Nifty ends below 7000, Sensex crashes 807 points; Tata Motors tanks

3:30 pm Market crash: The market slide sharply. The Sensex is down 807.07 points or 3.4 percent at 22951.83 and the Nifty slips 239.35 points or 3.3 percent at 6976.35. About 342 shares have advanced, 2343 shares declined, and 93 shares are unchanged.

Tata Motors, BHEL, Adani Ports, ONGC and Hindalco were top losers in the Sensex while Cipla, Bharti Airtel and Dr Reddy's were gainers.

2:55 pm Earnings: State Bank of India (SBI) disappointed analysts' with December quarter earnings with standalone profit falling 61.7 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,115 crore on higher provisions. Profit was supported by lower other income. Net interest income (the difference between interest earned and interest expended) declined 1.2 percent to Rs 13,606 crore in Q3 compared to Rs 13,777 crore in year-ago period. The country's largest bank said advances grew by 12.9 percent to Rs 13.91 lakh crore while deposits increased by 10.7 percent to Rs 16.71 lakh crore in quarter ended December 2015.

2:45 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks crashed further in afternoon trade with the Sensex falling 713.70 points or 3 percent to 23045.20. The Nifty broke 7000-mark for the first time since May 12, 2014, down 216.50 points to 6999.20.

2:30 pm Europe cracks: European stocks traded sharply lower today, dragged down by a sell-off in banking and mining stocks, investors digest comments made by US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen and what that means for the timetable for interest rate hikes.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was down 3.1 percent.

In her semi-annual congressional testimony, Yellen said that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) had not fully researched the legality around negative interest rates, amid whispers that the central bank could enact such a policy.

But Yellen did admit that weakness in the global economy and risks from China could weigh on the outlook for US growth.

2:15 pm Market Expert on free fall: The relentless selling in the stock market is coming from redemption pressures that a lot of overseas funds -- such as sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East -- have been facing, who have been forced to liquidate, says Gautam Trivedi, CEO of Religare Capital Markets.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Trivedi also warned that mutual funds were only institutional investors that were still buying and that inflows from retail investors turn into outflows, the last remaining pillar will also go. Barring domestic MFs, "there is no bid in the market," he said.

He said that while it was hard to forecast a bottom for the market, he expects smart money to come in at Nifty 6,800. "And whenever the market bottoms out, it won't consolidate there."

2:00 pm Market Check
The market extended losses in afternoon trade with the Sensex falling 598.43 points or 2.52 percent to 23160.47. The Nifty broke 7050 level, down 179.45 points or 2.49 percent to 7036.25.

The market breadth was negative as about seven shares declined for every share advancing on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Bank of India (down 7 percent) and Oriental Bank of Commerce (down 10 percent) hit fresh 52-week lows post disappointing earnings in Q3.

State Bank of India was down 1.5 percent as it recorded fresh slippages at Rs 20,692 crore in Q3 against Rs 5,875 crore in preceding quarter.

1:50 pm Market cracks further: The Sensex is down 452.60 points or 1.9 percent at 23306.30 and the Nifty crashes 132.05 points or 1.8 percent at 7083.65.  About 350 shares have advanced, 2141 shares declined, and 108 shares are unchanged.

1:40 pm Market slips: The market has slipped further. The Sensex is down 387.20 points or 1.6 percent at 23371.70 and the Nifty is down 115.90 points or 1.6 percent at 7099.80. About 375 shares have advanced, 2098 shares declined, and 113 shares are unchanged.

SBI is down 1 percent. BHEL is down 5 percent while ONGC, Hindalco, ICICI Bank and lupin.

1:30 pm Market outlook: With the bearish sentiment prevailing in the market, market expert Deven Choksey said that this fall is ''technical in nature'' and has kept people on the sidelines.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Choksey said, ''No one can attribute any fundamental reason to this particular fall and I would think that the market is largely behaving under a nervous sentiment.''

The market is still struggling under selling pressure. The Sensex is down 332.57 points or 1.4 percent at 23426.33 and the Nifty is down 96.95 points or 1.3 percent at 7118.75. About 403 shares have advanced, 2068 shares declined, and 108 shares are unchanged.

Dr Reddy's Labs, SBI, Bharti, Adani Ports and Cipla are top gainers while BHEL, ONGC, Lupin, Hindalco and ICICI Bank are losers in the Sensex.

The rupee again breached the 68-mark as it fell by 18 paise against the American currency as demand for dollar from banks and importers gathered pace amid bearish local equities.

Overseas, dollar hit a 15-month low against the yen today after comments from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen gave investors no reason to change their minds that the next rate hike will be a long time coming.

12:59 pm Market update: The Sensex tanked 328.42 points or 1.38 percent to 23430.48 and the Nifty plunged 94.95 points or 1.32 percent to  7120.75.

About five shares declined for every share advancing on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

12:40 pm Nippon gets CCI nod: Competition Commission has approved Japanese insurer Nippon Life's additional 23 percent stake purchase plan in Reliance Life Insurance in a deal worth Rs 2,265 crore.

Once the deal is complete, Nippon Life Insurance would have 49 percent stake in the company, the maximum ownership allowed for a foreign player in a domestic private insurer.

Competition Commission of India (CCI) has informed Nippon that it has approved the proposed. With the new shareholding structure, the name of the company would be changed to Reliance Nippon Life Insurance Company Ltd.

12:20 pm Earnings: Public sector lender Oriental Bank of Commerce disappointed analysts with third quarter earnings on Thursday with a loss of Rs 424.7 crore against profit of Rs 19.6 crore in year-ago period. Lower other income & operating profit and higher provisions hit bottomline.

Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest expended, grew by only 0.9 percent to Rs 1,309.32 crore in quarter ended December 2015 compared to Rs 1,297.47 crore in same quarter last fiscal.

12:00 pm Market Check
Equity benchmarks as well as broader markets continued to be under pressure in noon trade. FMCG, private banking & financials, technology, oil and infra stocks were under pressure while healthcare stocks bucked the trend.

The Sensex declined 256.22 points or 1.08 percent to 23502.68 and the Nifty fell 76.80 points or 1.06 percent to 7138.90. More than six shares declined for every share advancing on the National Stock Exchange.

Vedanta, ONGC, Cairn India, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, BHEL, ITC, Maruti and Hindalco topped selling list, down 2-4 percent while SBI, Dr Reddy's Labs, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, Bank of Baroda and Idea Cellular gained 1-2 percent. Bank Nifty and IT indices declined 1 percent each while FMCG lost 2 percent.

Oil prices slid today as record US crude inventories at the Cushing delivery point and worries about a global economic slowdown weighed on markets, and Goldman Sachs said prices would remain low and volatile until the second half of the year.

International benchmark Brent crude futures were trading at USD 30.68 per barrel, down 16 cents and US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at USD 26.98 per barrel, down 47 cents.

The market is slipping away as the Sensex is down 219.90 points or 0.9 percent at 23539. The Nifty is down 68.15 points or 0.9 percent at 7147.55. About 507 shares have advanced, 1640 shares declined, and 106 shares are unchanged.

SBI, Tata Motors, Dr Reddy's Labs, Bharti Airtel and Axis Bank are top gainers while ONGC, BHEL, Maruti, M&M and ITC wre losers in the Sensex.

Gold remained higher for the second straight day and prices shot up by another 1.19 percent to Rs 28,655 per 10 grams in futures trade today, tracking a firming trend overseas.

Analysts attributed the rise in gold futures to a firming global trend where gold jumped to the highest level in eight months after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen signaled that the US central bank may delay further interest-rate increases should the turmoil in global markets continue.

10:58 am Market under pressure: The Sensex fell 180.35 points or 0.76 percent to 23578.55 and the Nifty declined 61 points to 7154.70.

About three shares declined for every share advancing on the BSE.

10:50 am Asia update: Asian markets were mostly lower today as investors digested remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and oil remained volatile.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index, which resumed trading today after being shut from Monday through Wednesday for the Lunar New Year holiday, tumbled 3.95 percent.

10:40 am Kotak Mah ups stake in HMVL: Kotak Mahindra (International) hiked its stake by 2.38 percent in media firm Hindustan Media Ventures (HMVL) for Rs 46.37 crore through an open market transaction.

According to the bulk deal data available with NSE, Kotak Mahindra (International) bought 17,50,000 shares or 2.38 percent stake in the company for Rs 46.37 crore.

The shares were acquired at an average price of Rs 265 per piece. As of December 31, 2015 Kotak Mahindra (International) held 3.40 percent stake in the firm.

Meanwhile in a separate deal, Mauritius-based Lavender Investments Ltd also hiked its stake in the media company. Lavender Investments acquired 1.97 percent stake in HMVL for Rs 38.42 crore.

10:20 am Earnings Poll:  SBI is likely to post net profit at Rs 3250 crore in the October-December quarter, up 11.7 percent from Rs 2910 crore in corresponding quarter last fiscal. According to CNBC-TV18 poll, net interest income (NII) may rise 4.3 percent in Q3 to 14375 crore against Rs 13777 crore in year-ago period. NII range is likely to be 2-7.5 percent in Q3.

During the quarter, slippages could be higher than estimates due to RBI Asset Quality Review (ASQ) but the street is working with Rs 5500-6000 crore fresh slippage verus Rs 5875 crore (QoQ).

10:00 am Market Check
The market extended losses in morning trade with the Nifty breaking 7150 level, weighed down by private banking & financials, FMCG and infra stocks.

The Sensex fell 172.67 points to 23586.23 and the Nifty declined 51.65 points to 7164.05. The broader markets also caught in bear grip.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were down 0.7-1 percent. The market breadth was weak as about three shares declined for every share advancing on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

ICICI Bank was the leading contributor to Sensex's losses, down 1.6 percent followed by ITC, HDFC, HDFC Bank and L&T.

Cipla declined 2.5 percent after third quarter earnings and BHEL slipped 2.5 percent ahead of December quarter earnings due later in the day.

Tata Motors, Dr Reddy's Labs and SBI remained top gainers on Sensex, up 1-2 percent.

9:55 am Result poll: Hero MotoCorp's net profit is likely to rise 35 percent to Rs 790 crore in October-December quarter from Rs 583 crore in corresponding quarter last fiscal. According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, revenue may grow 5.8 percent at Rs 7241 crore versus Rs 6839.2 crore in year-ago period. During the quarter, EBITDA may grow 35 percent at Rs 1112 crore versus Rs 821.7 crore while operating profit margin (OPM) may stand at 15.3 percent versus 12 percent (YoY). Volume growth in Q3 was tepid, hence revenue growth is likely to be in low single digits. Volume in Q3 was up 2.5 percent at 16.90 lakh versus 16.48 lakh units (YoY). Tepid volume run rate is expected in key models like Passion and Splendor which have high rural exposure as rural slowdown concerns continue.

9:45 am FII view: Ridham Desai, Morgan Stanley says he is closing his overweight in the technology sector for the first time since July 2011, adding his bullish call on technology has been premised among other things on a bullish USD call.

"That said, the ongoing US presidential election cycle and sluggish US private corporate spending creates headwinds for the sector and given its outperformance, we are booking profits by the trimming sector to neutral," he says.

He adds 100 basis points each to the consumer discretionary and consumer staples. In sector model portfolio, largest overweights are consumer discretionary & private sector financials and biggest underweights are materials & telecom, Desai says.

9:30 am Global view: Janet Yellen's commentary on the global economy and hint towards no interest rate hike in the upcoming meet was disappointing, says Geoff Dennis of UBS.

"I think there is no doubt that she did mention the risk recession and in our view, the major factor that has generated this big sell-off in 2016 is indeed a significant concern about the global economy perhaps most recently coming from the US itself where there has been some very weak data," he says.

Dragged by weak global cues after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen congressional testimony, Indian market have opened at lower levels. The Sensex is down 79.05 points or 0.3 percent at 23679.85 and the Nifty slips 24.15 points or 0.3 percent at 7191.55. About 273 shares have advanced, 416 shares declined, and 48 shares are unchanged.

BHEL, ICICI Bank, Coal India, M&M and Maruti are losers while Dr Reddy's, SBI, Tata Motors, TCS and Hero are top gainers in the Sensex.

The Indian rupee opened lower by 10 paise at 67.95 per dollar versus 67.85 Wednesday. The dollar was broadly lower after comments from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen gave investors no reason to change their minds that the next rate hike will be a long time coming.

Mohan Shenoi of Kotak Mahindra Bank said, "Yellen's testimony to Congress acknowledges impact of global markets turmoil on US growth and inflation. Dollar continues to be under pressure against major currencies."

As whispers mount that the Fed could implement negative interest rates as a way to goose economic activity, Chair Janet Yellen said the central bank has not completely researched whether that would be legal. Speaking during her semi-annual congressional testimony, Yellen said the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) discussed charging banks to hold excess reserves at the Fed but never fully researched the issue. Asked whether she foresees the Fed cutting rates after just hiking its interest rate target in December, Yellen said she did not expect that to happen anytime soon as she considers the risk of recession low.

Asian markets traded mostly down on Thursday as investors digested remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and oil remained volatile.

Oil prices remained volatile as overnight OPEC data pointed to a larger oil supply surplus on the world market this year, as the likes of Saudi Arabia pumped more to make up for reduced drilling by non-OPEC countries that have been hurt by lower prices.