US poll scare: Nifty at over 3-month closing low, Sensex plunges

3:30 pm Market closing: After a lot of struggle, the market has ended in red after polls indicate Donald Trump victory in the US presidential election. The Nifty closed at over 3-month closing low, down 112.25 points or 1.3 percent at 8514 and the Sensex slipped 349.39 points or 1.2 percent at 27527.22.

ONGC, Tata Motors, BHEL, SBI and Cipla were losers while HUL, M&M, NTPC and Bajaj Auto were losers.

3:00 pm Market Update: Benchmark indices continued to reel under selling pressure. The Sensex was down 293.04 points or 1.05 percent at 27583.57, and the Nifty down 94.70 points or 1.10 percent at 8531.55.

2:50 pm Anti-dumping duty: Government may soon come out with a decision on duty protection measure for the domestic aluminium sector which is facing dumping of products from countries like China.

"We are working to provide safeguard duty protection for primary aluminium producers being hurt from dumping. We will decide (on the matter) soon, may be in two-three weeks," Union Mines Secretary Lavender Kumar told PTI.

He further indicated it could be either anti-dumping duty or any form of safeguard duty.

In a notification, the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) had said it has found prima facie evidence of dumping of aluminium from China.

2:40 pm Auto sales: VE Commercial Vehicles today reported 14.43 percent increase in total sales in October at 4,560 units as compared with 3,985 units in the same period last year.

The company, a joint venture between Sweden's Volvo Group and Eicher Motors, said total sales of Eicher-branded trucks and buses increased by 15.44 percent to 4,449 units in October compared with 3,854 units in the corresponding month last year.

In the domestic market, sales of Eicher trucks and buses stood at 3,854 units last month compared with 3,466 units in the year-ago period, up 11.19 percent, VECV said in a statement.

Exports of Eicher trucks and buses stood at 595 units in October as against 388 in the same month last year, up 53.35 percent.

Volvo trucks sold 111 units last month compared with 131 units in October 2015, down 15.26 percent, the company added.

2:30 pm Clean energy fund: The Indian government and three state-run firms will jointly set up an equity fund of up to USD 2 billion for renewable energy companies to tap into to help New Delhi meet its clean energy goals, two government sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

Private and public companies will be able to dip into an initial amount of more than USD 1 billion starting next fiscal year, said the sources with direct knowledge of the decision taken after a meeting of government officials more than a month ago. India's government hopes the Clean Energy Equity Fund (CEEF) will attract pension and insurance funds from Canada and Europe.

Around USD 600 million of the initial pool will come from the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund, under the finance ministry, and the rest from state entities NTPC, REC and the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency, according to one of the sources.

2:20 pm Banks in focus: To cash in on the festive fervour, banks including SBI and ICICI Bank have unveiled a host of benefits such as reduction in rates, waiver of processing fee and overdraft facility.

SBI has further slashed interest rates by 0.15 percent for its home loans up to Rs 75 lakh, while ICICI Bank is offering overdraft facility along with home loan.

SBI Home Loans are cheapest in the market and provide an excellent opportunity for both new home buyers as well as those who wish to switch over their home loan to SBI to save on EMI, the bank said in a statement.

SBI home loan would be available at 9.15 percent while women borrower will get at 9.10 percent.

Another market major ICICI Bank is offering the salaried having an account with it, credit from Rs 5 lakh going up to Rs 1 crore against property owned by them.

2:10 pm USFDA approval: Drug firm Lupin has received final approval from the US health regulator for marketing Norgestimate and Ethinyl Estradiol tablets, used for prevention of pregnancy, in the US market.

The company has received final approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to market its Norgestimate and Ethinyl Estradiol tablets USP, 0.25 mg/0.035 mg, Lupin said in a filing to BSE.

The company's product is a generic version of Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc's Ortho-Cyclen 28 tablets, it added.

"The approved product will be manufactured at Lupin's Pithampur facility," the company said.

Ortho-Cyclen tablets had US sales of USD 178.2 million as per IMS MAT June 2016 data, it added.

2:00 pm Market Check
Bears retained control over Dalal Street in afternoon trade as equity benchmarks continued to fall around a percent, dragged by oil, infra, select banks and auto stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 259.44 points or 0.93 percent at 27617.17 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 90.25 points or 1.05 percent to 8536.

The fall in broader markets was more than benchmarks. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices shed 1.4 percent each on weak breadth. About two shares declined for every share rising on the exchange.

European shares were lower as doubts over the US election outcome intensified and investors reacted to more corporate earnings. All sectors were in the red, with banks falling as much as 2 percent. France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE were down 0.5-1 percent.

Rating agency S&P has affirmed its 'BBB-/A-3' rating in India with stable outlook. The downward pressure could re-emerge if Monetary Policy Committee is not effective in meeting its target, it maintained. However, it warned, that if the level of net general government debt falls below 60 percent of GDP, pressure could be build this or next year.

Dragged by global worries, Indian market has further extended losses. Most Asian markets fell more than 1 percent after a new poll showing Republican candidate Donald Trump leading in the US presidential elections spooked investors.

The fall in the indices is due to heavyweight stocks which are seeing negative prices, says Deven Choksey of KRChoksey Invst Managers, in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

He added that the pressure is building on the heavyweight stocks because Exchange-Traded Funds ( ETF ) are trying to shed their weight in their portfolio.

Stating the reason behind this he said that the ETFs could be doing so to protect the currency in the light of US elections and the uncertainity surrounding it.

The market follows a pattern in which buying yields results during all dips especially globally triggered dips. Choksey says that it is good to stick with this pattern and there is no point for investors to not follow this course.

He added that things are turning out to be better and the retail market saw surge in sales during this Diwali.

"Most of the industries will start recording better performance in October to December quarter. My stock belief is that some of the good quality stock will find themselves in better earning times," said Choksey.

He also suggested heavy fall as buying opportunity, given the fundamantal strength of the market.

On the buying call, he said that auto companies are distinctively positive and Tata Motors could be a good choice. He is also positive on agri-based companies.

He also said the valuations of Infosys are becoming attractive however, Infosys and other IT companies might see some amount of weight reduction in the portfolios of the investors.

Below is the verbatim transcript of Deven Choksey's interview to Latha Venkatesh & Ekta Batra on CNBC-TV18.

Ekta: It seems as though there is renewed dip in our markets this morning, you sense in terms of whether the trend of the market has decisively changed considering the net sell of over Rs 5,000 crore odd that we have seen from the foreign institutional investor (FIIs) in the month of October?

A: What one is observing is the fall in the Indices I think in the Index stock is largely due to some of the heavy weights which are basically seeing the negative what you call the prices. As I see it I think some of the pressure is also building up more so on the heavy weights stock also because of the exchange traded fund (ETF) trying to basically shed the weight in their portfolio. The reason behind ETF trying to shed weights in their portfolios one of the reason could be I think they want to protect the currency in light of the US elections and uncertainty hovering around that.

So, to a greater extent I think that is a phenomena that we are seeing like also in other markets but more particularly in the mainline stocks in our market so that is the reason probably you are seeing the fall in the Indices. Not necessarily these other than Index stocks are falling they are basically remaining quite steady and that is the reason for which I believe that I think the market is now trying to act more smart by staying away from the Index stocks and staying with some of the non Index stocks and also making that gains possible for them.

Latha: The market has been spoilt by one pattern. All dips especially globally triggered dips when bought have yielded result. Is it good to stick to that pattern even this time?

A: Absolutely, I don't see any reason for investors changing that course probably I think you are getting an opportunity in the market in the fall. Fundamentally things are turning out to be much better. What I understand from the retail markets in the consumer segment most of the retail markets across the country have seen surge in sales this Diwali time.

If that is so then I think most of the industries would probably start recording better performance in October to December quarter. That being the case my strong belief is that some of the good quality stocks would probably find something in better earning times going forward as well. I would use every fall as a buy opportunity given the strength of fundamentals in our market.

1:45 pm Steel woes: The anti-dumping duty introduced by India on steel is not an unusual issue for China and it may not necessarily stop China from continuing to export, feels Hongmei Li, Senior Editor- Metal & Steel News at S&P Global Platts. She believes improvement in reality prices in China has helped lift demand and domestic steel prices there have increased in the last few months. Demand and prices are likely to stay firm, she says in an interview to CNBC-TV18. On other non-ferrous metals, she expects Zinc to remain firm on supply constraints following multiple mine closures globally. However, iron ore faces oversupply problems so may not firm up any further from current levels, she believes.

1:30 pm Exclusive: The Shapoorji Pallonji Group's proposed takeover of Karaikal Port, a unit of Chennai-based infrastructure group MARG, has been called off, reports CNBC-TV18, quoting sources. Sources say the deal was scrapped after talks between the lenders, MARG and Puducherry government failed. MARG and other private equity investors resisted the lenders' proposal to change the management, they say. Lenders approached the Puducherry government to invite a new concessionaire for Karaikal. But they may now have to restructure Karaikal's debt of roughly Rs 1,800 crore as a last attempt to recover dues. Meanwhile, PE companies feel NYLIM Jacob Ballas India, a leading India-focused private equity advisory, had invested in the company at better valuations. In 2012, NYLIM had invested Rs 200 crore in the company for a minority stake.

Indian investors are spooked as global markets fall after multiple polls project Donald Trump's ahead of the US Presidential elections. The Sensex is down 278.50 points or 1 percent at 27598.11, and the Nifty is down 89.95 points or 1 percent at 8536.30. About 788 shares have advanced, 1941 shares declined, and 94 shares are unchanged.

However, there are good news for India as S&P has affirmed BBB-/A-3 rating on India with stable outlook. The rating agency does not expect to change rating on India this or next year. It reiterated that downward pressure could re-emerge if Monetary Policy Committee is not effective in meeting its target.

It expects India to fund current account deficit mostly with inflows without adding to debt, and banking regulator Reserve Bank of India to achieve inflation target of 5 percent by March 2017.

Meanwhlie, ONGC, Tata Motors, SBI, BHEL and Sun Pharma are losers in the Sensex. M&M, HUL and NTPC are gainers.

12:59 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks started pricing in uncertainty over US elections. The Sensex was down 277.07 points or 0.99 percent at 27599.54 and the Nifty down 90.40 points or 1.05 percent at 8535.85.

About 1943 shares declined against 766 advancing shares on the BSE.

12:48 pm Market Outlook: The ongoing market correction could continue for a few more weeks but too much downside from current levels is unlikely, feels Gautam Shah, Associate Director & Technical Analyst at JM Financial. If there are no shocks in terms of US Presidential elections verdict or border tensions in India, then the 50-share Nifty could find a bottom at 8,450-8,500 levels, he says.

"The market is still very solid in terms of technicals on the weekly and the monthly charts," Shah says. Since it has not done a 38-percent retracement of the rise seen in the last six months, he terms it "a very normal, orderly, sting-free correction".

If the 8,450 level on the Nifty is breached on a closing basis, then there is possibility of a further 5 percent drop. However, whether or not market stabilises, he believes the next few weeks would present good buying opportunities with risk-rewards becoming pretty lucrative sub-8,500.

"Upside targets are still at levels around 9,500 for the first quarter of next year possibly," he says.

12:35 pm FIIs flow: Foreign investors net sold Asian stocks, except in South Korea, in October as uncertainty over the November 8 US presidential election and prospects of an interest rate hike as early as next month dampened sentiment.

South Korean markets saw USD 258 million of net inflows while Thailand, India, Indonesia and Taiwan saw outflows of USD 516 million, USD 644 million, USD 174 million and USD 68 million, respectively.

12:20 pm Economic growth: India's gross-value added growth is expected to quicken to 7.6 percent this year from 7.2 percent in 2015-16, driven by sustained support from public capex spending, says a DBS report.

According to the global financial services major, while private sector activity remains subdued, high frequency fiscal numbers point to sustained support from public capex spending.

"We expect gross-value added growth to quicken to 7.6 percent year-on-year this year from 7.2 percent in FY15/16," DBS said in a research note.

According to DBS, after an upside surprise from China, India manufacturing PMIs also jumped in October, affirming signs of a cyclical upturn in the region. India's October Nikkei manufacturing PMI ticked up to nearly two-year high of 54.4 from September's 52.1.

12:00 pm Market Check
Equity benchmarks extended losses in noon trade with the Sensex falling more than 340 points intraday following correction in Asia on jitters over the US presidential elections.

The 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 326.42 points or 1.17 percent to 27550.19, dragged by 27 out of 30 stocks. The 50-share NSE Nifty fell 106.85 points or 1.24 percent to 8519.40, the lowest level since October 17.

The market breadth improved a little bit as about 1862 shares declined against 720 advancing shares on the BSE. In morning, the ratio of advance:decline was 1:4.

PSU Bank hit hardest today, falling more than 3 percent. Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of India, IDBI Bank, Bank of Baroda and SBI were down 3-4.5 percent.

Tata Motors was the third top loser on the Sensex, down 2.7 percent after subdued growth in Land Rover North America sales, though Jaguar posted more than 3-fold rise in October.

11:55 am FII view: Speaking to CNBC-TV18 Richard Harris, Chief Executive of Port Shelter Investment Management said if Donald Trump comes to power in the US, it will lead to a selloff resulting in a buying opportunity. Harris believes Trump is a highly unstable individual, and even if he becomes the US President, it will last for six months. He will be impeached, Harris adds. ''The markets don't look too bad and I think a Trump victory will lead to delayed reaction.'' Regarding the selloffs that are taking place in India, he said the subcontinent isn't being singled out. Emerging markets as a whole have had a difficult month on a strong dollar, he said.

11:45 am Interview: Speaking to CNBC-TV18 Manish Sarda, Director, Sarda Energy, said manganese prices have been moving up these past two months, because of closure of mines in Australia. Manganese Ore (India) from which Sarda sources its ore has hiked prices for three months in a row.

''We will see some pressure on the margins, but we will be forced to increase our finished goods prices going forward,'' Sarda said, adding that he is waiting for new stock of ore to come in after which the prices will start going up.

The company imports about 64 percent of its ore needs, while the rest comes from domestic suppliers. He believes since all raw materials have moved up, there is bound to be some correction.

He also spoke on the anti-dumping duty that India has imposed on steel products.

11:30 am Auto sales: Bajaj Auto had a muted sales show for October with overall sales growing just 1 percent to 3.56 lakh units (YoY). During the month, exports reduced 8 percent to 1.17 lakh units while domestic sales surged 6 percent 2.38 lakh units (YoY).

Commenting on the sales performance, S Ravikumar, President - business development - at Bajaj Auto said the company saw muted sales during Dussehra but picked up in the run-up to Diwali. He expects new launches lined up in November and December to boost volumes and the company is targeting 24 lakh in domestic volumes by FY17-end.

During October, Bajaj Auto's motorcycle sales slipped marginally 0.3 percent to 3.07 lakh units while three-wheeler sales rose 9 percent at 48,276 units (YoY).

Dragged by global worries, Indian market has further extended losses. Most Asian markets fell more than 1 percent after Wall Street's "fear index" spiked on jitters over the US presidential elections. Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 1.96 percent, likely due to the stronger yen, which is seen as a safe haven currency.

The Federal Reserve will end its two-day meeting today and is unlikely to hike rates.

The Sensex is down 301.46 points or 1.1 percent at 27575.15, and the Nifty is down 100.90 points or 1.2 percent at 8525.35. About 628 shares have advanced, 1766 shares declined, and 87 shares are unchanged.

M&M, NTPC, HUL and Asian Paints are gainers while SBI and ONGC are down 3 percent. GAIL, Tata Motors and BHEL are losers in the Sensex.

Gold futures were up 0.42 percent to Rs 30,335 per ten grams as traders raised their bets amid positive cues from the global markets.

Analysts attributed the rise in gold prices to a firming trend overseas where it rose to the highest in almost one month as the dollar weakened and investors awaited the US Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision later today.

10:59 am Market Update: Equity benchmarks remained under pressure with the Sensex falling 289.64 points or 1.04 percent to 27586.97 and the Nifty down 96.40 points or 1.12 percent at 8529.85.

About three shares declined for every share rising on the BSE.

10:45 am Interview: Homegrown FMCG major Dabur said it will acquire the personal care, haircare and creams businesses of South Africa based-CTL group of companies in a deal valued at about Rs 10 crore. The acquisition marks Dabur's foray into the South African personal care market, the company said in a statement.

Dabur South Africa has entered into an agreement to acquire the South African business of development, manufacturing, packaging and sale of personal care products of CTL Contracting Proprietary Limited, it added. Besides, Dabur South Africa would also acquire certain equipment of Carbotec Laboratories and immovable property from CTL Management and Personnel Services.

The company chose to take the acquisition route in South Africa as setting up a greenfield  facility would have come at an additional expenditure, said Dabur's Chief Executive Sunil Duggal. He added that revenues from South Africa stand at USD 10 million and the company is targeting USD 50 million in the next five years.

10:35 am Auto sales: Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) has reported muted auto sales growth in October but strong demand post normal monsoon boosted tractor business.

The utility vehicle manufacturer sold 52,008 units in the month gone by, a growth of only 1.2 percent over 51,383 units sold in year-ago period but month-on-month performance was strong, showing a 12.7 percent surge in sales on festive season demand.

"The festive season has brought about some cheer for the automotive industry with improved sentiments on the back of a near normal monsoon, rural surge in demand and some new vehicle launches. Power brands such as Bolero, Scorpio, TUV300 and the Pickups have performed well," Pravin Shah, President & Chief Executive (automotive) said.

Exports showed a whopping 28 percent growth at 3,279 units while domestic sales declined 0.2 percent to 48,729 units, year-on-year.

10:20 am FII view: Alexander Redman of Credit Suisse says emerging market investors continue to meaningfully reduce their exposure to India. The asset weighted average GEM fund moved from a 76 percent above benchmark stance on India to 67 percent overweight, on the month.

He further says emerging market earnings revisions at an aggregate level are struggling to break into positive territory for the first time since early 2011 even as countries accounting for 60 percent of the MSCI EM benchmark on a free-float adjusted basis now have positive or neutral revisions.

Malaysia, Chile, India & South Africa have the most net downgrades to 12-month forward EPS (earnings per share) estimates, Redman feels.

10:00 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks as well as broader markets continued to reel under pressure with the Nifty struggling below 8550 level, tracking weakness in global peers on uncertainty over US elections.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 250.82 points or 0.90 percent at 27625.79 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 83 points or 0.96 percent to 8543.25. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices declined over 1 percent each on weak market breadth.

About three shares declined for every share rising on the exchange.

ICICI Bank, ITC, Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, SBI and TCS were top contributors to Sensex's fall, down 1-2 percent whereas Mahindra & Mahindra, HUL and NTPC outperformed, rising 1-2 percent.

Most Asian markets dropped more than 1 percent after Wall Street's "fear index" spiked on jitters over the US presidential elections.

9:55 am Interview: Homegrown FMCG major Dabur said it will acquire the personal care, haircare and creams businesses of South Africa based-CTL group of companies in a deal valued at about Rs 10 crore. The acquisition marks Dabur's foray into the South African personal care market, the company said in a statement.

Dabur South Africa has entered into an agreement to acquire the South African business of development, manufacturing, packaging and sale of personal care products of CTL Contracting Proprietary Limited, it added. Besides, Dabur South Africa would also acquire certain equipment of Carbotec Laboratories and immovable property from CTL Management and Personnel Services.

9:45 am Market outlook: Udayan Mukherjee said that if a Donald Trump event takes place on November 9, then any kind of strategy will hinge on what the markets have already discounted ahead.

''Markets won't wait for the nth hour and you will see a fair amount of hedging, discounting before the event happens,'' he said, referring to the US elections whose outcome will be known on in a week's time.

As post Brexit days showed, the market is not focussed on the long-term implications, he said. Any fall in the market will be brutal but short-lived, he said.

The only thing that worries him is that this market hasn't fallen much since February. This conviction on the part of local investors hasn't been tested since the day of Budget, he said. "If the Trump event were to happen, then I think we might see a sharp, short selloff and given midcaps have outperformed a lot…there will be a test of the mettle of local investors.''

9:30 am FII views: Sakhti Siva, Credit Suisse says, "Foreigners turn net sellers in October. While the size of net foreign selling in October is rather small at USD1.35 billion, this is only the third month this year associated with net foreign selling in Emerging Asia ex-China. The largest net foreign selling in October was in India (USD 644 million) followed by Thailand."

The market has opened with severe cuts as Federal Reserve meeting on rate decision ends today while global peers are also rattled. Asian markets were weak after Wall Street's "fear index" spiked on jitters over the US presidential election.

The Sensex is down 276.16 points or 0.9 percent at 27600.45 and the Nifty is down 91.20 points or 1 percent at 8535.05. About 262 shares have advanced, 952 shares declined, and 26 shares are unchanged.

Axis Bank, Tata Motors, L&T and Reliance were losers in the Sensex.

The Indian rupee opened marginally lower at 66.78 per dollar versus previous close 66.71.

Bansi Madhvani of India Ratings said, "A clear indication by the Fed over its imminent rate hike could rein in any major appreciating bias of the rupee against USD, in the near term.

The US dollar hit its lowest level in more than two weeks against the euro on US political uncertainty, while the Mexican Peso hit a more than three-week low on positioning for a potential victory for republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Asian shares stumbled and the US dollar was on the defensive as signs that Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump could be closing the gap with his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton spooked investors.
 
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.4 percent while Japan's Nikkei fell 1.1 percent.

Wall Street sold off, with the S&P 500 closing at the lowest level since July 7, amid growing concern over the impending US presidential election and prospects for higher US interest rates.

The selloff in equities comes as the Federal Reserve holds its two-day policy meeting. While traders do not expect the central bank to raise interest rates just a week ahead of the presidential election, they are looking for signs confirming that the Fed is set to hike rates in December.

In the currency space, the US dollar hit its lowest level in more than two weeks against the euro on US political uncertainty, while the Mexican peso hit a more than three-week low on positioning for a potential victory for republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
 
Crude oil fell to a one-month lows, as US gasoline prices pared an early rally sparked by a pipeline blast and crude was also pressured by renewed doubts about whether OPEC will follow through with proposed output cuts.

Gold, silver and platinum rallied to one-month highs as concerns over the outcome of the US election sparked losses in stocks and the dollar, prompting investors to seek out precious metals as a haven from risk.