for the second consecutive session on recovery in US dollar. The currency has opened at 66.57 per dollar, down 16 paise compared with previous day's closing value of 66.41 a dollar.

Bhaskar Panda, HDFC Bank says last Friday's disappointing US non-farm payroll data has pushed back expectation of a Fed rate hike.

Emerging markets have reacted positively and spot USD-INR was thus able to break below Rs 66.80/USD.

Panda expects the USD-INR pair to consolidate around Rs 66.40/USD.

Meanwhile, the US dollar rose against the yen, spurred by a jump in oil prices that put upward pressure on US. Inflation expectations and pushed traders to increase their outlook on a rate hike from the Federal Reserve.

The euro rose to a two-week high after the European Central Bank downplayed the need for more economic stimulus.