RIL, banks pull Sensex 1% lower, Nifty ends below 5300

3:30 pm The Sensex ended 1 percent lower at 17,263 due to profit booking in index heavyweight Reliance Industries, banking at IT stocks. The 50-share Nifty provisionally ended down 64 points or 1.2 % at 5,254.

Reliance Industries ended 2 percent lower at Rs 756 after reports showed the largest gas fields in its KG-D6 block have hit an all-time low production of about 28 million standard cubic meters per day as the firm shut six wells due to water and sand ingress.

Software majors witnessed selling pressure with analysts citing rising worries about softer-than-expected fiscal Q4 earnings and uncertainty about corporate IT budgets in the year starting April. TCS is the top Sensex loser, down over 4 percent at Rs 1,118 while Infosys ended 1.4 percent at Rs 2,826.

In the banking segment, ICICI Bank, SBI, HDFC Bank and HDFC were all down over 1.5 percent each after hopes of rate cut by the central bank remaind elusive.

Biocon hit a 52-week low today after terminating insulin deal with Pfizer. The stock closed 0.50 percent lower at Rs 239 today.

Union Bank of India plunges 5% on Moody’s downgrade

2:30 pmUnion Bank of India shares tumbled more 5% to Rs 218 on the NSE after the rating agency Moody’s had downgraded the stock by one notch from BA1 to BA2 on weak asset quality and insufficient loss-absorption.

Sensex plunges to day’s lows as rate sensitives get thrashed

2:00 pm Friday’s brutal rout got extended in Monday’s session as Sensex got dragged to the session’s after investors continued to book profits in blue-chip stocks. Markets kept drifting lower at a time when PM Manmohan Singh addressed the parliament on a range of issues including the resignation of Rail Minister, Budget etc.

Reliance Industries exerted pressure on the frontline indices as it plummeted close to two percent after reports showed the largest gas fields in its KG-D6 block have hit an all-time low production of about 28 million standard cubic meters per day as the firm shut six wells due to water and sand ingress.

Sovereign bond yields have spiked up post rise in inflation numbers and stoked up worries among investors.

Among the major winners, M&M is up by 2.34 percent, ITC is up by 2.13 percent, Sun Pharma up by 1.16%, Sterlite up by 1.14% and Hindalco up by 1%,, while TCS down by 4.01%, BHEL down by 2.87%, SBI down by 1.98%, RIL down by 1.94% and Tata Power down by 1.80% were the major losers in the index.

M&M gains as govt increases agri credit by Rs 1 lakh cr

12:30 pm Sensex continues to remain in negative territory and is currently down over half a percent, at 17359. The Nifty too is below the 5,300 mark at 5284.

Sterlite Industries was the biggest gainer among largecaps, rising 2.6 percent as the company plans to get into merchant mining, signalling its ambition to expand on a global level.

Tractor makers M&M and VST Tillers rose 2.2 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively after the government increased agricultural credit target to Rs 5.75 lakh crore from Rs 4.75 lakh crore.

Power producers are biggest gainers from Budget

11:30 am Nifty regains the important 5,300 mark as slightly better trend on the other Asian bourses capped the losses.

Shares in power producer JSW Energy rise nearly 4 percent in early trade on Monday after custom duties on imported coal were slashed in the fiscal 2012/13 budget. Other power utilities reliant on coal also gained, with Adani Power up 0.6 percent.

Tata Steel is currently trading at Rs 460.60, up by 1.38% from its previous closing of Rs 454.35 on the BSE.The increase in excise duty rate to 12 percent would again push up the steel prices, rising since January, by up to Rs 1,000 per tonne as costs are likely to increase. rices for various steel products are currently hovering in the range of Rs 36,000 to Rs 40,000 per tonne. Leading producers like SAIL, Tata Steel and Essar Steel have increased prices in the last two months, particularly for long products, used largely by the construction industry.

SBI to get Rs 7,000 cr lifeline next week, but why is the stock down?

10:30 am NMDC rises 1.71 percent on plans to spend Rs 3,513 crore on Chhattisgarh steel plant.The company will be funding entire investment for the project from its internal resources.

Banking Secretary has said that the government plans to infuse Rs 6,000-Rs 7,000 crore capital in SBI by next week. The stock is, however, trading down 1/71 percent at Rs 2203. Taking cues from the government the bank has decided to be selective in its rate cuts. SBI chairman Pratip Chaudhuri told TOI that the bank is expected to reduce lending rates for small and medium enterprises, followed by a possible reduction in auto loans by half-a-percentage point (100 basis points equal one percentage point). “We are not reducing the base rate but we will reduce the spread,” Chaudhuri said.

Post budget mkts in the red, ONGC & Cairn bleed

Now that all three triggers of March- the UP Elections, RBI’s monetary policy review and Budget 2012- are over, the markets opened flat but soon drifted in the red.

According to Morgan Stanley, the markets could break out of its rangebound trade on the upside in the second half of the year. The global liquidity cycle and the April earnings season is likely to determine the market trend in the near-term, said Morgan Stanley.

[caption id=“attachment_248702” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Nifty has slipped below its 5300 level and is trading at Friday’s low of 5296. Reuters”] [/caption]

Meanwhile, the Nifty has slipped below its 5300 level and is trading at Friday’s low of 5296. Even the Sensex is down half a percent at 17,404.

Among the winners, RCom is trading almost 1.5 percent higher on news that the Anil Ambani-controlled FLAG Telecom will list on the Singapore Stock Exchange and divest 75 percent stake for $1.25-1.5 billion.

Welspun India too is strong and is trading almost 6 percent up after Sebi revoked a ban on its promoters.

Hindustan Lever and Axis Bank are up almost half a percent each.

Among the losers, ONGC and Cairn India are down alost 2.5 percent after the government imposed a new cess for crude at Rs 4,500 per tonne from the existing level of Rs 2,500 per tonne.This imposes an extra cost on all oil producing companies like ONGC, Cairn, Reliance among others. Cess is deducted from the realised crude oil price.

IDFC too is down almost 3 percent at Rs 140.50 after a recent downgrade.

Kingfisher down 2.5 percent this morning after the Service Tax department said on Saturday it may move the court as the airline has still not paid does worth Rs Rs 76 crore, which also include arrears and interest. Its IATA accounts too have been frozen.