Sensex, Nifty end slightly lower; BHEL loses 4%, autos zoom

03:30 Market close
After a day of volatility the market managed to close with marginal lose. The Nifty ended just a bit below the 8100-mark at 8095.95, down 18.65 points while the Sensex slipped 54.01 points at 27085.93. BHEL lost 4 percent. Hindalco, Tata Steel, Tata Motors and GAIL are top losers in the Sensex. Among the gainers were auto stocks like Bajaj Auto and Hero Moto. NTPC, HDFC and Bharti Airtel were other gainers in the Sensex.

02:25pm Market Expert
The Nifty could consolidate between 7800-7850 on the downside and 8200-8300 on the upside, says Amit Khurana, Co- Head Equites & Head of Research, Dolat Capital Markets in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

Going forward, the big trigger for the market would now be earnings upgrades for FY16 and the earnings visibility, says Khurana.

According to him, there has been decent amount of money inflow into largecap and midcap stocks.

02:00pm The market remained under pressure in afternoon trade with the Sensex falling 137.35 points to 27002.59 and the Nifty declining 42.60 points to 8072 while the BSE Midcap and Smallcap trimmed losses to 0.2 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.

About 1010 shares have advanced, 1804 shares declined, and 113 shares are unchanged.

Realty major DLF kept its top position in the selling list, down nearly 10 percent. Jindal Steel, BHEL, Hindalco Industries and Tata Steel plunged 3.5-4 percent. Shares of Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Infosys, L&T, HDFC Bank, GAIL and TCS dropped 0.6-2 percent.

However, shares of HDFC, NTPC, Bajaj Auto and Hero Motocorp bucked the trend, gaining 1-2 percent followed by ITC and Axis Bank with 0.4 percent.

Most active shares on exchanges were Idea Cellular, Jaiprakash Associates, TVS Motor, Arvind, Escorts, ICICI Bank and Tata Motors.

After the promoter Jaypee Infra Ventures selling 1.45 percent stake in Jaiprakash Associates in previous three sessions for social cause, all Jaypee group stocks tanked with the JP Associates, Jaypee Infratech and Jaiprakash Power Ventures falling 7-18 percent.

Global markets fell marginally with Germany's DAX and France's CAC down 0.5 percent, cautious ahead of the ECB decision later today. Some analysts expect ECB President Mario Draghi to launch an additional stimulus measure, which may even be a Fed style QE program in the face of poor inflation growth and weak GDP data.

2:00 pm Vijay Mallya's address: Strongly denying United Bank of India's (UBI) wilful defaulter allegations chairman of cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines Vijay Mallya today said the company was not given a chance to present its case before UBI.

While addressing the media at its annual general meeting, he said, "We disagree with their action. We were'nt given a hearing, will pursue legal remedies available."

UBI recently declared the grounded airline and Mallya as wilful defaulters for non-payment of dues worth Rs 400 crore. Three company directors - Subhash R Gupte, Ravi Nedungadi and Anil Kumar Ganguly - were also on the list. But the company is looking to vigorously challenge UBI's decision.

State-owned UBI is the first lender to declare KFA and promoter Mallya as wilful defaulters.

1:45 pm Results: India's largest spirits company United Spirits (USL) posted huge loss of Rs 4,489 crore in the year ended March 2014 on consolidated basis, increased by 44.4 times compared to a loss of Rs 101.2 crore in previous year. Impairment loss of Rs 3,235.73 crore, provision of Rs 1,123.16 crore and higher interest cost impacted bottomline of the company.

"Corresponding to the provision for doubtful advances and diminution in the value of investments recognised in the standalone financial statement and impairment loss of Rs 3,235.73 crore on goodwill of WMG, Palmer Investment Group and Montrose International SA has been recognised in the consolidated financials. This impairment loss reported as an exceptional item," the company explained.

1:30 pm Market opinion: The run up seen in the market could be liquidity driven believes Anup Bagchi, MD & CEO, ICICI Securities but thinks there seems to be some nervousness now creeping in. So one could see some consolidation in the market says Bagchi in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

However he does not expect a deep correction.

He think stocks from the oil and gas space would make good policy bets and one could buy them on any correction.

Profit booking continues in Dalal Street with the Sensex down 124.60 points at 27015.34. The Nifty is down 36.60 points at 8078.00. About 954 shares have advanced, 1794 shares declined, and 92 shares are unchanged.
 
HDFC, NTPC, Coal India, Hero MotoCorp and ITC are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are BHEL, Hindalco, Tata Motors, Tata Steel and ICICI Bank.

JP Associates tanks 13 percent after Jaypee Infra Ventures sold 1,34,89,693 shares of Jaiprakash Associates at Rs 46.33 on the NSE.

Meanwhile, The Intelligence Bureau issued a security alert to several states on Thursday after al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahri announced the formation of an Indian branch of his militant group, two television networks said.

12:55pm TVS Motor at new high
Investors lapped up more shares of TVS Motor after Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BoAML) raised target price by 18 percent to Rs 235 on hopes of strong sales volumes and margin expansion going ahead. The stock spiked 5.66 percent to hit a record high of Rs 216.40.

"We raise TVS Motor earnings per share by 9 percent in FY16E and 18 percent in FY17E, mainly due to upward revision to scooter/motorcycle volumes by 10 percent per year and our thesis that the company will be able to sharply expand margins," BoAML explained.

12:30pm Tata Motors under pressure
Shares of Tata Motors erased all its previous day's gains, down 1.7 percent after reporting sharp decline in US retail sales numbers by its subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover in August.

JLR's retail sales in the US fell 14.8 percent in August to 5,673 units compared to same month last year while there was a big drop in Jaguar cars sales, down 31.3 percent to 1,184 units. The luxury car maker sold 4,489 units of Land Rover SUVs in the month gone by, down 9.1 percent from a year ago period.

12:00pm Equity benchmarks extended losses in noon trade with the Sensex falling below 27000 level, down 151.99 points to 26987.95. The Nifty dropped 49.25 points to 8065.35 weighed down by banks, metals, auto, oil & gas and capital goods stocks.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices lost 0.7 percent and 1 percent, respectively as declining shares outnumbered advancing ones by a ratio of 1729 to 876 on the BSE.

State-run power equipment maker BHEL and aluminium major Hindalco Industries topped the selling list in the Sensex, falling more than 4 percent. Among the Nifty 50 stocks, DLF crashed over 8 percent after Punjab and Haryana HC canceled allotment of 350 acre land to company by Haryana government while JSPL lost 4 percent.

Shares of ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, L&T, Tata Power, Reliance Industries, Infosys, ONGC, SBI, Axis Bank and Bharti Airtel declined 0.7-1.9 percent.

However, shares of HDFC, ITC, Bajaj Auto, HUL, NTPC and Hero Motocorp gained 0.3-0.9 percent.

11:50 am Interview: Ansuman Das, chairman and managing director of Nalco said alumina prices may not move up as sharply as aluminium prices but would be stable and may continue to have an up trend.

The aluminium price on the LME were around USD 2100 per tonne and the spot alumina prices were around USD 325 per tonne.

Das expects the aluminium prices to hold above USD 2400 per tonne. Moreover, he thinks with the new government's focus on infrastructure development the demand for aluminum in India could be high.

11: 20 am Market opinion: Indian equities have been on a roll all through 2014, and even as investors look for a sell-by date for the Modi-fueled euphoria, Abhay Laijawala, MD & Head of Research, Deutsche Equities India says the good times have just begun. ''This is going to be a 4-5 year bull market,'' Laijawala, who plays CNBC-TV18's Guest Editor for the day.

Laijawala, one of early bulls to set a big bang year-end Sensex target of 28,000 after BJP's election win, expects the index to hit that mark well before December. However, investors are increasingly becoming edgy , awaiting a big crack, even as the market shows no signs of slowing down. Laijawala, while agreeing that intermittent corrections are needed, says the scepticism is not warranted right now.

He points the fact that apart from India, most emerging markets have seen consensus GDP downgrades. India's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 5.7 percent on-year in the second quarter, data released last week showed, up from 4.6 percent in the previous quarter and the fastest pace since the first quarter of 2012. "We have to realise that we are looking far better than the rest of the world," he said.

After breaking records for seven straight days, the market is taking a breather. The Sensex is down 94.71 points at 27045.23 and the Nifty is down 33.55 points at 8081.05. About 784 shares have advanced, 1621 shares declined, and 60 shares are unchanged.

Realty stocks are hit the most, followed by infra and metals. Hindalco, BHEL, Tata Power, Tata Steel and Tata Motors are major laggards in the Sensex. Among the top gainers are Cipla, HUL, Sun Pharma, HDFC and ITC.

Asian shares edged up to a seven-year high on growing hopes of a ceasefire in Ukraine, while investors also warmed to the idea of more monetary easing from the European Central Bank in the near future.

Global shares rallied on Wednesday as Russian President Vladimir Putin, after speaking to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko by phone, said he believed Kiev and pro-Russian separatists could reach agreement at planned talks in Minsk on Friday.

11:00am Interview
Ansuman Das, chairman and managing director of Nalco said alumina prices may not move up as sharply as aluminium prices but would be stable and may continue to have an up trend.

The aluminium price on the LME were around USD 2100 per tonne and the spot alumina prices were around USD 325 per tonne.

Das expects the aluminium prices to hold above USD 2400 per tonne. Moreover, he thinks with the new government's focus on infrastructure development the demand for aluminum in India could be high.

10:30am FII View
Indian equities have been on a roll all through 2014, and even as investors look for a sell-by date for the Modi-fueled euphoria, Abhay Laijawala, MD & Head of Research, Deutsche Equities India says the good times have just begun. ''This is going to be a 4-5 years bull market,'' Laijawala told CNBC-TV18.

Laijawala expects the index to make it to 28,000 well before the year-end. However, investors are increasingly becoming edgy , awaiting a big crack, even as the market shows no signs of slowing down. Laijawala, while agreeing that corrections will be par for the course and also much needed from time-to-time, says the scepticism is not warranted right now.

10:00am Equity benchmarks continued to see profit booking with the Sensex falling 63.46 points to 27076.48 and the Nifty losing 22.25 points to 8092.35.

About 900 shares have advanced, 1142 shares declined, and 68 shares are unchanged.

BHEL topped the selling list in the Sensex down over 3 percent followed by Hindalco Industries, Tata Motors, Tata Steel and Tata Power with 1-2 percent. Shares of Infosys, L&T, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank and Sesa Sterlite lost over 0.5 percent.

However, defensives like healthcare and FMCG gained strength. Sun Pharma, ITC, HDFC, Hindustan Unilever and Hero Motocorp climbed 0.3-0.9 percent. Drug maker Cipla rallied nearly 2 percent as chairman YK Hamied, in AGM, said he is optimistic that FY15 revenue and profitability targets will be met.

"International sales will continue to be higher as company expands presence. We are expanding horizons and will use India as a major manufacturing base. We will be spending Rs 600 crore in R&D in FY15," he added.

9:45 am Buzzing: Shares of DLF tumbled 6 percent intraday as worried investors are busy offloading the stock after the Haryana government cancelled the 350-acre land allotment made to the company in 2010.

In a major blow to real estate firm DLF , the Punjab & Haryana High Court has cancelled the allotment of 350 acre land to the company by the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government in Haryana.

The ruling comes a week after the Supreme Court had ordered DLF to pay Rs 630 crore penalty imposed by the competition watchdog CCI as a pre-condition for hearing the company's appeal.

According to sources, DLF is set to challenge the HC order citing that the company got the land parcel in an international competitive bidding process.

Equity benchmarks opened marginally lower on profit booking after rallying consistently in previous nine sesssions. The Sensex declined 23.57 points to 27116.37 and the Nifty slipped 12.40 points to 8102.20.

About 540 shares have advanced, 459 shares declined, and 39 shares are unchanged.

United Spirits gained a percent despite posting huge loss of Rs 4,489 crore in the year ended March 2014 on consolidated basis, increased by 44.4 times compared to a loss of Rs 101.2 crore in previous year, dented by exceptional loss of Rs 3,236 crore related to provision.

Cipla surged 2.6 percent post annual general meeting. Coal India, Sun Pharma, TCS, Wipro, NMDC and Coal India gained 0.6-1.3 percent.

However, DLF tanked 5 percent. BHEL, Hero Motocorp, GAIL, Tata Motors, Tata Power, Jindal Steel, Power Grid Corp and PNB lost 0.8-1.8 percent.

The Indian rupee opened flat at 60.46 per dollar versus 60.48. The euro held on to modest gains against the dollar, having pulled up from one-year lows as investors booked some profits ahead of the European Central Bank policy review. The dollar index comes off a 14-month peak.

Mohan Shenoi of Kotak Mahindra Bank said, "The currency markets are expected to be rangebound ahead of the BoE and ECB rate setting meetings today evening and US payroll data tomorrow. Markets are also keenly watching geopolitical developments. Rupee is expected to trade in a range of 60.35-60.65/dollar today."

As initial optimism about a possible ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine wore off, it was another day of consolidation for Wall Street. S&P 500 shut shop marginally lower, managing to hold on to the 2000 mark.

Ahead of the ECB meet, European shares ended the day firmly in the green, amid hopes that Ukraine and Russia were nearing a ceasefire agreement.