 "Sensex slumps over 200 points; IT & financials weigh")
Benchmark indices are reeling under selling pressure and have hit intra-day low weighed down by IT and financial shares.
At 14:40 PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 203 points at 21,062 and the 50-share Nifty was down 57 points at 6,262.
Adds Chetan Jain, Deputy Manager-Derivatives Desk, Anand Rathi, technical analyst and market expert, “Nifty future has been trading in a very tight range since last few trading sessions with major move seen, it facing strong hurdle around 6350-6400 zone where maximum call OI is intact since the starting of the series whereas on downside 6200 & 6100 maximum put OI is suggesting strong support area for the markets.”
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, held its ground on the day, adding 0.1% at 80.949.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan managed to erase an earlier drop and tack on 0.2%, while Australian shares pared losses to end down 0.1%. Japan's Nikkei index ended off its session lows, down 0.1%.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 479.28 crore on Thursday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
The rupee is trading at 61.33/34 after touching 61.3175, its highest since December 11 and below its close of 61.5350/5450 on Thursday.
Traders say good foreign bank selling of the greenback likely on behalf of clients looking to invest in the debt market is hurting the pair.
On the sectoral front, BSE IT, TECk and Realty indices have plunged by 2% each followed by counters like Banks, Power and Metal, all falling down by 1% each. However, BSE Oil & Gas index has gained by nearly 1%.
From the IT segment, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is trading lower by over 5% at Rs 2,231 after reporting 42bp quarter-on-quarter (qoq) declined in operating margin to 29.7% for the third quarter ended December 2013 (Q3).
However, the company has reported a better than expected 15% qoq growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 5,333 crore for the quarter mainly on account of forex gain of Rs 299c crore as against loss of Rs 377 crore in previous quarter.
Wipro has declined by over 3% ahead of Q3 results today.
Coal India has dipped almost 10% to Rs 274 on the BSE after the stock turned ex-dividend today. The board of directors of state-owned company at their meeting held on January 14, 2014 approved payment of interim dividend of Rs 29 per share for the financial year ending March 2014. The board has set January 20 as the record date for the interim dividend.
Financials and banking majors like Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and HDFC have declined between 1-2%.
HDFC Bank has reported Q3 net profit of Rs 2,326 crore as compared to Rs 1,859 crore in the same period last fiscal.
Shares telecom companies, mainly Idea Cellular and Bharti Airtel, are trading lower by up to 5%, extending their previous day’s fall, on reports that Reliance Jio Infocomm's participation in the upcoming spectrum auction will hurt profitability of telecom companies.
Analysts at Credit Suisse downgraded its rating on the telecom sector to ‘underweight’, while cutting its 2014-15 earnings estimates for Bharti Airtel by 22% and for Idea Cellular by 27%, the Business Standard report suggests.
Ranbaxy Laboratories has dipped 4% to Rs 400 extending its past four days fall after the pharmaceutical company’s manufacturing facility in Toansa, Punjab received a Form 483 warning from the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA).
Other notable losers are Hindalco, Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki, NTPC, BHEL and Sesa Sterlite.
On the gaining side, HUL, Bajaj Auto, Tata Power, RIL, Hero Moto, Cipla and Sun Pharma have gained between 1-2%.
Reliance Inds will unveil Q3 results today.
ITC is trading flat. In line with street expectations, ITC today reported a jump of 16% in its third quarter net profit at Rs 2,385.34 crore.
Shares of PSU OMCs have gained as brent crude dropped as concerns over a rise in supply from Libya and Iran dragged on prices. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) rose on reports a panel of ministers has approved sale of a 10% government stake in IOC to ONGC and OIL India through a block deal on the stock exchanges.
ONGC, OIL Indi and IOC have gained between 1-2%.
The broader markets are under outperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are down between 0.9-1.1%.
The market breadth in BSE remains dismal with 1,654 shares declining and 846 shares advancing.
At 14:40 PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 203 points at 21,062 and the 50-share Nifty was down 57 points at 6,262.
Adds Chetan Jain, Deputy Manager-Derivatives Desk, Anand Rathi, technical analyst and market expert, “Nifty future has been trading in a very tight range since last few trading sessions with major move seen, it facing strong hurdle around 6350-6400 zone where maximum call OI is intact since the starting of the series whereas on downside 6200 & 6100 maximum put OI is suggesting strong support area for the markets.”
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On the global front, the dollar pushed higher on Friday and Asian stocks clawed their way off session lows, moving past downbeat results on Wall Street as some investors wagered that upcoming US data will paint an optimistic picture of the world's largest economy.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, held its ground on the day, adding 0.1% at 80.949.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan managed to erase an earlier drop and tack on 0.2%, while Australian shares pared losses to end down 0.1%. Japan's Nikkei index ended off its session lows, down 0.1%.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 479.28 crore on Thursday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
The rupee is trading at 61.33/34 after touching 61.3175, its highest since December 11 and below its close of 61.5350/5450 on Thursday.
Traders say good foreign bank selling of the greenback likely on behalf of clients looking to invest in the debt market is hurting the pair.
On the sectoral front, BSE IT, TECk and Realty indices have plunged by 2% each followed by counters like Banks, Power and Metal, all falling down by 1% each. However, BSE Oil & Gas index has gained by nearly 1%.
From the IT segment, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is trading lower by over 5% at Rs 2,231 after reporting 42bp quarter-on-quarter (qoq) declined in operating margin to 29.7% for the third quarter ended December 2013 (Q3).
However, the company has reported a better than expected 15% qoq growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 5,333 crore for the quarter mainly on account of forex gain of Rs 299c crore as against loss of Rs 377 crore in previous quarter.
Wipro has declined by over 3% ahead of Q3 results today.
Coal India has dipped almost 10% to Rs 274 on the BSE after the stock turned ex-dividend today. The board of directors of state-owned company at their meeting held on January 14, 2014 approved payment of interim dividend of Rs 29 per share for the financial year ending March 2014. The board has set January 20 as the record date for the interim dividend.
Financials and banking majors like Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and HDFC have declined between 1-2%.
HDFC Bank has reported Q3 net profit of Rs 2,326 crore as compared to Rs 1,859 crore in the same period last fiscal.
Shares telecom companies, mainly Idea Cellular and Bharti Airtel, are trading lower by up to 5%, extending their previous day’s fall, on reports that Reliance Jio Infocomm's participation in the upcoming spectrum auction will hurt profitability of telecom companies.
Analysts at Credit Suisse downgraded its rating on the telecom sector to ‘underweight’, while cutting its 2014-15 earnings estimates for Bharti Airtel by 22% and for Idea Cellular by 27%, the Business Standard report suggests.
Ranbaxy Laboratories has dipped 4% to Rs 400 extending its past four days fall after the pharmaceutical company’s manufacturing facility in Toansa, Punjab received a Form 483 warning from the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA).
Other notable losers are Hindalco, Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki, NTPC, BHEL and Sesa Sterlite.
On the gaining side, HUL, Bajaj Auto, Tata Power, RIL, Hero Moto, Cipla and Sun Pharma have gained between 1-2%.
Reliance Inds will unveil Q3 results today.
ITC is trading flat. In line with street expectations, ITC today reported a jump of 16% in its third quarter net profit at Rs 2,385.34 crore.
Shares of PSU OMCs have gained as brent crude dropped as concerns over a rise in supply from Libya and Iran dragged on prices. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) rose on reports a panel of ministers has approved sale of a 10% government stake in IOC to ONGC and OIL India through a block deal on the stock exchanges.
ONGC, OIL Indi and IOC have gained between 1-2%.
The broader markets are under outperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are down between 0.9-1.1%.
The market breadth in BSE remains dismal with 1,654 shares declining and 846 shares advancing.