Financials drag Nifty below 8,000; Axis Bank dips 2%

Janet Yellen kindled the prospects of benchmark interest rate hike in December citing growth in the US economy

Markets have extended losses in the first hour of trading weighed down by financials amid weakness in the global peers after Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen kindled the prospects of benchmark interest rate hike in the month of December citing growth in the US economy.

Meanwhile as Bihar slips into the fifth and final phase of polling , investors become edgy ahead of the outcome of exit poll results of Bihar election.

At 10:25 AM, the Sensex is down 137 points at 26,416 and the Nifty has lost 47 points lower at 7,993

Top 5 losers in the Sensex include Tata Steel, Vedanta,  Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel and Axis bank down between 1.5-2.6%.

The rupee has depreciated by 16 paise to 65.65 against the dollar owing to fresh demand for the American currency from importers amid weakness in the local equities.
______________________
(updated at 10:30 AM)

Markets have opened the session on a mute note after Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen in a testimony before the joint economic committee in Washington overnight kindled the prospects of benchmark interest rate hike in the month of December citing growth in the US economy.

Meanwhile as Bihar slips into the fifth and final phase of polling , investors become edgy ahead of the outcome of exit poll results of Bihar election. 

At 9:15 AM, the Sensex opened 87 points lower at 26,466 and the Nifty opened 25 points lower at 8,016.

In the broader market, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices lost 0.3% each. Market breadth is negative with 939 losers and 638 gainers on the BSE.

Tata Steel, Cipla, Sun TV, United Breweries, TGBL, SJVN, Oracle Financial and Novartis among others are scheduled to announce their results today.

MARKET COMMENT

"Asian stocks traded mostly lower early today, following a weaker finish on Wall Street as increasing odds of a U.S. interest-rate rise in December sapped risk appetite. Wall Street stocks ended down on Wednesday as energy stocks turned lower on a drop in oil prices and two Federal Reserve officials said U.S. economic strength could justify a December interest rate hike.Today the markets are likely open on flat note. All emerging markets are trading in green. The coming session is likely to witness a range of 8000 on declines and 8150 on advances." according to SMC Global morning report".

STOCK TRENDS

On the sectoral front, 8 out of 12 sectoral indices are trading in red. However, BSE Power and Consumer Durables indices are bucking the trend and are up 0.3% and 0.2% each.

IT stocks are trading flat after Cognizant Technology Solutions raised its full-year revenue forecast for the third time this year after posting its biggest jump in quarterly revenue in three years. Infosys is trading flat with a positive bias. However, TCS and Wipro are trading 0.2% lower.

Tata Motors continues its rally for the second straight day and is up 0.2% on better than expected JLR sales in US.

Oil & gas and metal stocks are losing sheen after Fed chief's comments. A rate hike in the US is seen as negative news for commodity-based stocks shares. In the energy space, RIL and ONGC are trading lower by 0.5%. Meanwhile, Tata Steel and Vedanta are down 1% each.

Drug maker Cipla is trading higher by 0.3% ahead of the Q2 results today. Meanwhile, Tata Steel is down 1% ahead of the September quarter earnings today.

Ashok Leyland reported over two-fold rise in net profit at Rs 287 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2015. However, the earning results came below street expectations and the stock lost over 3%.

DLF said its promoters are likely to sell their 40 per cent stake in the company's rental arm DLF Cyber City Developers (DCCDL) by the end of this fiscal. nThe stock is up 0.5%.

GAIL which fell 2.4% yesterday after it posted a 66% decline in net profit for the quarter ended September is up in today’s trade and is up 0.6% on buying interest.

GLOBAL MARKET

Asian shares are trading mixed on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chief Janet Yellen rekindled hopes of an interest rate hike in the month of December citing growth in the US economy. 

Stocks on the Wall Street edged lower on Wednesday with S&P 500 Index dipping 0.4% from a three-month high touched on Tuesday owing to weakness in the losses energy shares after a dropl in oil prices.

Japan's Nikkei is up 1%, as hopes of an interest rate hike in December by the Fed boosted the dollar against the yen.