Nifty drops 88 points to end below 8,300

Financials were the top losers along with auto and capital goods shares

Markets ended lower to erase all gains of 2015 after weak economic data from China rekindled worries over global growth while the rupee weakened on worries over capital outflows.

The 30-share Sensex ended down 284 points at 27,323 and the 50-share Nifty ended down 88 points at 8,285.
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(Updated at 2:30PM)
Benchmark indices continue to lose steam on concerns of an economic slowdown in China and rout in the global markets amid persistent weakness in the rupee and crude oil.

At 2:30PM, the Sensex was down 339 points at 27,268 and the Nifty was down 103 points at 8,269 after falling to an intra-day low at 8,225 level. .

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices are down by 1.2% each. The market breadth is extremely weak with 1,932 losers against 745 gainers on the BSE.

GLOBAL CONCERNS

A survey on China’s manufacturing sector highlighted the fact that manufacturing is at a six-and-a-half year low.

The slowdown in world’s second largest economy could drag on global growth owing to which, the Asian markets fell to its lowest level since February 2014.

Once again Greece is back to hog the limelight as its PM Tsipras has put down his papers and called in for fresh elections after his bailout package met with intense opposition from lawmakers.

Further, investors became jittery over rising fears that a Fed rate hike could be just round the corner.

CRUDE OIL

Oil is heading towards its eighth straight weekly decline in Asia today, as sharp falls in equities added to worries that a lacklustre global economic growth could hurt energy demand in a market that is already plagued by the supply glut problem.

RUPEE

The slide in the rupee continues as the Indian currency hit a fresh low at 65.90, sliding by another 36 paise against the American currency on sustained capital outflows by foreign funds even as the US currency weakened overseas.

Besides, the weakness in the local equities also weighed on the currency that is heading towards 66 against the US dollar.

SECTORS & STOCKS

Sectorally, all sectors are trading in red with BSE Auto, Capital Goods indices losing over 2% along with BSE Bankex and Realty indices.

Metal shares continue to lose sheen as a slowdown in Chinese manufacturing activity has put pressure on metal and mining stocks. JSW Steel, Tata Steel and Vedanta are down between 2-5% each.

Oil shares are also the negative zone. The falling crude prices although profitable for the oil marketing companies, the slide in rupee is negating the fact. OIL, IOC, HPCL, BPCL are all down between 0.5-1.8% each while the oil producing companies such as ONGC (0.2%), RIL (1.5%), GAIL(2.6%) also edged lower.

In the financial space, ICICI Bank, HDFC, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI are down between 1-2.5% on concerns that demand for additional credit would remain subdued.

Maruti Suzuki has increased prices for the first time in 22 months in the range of Rs 3,000 to Rs 9,000 across models, except the newly launched S Cross. However, the stock is down nearly 2%.

Tata Motors' lost about 5,800 JLR vehicles in China’s port blast. The stock slumped 3 % on the BSE and was trading at 18-month low at Rs 331.20, pulling down the market cap below Rs 100,000 crore. The stock was already under pressure on rising slowdown in China.

Other  notable losers on the Sensex are Bajaj Auto and Hero Motocorp, both down  by more than 3%.

On the flip side, HUL, Infosys, Cipla and Sun Pharma have gained between 0.4-1.2% each in an otherwise weak market.