Sensex closes 166 points lower, Nifty holds 9,600; Midcap falls too

3:30 pm Market Closing: Equity benchmarks closed lower after seeing consolidation in previous week. The Nifty managed to hold 9600 level.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 166.36 points at 31,095.70 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 51.85 points to 9,616.40.

The broader markets, too, lost half a percent on weak breadth. About 1,694 shares declined against 1,019 advancing shares on the BSE.

2:38 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks extended losses in afternoon, with the Nifty breaking 9600 level, dragged by infrastructure, banks and auto stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 198.49 points at 31,063.57 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 66.25 points to 9,602. About two shares declined for every share rising on the BSE.

L&T, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, SBI and Maruti Suzuki were down 1-3 percent.

2:25 pm Fuel demand: India's fuel demand rose 5.4 percent in May, compared with the same period last year.

Consumption of fuel, a proxy for oil demand, totalled 17.79 million tonnes, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry showed.

Sales of gasoline, or petrol, were 15.3 percent higher from a year earlier at 2.40 million tonnes.

Cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sales increased 11.6 percent to 1.78 million tonnes, while naphtha sales fell 1.2 percent to 1.07 million tonnes.

Sales of bitumen, used for making roads, were 6.9 percent lower, while fuel oil use edged down 2 percent in May.

2:05 pm Market Check: Benchmark indices extended their losses from the morning session, with the Sensex declining over 200 points, while the Nifty threatening to breach 9600-mark.

The Sensex was down 202.02 points at 31060.04, while the Nifty was down 64.15 points at 9604.10. The market breadth was negative as 999 shares advanced against a decline of 1,574 shares, while 147 shares were unchanged.

Larsen & Toubro, Wipro and Bank of Baroda were the top losers, while Sun Pharma, Infosys and Tech Mahindra gained the most.

Midcaps, PSU banks, infrastructure stocks continued their fall, while the pharma and IT were the only gainers.

1:50 pm Jaitley and banks: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today took stock of the finances of public sector banks as also the resolution of bad loans or NPAs, with heads of the lenders.

Besides NPA resolution and bank finances, the meeting also featured the government's financial inclusion schemes.

RBI, Jaitley said, is in an advanced state of preparing a list of bad loans where resolution is required under the insolvency and bankruptcy rule. Also, the government is actively working on consolidation of state-owned banks.

1:35 pm GST Impact: The goods and services tax (GST) Council in its 16th meeting held yesterday has slashed GST rate for jewellery making charges from 18 percent to 5 percent.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Sanjeev Bhatia, CFO of PC Jeweller explains the impact.

''This is not going to cause any impact on our profit and loss (P&L),'' he said.

1:15 pm Credit Suisse on PV industry: Credit Suisse expects good passenger vehicle industry growth in current financial year as well as next year.

"Passenger vehicle industry growth is gradually improving, and we expect traction to build further in FY18/19 with likely volume growth of around 15 percent," the brokerage house said.

Maruti Suzuki is the biggest passenger vehicle manufacturer while passenger vehicle sales contribution to total sales for Tata Motors stood at nearly 30 percent in previous financial year.

Credit Suisse expects the market to move towards four main segments: compact small utility vehicles (shift from compact sedans); premium hatchbacks (upgrade buyers); proper SUVs (will take further share from sedans); and entry hatchbacks (will drive penetration).

According to the research house, Tata Motors could emerge as a dark horse with new launches as well as alliances while it believes that the main challenges for Maruti will come from Hyundai (strong product portfolio) and Renault-Nissan (has found a platform to milk).

In the recent past, Tata Motors launched Tiago, Tigor and Hexa while Maruti Suzuki's launches were Vitara Brezza, S-Cross, Baleno, Ciaz etc.

12:50 pm FM to meet PSU banks' heads: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will discuss the issue of non-performing assets (NPAs) with PSU banks' head today.

Besides, the minister will review the financial performance of all the Public Sector Banks (PSBs) at the meeting, the first between Jaitley and them in the current fiscal.

12.39 pm Market Check: Benchmark indices continued to fall in afternoon trade following correction in global peers.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 148.82 points at 31,113.24 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 45.60 points to 9,622.65.

The market breadth continued to be week as about 1,438 shares declined against 1,024 advancing shares on the BSE.

Sun Pharma was the biggest gainers among Sensex stocks, up more than 2 percent followed by Infosys, M&M, GAIL, Lupin and Tata Steel.

11:55 am Banks stocks weak: Banks shares prices continued to be under pressure after Maharashtra government on Sunday decided to waive off farms loans of small and marginal farmers.

PSU Bank index slipped over a percent as Kotak in its latest report said Maharashtra has nearly Rs 4.2 lakh crore agriculture loans (23 percent of total loans) and Rs 1.2 lakh crore farm loans (7 percent of loans) with PSU banks holding nearly 52 percent of total farm loans, followed by co-operative banks (32 percent) and private banks (12 percent). Nifty Bank index also lost half a percent.

Among stocks, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, PNB, Federal Bank, ICICI Bank, OBC, SBI and Union Bank were down 0.5-2 percent.

"Frequent occurrence of such populist actions leads to risks of impaired credit discipline and weak risk-reward for banks and reduced credit availability for borrowers. Public banks face greater impact than private banks," Kotak said.

11.22 am Market Check: Benchmark indices continued to reel under pressure on correction in global peers. The selling in technology, infrastructure, FMCG and select banks stocks weighed.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 117.54 points at 31,144.52 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 37.50 points to 9,630.75. About 1,277 shares declined against 1,030 advancing shares on the BSE.

11:00 am Cadila at 1-year high: Shares of Cadila Healthcare touched 52-week high of Rs 555.55, rose nearly 3 percent intraday on the back of final approval from USFDA to market Nystatin Topical Powder USP, 100000 units per gram.

Cadila Healthcare's US division Zydus Pharmaceuticals' subsidiary Neshar Pharmaceuticals has received final approval from the USFDA to market Nystatin Topical Powder USP, 100000 units per gram.

The drug will be produced at the Neshar Pharmaceuticals' manufacturing facility located at the St. Louis, MO, USA.

Nystatin Topical Powder is an antifungal antibiotic used to treat skin infections caused by yeast.

10:44 am Buzzing: Jewellery stocks rallied 3-5 percent intraday after the GST Council on Sunday decided to reduce GST rates for jewellery making charges to 5 percent from 18 percent earlier.

PC Jeweller and Titan Company gained as much as 3 percent while Gitanjali Gems and Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri climbed nearly 5 percent.

In the last meeting on June 3, the GST Council had fixed GST rate at 3 percent on gold jewellery under the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

The council on Sunday reduced tax rates on 66 items including ketchup, instant food mixes, pickles, tractor components, computer printers and insulin as the Centre and the states sought to iron out rough edges ahead of GST's roll out from July 1.

10:27 am Market Outlook: V K Sharma, Head - Private Client Group at HDFC Securities said the the risk on trade appears to have begun again in the US with the ex-FBI Chief James Comey's testimony to the Senate Committee passing off without any significant revelation.

Secondly, the House of Representatives passed a bill to roll back the Dodd-Frank law. The markets have taken the outcome of the UK elections in its stride, he added.

In the coming week, he expects the US Fed to hike rates on January 14 by 0.25 percent. This is already discounted in the US and Indian markets as well. Markets could gather scheme after the meeting, he feels.

The IIP, which is likely to come a tad higher this week may not impact the markets much, according to him.

VK Sharma said the Nifty has narrow range of 9600-9710. He expects Nifty to see a break out on the higher side amidst concerns that the valuations may be stretched.

10.08 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks extended losses in morning trade, weighed by technology, banking & financial, FMCG and select auto stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 157.17 points at 31,104.89 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 49.55 points to 9,618.70.

The broader markets were also under pressure, falling over 0.3 percent on weak breadth. About 1175 shares declined against 831 advancing shares on the BSE.

Wipro, Adani Ports, L&T, TCS, SBI, Bank of Baroda and Tata Motors (DVR) were top losers while Sun Pharma, M&M, GAIL, Tata Steel, ONGC, Vedanta and Aurobindo Pharma were gainers.

9:45 am Buzzing: Shares of Amtek Auto slipped over 2 percent in the early trade as it has reported loss in the quarter ended March 2017 (Q4FY17).

The company has posted a net loss of Rs 307.57 crore in March quarter against loss of Rs 563 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

The company had registered a loss of Rs 241.56 crore in the quarter ended December 2016.

Revenue of the company was down 32 percent at Rs 442 crore versus Rs 648 crore, while the finance cost stood at Rs 333 crore.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was down 23 percent at Rs 83 crore and EBITDA margin was at 18.8 percent.

9:30 am FII View: Abhay Laijawala of Deutsche Bank says he believes the trend in public investments will get complemented with a gradual pick up in private sector capex.

Management commentary in the latest quarterly earnings reports shows early signs of revival in select steel, cement, defence and urban infrastructure companies, he believes.

He expects a conducive regulatory environment, low interest costs and supportive financial market conditions to catalyse the long elusive recovery in private sector capex cycle over next two years.

9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks started off the week on a negative note Monday, with the Sensex falling more than 100 points, dragged by weak global cues. Technology, FMCG and banking & financial stocks were under pressure.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 113.90 points at 31,148.16 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 36.75 points to 9,631.50.

TCS, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Infosys and L&T were leading contributors to Sensex' fall while Mahindra & Mahindra gained a percent.

The Indian rupee slipped 6 paise in opening trade, to 64.30 per dollar from Friday's close of 64.24.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity said weakness in gold and crude prices will help rupee to breach hurdle of 64.20/dollar. Trading range for the spot USD-INR pair will be 64 to 64.50, he feels.

Asian shares traded in negative territory as markets turned cautious, following the hung parliament result from the UK election last Friday and as markets await the results of the first round of France's parliamentary elections. The Nikkei 225 was down by 0.63 percent and South Korea's benchmark Kospi index fell 0.97 percent.