Nifty falls for 4th day, ends below 6200; Tata Motors up 3%

03:33pm Market Update Rate hike fears spooked the market. The Sensex declined 191.08 points or 0.91 percent to 20,734.53, and the Nifty slipped 64.10 points or 1.03 percent to 6,172.95. (as per provisional data) ICICI Bank and BHEL topped the selling list, falling 4 percent each followed by HDFC, GAIL , Bajaj Auto , Hero Motocorp and State Bank of India with a 2-3 percent loss. Shares of HDFC Bank , TCS , Larsen and Toubro , ONGC and Bharti Airtel lost over 1 percent. However, Tata Motors continued to see short covering-led buying, rising 2.75 percent. Brokerage house Goldman Sachs believes the fall in the stock is overdone. Other gainers were Mahindra and Mahindra , Infosys , Wipro , Tata Steel and Coal India .

03:20pm CLSA does not expect early tapering Chris Wood of CLSA says the latest American payroll data was better. But Greed & Fear is still not expecting imminent tapering, he adds. According to him, Yellen will be in no hurry to move. "The Fed's favourite inflation measure, the core PCE deflator, is still well below the central bank's 2 percent target, even as the average hourly earnings growth did not accelerate last month," he reasoned.

03:10pm Global Markets Update Global equities headed for their biggest two-week drop since June and the dollar hit 5-year highs against the yen on Friday amid concern the US Federal Reserve could start scaling back its stimulus as early as next week. Stronger-than-expected US retail sales data the previous session, coming after last week's forecast-beating jobs report, has increased speculation the Fed will start winding down its bond purchases soon. That would reduce the stimulus that helped to drive global equities in recent months. The MSCI world equity index has lost 2.5 percent in the past two weeks, on track for its biggest fortnightly loss since June. The index was steady at 392.18 at 0841 GMT, just above an earlier four-week intra-day low, reports Reuters.

03:05pm Rate hike possible? While the inflation seems to be peaking, one will have to wait until September 2014 to see whether there are any real green shoots in the economy, says Indranil Sengupta, chief economist, BofA ML. ''For green shoots to play out you need lower lending rates and it is not really until April that you are going to see lending rates come down. So, we will have to wait till lending rates come down and then it typically takes 3-6 months for the economy to react from thereon,'' he highlights. Sengupta further says he expects the Reserve Bank of India to hike repo rates by 25 basis points (bps) in its December policy, following which the Governor is likely to hold rates.

02:59pm Gold Update Gold nudged higher after dropping nearly 3 percent in the previous two days but sentiment remained fragile on rising expectations of an early end to US monetary stimulus and on accelerating fund outflows. The metal is headed for its first annual decline in 13 years as investors, buoyed by a recovering global economy, channel more money into riskier assets such as equities by pulling funds from safe-haven gold, reports Reuters.

02:49pm Oriental Bank of Commerce slips 2% Public sector lender has allotted 80,87,561 equity shares for cash at issue price of Rs 185.47 apiece to Government of India on preferential basis. The bank received Rs 150 crore through the same issue. As a result, the Government of India shareholding has increased from 58 percent to 59.13 percent. The stock is trading at Rs 210.50 apiece on the BSE.

02:39pm Info Edge talks to CNBC-TV18 Internet company Info Edge recently invested another Rs 10 crore in Meritnation.com, an online education and assessment service. With this round of funding Meritnation.com has received a total of Rs 71.5 crore from Info Edge for a 55.81 percent stake. Speaking to CNBC-TV18 about thae latest happenings in the company and the road ahead, MD & CEO Hitesh Oberoi said that more than Rs 60 crore has been invested in Meritnation.com and as of now it has no plans to make big investment in any other start-up.  Info Edge had invested Rs 30 crore in the company in February this year.

Info Edge also owns job portal naukri.com and has seen a slight improvement in naukri's performance in the last few months. Going ahead, he expects growth in naukri to improve marginally in the second half of this financial year. Meanwhile, its real estate portal 99acres.com, which contributes 15-17 percent to total revenues, has been consistently growing 50 percent in last two years. Shares of Info Edge have soared 50 percent in the last three months and 30 percent on year-to-date basis.

02:29pm Equity benchmarks are heading towards negative closing for the week weighed down by selling in banks and capital goods stocks. The Sensex fell 185.91 points or 0.89 percent to 20,739.70, and the Nifty lost 59.80 points or 0.96 percent to 6,177.25. Declining shares outnumbered advancing ones by a ratio of 1490 to 809 on the BSE. Shares of Jet Airways tumbled 8 percent to touch an intraday low of Rs 270.20 - the lowest level since March 2012. Competition Commission of India (CCI) will pass order to examine if Jet-Etihad deal violated section 43A of the competition Act, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting unnamed sources.

Prima facie it is a case of violation, say sources. Jitendra Bhargava, a former executive director with Air India, had requested the anti-trust tribunal to stay the Competition Commission of India (CCI) clearance to the Jet-Etihad deal. Elder Pharma (down 6.5 percent) is trading nearly 18 percent off day's high and Torrent Pharma (down 5 percent) nearly 12 percent off day's high after latter decided to buy former's branded formulation business for around Rs 2,000 crore. Elder Pharma has debt of Rs 1,300 crore on its books.

01:55pm Market Update The market continued to reel under selling pressure. The Sensex dipped 193.01 points or 0.92 percent to 20,732.60, and the Nifty fell 64.20 points or 1.03 percent to 6,172.85. About 734 shares have advanced, 1463 shares declined, and 155 shares are unchanged. Among midcaps, Den Networks , Gujarat Pipavav, Redington , Berger Paints and Schneider Electric rallied 2-4 percent whereas orrent Pharma, Torrent Power , Indiabulls Real , Jet Airways and Voltas lost 4-5 percent. In the smallcap space, Setco Auto, Somany Ceramics , Suven Life Sciences , Clariant Chemical and BF Utilities gained 5-7 percent while Sharda Motor, Maharaja ShreeUmaid, Global Capital Markets , Accelya Kale and Diamond Power fell 6-11 percent.

01:45pm Tata Motors tops buy list in the Sensex, up 2.5% Goldman Sachs advises buying Tata Motors for a target price of Rs 444, citing JLR's negative free cash flow concerns in FY15-16 is overdone. The stock fell more than 8 percent in two days after Jaguar Land Rover raised capex guidance to GBP 3.5-3.7 billion for FY15. The brokerage house says this correction is an opportunity to buy. According to the report, the management expects free cash flow of current financial year 2013-14 to be positive.

01:35pm KEC International on buyers' radar First engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract order from Brazil (American area) is the main highlight of the recent orders received said Ramesh Chandak, Managing Director, KEC International. America will continue to be targeted market for the company, he added. "Whole intention of entering the American market was to gradually build our EPC portfolio in that area. We are trying and we will start from the Latin America first before we come into the North American market and that is what we have targeted." KEC International has secured new orders totaling to Rs 756 crore in its transmission, water, power systems and cable businesses. These additional orders from new areas will also help the company maintain growth and order book portfolio, said Chandak. However, the company aims to focus both on Indian as well as international orders, and expects even the domestic order pipeline to improve going forward.

01:25pm Hindustan Zinc slips 3%, JSPL loses 2% Coal ministry may issue show cause notice to Hindustan Zinc, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting sources. It is learnt that the notice is related to Madanpur coal block. Sources also say JSPL may get show cause notice on Gare Palma coal block.

01:15pm Torrent Pharma , Elder Pharma in focus Torrent Pharma will acquire domestic branded formulation business of Elder Pharma for around Rs 2,000 crore, reports CNBC-TV18 Former will fund acquisition through internal accruals and bank borrowings. The deal is expected to close by June 2014. Elder Pharma, which has debt of Rs 1,300 crore, will make and supply products for the company for three years.

01:01pm The fall in rate sensitive stocks on fears of rate hike pushed the market down in trade today. The market is heading towards weak closing for the week. The Sensex lost 178.94 points or 0.86 percent at 20746.67, and the Nifty plunged 60.95 points or 0.98 percent at 6,176.10 in afternoon trade. Nearly two shares declined for every share advancing on the BSE. After a contraction in industrial output and rise in core inflation, experts firmly believe the rate hike looks inevitable next week. "We grow more confident of our call that the RBI will seal the switch of the money market to repo mode from marginal standing facility mode with a 25 basis points repo rate hike on 18 December," Bank of America Merrill Lynch in its report said. According to the report, the RBI will continue to walk the tightrope between fighting inflation and arresting the slowdown.

12:55pm Crude Update Brent crude held above USD 108 a barrel today as traders eyed a restart of ports in eastern Libya while also looking ahead to next week's Federal Reserve meeting for any changes to its massive stimulus programme. Upbeat economic data from the United States has heightened speculation the Fed might start trimming its bond purchases as early as next week, a move that could strengthen the greenback and weigh on demand for dollar-denominated commodities such as oil. But stronger data could also lead to higher fuel demand growth at the world's largest oil consumer.

12:50pm Kingfisher in focus According to sources, lenders of debt-laden aviation firm Kingfisher Airlines are considering whether to proceed with the auction of Kingfisher House in Mumbai, reports CNBC-TV18. This comes a day after the Karnataka High Court rejected a plea by the company restraining bankers from taking possession of the prime property, whose sale could fetch about Rs 90 crore. State-run lender State Bank of India , which is the lead banker in the consortium of Kingfisher lenders, recently initiated a procedure to take over the KFA House, under the Sarfaesi Act, which facilities recoveries for loans gone bad. Kingfisher has been in the news since last year for its troubles over a whopping Rs 7,000-crore debt burden. Failure to make payments over its dues led to the government cancelling its aviation license. There is no progress on the possession of KFA Villa in Goa after the Goa court recently directed the lenders' consortium to ''maintain status quo'', in effect disallowing any sale for now.

12:45pm Gold to remain rangebound Global gold prices are likely to remain rangebound going ahead with risks skewed on the downside, Suki Cooper, precious metals analyst, Barclays Capital said. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, those playing the yellow metal should keep an eye on the USD 1200/oz level. She further added that if gold prices breach this level then it would add lot of pressure on to it because below USD 1,2000 exchange-traded products and cost become loss making. Gold prices have remained weak globally due to absence of physical demand for the yellow metal across China and India, providing very little support during a period when there is seasonally strong demand and consumption, she said.

12:33pm Uncertainty over timing of Fed tapering and rate hike fears drove the market down today. The Sensex dropped 155.24 points or 0.74 percent to 20,770.37, and the Nifty slipped 51.85 points or 0.83 percent to 6,185.20. About 765 shares have advanced, 1307 shares declined, and 141 shares are unchanged. The market will probably drift down in the near term from hereon, before the New Year begins, says Harendra Kumar, Head-Institutional Broking and Global Economy, Elara Capital. He expects December to be a soft month for equities. In the run up to the elections, the market will rise again – with small corrections because fundamentals are not too strong, he says. By mid-2014, he expects Nifty to breach the 7,000 mark. BHEL , ICICI Bank , GAIL , Hindalco Industries , Bajaj Auto , Jaiprakash Associates , IndusInd Bank and Punjab National Bank plunged 2-4 percent. However, Coal India and Tata Motors are the top gainers, rising 2 percent each. Wipro and Bharti Airtel climbed over 1 percent. Most active shares on exchanges are Tata Motors, State Bank of India, MRF , ICICI Bank, Tata Steel , HCL Technologies , HDFC Bank and Coal India.

11:55am Coal India up 2% The board of directors of Coal India will consider special dividend on Monday, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting unnamed sources. Sources believe the five percent stake sale looks unlikely. The state-run coal mining company had paid a total dividend of Rs 14 per share in FY13, which was worth Rs 8,845 crore. Nearly Rs 95 crore worth of equity shares exchanged hands at an average price of Rs 285 apiece via three block deals.

11:52am IOC divestment Finance ministry will go ahead with IOC divestment in January 2014, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting oil ministry sources. It is learnt that bankers asked to fix IOC local roadshows on December 18 and 19. IOC divestment will take place despite oil ministry's protest, say sources. The stock fell 1.11 percent to Rs 200.70 apiece on the BSE.

11:42am KEC International surges 4% on order KEC International has received orders worth Rs 756 crore in transmission, water, power systems and cable businesses. Ramesh Chandak, MD says the company will bid for more contracts in EPC segment. "We continue to focus on both domestic and international markets. We expect domestic order pipeline to improve going forward," he told to CNBC-TV18.

11:32am Munjal of Hero talks to CNBC-TV18 Sunil Munjal, Joint MD, Hero MotoCorp said the upcoming tariff barrier in Europe, starting January, would be a big worry for the auto industry. ''There are early signs of growth in the US and some parts of Europe, thus any tariff barrier at this time would hurt the industry's prospects…however, we hope this won't be too much and won't hurt us too much,'' he said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.   He said the tepid export growth seen in November was an aberration, and it should pick up going forward. India's exports grew 5.9% in November, the slowest in 5 months. Munjal said high inflation and weak industrial output may force Reserve Bank of India to hike interest rates. This could affect the capital expenditure, which was showing early signs of revival, thus affecting the consumer spending. Munjal added that Hero Moto has shown resilient performance in a slowing market and is looking to increase exports to several emerging markets.

11:22am RBS view on inflation Despite the Consumer Price Index inching down a little, it is still not enough for the Reserve Bank to not hike repo rate by 25 basis points, says Sanjay Mathur, Head of Research & Strategy, Non-Japan Asia, RBS. He expects inflation print at the core level to fall to around 6.5 percent by late 2014. However, he says inflation will remain elevated till April.

11:12am Southward journey of the market continued for the fourth consecutive session today as the equity benchmarks fell 0.8 percent each on weakness in rate sensitive stocks. The Sensex tumbled 164.60 points to 20,761.01, and the Nifty plummeted 52.10 points to 61,84.95. Declining shares outnumbered advancing ones by a ratio of 1004 to 683 on the BSE. Shares of ICICI Bank (down 3 percent), HDFC, Larsen and Toubro, Reliance Industries, ITC, State Bank of India and BHEL (down 3.4 percent) are losers in the Sensex. However, the gainers are Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, Coal India, Wipro, Dr Reddy's Labs and Mahindra and Mahindra. Coal India climbed over 1 percent on a media report that the government has decided to shelve its plan to offload 5 percent stake in the company. This is after stiff opposition from trade unions on its stake sale plans.

10:55am Coal India buck the trend Coal India climbed over 1 percent on a media report that the government has decided to shelve its plan to offload 5 percent stake in the company. This is after stiff opposition from trade unions on its stake sale plans.

10:51am Movers and Shakers Private sector lender ICICI Bank and state-run capital goods major BHEL are top losers, falling 3 percent each. Other major largecaps like HDFC, Reliance Industries, Larsen and Toubro and State Bank of India declined 1-2 percent while TCS, ITC and HDFC Bank slipped over 0.4 percent. However, shares of Bharti Airtel, Wipro, Coal India, Dr Reddy's Labs and Tata Steel gained 0.5-1

10:41am Nomura experts 25 bps hike in repo rate next week Nomura says data (IIP and CPI) paints a stagflationary picture of the economy where despite weaker growth, inflation remain elevated due to supply-shocks. "To an extent, both the IIP and the CPI data are exaggerating the real picture," the report said. According to the report, the spike in CPI inflation due to higher vegetables prices should reverse from December as market prices have fallen sharply. "However, risk of spill-over from food to core CPI inflation, as well as the recent rise in other food prices such as milk, eggs and rice, suggests that CPI will remain elevated at above the RBI's stated projection (around 9 percent by March 2014) for a prolonged period of time. This is in line with our view that CPI inflation will remain above 9 percent through 2014," Nomura elaborated. After upside inflation surprise, Nomura now expects a 25 basis points repo rate hike to 8 percent at the December 18 policy meeting.

10:31am FII View Bhuvnesh Singh of Barclays says Indian equities look poised for a roller coaster ride in 2014 given fluctuating sentiment and modest fundamentals. Despite the possibility of the economy already bottoming out, the investment cycle may remain weak for another couple of years and earnings downgrades should continue, Singh adds. He maintains defensive stance expecting only modest equity returns from the current levels. Top picks for 2014 include Infosys , ITC, Lupin , NTPC , Power Grid, Tata Motors and Tata Steel, Singh says.

10:21am Tata Motors up 2.5% The stock surged 2.5 percent, bouncing back after three-day fall. Raising capex guidance for FY15 by Jaguar Land Rover caused selling pressure in the stock. Goldman Sachs advises buying Tata Motors for a target price of Rs 444, citing JLR's negative free cash flow concerns in FY15-16 is overdone. The stock fell more than 8 percent in two days. The brokerage house says this correction is an opportunity to buy. According to the report, the management expects free cash flow of current financial year 2013-14 to be positive.

10:11am Equity benchmarks continued to reel under pressure with the Sensex falling more than 100 points weighed down by banks, capital goods and FMCG stocks. The Sensex slipped 121.21 points to 20,804.40, and the Nifty fell 40.85 points to 6,196.20 while the broader markets outperformed benchmarks. BSE Midcap Index declined 0.2 percent and Smallcap is flat. Raamdeo Agarwal, Joint MD, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, believes the current down-move in stocks is a correction in the ongoing bull market. He believes the markets would perk up by the time of the general elections. ''If you look at 12-18 months out into the future, things look healthy for stock investing,'' he told CNBC-TV18 in an interview, while discussing the launch of the 18th Annual Motilal Oswal Wealth Creation Study.

09:55am Berger Paints up 4% Promoter UK Paints bought 3.5 lakh shares of Berger Paints at Rs 228.5 apiece. UK Paints' shareholding stood at 45.66 percent as of September 2013. 09:45am Bharti Airtel rebounds, rises 1.4% CLSA upgraded its rating on Bharti Airtel to outperform from underperform and also raised target price to Rs 375, offering 16 percent upside.

09:30am Market Expert The market will probably drift down in the near term from hereon, before the New Year begins, says Harendra Kumar, Head-Institutional Broking and Global Economy, Elara Capital. He expects December to be a soft month for equities. In the run up to the elections, the market will rise again – with small corrections because fundamentals are not too strong, he says. However, by mid-2014, he expects Nifty to breach the 7,000 mark.

09:15am The market fell further in early trade on last trading day of the week, tracking nervousness across the globe on worries of Fed tapering in the forthcoming FOMC meeting due next week. Rate hike fears too spooked market and currency today. The Sensex lost 154.80 points or 0.74 percent to 20,770.81, and the Nifty fell 51.55 points or 0.83 percent to 6,185.50. ICICI Bank is the biggest loser, falling 3 percent on rate hike fears followed by BHEL with a 2.4 percent loss. Index heavyweights Reliance Industries , ITC , HDFC and Larsen and Toubro slipped 1-1.5 percent. However, Tata Motors and Bharti Airtel gained 1.7 percent each, rebounding after three-day fall. IT and pharma stocks too gained on fall in rupee. It was a double whammy for the economy on Thursday evening - industrial production contracted by nearly 2 percent in October and retail inflation for November jumped to over 11 percent that dampened hopes of a turnaround in the economy.

According to Rohini Malkani of Citigroup, consumer price index at 11.2 percent exceeds RBI's baseline estimates. She expects the central bank to hike the repo rate by 25 basis points in its policy on December 18. She also expects the repo rate to stabilise at 8 percent until more clarity emerges on the monetary policy framework from the Urjit Patel committee report. "We do not expect much comfort from November WPI, pegging it close to 7.2 percent," Malkani adds.   The global mood is cautious. Asian markets are mixed on uncertainty over timing of scaling back fiscal stimulus by Federal Reserve. US markets slipped for the third session with the Dow closing down 100 points while European markets too feel the heat falling between 0.4-1 percent on Thursday.