Profit booking drags Sensex 80 points down; PNB plunges 4%

The 30-share BSE benchmark lost another 80 points amid volatility on Monday as profit booking continued for the second consecutive session after hitting a record high last week.

Experts feel the market may be volatile going ahead due to lack of trigger and may also see some correction as the September quarter earnings largely discounted by the market. The rally till a record high of 21321.53 had been led by inflow of foreign money, more or less better-than-expected earnings and no tapering from Federal Reserve.
 
Sandeep Shenoy of Anand Rathi Financial Services believes that the market is likely to see a time correction given the lack of major triggers. He expects fall of around 5 percent until third quarter earnings arrive.

" We are headed into a dead zone . So, our time correction has to happen and investors have to be prepared for that and that is just a part of the cycle," he added.

The Sensex was down 79.85 points to close at 20894.94, and the Nifty fell 38 points to 6215.15, but BSE Smallcap outperformed benchmarks with 0.8 percent upmove. Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by 1302 to 1135 on the BSE.

Financials, metals, oil & gas, capital goods and cement stocks saw selling pressure while technology, power, healthcare stocks gained.

Punjab National Bank and State Bank of India are the biggest losers in the Nifty, falling between 3.5-4 percent followed by Ambuja Cements, Bank of Baroda and DLF with 3 percent loss.

Major largecaps like Reliance Industries, HDFC, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank declined 1-2 percent.

State-run BHEL lost over 1 percent after its second quarter net profit fell 64.2 percent year-on-year to Rs 456 crore on lower revenues, supported largely by higher other income.

Among other earnings, Voltas fell 2 percent while ABB (up 2.5 percent), GlaxoSmithKline Consumer (up 2.5 percent), Sona Koyo (up 11 percent) and SJVN (up 3.5 percent) saw buying interest.

NTPC topped the buying list with 3.6 percent gains followed by TCS with 2.4 percent upmove.

3:50 pm Results: Voltas' second quarter (July-September) consolidated net profit fell marginally to Rs 42.3 crore from Rs 42.9 crore in a year-ago period on lower revenues, supported by other income.

Consolidated total income from operations slipped 7 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,080.5 crore in three-month period ended September 2013 from Rs 1,164.5 crore in corresponding quarter of last fiscal, impacted by electro-mechanical projects division.

3:40 pm Market closing: After a volatile session, the market ended on a lower note. The Sensex was down 79.85 points to end at 20894.94. The Nifty closed at 6215.15, down 38.00 points. About 1296 shares have advanced, 1140 shares declined, and 144 shares are unchanged.

NTPC gained 3.5 percent, TCS was up 2 percent while Sun Pharma , Infosys and Cipla rallied around 1-2 percent each.

SBI was the top loser in the Sensex with a fall of 3.4 percent. Sesa Strelite, Jindal Steel , Hindalco and HDFC were other laggards in the Sensex.

3:30 pm Market outlook: Deven Choksey, MD of KR Choksey Shares and Securities finds valuations of midcap stocks attractive at current level. Also, prospects of infrastructure, capital goods stocks are looking better, he tells CNBC-TV18. He further added that buying from foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained muted in October as well.

Meanwhile, he recommends staying away from ITC , but is bullish on Adani Ports.

3:20 pm Update: India-born former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta has asked a US appeals court to overturn a court's ruling that he pay a hefty USD 13.9 million fine in the insider trading case and sought reversing a life ban on him from serving as director of a public company, reports PTI.

In a brief filed in the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Monday, Gupta's lawyers argued that the district court "abused" its discretion in imposing the statutory maximum civil penalty on Gupta of USD 13.9 million, which is triple the benefit hedge-fund manager Raj Rajaratnam had obtained from the tips Gupta allegedly passed on to him.

It has been a very unsteady market as it succumbed to profit booking pressure. The Sensex is down 72.31 points at 20902.48, and the Nifty is down 28.85 points at 6224.30. About 1295 shares have advanced, 1060 shares declined, and 131 shares are unchanged.

Technology and power stocks are still holding up the indices.  NTPC is up 4 percent, TCS gains 3 percent, followed by Sun Pharma, Infosys and Tata Power are in the gainers list.

Banking stocks are losing strength once again with HDFC, SBI as major losers. Other laggards are Sesa Sterlite, Hindalco and Jindal Steel. 

State-run capital goods company BHEL 's second quarter (July-September) net profit fell 64.2 percent year-on-year to Rs 456 crore on lower revenues, supported largely by higher other income. Net sales declined 15.2 percent to Rs 8,819 crore in three-month period ended September 2013 from Rs 10,399.62 crore in a year ago period, dented by fall in power as well as industry revenues.

2:59pm SJVN up 5%
SJVN's second quarter net profit surged 7.4 percent year-on-year to Rs 415.6 crore and total income increased 4.5 percent Y-o-Y to Rs 634 crore.

2:50pm Sona Koyo Steering surges 10% post earnings

Sona Koyo Steering Systems' second quarter consolidated net profit grew 80 percent year-on-year to Rs 12.6 crore and net sales rose 17 percent Y-o-Y to Rs 384 crore.

2:40pm Market Update
The market is weak amid volatility with the Sensex falling 63.49 points to 20911.30, and the Nifty losing 28.50 points to 6224.65.

Sesa Sterlite extended losses, slipping more than 3 percent followed by HDFC, Reliance Industries , HDFC Bank , ICICI Bank , State Bank of India and Bharti Airtel with 1-2 percent loss.

However, NTPC gained more than 2 percent while Sun Pharma and TCS rose over 1.5 percent.

2:20pm BHEL slips 1% post Q2 numbers

State-run capital goods company BHEL's second quarter (July-September) net profit fell 64.2 percent year-on-year to Rs 456 crore on lower revenues, supported largely by higher other income.

Net sales declined 15.2 percent to Rs 8,819 crore in three-month period ended September 2013 from Rs 10,399.62 crore in a year ago period, dented by fall in power as well as industry revenues.

2:00 pm Results poll: Thermax will announce its second quarter (July-September) results today. Analysts on an average expect revenues to be impacted by lower order backlog, according to a CNBC-TV18 poll. Low base effect (EPC revenues were higher in a year ago period) will drive margin expansion and restrict earnings decline in the quarter gone by, feel analysts.

Profit after tax is expected to decline 15.8 percent year-on-year to Rs 76.7 crore and total income may fall 3.8 percent Y-o-Y to Rs 1,136 crore in the quarter gone by.

1:50 pm Results: BHEL has posted a net profit of Rs 456 crore in the quarter ended September compared to Rs 1274 crore in year-ago period. During the period, its sales fell to Rs 8819 crore from Rs 10,399 crore year-on-year. Its outstanding orderbook position stood at Rs 1.02 lakh crore as on September 30.

1:40 pm Conern: Gold struggled to shake off its longest losing streak in nearly six months as doubts persisted over when the US Federal Reserve would begin scaling back its stimulus measures, reports Reuters.

The metal has lost about 3 percent since October 28, logging its longest losing run since mid-May, when it dropped 8 percent in seven days. Analysts believe gold could break below the USD 1,300 per ounce mark ahead of the US nonfarm payrolls report on Friday.

1:30 pm Update: Government say the finance ministry wants more time to take a call on the CCEA note for the Hindustan Zinc stake sale. Sources say the finance ministry has told the mines ministry that there are legal and constitutional hurdles in the Hindustan Zinc stake sale and complexities need to be addressed.

The market is choppy with negative bias. The Sensex is down 39.52 points at 20935.27. The Nifty is struggling below 6250, down 18.30 points at 6234.85. About 1210 shares have advanced, 1045 shares declined, and 129 shares are unchanged.

NTPC, TCS, Sun Pharma, Infosys and Coal India are big gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Sesa Sterlite, HDFC, Hindalco , SBI and Jindal Steel .

ABB India jumps over 5 percent as its third quarter (July-September) net profit grew 78 percent year-on-year to Rs 38 crore despite higher finance cost and tax expenses. Total income declined marginally to Rs 1,786 crore in three-month period ended September 2013 from Rs 1,808.6 crore in corresponding quarter of last fiscal.

Meanwhile, banking secretary Rajiv Takru tells CNBC-TV18 that they are finalising the QIP plan for State Bank of India. The government is on board for a QIP in proportion to the last three equity infusion. SBI is likely to raise close to Rs 9000 crore via a QIP.

The telecom commission met today to finalise spectrum reserve price and merger and acquisition norms for the telecom sector. Telecom commission sources tell CNBC-TV18 that they have finalised spectrum reserve price and will auction 800 mhz spectrum.

12:55pm Bajaj Auto slips over 1% post October sales

Automotive major Bajaj Auto 's October sales declined to 3.84 lakh units versus 4.11 lakh units year-on-year (YoY). The three-wheeler sales of the company declined 26 percent to 37,000. Rajiv Bajaj, its managing director, however, says that the sales have been in line with the averages. The run rate for the segment is at 40,000 units per month and high sales in October 2012 were an outlier, tells CNBC-TV18.

In the two-wheeler segment, Bajaj expects to regain some of the lost market share. Sales of Boxer have been good, backed by strong export demand, he says. The company will try to push production of its Discover brands in the coming two months as their success will help in regaining their market share, he adds. He expects margins to be maintained at 20 percent and sees a turnaround in the company's performance by the end of the financial year with new launches in the pipeline.

Bajaj is also optimistic on better exports going forward. Nigeria has been the best performing export market so far, he says.

12:46pm Kohinoor Foods on fire

Rice stocks were active in trade on Wednesday on reports that decline in paddy production in eastern states and Andhra Pradesh has triggered speculation of a lower rice output this year, stoking a 10-30 percent spike in prices.

Kohinoor Foods surged 7.5 percent while LT Foods and KRBL gained 3-5 percent.

Gurnam Arora, Joint MD, Kohinoor Foods told CNBC-TV18 that prices of basmati rice has surged due to high paddy costs. This is cause of concern for the company because it may not be able pass high price to key export markets like Iran, he said.

"For basmati, the opening prices this year compared to last year are about 50 percent to 70 percent higher, this worrying because the industry was expecting about 15-20 percent higher crop this year because of good monsoon," he added.

12:32pm Market Update
The market is trading lower amid volatility, weighed down by oil & gas and financials. The Sensex is down 91.41 points at 20883.38, and the Nifty is down 32.45 points at 6220.70.

Sesa Sterlite is the biggest loser among largecaps, falling nearly 3 percent followed by HDFC, Reliance Industries , HDFC Bank , State Bank of India , Bharti Airtel and Tata Motors with 1-2 percent loss.

However, NTPC is the gainer in the Sensex, soaring over 2 percent. TCS remained in bull grip from early trade with 1.7 percent gains.

12:21pm ABB up 10%
ABB's third quarter (July-September) net profit grew 66.4 percent year-on-year to Rs 35.6 crore despite higher finance cost and tax expenses.

"Focussed initiatives in streamlining operations, optimising costs and increasing localisation are yielding sustainable improvements. Savings from these initiatives have helped balance the adverse impact of continuing price erosion and weak market condition," the company said in its release.

12:11pm The market is directionless in noon trade due to lack of trigger. The Sensex is down 46.70 points at 20928.09, and the Nifty is down 20.75 points at 6232.40.

According to Prabodh Agarwal, president and head of research (institutional equities) at IIFL, so far while the market has been driven through liquidity, going forward, the fundamentals have to catch-up; both the economic outlook as well as the earnings outlook has to improve for the market to sustain the rally.

He believes the outlook on the earnings is definitely changing at the margin. "The latest result season has been much better than expected. Almost 80 percent of the companies that have reported so far and they have reported either above or inline with the expectations," Agarwal explained.

Technology, healthcare and power stocks are on buyers' radar while financials, oil & gas and metals stocks are under pressure.

12:00 pm Results poll: Commercial vehicle maker Ashok Leyland will declare its second quarter (July-September) results today.

According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, analysts on an average expect the company to continue posting losses in September quarter on margin pressure and higher interest burden. In June quarter, it had posted its largest quarterly loss of Rs 142 crore since Q3FY02 due to weak sales, high interest costs and high discounts.

11:50 am Interview: Automotive major Bajaj Auto 's October sales declined to 3.84 lakh units versus 4.11 lakh units year-on-year (YoY). The three-wheeler sales of the company declined 26 percent to 37,000. Rajiv Bajaj, its managing director, however, says that the sales have been in line with the averages . The run rate for the segment is at 40,000 units per month and high sales in October 2012 were an outlier, tells CNBC-TV18.

In the two-wheeler segment, Bajaj expects to regain some of the lost market share. Sales of Boxer have been good, backed by strong export demand, he says. The company will try to push production of its Discover brands in the coming two months as their success will help in regaining their market share, he adds.

11:40 am Market outlook: Sangeeta Purushottam, Cogito Advisors does not think it is a runaway bull market. She advises investors to look at the beaten down cyclicals and be ready to hold them for 2-3 years.

According to her, there may still be some value left in pharma and IT stocks. Though FMCG is priced to perfection and is starting to show signs of stress, she says.

She feels investors can perhaps take a 5 percent exposure to infrastructure stocks in their overall portfolio across the entire gamut of these stocks. "These companies have stayed through very difficult last five years, so they have managed to live through the entire business stress," Purushottam explains.

11:30 am Buzzer: Shares of rice companies are gaining on reports of price hike. Kohinoor Foods was up 10 percent, KRBL gained 9 percent while LT Foods surged 10 percent in intraday trade on Wednesday. Reports suggest that a decline in paddy production in eastern states and Andhra Pradesh has triggered speculation of a lower rice output this year. This may increase rice prices by 10-30 percent.

The market is extremely flat. The Sensex is up 40.25 points at 21015.04, and the Nifty up 4.90 points at 6258.05. About 1048 shares have advanced, 628 shares declined, and 93 shares are unchanged.

Technology and pharma stocks are holding up the indices with big gainers as Sun Pharma , TCS and Wipro . Sesa Sterlite, Bajaj Auto, Hindalco , HDFC and HUL .

Asian markets are cautious as investors await further cues from global central banks. Nymex crude is hovering near 5-month lows and Brent is at levels of USD 105 per barrel.

Government bond prices fall tracking the sharp rise in us treasury yields. Heavy supply of bonds in this week also weighed on prices.

10:59am Market Update
The market remained directionless as the Sensex is up 39.64 points at 21014.43, and the Nifty is up 5.15 points at 6258.30.

Technology, power and auto stocks are seeing buying interest while financials, oil & gas and metals stocks are under pressure.

10:55am Crude Update
Brent futures rose towards USD 106 a barrel on Wednesday after investors in Asia latched on to a fall in US oil product inventories, which revived hopes of an improvement in US demand and helped crude recover from a steep fall overnight.

The benchmark also drew support from worries that a prolonged outage in Libya could tighten an already delicate global supply-demand balance at a time of peak winter season demand for heating fuels, reports Reuters.

Brent crude gained 62 cents to USD 105.95 a barrel by 0321 GMT, after settling 90 cents lower at a four-month low. US oil rose 51 cents to USD 93.88, after ending USD 1.25 down to the lowest in five months.

10:46am Cognizant Boardroom
Despite Cognizant beating street estimates and increasing their revenue guidance for full year by 1.3 percent, group chief executive - Tech & Ops R Chandrasekaran, expects slowdown in the retail segment due to seasonality in Q4. The company does not see any increase in budget flush in Q4 which may affect the growth of its retail segment, he adds. However, it expects a slight uptick in budget in 2014.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18 post Q3 results , Chandrasekaran also mentions that retail segment slows down in Q4 due to holiday season that tends to affect the Q4 growth.

10:32am Midcaps and smallcaps
Among midcaps, Torrent Power surged 13.52 percent followed by Eros International, Jindal Saw, Sadbhav Engineering and Muthoot Finance with 5-8 percent gains.

However, Era Infra Engineering, AIA Engineering, IRB Infra, Jubilant Foodworks and State Bank of Travancore lost 2-5 percent.

In the smallcap space, Uttam Galva, Pratibha Industries, Texmaco Rail, Ceat and Peninsula Land rallied 7-8 percent while Asian Hotels, BF Utilities, Indian Hume, Marathon Realty and V-Mart Retail slipped 4-9 percent.

10:19am Market Expert
Sandeep Shenoy of Anand Rathi Financial Services believes that the market is likely to see a time correction given the lack of major triggers. He expects fall of around 5 percent until third quarter earnings arrive.

"We are headed into a dead zone. So, our time correction has to happen and investors have to be prepared for that and that is just a part of the cycle," he added.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, he said that the recent movement seen in midcaps is sporadic buying by small investors.

10:09am The market remained choppy in trade with the Sensex gyrating around 21000 level, but the broader markets outperformed benchmarks. BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 0.8 percent each.

The Sensex is up 24.58 points at 20999.37, and the Nifty is up 1.55 points at 6254.70. Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by 868 to 343 on the BSE.

BHEL, Ashok Leyland and Voltas are down between 0.5-2.5 percent ahead of second quarter earnings while ABB gained nearly 3 percent.

According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, analysts feel state-controlled capital goods major BHEL may report weak order inflow during Q2FY14 despite a low base of Rs 3,200 crore in a year ago period. Profit after tax of the company may fall 37.4 percent year-on-year to Rs 798 crore and net sales is likely to decline 17.9 percent Y-o-Y to Rs 8,669 crore in three-month period ended September 2013.

Ashok Leyland is likely to report loss of Rs 112 crore for the quarter ended September 2013 as against profit of Rs 142.6 crore in a year ago period while Voltas' Q2 profit may fall 22.9 percent Y-o-Y to Rs 33 crore.

TCS gained nearly 2 percent as US-based Zions Bancorporation has chosen TCS BaNCS for its core banking transformation program to achieve standardisation, centralisation and straight through processing across the enterprise.

10:00 am Buzzer: Bajaj Auto 's sales in October was below estimates. The two-wheeler company sold 3.85 lakh units in October compared to 4.11 lakh units in the year-ago period. Last month, it sold 3.67 lakh units. During the period, its motorcycle sales was at 3.48 lakh units while it exported 1.38 lakh units. 

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Rajeev Bajaj, MD of the company said that Nigeria has been the best performing export market. Bajaj is confident to see recovery in domestic market share by January 2014.

The stock is quoting at Rs 2,050.85, down Rs 45.10, or 2.15 percent on the BSE.

9:50 am Update: Commodity market regulator FMC removed an additional 5 percent margin on the future contracts of gold and silver due to less volatility in prices of these commodities.

The additional margin has also been abolished from crude oil, brent crude oil, natural gas, aluminium, copper, lead, nickel and zinc traded on the six national commodity exchanges till further orders.

The removal of margins on these commodities will be effective from November 7, FMC said.

9:40 am Results poll: State-controlled capital goods major BHEL will annnounce its second quarter (July-September) results today. According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, analysts feel the company may report weak order inflow during Q2FY14 despite a low base of Rs 3,200 crore in a year ago period.

According to them, company's topline will also falter on weak execution and increasing proportion of slow moving orders while low margin orders will keep margins under pressure during September quarter.

Profit after tax of the company may fall 37.4 percent year-on-year to Rs 798 crore and net sales is likely to decline 17.9 percent Y-o-Y to Rs 8,669 crore in three-month period ended September 2013.

9:30 am Alert: State Bank of India ( SBI ) raised base rates by about 20 basis points. The 10 percent base rate will be effective from November 7. Its management attributes the higher cost of funds as the reasons for the same. Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman of the bank says that though the costs of funds are off the peak, they are still at higher levels. It is in line with the market rates but is still lower than the sector and no further hike is seen in the near future, she adds.

Currently, depositors expect better returns due to rising inflation and the move is aimed to get more of them on board, Bhattacharya tells CNBC-TV18.

The market has opened marginally higher. The Sensex is up 25.41 points at 21000.20, and the Nifty up 7.40 points at 6260.55. About 244 shares have advanced, 85 shares declined, and 7 shares are unchanged.

Technology stocks are gaining today on the back of peer Cognizant's better-than-expected September quarter results. The company reported Q3 revenues at USD 2.31 billion, a growth of 6.7 percent sequentially and 21.9 percent compared to the same quarter last year.

TCS , Wipro and Infosys are up around 1-2 percent. Cipla and Reliance are other gainers in the Sensex.

On the losing side are Bajaj Auto, HUL , Sun Pharma , HDFC and BHEL.

Indian rupee weakened by 38 paise in early trade on Wednesday. It has opened at 61.99 per dollar as against previous day's closing 61.61 per dollar. The US dollar maintained a bid tone early in Asian trade after upbeat US economic data kept alive some expectations that Federal Reserve might scale back stimulus as soon as next month.

According to NS Venkatesh of IDBI Bank , currency markets will take cues from stock market movements. "Although we are witnessing some dollar inflows from exporters and custodian banks, rupee will see a weakening bias. Earlier than expected close of the RBI swap window could have an impact on dollar rupee movement in the medium term," he adds.

"The range for the day is seen between 61.50-61.90/USD," Venkatesh says.

In the US, markets slipped with Wall Street pausing after a two-session rise, as data showing the US services industry expanded more-than-expected in October offset softer economic headlines from Europe. The CBOE volatility index though held steady just above 13.

In Asia, investors digested minutes from the Bank of Japan's meeting earlier this month. The yen weakened to 98.55 per dollar in early trade, which helped to underpin gains. It has been three weeks since the currency last touched regain the key 99 level.

In commodities, Nymex prices hit a fresh four-month low pressured by forecasts for rising supplies and continued weak demand as Gulf Coast refineries were expected to remain offline at least through the end of this week.

From precious metals space, gold struggled to shake off its longest losing streak in nearly six months as doubts persisted over when the US central bank would begin scaling back its stimulus measures.