Sensex ends in red as rupee weakness weighs; banks tumble

Benchmark indices ended the week on a bearish note, as concerns over the weakness in rupee weighed on sentiment.

Indices were volatile through the day, peaking around noon and then retreating in towards the end of the session to close at 19429.23, down 90.26 points over the previous close, and 282.32 points down from the intra-day high of 19711.55.

The Nifty closed at 5881, down 40.40 points over the previous close after touching a high of intra-day high of 5972.70.

Investors continued to take a defensive approach, buying shares of IT, pharma and FMCG companies. Banking, realty and auto shares were the key laggards.

For the week, the indices were down nearly 2 percent.

The rupee today hit a one-year low of 57.12 to the dollar, stoking fears that FIIs may be tempted to sell equities to minimize currency-related losses.

FIIs have net sold close to Rs 4000 crore in the debt market in the first three trading sessions this month due to yields narrowing in anticipation of interest rates falling.

Experts have warned that knee-jerk moves like curbing gold imports will not really help narrow current account deficit and ease pressure on rupee.

Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services, TCS, Bajaj Finance, Thermax and Dr Reddy's Laboratories were the among the key gainers, up 3-4 percent.

Polaris led gainers in the IT sector, climbing over 8 percent on talk that the company was close to finalising the sale of its IT services division.

Among losers, Adani Power topped the list of losers, shedding around 7 percent. Spot electricity rates have fallen sharply as state electricity boards are refusing to buy power, unable to recover costs due to low tariffs and distribution losses.

Jain Irrigation, United Phosphorous, Canara Bank and Union Bank were the other key losers, shedding 4-5 percent.

3:45 pm Bajaj Finance , Eicher Motors , Essar Ports , Guj Flourochem , Indian Infotech, M&M Financial, NBCC and Rallis India are some midcap winners.

3:30 pm Market stats: After much strugggle, the Nifty closed the day below the 5900 mark at 5881 down 40.40 points while the Sensex ended down 71.90 points at 19447.59.  About 1018 shares have advanced, 1316 shares declined, and 181 shares are unchanged.

3:15 pm Losers: Bharti Airtel , M&M, NTPC and Jindal Steel are laggards in the Sensex, losing around 2 percent each.

3:10 pm Expert take: Doubts of the Reserve Bank cutting rate, selling by FIIs, rupee depreciation and swelling gold imports are the concerns that will keep investors away in the short run. Speaking on these subjects, Nilesh Shah of Axis Direct told CNBC-TV18 that foreign Institutions were positive on India until recently which is evident from 18 Nifty companies hitting all-time highs in March of this year. Even last month they have pumped in investments worth USD 3 billion, he said.

He remains worried about the continuous import of the yellow metal saying the steps to curb the desire to buy gold are superficial and it (gold imports) is hurting rupee; the government needs to create structured solution.

To the investors, he advised buying into stocks that have been giving consistent returns. In the last two decades, only 91 companies have managed to give consistent returns.

It is an extremely choppy session as the Nifty swings below the 5900-level. The Sensex is down 45.77 points at 19473.72, and the Nifty slips 27.35 points to 5894.05. About 1057 shares have advanced, 1210 shares declined, and 164 shares are unchanged.

Bank Nifty has been very weak down (1.2 percent), dragging the market.  In the Bank Nifty index Canara Bank is down 3.6 percent, PNB down 1.6 percent, and Union Bank is down 4 percent.

TCS  is still up 3.34 percent while Dr Reddys Labs gains 2.60 percent on the BSE.

02:59pm The BSE Sensex shed nearly 250 points from day's high, which is now down 52.44 points at 19467.05, and the Nifty is down 27.35 points at 5894.05.

Utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra dropped nearly 2 percent while Sterlite Industries, BHEL and Coal India declined 1.5 percent each.

02:55pm Indian equities slipped into red in late trade, weighed down by banks, metals and capital goods stocks. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries too turned lower, losing 0.3 percent.

Shares of ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank declined 0.8 percent each. Recently listed Just Dial surged 10 percent.

Nilesh Shah of Axis Direct told CNBC-TV18 that foreign Institutions were positive on India until recently which is evident from 18 Nifty companies hitting all-time highs in March of this year . Even last month they have pumped in investments worth USD 3 billion, he said.

02:50pm Bank of Maharashtra shares rose 1.6 percent amid hefty volumes on National Stock Exchange, after more than 15 lakh equity shares changed hands at Rs 55 a piece via a block deal.

Zydus Wellness slipped nearly 6 percent.

02:40pm More than 20 lakh equity shares exchanged hands at Rs 1,395 a piece via six block deals. The stock is down 1.7 percent on National Stock Exchange.

02:30pm TCS shares rose 4 percent, after rupee depreciation and a big block deal. More than 1.75 lakh shares changed hands at Rs 1,485.55 a piece on Bombay Stock Exchange.

Dr Reddy's Labs has touched a fresh record high of Rs 2,199 on Bombay Stock Exchange, up more than 3 percent amid high volumes. More than 60,000 equity shares changed hands at Rs 2,175 a piece on Bombay Stock Exchange.

02:20pm Index heavyweights HDFC, Reliance Industries and ITC are trading marginally higher. But major banks stocks are flat today.

Shares of Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel , Maruti, Coal India, NTPC and Sterlite Industries are leading losers among Sensex 30, falling around 1 percent.

02:10pm NSE Nifty is trading with marginal gains, after losing more than 40 points from day's high due to sharp depreciation in rupee. The BSE Sensex is up 76.17 points to 19595.66, and the Nifty is up 11.30 points to 5932.70.

Even the market breadth is mixed; about 1076 shares advanced while 1072 shares declined on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Indian rupee fell below the 57 mark, depreciating by 19 paise to 57.03 per dollar that pushed shares of IT services exporters higher. TCS, country's largest software services exporter, surged 4.56 percent while Infosys and Wipro gained 1.1 percent & 2.5 percent, respectively.

1:50 pm: As NR Narayana Murthy makes a comeback to Infosys along with his son Rohan Murty, his wife Sudha Murthy spoke about his exact role in the organisation. Sudha Murthy said Rohan will only be an assistant to the Infosys Executive Chairman and will not be reporting to anyone else.

Speaking to CNN-IBN , Sudha Murthy said, "Rohan is not a director. He's just an assistant. He doesn't have any subordinates or any bosses, he will only report to Narayana."

1.48 pm: The Sensex is up 50.09 points at 19569.58, and the Nifty is down 0.55 points at 5920.85.

Also read:  Why Reliance Industries AGM failed to lift stock

1:40 pm Currency check: Rupee has hit 1-year low as it touched 57.08 per dollar.

1:23 pm Gainer: Maruti Suzuki, Coal India , NTPC , Bharti Airtel and Cipla are top losers in the Sensex.

Don't miss: Will rupee slide speed up FII selling of Indian shares?

1:20 pm Buzzing: Sunteck Realty rallies 1.7 percent as Citi has a buy rating  with a target of Rs 550. The company has now started generating healthy cash flows and is looking to firm up a dividend policy as well.

The market has managed to hold its gains supported by technology stocks. The Sensex is up 93.72 points at 19613.21, and the Nifty adds 18.80 points to be  at 5940.20. About 1107 shares have advanced, 982 shares declined, and 148 shares are unchanged.

TCS , Dr Reddys Labs , Wipro , Infosys, Hero Motocorp are key gainers in the Sensex.

Tata Power is in focus today as the company has won an estimated USD 1.8 billion contract to develop two 660 mega watt coal-fired thermal power plants in South Vietnam. The construction of the plant is expected to start in 2019. The stock is up 1 percent on the BSE.

12:59pm Page Industries shares topped the midcap buying list, rising 6 percent while state-owned NBCC rose over 5.5 percent.

In smallcap space, Suashish Diamon rallied 17 percent to Rs 239 and Maha ShreeUmaid gained 15 percent at Rs 107.95.

12:55pm In its India summit, Morgan Stanley said, "Even though our leading indicators suggest that equity returns are likely to remain better-than-fair in the coming 12 months, the dearth of confirmatory signals (either in macro growth, liquidity, reported earnings, capex announcements or in corporate commentary) has challenged investor conviction on India."

12:50pm CBDT official said the board issued notices to four more banks on Cobrapost allegations, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting cogencis. The four banks are Allahabad Bank (down 1.5 percent), Canara Bank (down 2 percent), ING Vysya Bank (down 0.4 percent) and Bank of Baroda (down 0.5 percent).

12:40pm The market lost some gains on profit taking. The BSE Sensex, which rallied as much as 191 points, is up 131.19 points at 19650.68, and the Nifty is up 32.80 points at 5954.20.

European markets are mixed in opening trade as investors are cautious ahead of US government's jobs report.

12:30pm Shares of Maruti Suzuki, Cipla and NTPC underperformed other largecaps, falling more than 0.5 percent.

Indian rupee appreciated by 8 paise to 56.76 per dollar today, after losing 12 paise in previous session.

The market breadth strengthened in afternoon trade, with the 750 shares advancing as against 447 shares declining.

Infra player IVRCL currently has an orderbook of Rs 26,000 crore. However, of the total, orders worth Rs 18,000-20,000 crore are executable, Business Development & Corp Strategy S Ramachandran, Director told CNBC-TV18.

The company has been performing well in segments like buildings, irrigation but orders from the transmission line segment are at nascent stage, he informed. Ramachandran is hopeful that the company will perform well in FY14.

Further, the company is looking at reducing Rs 1,000 crore debt via stake sale in special purpose vehicles (SPVs) this year, he added.

12:20pm ITC and HDFC shares rose more than one percent after recouping all morning losses.

Benchmarks gained further; the BSE Sensex is up 191.08 points or 0.98 percent at 19710.57, and the Nifty is up 50.10 points or 0.85 percent at 5971.50.

12:10pm Benchmarks, which were underperformers in morning trade, completely outperformed benchmarks now. The BSE Sensex rose 0.9 percent while Midcap and Smallcap indices advanced 0.6 percent each.

Aban Offshore shares soared 2.5 percent, after the company received order worth Rs 1,050 crore from ONGC .

12:04pm Equity benchmarks extended uptrend on further short covering in financials, technology and oil & gas stocks. The BSE Sensex is up 176.17 points to 19695.66, and the Nifty is up 46.55 points at 5967.95.

Shares of Tata Consultancy Services and Dr Reddys Labs topped the buying list among largecaps, rising 3 percent each.

Financials led this rebound today; HDFC Bank and State Bank of India rose one percent each while ICICI Bank recouped all its losses. Housing finance company HDFC jumped over one percent.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries and top commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors gained 0.9 percent each.

11:52am: TCS , Dr Reddys Labs , Infosys , Wipro and Hindalco are key gainers.

11:50 am Market Update: The Sensex is up 154.39 points at 19673.88, and the Nifty is up 38.65 points at 5960.05. About 1114 shares have advanced, 732 shares declined, and 224 shares are unchanged.

11:43 am Experts say: High gold imports and foreign institutional investors (FIIs) outflows from debt segment have added to the rupee woes. On the global front, nervousness about US Federal Reserve closing the tap on QE sooner than expected is adding to the pain, says Agam Gupta of Standard Chartered to CNBC-TV18 .

In the near-term global factors will drive rupee's movement, it may fall further if non farm payroll (NFP) data is strong. The US non-farm payroll data for May will be released today. It is seen improving to 167000 from 165000 in April. The unemployment rate is however seen unchanged at 7.5 percent after it slipped from March levels of 7.6 percent last month.

11:40 am Metal update: Gold prices rose on Friday for a third consecutive day, as investors awaited clues from the U.S. nonfarm payroll data later in the day on whether the Federal Reserve would wind down its bullion-supporting monetary stimulus, reports Reuters.

11: 30 am Market Update: The Sensex is up 119.68 points or 0.61% at 19639.17, and the Nifty up 28.10 points or 0.47% at 5949.50.
About 1121 shares have advanced, 708 shares declined, and 220 shares are unchanged.

11:20 am Buzzing: Redington is 1.1% today on being appointed the National Distributor for Control Datacenter's cloud services products. Many brokerages have been positive on Redington, Nomura sees over 40 percent upside in Redington and revised its target price to Rs 108.

11:15 am Aban Offshore gets order from ONGC for Rs 1,050 crore. The stock is currentlly at Rs 305.60, up Rs 8.40, or 2.83 percent on the BSE.

11:10 am: The RBI policy and US Federal Reserve policy meeting which are scheduled in mid-June are unlikely to have any significant impact on the market. The key event which can boost investor confidence now is normal monsoon, says BP Singh, Executive Director and CIO - Equity, Pramerica Mutual Fund in an interview to CNBC- TV18 .

Redemption pressures have become acute in a market that has failed to reach new highs despite several attempts. Domestic traders have been big sellers in the market and will continue to be so unless market decisively sees a new high.

However, Singh is hopeful that sustained foreign inflows over the next six-nine months will lead to a new high through an uptrend.

Expert take: Nifty may fall 40-50 points more; buy Yes Bank, says HDFC Sec

The market has managed to limp back to gain some strength. The Sensex is up 90.54 points at 19610.03, and the Nifty gains 20.45 points to be at 5941.85. About 1077 shares have advanced, 585 shares declined, and 184 shares are unchanged.

Technology and realty stocks are adding strength to the indices. Dr Reddys Labs, TCS, Hero Motocorp , Wipro and Tata Power are key gainers in the Sensex.

Polaris is up 13%, as CNBC TV18 had reported earlier that noise gets louder about sale of its software services unit. News reports suggest L&T and Tech Mahindra are bidding for this unit. L&T Infotech has placed a USD 330 million offer while Tech Mahindra has bid for more than USD 350 million.

10:55am Benchmarks bounced back with the BSE Sensex gaining 50 points, helped by TCS that rallied over 2 percent.

Index heavyweights Reliance Industries and Infosys advanced 0.8 percent each. State Bank of India too extended gains, rising 0.8 percent and Dr Reddys Labs shares jumped 2 percent.

Hero Motocorp , Wipro and Tata Power gained 1 percent each. But ITC trimmed losses to 0.3 percent from 0.8 percent.

10:50am Alstom India and Gujarat Flourochemicals topped the midcap buying list, rising 6 percent each.

Just Dial and Reliance Capital shares rose 2 percent each. Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Industrial Infrastructure gained 1.5 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively.

10:45am The BSE Sensex rebounded with 3 points gains whereas the Nifty remained negative. But the broader markets continued to outperform benchmarks.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 0.6 percent each. About 871 shares advanced while 601 shares declined on Bombay Stock Exchange.

Redington India spiked 3 percent amid heavy volumes, after the company tied up with CtrlS Datacenters for cloud computing products.

Mahindra Satyam rose 0.8 percent, as Bridgestone Europe extended multi-year IT services pact with the company.

10:40am Polaris Financial Technology shares surged 10 percent amid large volumes, after media reports that L&T and Tech Mahindra are looking to acquire Polaris IT unit.

JM Financial extended gains today, rising nearly 6 percent. The stock touched a fresh 52-week high of Rs 31.35, and gained 22 percent in five sessions and 72 percent in past one month.

10:30am Equity benchmarks are down marginally on weak Asian cues. The Sensex is down 21.78 points at 19497.71, and the Nifty is down 11.40 points at 5910.

Asian markets are weak ahead of US government's monthly jobs report. Shanghai lost 0.8 percent and Nikkei 225 Average fell 0.7 percent while Hang Seng and Taiwan Weighted slipped 1.3 percent each.

10:20am State-owned HMT shares fell 3 percent on profit booking. The stock had rallied 10 percent in previous session after media reports that the government is planning to sell properties of the company.

Opto Circuits dropped more than 5 percent, continuing previous day's fall further. It has touched a new 52-week low of Rs 27.80 today.

10:15am Among midcaps, Shipping Corporation topped the buying list, rising nearly 6 percent. GAIL has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Shipping Corporation to transport 5.8 mtpa LNG from the US.

GAIL siad Shipping Corporation would help company charter ships for US LNG.

10:10am Indian equities remained volatile amid marginal selling pressure, weighed down by private financials and FMCG stocks. But the market breadth is in favour of advances due to outperformance in broader markets.

The Sensex is down 39.59 points at 19479.90 and the Nifty is down 16.30 points at 5905.10.

About 781 shares have advanced while 440 shares declined on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Top car maker Maruti Suzuki shares dropped more than 2 percent whereas Dr Reddys Labs is the top gainer with 1.7 percent gains.

Shares of ITC, ICICI Bank , HDFC and Larsen & Toubro slipped more than 0.7 percent. But Reliance Industries, TCS and State Bank of India rose 0.5 percent.

10:00 am Expert talk: Nilesh Shah of Axis Direct says that swelling gold imports remains a major concern. He adds that rupee is depreciating due to huge gold imports. "The government needs to create structured solution to control gold imports," he said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

9:55 am Movers: Dr Reddys Labs , Tata Power , Hero Motocorp , BHEL and Wipro are top gainers in the Sensex.

9:50 am Buzzing: Future Retail slips around 3 percent after the government said foreign supermarkets entering India must invest in new supply infrastructure, rather than buying existing assets. In response to the DIPP's plea for clarity on FDI policy in multi-brand retail (MBR), the Cabinet issued clarifications which allow only 30-percent sourcing for front-end stores and forbid the MBR entity from conducting any other form of distribution.

The sourcing conditions are only for manufactured store-products and does not apply to the procurement of fresh produce. MBR entities are to make fresh investment for back-end infrastructure and can only invest in greenfield assets.

9:45 am: Midcap index is outperforming today as most of the stocks are seeing good gains today. Bank of Maharashtra , Bayer Crop, Indian Infotech, M&M Financial are some of the lead gainers among the midcaps. However, Opto Circuit and Educomp Solution are down around 5 percent each.

9:40 am Buzzing: RPG Life Sciences jumps 9.76 percent as the company has sold part of its land at Navi Mumbai to Maruti Suzuki India . RPG Life Sciences has sold the leasehold rights on its surplus land admeasuring 14,148.90 square metres, situated at TTC Industrial Area, Village Pawane for a consideration of Rs 76.91 crore.

9.34 am Market update: The Sensex is down 11.82 points at 19507.67, and the Nifty slips 8.30 points to 5913.10.

9:20 am Adani Ports Block Deal: 3.1 crore shares exchanged hands on BSE at Rs 150 per share. The stock is currently at Rs 152.15, down Rs 0.50, or 0.33 percent on the BSE.

Expert views:  Market to remain choppy; sell on rallies, says Sukhani

The market is unable to gather strength as investors look cautious. Opening on a flat note, the Sensex is down 30.72 points at 19488.77, and the Nifty is down 21.35 points oat 5900.05. About 129 shares have advanced, 106 shares declined, and 30 shares are unchanged.

Globally, US markets closed out a volatile session with half a percent gains amid caution ahead of the government's monthly jobs report and as the US dollar tumbled against the Japanese yen.

The Dow Jones added 80 points, to close at 15,040.62, avoiding a three-day losing streak. The CBOE volatility index ended near 17.

The ECB left its main interest rate unchanged at a record low 0.50 percent and said the euro zone is on track for a "very gradual recovery" later this year driven by the central bank's loose monetary policy and demand from abroad. ECB chief Mario Draghi said the central bank is "technically ready" to lower the bank's deposit rate into negative territory for the first time, which would mean the ECB would charge commercial banks for holding their money overnight.

Meanwhile, Asian markets were trading negative.

Stock specifically, Maruti, HDFC , Hindalco , ICICI Bank and ITC are major losers in the Sensex. Ranbaxy is down 1.6 percent as media reports suggest that Apollo Pharmacy has temporarily suspended sale of medicines manufactured by the drug firm. It has also stopped further procurement from the company for now.

Hero Motocorp, Tata Power, Reliance , Dr Reddys Labs and Wipro are key gainers in early trade.

The Indian rupee opened with a gain of 15 paise at 56.69 per dollar against 56.84 Thursday.

Himanshu Arora, Religare said, "The dollar may weaken slightly against the rupee on positive US jobs report released yesterday. Government's steps to cap CAD by curbing gold imports may also support the rupee in the short-term. The range for the day is seen between 56.60-57.03/USD."

The euro rose to a one-month high of 1.32 to the dollar. The dollar index fell as low as 81.077 yesterday, its lowest since late February. Meanwhile, the dollar fell sharply against the yen.