Sensex ends 291 points lower; ICICI Bank dips 1.3%

Markets ended lower for the third straight day as concerns over restrospective tax on foreign funds and weak corporate earnings continue to weigh on market sentiment.

The 30-share Sensex provisionally ended down 291 points at 27,147 and the 50-share Nifty slipped below its 200-day simple moving average to end 100 points lower at 8,206.
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(Updated at 2:32PM
Markets are heading towards third straight day of losses weighed down by select financials while IT major Infosys continues to remain under pressure on the back of disappointing March quarter earnings.

At 2:32PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 241 points at 27,197 and the 50-share Nifty was down 81 points at 8,224.

Further, investors are cautious ahead of the expiry of April derivatives contracts due on Thursday and the two-day meet of Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) in which the Federal Reserve is likely to signal its stance on key policy rates.

However, broader markets witnessed profit taking after select stocks rose sharply in the previous sessions. The BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were down 1.5-2.3% each.

Currency

The rupee was trading lower at 62.66 against the US dollar compared to the previous close of 62.56 on the back of dollar demand from importers and weakness in equities.

Stocks & Sectors

Except for Metal index all other indices were in the red. BSE Realty was the top loser followed by Healthcare, Oil and Gas and Consumer Durables indices  among others.

Financials are trading mixed with HDFC and HDFC Bank down 0.8-3.6% each contributing the most to the Sensex decline along with SBI which lost over 2%. However, Axis Bank was up 1.5%. ICICI Bank slipped over 3% on concerns of higher non-performing assets in the fourth quarter.Gross NPAs were up 3.78% versus 3.4% quarter-on-quarter while Net NPAs were up 1.61% versus 1.27% quarter-on-quarter.

Infosys continues to remain under pressure on the back of disappointing earnings while guidance was also lower than industry forecasts. The stock was down 1.3%. However, TCS was trading flat while Wipro recovered after recent losses and was up 1.6%.

Pharma shares witnessed profit taking with Dr Reddy's, Cipla and Sun Pharma down 0.9-3.5% each.

Vedanta gained 2.4%. According to media reports, Anil Aggarwal-led Vedanta is eyeing a minority stake in debt-laden Electrosteel Steels. Tata Steel and Hindalco are down 0.3% each.

Maruti Suzuki was up 2.4% after reporting a strong 61% year on year net profit growth at Rs 1,284 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2015.

Market breadth was weak with 1,983 losers and 627 gainers on the BSE.