Nifty ends tad below 7800, Sensex down 97 points; auto, bank up

3:30 pm Market closing: After a late trade recovery, the market ended flat. The Nifty ended tad below 7800, down 30.50 points or 0.4 percent at 7788.10. The Sensex was down 97.41 points or 0.4 percent at 25622.17. Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, L&T, BHEL and ICICI Bank were top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers were Hindalco, HUL, Wipro, Dr Reddy's and HDFC.

Banks, capital goods and auto stocks lend strong support.

3:15 am Market check: The Sensex is down 80.01 points or 0.3 percent at 25639.57, and the Nifty down 17.80 points or 0.2 percent at 7800.80.
About 1006 shares have advanced, 1546 shares declined, and 121 shares are unchanged.

3:10 pm P-Notes: Investments through Participatory Notes (P-Notes) into India's capital market dropped to Rs 2.72 lakh crore (about USD 41 billion) at the end of July. P-Notes, mostly used by overseas HNIs (High Net Worth Individuals), hedge funds and other foreign institutions, allow such investors to invest in Indian markets through registered foreign institutional investors (FIIs). This saves time and cost for them, but the flip side is the route can also be used for round-tripping of black money.

According to Sebi data, total value of P-Note investment in Indian markets (equity, debt and derivatives) declined to Rs 2.72 lakh crore at July-end, from Rs 2.75 lakh crore in the previous month. Prior to that, investments through P-Notes had hit a seven-year high of Rs 2.85 lakh crore in May. This was the highest investment since February 2008, when the cumulative value stood at Rs 3.23 lakh crore.

2:59 pm Market Update: The Sensex dropped 205.29 points or 0.80 percent to 25514.29 and the Nifty fell 64.50 points or 0.82 percent to 7754.10.

About 897 shares have advanced, 1607 shares declined, and 115 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

2:50 pm Buzzing stocks: Suven Life, Mirc Electronics, Reliance Communications, Neuland Labs, IL&FS Investment, Subex, Fortis Healthcare, Container Corporation, Wockhardt and CEAT rallied 5-14 percent.

2:40 pm PwC on auto numbers: Abdul Majeed, Partner PwC and auto expert said, "There  are many positive indicators for a  reasonable growth in the overall automotive sector this fiscal such as low inflation, softening in oil prices, gradual recovery in urban and rural demand, expected moderation in the interest rates in the second half and also better off-take in the upcoming festive season."

The OEMs in passenger cars who have robust new product launch strategy and are launching product in key segments such as  small cars, compact SUV, and hatchback will grow more compared to others, he added.

SIAM said domestic passenger vehicle sales in August grew by 3.99 percent to 2.2 lakh units year-on-year and commercial vehicle sales rose by 7.58 percent to 52,198 units. However, 2-wheeler sales dropped 2.98 percent to 13 lakh units in the month gone by.

According to Majeed, MHCV sales will continue the significant  growth trend in anticipation of pick up in the overall economic activity. There is also a pent up demand in this segment. Scooters will continue to reflect robust growth due to urban demand and also on account of it becoming family mobility vehicle which can be used by anyone in family.

2:30 pm TRAI on call drops: Sectoral regulator TRAI today said it will come out with recommendations on call drops and compensation to consumers by mid-October. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has already floated a consultation paper in the regard.

"We have sought comments from operators till September 21 and counter comments by September 28 after which there will be an open house discussion. I expect that by October 10-15, we will give the final recommendations in this regard," TRAI Chairman RS Sharma told reporters on the sidelines of an Assocham event.

The regulator yesterday held a meeting with CEOs of telecom operators to address the problem. Sharma said after 15 days, drive tests will be conducted in Delhi and Mumbai to determine if there is any improvement in services provided by operators.

2:20 pm M&M launches TUV300: Homegrown auto major Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) today launched compact SUV TUV300 at an introductory price starting at Rs 6.9 lakh (ex-showroom Pune), as it aims to strengthen its market share in the utility vehicles segment.

TUV300, which comes only with a diesel engine, is priced up to Rs 9.12 lakh for the top-end variant which showcases the AMT (auto gear shift) technology.

"The TUV300 embodies Mahindra's tough and rugged DNA which makes me confident that it will be a brand creator in its segment and find favour both in India and globally," M&M Group Chairman Anand Mahindra told reporters here.

TUV300 will take on the likes of Ford EcoSport and Renault Duster that are priced between Rs 7.88 lakh and Rs 13.54 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

Besides, it will also compete with compact crossovers such as Toyota Etios Cross, Hyundai i20 Active and Fiat Avventura, which are priced in a range of Rs 6.23 lakh and Rs 8.89 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

2:00 pm Market Check
The market continued to see profit booking after two-day rally, though it showed some recovery from day's low. The Sensex declined 256.28 points or 1 percent to 25463.30 and the Nifty fell 82.80 points or 1.06 percent to 7735.80.

The BSE Midcap recovered smartly, trading flat while Smallcap lost 0.8 percent. More than two shares declined for every share advancing on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

HDFC was the biggest contributor to Sensex's fall, down nearly 3 percent followed by Infosys, HDFC Bank, SBI, Reliance Industries, Lupin, ONGC, Axis Bank and HUL with 1-2 percent loss.

Global markets remained weak today. Hang Seng lost more than 560 points while Nikkei slipped 2.5 percent after core machinery orders fell 3.5 percent in July while in China, producer price index declined 5.9 percent, the 42nd consecutive month of declines. European markets were down 1 percent.

The rupee weakened to 66.52 against a close of 66.40 a dollar in previous session on sustained dollar demand from importers and weak domestic equities.

1:55 am Sale: Sun Pharmaceutical Industries plans to sell a manufacturing facility in Ireland that was owned by Ranbaxy, which has been acquired by the Indian drug major. The divestment comes on the heels of Sun Pharma Managing Director Dilip Shanghvi saying in August that the company would look at rationalising manufacturing footprint. "...decisions are being made to either close or divest some of our manufacturing facilities.
 
Currently, the Ireland facility has been identified for divestment," Sun Pharma spokesperson said in an e-mailed response. The spokesperson did not comment on details such as the prospective buyer or valuation of the plant. "In March this year, Sun Pharma successfully completed the merger of Ranbaxy.

1:45 pm launch: Homegrown auto major Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) today launched compact SUV TUV300 at an introductory price starting at Rs 6.9 lakh (ex-showroom Pune), as it aims to strengthen its market share in the utility vehicles segment.

TUV300, which comes only with a diesel engine, is priced up to Rs 9.12 lakh for the top-end variant which showcases the AMT (auto gear shift) technology.

"The TUV300 embodies Mahindra's tough and rugged DNA which makes me confident that it will be a brand creator in its segment and find favour both in India and globally," M&M Group Chairman Anand Mahindra told reporters here.

TUV300 will take on the likes of Ford EcoSport and Renault Duster that are priced between Rs 7.88 lakh and Rs 13.54 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

1:30 pm Market outlook: After Brazil's investment-grade credit rating was lowered to 'junk' status by Standard & Poor's, Adrian Mowat, chief Asian and emerging market equity strategist at JPMorgan, says the market has been talking about Brazil's downgrade for many months now and there is in fact still a possibility of more devaluation of the Brazilian Real.

He adds there is also a risk of more downgrades to emerging markets' growth. The newsmaker over the past few months has been China and Mowat believes the country is far from being in recession. He bases his argument on the strong data coming out of China that shows that auto sales have risen 8 percent and home sales are up 20 percent this year.

After Brazil's investment-grade credit rating was lowered to 'junk' status by Standard & Poor's, Adrian Mowat, chief Asian and emerging market equity strategist at JPMorgan, says the market has been talking about Brazil's downgrade for many months now and there is in fact still a possibility of more devaluation of the Brazilian Real.

He adds there is also a risk of more downgrades to emerging markets' growth. The newsmaker over the past few months has been China and Mowat believes the country is far from being in recession. He bases his argument on the strong data coming out of China that shows that auto sales have risen 8 percent and home sales are up 20 percent this year.

The market has recovered a bit but still in red. The Sensex is down 220.90 points or 0.9 percent at 25498.68 and the Nifty is down 74.15 points or 0.9  percent at 7744.45. About 745 shares have advanced, 1613 shares declined, and 75 shares are unchanged.

BHEL, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, ITC and Hero Moto are top gainers while Hindalco , SBI, HDFC, ONGC and NTPC are major laggards in the Sensex.

Shares of Amtek Auto plunged 9 percent, while that of its subsidiary Castex Technologies lost 5 percent today after market regulator Sebi began a probe into alleged manipulation of the latter's stock price. Sebi has begun a probe into alleged share price manipulation at Castex Technologies through forced conversion of foreign bonds. Reacting to the development, shares of Castex fell 5 percent and got locked in a lower circuit limit.

12:59 pm Market Update: The Sensex dropped 271.40 points or 1.06 percent to 25448.18 and the Nifty fell 89.65 points or 1.15 percent to 7728.95.

About 702 shares have advanced, 1628 shares declined, and 77 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

12:50 pm Room for rate cut?: NITI Aayog vice chairman, Arvind Panagariya says RBI has room to cut rates by 0.5-1 percent.

Investment sentiment is turning around, he feels. "We would not write off the possibility of 8 percent GDP growth rate this year," he says.

12:40 pm Hero targets more mfg hubs: As part of its global expansion drive, two-wheeler major Hero MotoCorp plans to set up manufacturing facilities in Mexico, Argentina and Brazil and expects to utilise the new Colombian plant as a hub to export to nearby countries.

"Going forward in terms of manufacturing facility, we are looking at some other countries in the region like Mexico, Argentina and Brazil," Hero MotoCorp's Chairman, Managing Director and CEO Pawan Munjal told PTI.

Hero MotoCorp's first global manufacturing facility at Villa Rica in Colombia, entailing a project investment of USD 70 million, became operational this week.

With the commencement of operations at Colombia plant, the New Delhi-headquartered Hero MotoCorp has become the first Indian two-wheeler manufacturer to set-up a manufacturing unit in Latin America.

When asked about other geographic locations that Hero was looking at for investment purposes, especially in the US and Europe, Munjal said: "Right now there are no manufacturing plans there, but we could look at Africa as a region where Nigeria is one possibility."

Nigeria is the largest two-wheeler market in Africa.

12:25 pm ICRA downgrades JSPL: Rating agency ICRA downgraded non-convertible debentures, commercial paper, term loans, fund based & non-fund based limits and short term loans of Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL).
 
The revision of ratings has taken into account deterioration in JSPL's credit metrics led by lower sales realisations in steel business and consequently weaker operating profitability and cash flow from operations at a time when its debt is at an elevated level, says the rating agency.

ICRA has revised the long term rating for Rs 3,212 crore NCD programmes, Rs 18,838.75 crore term loans, Rs 4,150 crore fund based limits and Rs 6,800 crore non-fund based limits of Jindal Steel & Power from [ICRA]AA- to [ICRA]A+.

With the continuing challenging environment for the steel sector, the rating agency says cash flow from operations for JSPL are expected to remain subdued in the medium term which would result in higher dependence on debt refinancing or raising funds through alternate route like sale of non-core assets and divestment of stake in some subsidiaries.

In the absence of sizeable divestments, the gross debt for JSPL at consolidated level, which stood at Rs 45,312 crore as of June 30, 2015, is likely to remain at similar levels thereby putting pressure on its credit profile, it adds.

12:15 pm Market Expert: Going by the volatility in the market, it appears as though the overall depth has reduced quite a bit, says Sachin Shah, fund manager, Emkay Investment Managers. In August alone, total FII outflow was to the tune of USD 2 billion and in September it already stands at USD 1 billion. This has definitely sobered the mood of the market, he told CNBC-TV18.

To cap it all, earnings downgrades are also playing spoilsport. However, on the brighter side, he says, the macro factors are favouring India and will keep the mood buoyant.

Going ahead, Shah believes Bihar elections in October will have only a sentimental impact on the markets, but the real focus will be on earnings. He feels that overall topline growth will be muted for consumer companies on the back of rural slowdown.

12:00 pm Market Check
The market recouped more than half of losses in noon trade, supported by Tata Motors, TCS and ITC. The Sensex declined 209.85 points or 0.82 percent to 25509.73 and the Nifty fell 73.15 points or 0.94 percent to 7745.45.

The broader markets, too, recovered smartly. The BSE Midcap was down 0.2 percent and Smallcap slipped 0.8 percent. The market breadth remained weak as about 1565 shares have declined against 646 shares advanced on the BSE.

Global markets also remained under pressure as economic data from Japan and China heightened growth concerns. Additionally, S&P cutting it's Brazil credit rating to junk impacted sentiment. Hang Seng and Nikkei dropped around 2.5 percent while Shanghai was down 0.8 percent.

11:50 am Interview: Iron ore prices have been falling for a while now and NMDC's iron ore sales and production numbers too were disappointing for August. But Narendra Kothari, CMD of NMDC, believes prices have bottomed out and should increase a bit after this.

He believes that the 20 percent safeguard duty will benefit steel companies and hence indirectly iron ore companies as well.

The soft iron ore prices in part can be attributed to domestic demand, which has been rather low, and supplies have risen on the back of production from Odisha. Another reason can also be falling steel demand and prices.

The NMDC stock is down 28.13 percent year-to-date.

11:40 am Market outlook: Going by the volatility in the market, it appears as though the overall depth has reduced quite a bit, says Sachin Shah, fund manager, Emkay Investment Managers. In August alone, total FII outflow was to the tune of USD 2 billion and in September it already stands at USD 1 billion. This has definitely sobered the mood of the market, he told CNBC-TV18.

To cap it all, earnings downgrades are also playing spoilsport. However, on the brighter side, he says, the macro factors are favouring India and will keep the mood buoyant.

Going ahead, Shah believes Bihar elections in October will have only a sentimental impact on the markets, but the real focus will be on earnings. He feels that overall topline growth will be muted for consumer companies on the back of rural slowdown. He is bullish on private sector banks such as ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank.

11:30 am Big bull: Samir Arora of Helios Capital says investors should await for some clarity on the direction of the market before making any bets. The fund manager says he is 57 percent net long in the market currently, and has added exposure to stocks already invested in. "We have not added any new names in our portfolio. We have just increased our exposure in an NBFC and a crude related consumer company," he says. On the Federal Reserve's hanging sword, an unfazed Arora says a rate hike won't impact India significantly.

The market continues to slip further as the Sensex is down 302.72 points or 1.2 percent at 25416.86 and the Nifty is down 101.30 points or 1.3 percent at 7717.30. About 487 shares have advanced, 1508 shares declined, and 53 shares are unchanged.

TCS is up 1 percent while Hindalco, HUL, SBI, Vedanta and ONGC are major laggards in the Sensex.

The rupee trimmed its initial losses but was still down by 20 paise to 66.61 against the greenback on weak domestic equities and sustained dollar demand from importers amid higher dollar overseas. The domestic unit gave up its overnight gains and resumed sharply lower at 66.72 per dollar as against yesterday's level of 66.41 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market

The dollar index is currently up 0.02 percent at 95.96 against a basket of six currencies. Crude oil prices fell in early Asian trade as weak Japanese and Chinese economic data fuelled concerns that low levels of investment could further erode already slow growth in Asia. In New York, the dollar trimmed early gains against the yen and the euro yesterday, but remained higher against both even as falling Treasury yields dulled the dollar's luster.

10:50 am FII View: The Indian equity market is down in early trade on the back of a weak handover from US and China. Both the indices are down 1 percent but this is just the market getting hyper, says Samir Arora of Helios Capital.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Arora says investors should await some clarity on the direction of the market before making any bets. The fund manager says he is 57 percent net long in the market currently, and has added exposure to stocks already invested in.

"We have not added any new names in our portfolio. We have just increased our exposure in an NBFC and a crude related consumer company," he says.

On the Federal Reserve's hanging sword, an unfazed Arora says a rate hike won't impact India significantly.

"We have had so many instances in the past. It is not like the Fed hikes rates and next day the market falls. Besides a quarter percent rate hike is anyway too small to impact the market," he adds.

10:35 am Buzzing: Shares of Piramal Enterprises gained 3.3 percent intraday on a media report that the company may acquire IL&FS, the largest unlisted infrastructure developer and financier in India.

"Billionaire Ajay Piramal-owned Piramal Enterprises (PEL) is within striking distance of taking control of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS)," said a media report quoting unnamed sources.

As per the plan, PEL will carve out its financial services business and merge it with IL&FS in an allstock deal to create a USD 2.5-billion (about Rs 15,000 crore) company, the report added.

IL&FS has about Rs 18,000 crore of assets under management. A deal, if sealed, will make Piramal the largest shareholder and promoter of the merged company, said a report.

IL&FS was promoted by the Central Bank of India (CBI), Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) and Unit Trust of India (UTI). LIC is the biggest shareholder in IL&FS with 25.34 percent equity stake (as of July 17, 2015) followed by ORIX Corporation, Japan (23.54 percent stake), Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (12.56 percent), HDFC (9.02 percent), Central Bank of India (7.67 percent), SBI (6.42 percent), UTI (0.82 percent) and India Discovery Fund (0.86 percent).

Profit for the year ended March 2015 was Rs 304.85 crore (against Rs 319.78 crore in FY14) on revenue of Rs 1,430.5 crore (against Rs 1,533.07 crore in FY14).

10:25 am JLR sales weak: Shares of Tata Motors fell 3.9 percent intraday today on consistent weakness in Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) August sales.

"Jaguar Land Rover, the UK's leading manufacturer of premium luxury vehicles, reported August 2015 retail sales of 29,327 vehicles, down 3 percent year-on-year," said the subsidiary of Tata Motors.

Land Rover sales declined 5 percent to 23,992 vehicles while Jaguar sales grew by 5 percent to 5,335 vehicles during the same period.

Jaguar sales were boosted by all-new XE sports saloon, introduced in May, along with the F-TYPE.

Year-to-date sales growth in Europe was 19 percent, 18 percent in UK and 14 percent in North America, whilst China was down 29 percent and the overseas region down 11 percent.

Sales in China were down due to slowing economic conditions, model transitions of Range Rover Evoque & Discovery Sport, run out phase of Jaguar XF & XJ in advance of upcoming launches, and Tianjin port explosion on August 12 (which affected up to 5,800 imported Jaguar Land Rover vehicles).

10:15 am Japanese machinery order: Japanese machinery orders unexpectedly fell for a second straight month in July, fueling concerns that weak business investment could undermine a recovery from an economic contraction in the second quarter.

Core machinery orders, a highly volatile data series regarded as an indicator of capital spending in the coming six to nine months, fell 3.6 percent in July, the Cabinet office data showed on Thursday.

That followed a 7.9 percent month-on-month decline in June and were far worse than a 3.7 percent increase expected by economists.

The weak data comes as a recent run of soft indicators cast doubt on the Bank of Japan's optimism that a steady economic recovery will help bring inflation to its 2 percent goal by around September 2016, keeping the bank under pressure to act.

Sluggish spending by firms and persistent weakness in private consumption and exports add to worries about slowing growth in China - Japan's biggest trading partner - which has unnerved global investors.

10:00 am Market Check
The market remained under pressure in morning trade with the Sensex falling 370.51 points or 1.44 percent to 25349.07, dragged by banking & financials, auto, oil, capital goods and FMCG stocks. The Nifty continued to hover around 7700, down 118.45 points or 1.51 percent to 7700.15.

The broader markets, too, plunged 1.5 percent as about 1370 shares have declined against 355 shares advanced on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

At the moment, 7500 looks like the Nifty bottom, though one does not know how market will behave in the face of volatility, says market expert Ambareesh Baliga.

At the same time if one sees to 15 percent gains during a bounce, one must book out, says Baliga. "Then sit on cash until there is a crack again." He expects the bull run to be steady after 2-3 months depending on Fed statement.

9:55 am Vedanta tanks: Shares of  Vedanta slipped 5 percent intraday on Thursday as metals stocks are on a sharp slide. Investors are also busy selling shares of Vedanta as Standard & Poor's has raised concerns on its merger with Cairn India. The rating agency  said completion of the proposed merger of Cairn India with Vedanta appears "uncertain".
 
The global rating agency also placed its 'BB-' foreign currency long-term corporate credit rating on the Anil Agarwal led mining conglomerate Vedanta Resources on CreditWatch with negative implications.

In a statement, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said, "It had placed its 'BB-' foreign currency long-term corporate credit rating on Vedanta Resources PLC (Vedanta) and the 'BB-' long-term issue ratings on the company's guaranteed notes and loans on CreditWatch with negative implications."

9:45 am FII views: The ongoing market volatility has not yet impacted retail investor sentiment, but if it persists, inflows into equity mutual funds could taper off, or there could even be redemptions, says a note by brokerage house Deutsche India Equities.

''While we believe the macro environment appears conducive for extension of the structural shift in household savings from physical assets to financial assets, continuation of the recent equity market correction (particularly in midcap stocks) may negatively impact retail investor sentiment, which can have a bearing on future flows for equity mutual funds,'' says the Deutsche note.

According to the brokerage, equity mutual funds have witnessed net inflows for sixteen consecutive months till August, aggregating to USD 19 billion, the longest and highest streak of inflows on record.

9:35 am Maggi back soon? Nestle could start making Maggi noodles again in India as early as October, it said on, paving the way for the snack to go back on sale by the end of the year. In May, Nestle was at the centre of the country's worst packaged food scare in a decade, when local regulators reported some packets of the popular noodles, sold at roadside stalls across India, contained unsafe levels of lead.

The company had to order a recall of the product a month later, which cost it about Rs 444 crore. But in August, an Indian court ruled in favour of Nestle in its battle to overturn a nationwide ban on the noodles, although the popular snack will have to undergo more safety tests before it can go on sale again.

9:25 S&P cuts: Standard & Poor's downgraded Brazil's credit rating to junk grade on Wednesday, further hampering President Dilma Rousseff's efforts to regain investors' trust and pull Latin America's largest economy out of recession.

The faster-than-anticipated downgrade from investment grade will likely rock Brazilian financial markets on Thursday and will increase borrowing costs for the government and Brazilian companies.

Brazil first won its investment-grade credit rating in 2008 and the S&P downgrade is a major setback for Rousseff, a leftist struggling to kick-start the economy and shore up weak public finances.

9:20 am Market slips: The Sensex is down 429.20 points or 1.7 percent at 25290.38, and the Nifty down 125.25 points or 1.6 percent at 7693.35. About 149 shares have advanced, 923 shares declined, and 19 shares are unchanged.

The market has opened with a sharp loss following weak global markets. The Sensex is down 335.92 points or 1.3 percent at 25383.66 and the Nifty is down 106.55 points or 1.4 percent at 7712.05. About 129 shares have advanced, 692 shares declined, and 24 shares are unchanged.

Hindalco, Vedanta, ONGC, BHEL and SBI are major losers while there is no green stock in the Sensex.

The Indian rupee gave up yesterday's gain. The currency has opened lower by 31 paise at 66.72 per dollar on Thursday against previous day's close of 66.41.

Mohan Shenoi of Kotak Mahindra Bank said, "The 'risk-on' rally of the last few days has lost momentum and the market has slipped back to 'risk-off' sentiment. Consequently, dollar was weak against other major currencies like euro and yen."

"With Reserve Bank of India (RBI) presence on both sides of the market, the USD-INR is expected to trade today in a range of 66.30-66.70/dollar," he added.

Dollar remained steady ahead of US Fed's next policy statement on September 17 for clues on the timing of a US interest rate rise.

Asian shares declined, as investors digest the data releases that could provide a gauge on the state of China's economy. China's consumer price index (CPI) rose 2 percent in August from a year earlier, beating expectations for a 1.8 percent gain and up from 1.6 percent in July.

Major US averages ended the day down more than 1 percent, failing to extend a rally in global markets on the back of selling pressure in Apple and energy-related counters. The blue-chip Dow and the S&P 500 lost 1.45 and 1.35 percent, respectively, while the Nasdaq Composite closed down 1.15 percent.