Sensex dives; ACC, Ambuja dip ahead of cartelization report

The BSE Sensex has retained its loss of more than 100 points since early trade due to fall in heavyweights Reliance, ICICI Bank, L&T and SBI. Cement stocks were under pressure as the Competition Commission of India (CCI) report on cement cartelization is likely today or tomorrow. ACC was down over 2% and Ambuja Cements fell 3%. India Cements tanked 4%. Shree Cements, UltraTech Cement and JK Lakshmi Cement were down 1-2%.

The BSE benchmark was down 128 points to 17,116.22 led by 27 components. Meanwhile, the NSE benchmark slipped 41.45 points to 5,202.15.

India's most valued stock Reliance Industries fell 1.3%. Private sector lenders ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank were down 0.7-1.2% while rival State Bank of India declined 0.7%.

Cigarette major ITC dropped nearly 1% on profit booking. Bharti Airtel, country's largest telecom operator lost 1%.

Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys, top software services exporters were down 1% and 0.4%, respectively.

In the second line shares, aviation stocks continued to trade sharply higher on hopes of clearance for foreign direct investment (FDI) in the sector soon. Government sources indicated that draft cabinet note on 49% FDI for foreign air carriers is ready and cabinet note will be put up for cabinet approval shortly. Sources also say finance ministry supported 49% FDI by foreign airlines. Jet Airways gained nearly 5% and SpiceJet rose 4%.

Kingfisher Airlines rallied over 8% after The Hindu Business Line reported that billionaire Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries is close to buying stake in the company and may also get UB Group's 30.44% stake in Mangalore Chemicals as part of the deal. Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilisers rose 3.4% amid heavy volume.

CRISIL, Zydus Wellness, Strides Arcolab and S Mobility were up 4-5% while Cox & Kings, IRB Infrastructure, Jindal Saw and Gujarat State Petronet lost 3-4%.

Declining shares outnumbered advancing by 782 to 538 on the National Stock Exchange.

Most active shares

Indraprastha Gas (up 2%) with 16 lakh shares, HDFC with 5 lakh shares, Kingfisher Airlines with 1.1 crore shares and Godrej Consumer with 4.5 lakh shares on the BSE.

At 10:18 hours IST: Nifty holds 5200 amid pressure; RIL, TCS, Bharti down 1%

The BSE Sensex stayed lower by more than 100 points due to fall in banks, oil & gas, metals, banks, capital goods and FMCG stocks. Infosys was quite volatile ahead of its earnings that schedule to be announced on Friday while its rivals TCS and Wipro fell 0.5-1%. Suresh Mahadevan of UBS Securities is neutral on largecap IT stocks namely Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services.

Mahadevan feels currency depreciation and improved US economy may help these companies, but he is not too positive on fourth quarter earnings. He believes that company may start picking up growth in the next quarter onwards.

The BSE benchmark was down 0.76% or 130.32 points to 17,113.52. Meanwhile, the NSE benchmark fell 40 points to 5,203.40, which managed to hold the 5200 level.

Metals stocks were under pressure after sharp fall in LME copper yesterday. Copper futures on London Metal Exchange dropped close to 4% yesterday, which gained 0.5% today. Shanghai copper too fell to three-month lows, losing over 2% today due to likely slowdown in demand from China. Shares of Jindal Steel, Tata Steel, Sterlite Industries, Sesa Goa and SAIL plummeted 1-3%.

India's most valued stock Reliance Industries slipped over 1.3% while state-owned oil & gas producer ONGC was down 0.7%.

Country's largest lender State Bank of India dropped over 1% while rivals ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank too declined over 1%.

Defensive stocks: FMCG major HUL and cigarette major ITC declined nearly 1% on profit booking after seeing sharp rally yesterday.

Capital goods majors Bharat Heavy Electricals and Larsen & Toubro went down 1% each.

However, Tata Motors, top commercial vehicle maker and M&M, utility vehicle manufacturer outperformed other largecaps, rising over 0.5%. Drug maker Cipla too gained 0.5%.

The market breadth was moderately lower; about 800 shares advanced while 1038 shares declined on the BSE.

At 9:19 hours IST: Sensex slips 150 pts; KFA, SpiceJet, Jet Air rally 5%

The BSE Sensex resumed downward journey again on Wednesday after taking a rest yesterday. The index opened with nearly 150 points gap down due to concerns in peripheral EU and modest US data, but it showed somewhat recovery. Asian markets like Hang Seng and Nikkei dropped over 1% while Straits Times was down 0.9% and Shanghai declined 0.3%. The US equity markets had fallen over 1.5% yesterday.

Back home, the BSE benchmark was down 122 points to 17,121.52 and the NSE benchmark slipped 40 points to 5,203.85.

Among frontliners, Sesa Goa, Sterlite, Tata Steel, JSPL, SAIL, Hindalco, BHEL, Reliance Infrastructure, JP Associates, Coal India, IDFC, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank and State Bank of India were pulling the markets down in early trade.

ACC fell 1.3% and Ambuja Cements lost 1.9% as CCI report on cement cartelization is likely today or tomorrow.

However, Cipla and Tata Power bucked the trend, rising 0.0.4-0.8%.

The CNX Midcap Index fell 59 points to 7,582. About two shares declined for every share rising on the National Stock Exchange.

In the second line shares, gas stocks bounced back after taking huge beating yesterday due to pricing issue. Indraprastha Gas was up 3%, which had tanked over 30% yesterday. Gujarat Gas was up 3% and Petronet LNG rose 1.25%.

Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) and Mangalore Chemical shot up 5% each The Hindu Business Line reported that Mukesh Ambani Group's flagship company Reliance Industries is close to buying stake in Kingfisher and may also get UB Group's 30.44% stake in Manglore Chemical as part of the deal.

Aviation stocks rallied quite sharply after government sourced indicated that draft cabinet note on 49% FDI for foreign air carriers is ready and that will be put up for cabinet approval shortly. Jet Airways and SpiceJet were up 5% each.

3i Infotech went up 1% as the company is looking to sell majority stake in Locuz for Rs 60 crore. 3i bought the company in 2008.

Thomas Cook was down 3.7% on profit booking as it had rallied 12% yete

VIP, Delta Corp, Sintex Industries, GVK Power, IRB Infrastructure and TV Today were down 1-2%.