Sensex, Nifty fall for 5th consecutive day; Bharti up 6%

Key equity benchmarks fell for the fifth consecutive day, their longest losing streak since the seven-day fall ending November 19, 2012. The Sensex closed down 91.32 points or 0.48 percent at 18792.87.

The Nifty ended session down 35.65 points or 0.63 percent at 5658.75.

The market fell by only 30 odd points today but the way it has traded this week has been disturbing, says Udayan Mukherjee of CNBC-TV18. He says it suggests that people are waiting for opportunities to go short at every rise and supply is just waiting to come on any pullback -- "that is very disconcerting".

Shares in Tata Motors dropped over 4 percent on worries that China's new stringent fuel economy standard would adversely impact the Indian auto maker's Jaguar Land Rover Ltd (JLR) unit.

Other major losers on the Sensex: Bajaj Auto (-4.61 percent), Tata Power (-4.06 percent), HDFC Bank (-3.14 percent) and Larsen & Toubro (-2.85 percent).

Bucking the trend, Bharti Airtel bounced back to close nearly 6 percent up on Thursday after losing nearly 11 per cent in the last 5 trading sessions.

The telecom major has been under pressure in this week as investor sentiment remained bearish after a Delhi court summoned the company's Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal in a case pertaining to allocation of additional spectrum to mobile operators.

Shares of ICICI Bank closed up 3.35 percent on value buying after steep recent falls over allegations of money laundering by online media firm Cobrapost.

Going forward, technical analyst Rahul Mohindar pegs 5600 as the first target on the Nifty spot. He says the weakest pocket is likely to be some of the banking names. "This is because when you look at the Bank Nifty there is still a good 3-4 percent to go in the very near-term. Autos continue to look weak, so you are going to see a little bit of a bloodbath continuing within the Nifty heavyweights," he told CNBC-TV18 in an interview.

Indian market lost heavily amid volatility. The Sensex plunged 103.53 points at 18780.66, and the Nifty fell 38.70 points at 5655.70.

Stocks from the realty, auto, banks, power and capital goods sector were losing heavily. PNB (down 3.8 percent), Bank of Baroda (4.7 percent) and HDFC Bank (down 2.5 percent) were the major laggards from the banking sector. Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has said that power bailout scheme is unlikely to be extended beyond March 31, reports CNBC-TV18. According to Scindia, eight states which are on board account for 70 percent of Rs 1.6 lakh crore.

Biggest losers on the Sensex included Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Tata Power and Maruti Suzuki.

SKS Microfinance tumbled 16 percent at Rs 112.30 on the BSE.

Meanwhile, on the gainers side were Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, HDFC and Jindal Steel. Alstom India gained more than 2 percent on Thursday after the company received contract worth Rs 572.6 crore from BHEL.

The order is for supplying components for three units of 660 MW supercritical boilers of Nabinagar Power Generating Company, a joint venture company of NTPC and Bihar State Electricity Board.

The benchmark index BSE Sensex lost nearly 180 points from the day's high. It has been a topsy-turvy ride for the index today. Heavyweights like Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank which were battered this week have held the index in green.

The Sensex was down 27.56 points or 0.15% at 18856.63, and the Nifty was down 11.25 points or 0.20% at 5683.15. About 987 shares advanced, 1688 shares declined, and 876 shares remain unchanged.   

European shares and the euro dipped on Thursday because of concerns over Cyprus but a pick-up in Chinese factory activity and the US Federal Reserve's commitment to its loose policy stance limited the losses. 

Bharti Airtel, India's largest telecom operator witnessed heavy buying on Thursday, rising 7 percent after seeing fall in previous five consecutive sessions.

Tata Motors fell as much as 5.6 percent on worries that China's new stringent fuel economy standard would adversely impact the Indian auto maker's Jaguar Land Rover Ltd (JLR) unit.

The rules announced on Wednesday would cut passenger cars' average fuel consumption to 6.9 litres per 100 kilometres by 2015 and to 5.0 litres by 2020 in China.

ICICI Bank gain 4.3 percent, heading towards its biggest single-day gain since November 29, 2012, on value buying after steep recent falls over allegations of money laundering by a local journalist.

Traders say the gap between ICICI Bank's local shares and American Depositary Receipt (ADR) has significantly increased, making a good risk-reward for buying the local stock.

Bajaj Auto, Tata Power, Maruti Suzuki and HDFC Bank were major losers.

Shares climbed higher in volatile trade Thursday afternoon. The Sensex jumped 183.93 points to 19068.12, and the Nifty was up 57.70 points at 5752.10.

Banks, metals and consumer durables were among the best performing sectors. Bharti Airtel shares were up close to 8 percent, recouping part of the losses suffered in the last couple of sessions over the summons issued to top boss Sunil Mittal in the excess spectrum allocation case.

ICICI Bank, Jindal Steel, HDFC and Sterlite Industries were the other gainers on the Sensex.

Titan Industries was also up 3.8 percent as brokerage house Morgan Stanley raised its rating on the stock to equal weight from underweight.

Among the midcaps, Balrampur Chini (up 3.5 percent), Jyothy Labs (up 3.1 percent) and India Cements (up 2.7 percent) were the key gainers.

Meanwhile, auto stocks were battered on the bourses with Tata Motors (down 2.6 percent), Bajaj Auto (1.9 percent) and Maruti Suzuki (1.1 percent) figuring among the prominent losers. Tata Motors was reeling under reports that stringent new emission norms in China could hurt sales at its luxury Jaguar Land Rover unit.

According to Chinese media reports, new National V emission norms, based on Euro V standards kicked in Beijing earlier this month in a bid to curb pollution, which hit record levels in January.

The benchmark index BSE Sensex witnessed a rollercoaster ride in the first half of today's trade.  After a gap-up of 100 points, the market shed its gains and moved in red. The Sensex recouped its losses and was trading with positive bias.

The Sensex was up 140.42 points or 0.74% at 19024.61, and the Nifty was up 45.85 points or 0.81% at 5740.25. About 1052 shares advanced, 1270 shares declined, and 1229 shares remain unchanged.  

The sentiment in the market remains cautious on fears of the government being forced to call early elections coupled its reform agenda weakening after Congress' ally DMK withdrew its support from the ruling coalition this week.

Bharti Airtel was the top gainer in Sensex with 7% gains on back of short covering.  

ICICI Bank, Jindal Steel, HDFC and Sterlite Industries were buzzing in trade today with hefty gains.

China has introduced new fuel efficiency guidelines applicable 2015 which is aimed to improve efficiency by 20 percent compared to existing Phase II standards. JLR accounts for 23 percent of sales in China and around 50% of profits. The stock was down 3% on slowdown in sales of JLR in China.

MTNL's board will meet on March 25 for raising Rs 3000 crore via the NCD route. The amount raised will be used for capex along with reduction in debt.

NewsWire sources indicate that bankers and the government are more or less in agreement on MMTC valuation and the offer for sale is likely to hit markets in April.

Adani Power will consider issuing shares to promoters on preferential basis on Saturday. Previously, the promoter Vinod Adani bought shares worth Rs 21.75 crore in Adani Power.

3M India will offload 1% equity via offer for sale. The share sale floor price is fixed at Rs 3300 per share.

Tyre companies are in focus today. Sources say MRF and Ceat are likely to cut prices of tyre by up to 5% across categories. The prices are slashed on lower replacement, OEM demand.

Equity benchmarks were trading higher led by banks, metals and telecom. At 10.54 AM, the Sensex and the Nifty were trading up 140 and 46 points, respectively.

The 30-share benchmark was at 19024.93 and 50-share NSE benchmark was at 5717.90.  Bharti Airtel moved up 6 percent on the bourses after SingTel, which owns about 30 percent of Bharti Airtel, defended the telco giant and its group chairman Sunil Mittal named in the 2G case.

In the banking space, ICICI Bank (4.5 percent up) led the race followed by housing major HDFC, public sector lender SBI and private bank Kotak Mahindra. However, HDFC Bank was trading down half a percent.

Autos continue to lag on fears of a slowdown in the sector. Tata Motors was the top loser in the sector, trading with over 4 percent cuts.

Technology, which had a fantastic run in the last one month, is trading mixed with Infosys and TCS showing marginal gains. Wipro slipped into the red.

Broader market has not moved in tandem with the benchmarks. CORE Education, after a massive fall on Wednesday, remained top laggard in the midcap index with over 5 percent loss.

After pulling back from yesterday lows in the opening trade, both the Sensex and Nifty started to taper off in the morning trade. The Sensex was down 54.09 points at 18830.10 while the Nifty slipped 13.30 points or 0.23% at 5681.10.

Auto stocks were growing weak on concerns of sales slowdown. Major losers in the auto sector included Tata Motors, M&M, Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki and Hero MotoCorp.

Steel Authority of India lost a bit more as it was down 1.92 percent. The government will divest 5.82 percent stake which will be offloaded via offer-for-sale (OFS) issue tomorrow. The EGoM, headed by finance minister P Chidambaram will decide the floor price of OFS today after market hours.

Housing Development and Infrastructure (HDIL) continued to be a laggard in the midcap, losing 3.6 percent.

Meanwhile, recovering from its previous loses Bharti Airtel was the major gainer on the Sensex. ICICI Bank, Jindal Steel, HDFC and Cipla were the other gainers.

The benchmark index BSE Sensex opened in green today following positive global cues. The US Federal Reserve yesterday maintained its commitment to a very accommodative monetary stance and the wrangling market nerves calmed on the back of Cyprus rejecting the terms of the European Union bailout.

The Sensex was up 87.12 points or 0.46 percent at 18971.31, and the Nifty was up 29.55 points or 0.52 percent at 5723.95. The breadth of the market was positive. About 872 shares have advanced, 694 shares declined, and 1985 shares are unchanged.

Selective buying was seen in metal and banking stocks. Auto stocks continue their downward journey on worries of slowdown in sales.

Top gainers in the Sensex were beaten down stocks like Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Jindal Steel, Tata Steel and Tata Power.

Tata Motors was the top loser in the Sensex followed by Mahindra and Mahindra, ONGC, ITC and Hero Motocorp.

SAIL will remain in focus today. The government will divest 5.82 percent stake which will be offloaded via offer-for-sale (OFS) issue tomorrow. The EGoM, headed by finance minister P. Chidambaram will decide the floor price of OFS today. The stock was down 1 percent.

HDIL hit a fresh 52-week low in morning trade. The stock was down 2% amid high volumes. The realty major cracked more than 20% in yesterday's trade on concerns of downgrade by rating agency CARE. Over 1.8 crore shares were delivered on both exchanges.

Manappuram General Finance shed its early morning gains after the company's management guided an under-recovery of Rs 250 crore in the fourth quarter of financial year 2013. I. Unnikrishnan, executive director, told CNBC-TV18 "We expect a loss of Rs 50 crore in the fourth quarter."

The Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) cleared Reliance Industries Limited's (RIL) KG-D6 block and gas discovery area NEC-25 along with 3 other areas. The stock was trading flat.