Sensex slumps over 300 points; Nifty below 8,050

Main losers on the Sensex are Hindalco, Tata Motors, Cipla, BHEL, GAIL & Coal India

Markets are trading near day’s low with Sensex and Nifty falling down by over 1% weighed down by realty, oil and capital goods shares.

At 1.46 PM, Sensex is trading at 26,865 down 307 points while NIfty has shed 98 points at 8,048.

The main losers on the Sensex are Hindalco, Tata Motors, Cipla, BHEL, GAIL, Coal India and Axis Bank.


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Updated at 13:35

Markets continue to trade weak weighed down by profit taking by fund and retail investors in Index heavyweights ICICI Bank, Tata Motors , L&T and RIL contributing nearly 100 points to the decline on the 30-share Sensex. 

 

At 1.35 PM, Sensex is trading at 26,958 down 248 points while NIfty has shed 77 points at 8,070.

 

Meanwhile, in the broader market, the BSE Mid Cap and Small Cap indices are trading in line with the large counter parts and have lost 0.5% each.

 

Market breadth on the BSE is weak with 1,653 declines and 1,104 advances.

 

Global Markets:

 

Asian shares recouped early losses on Tuesday while commodities won a break from recent selling pressure after a reading on China's massive factory sector outpaced the market's bleak expectations.

 

The HSBC flash reading on manufacturing (PMI) for September rose to 50.5, from 50.2 in August and confounding forecasts for a dip to 50.0.

 

However, European markets are trading lower. FTSE, DAX and CAC 40 are trading down between 0.5-1%.

 

Crude Oil:

 

Oil prices rose in Asia today in response to better-than-expected Chinese manufacturing data and after the United States said it had led ai strikes against jihadists in crude producer Syria.US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for November delivery rose 31 cents to $91.18 while Brent crude for November also gained 33 cents to $97.30 in mid-morning trade.

 

Rupee:

 

The rupee is trading at 60.8/9100 vs Monday's close of 60.8150/8250 in morning trade as foreign investors sold Indian shares worth $30.53 million on Monday, provisional data from exchange showed.

 

Sectors & Stocks:

 

On the sectoral front, BSE Realty is the top loser down over 2.5%. Further, BSE Metal, Capital Goods and Oil & Gas indices are down over 1%. Bankex has lost 0.7%. However, BSE Consumer Durables, FMCG and IT indices are trading in the positive territory up between 0.5-1%.

 

In the metal pack, Hindalco is the top loser down 2% followed by Tata Steel, Coal India and Sesa Sterlite down between 0.3-1.5% shrugging off the encouraging manufacturing data from China. The HSBC/Markit Flash China Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 50.5 in September from August's final reading of 50.2.

 

Index Heavyweight Tata Motors which gained nearly 4% as analysts remained on bullish on the stock has lost 1.5% in today’s trade. Also, M&M has dipped nearly 2% after Credit Suisse downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "outperform" saying the company's valuations are no longer "attractive". However, Maruti Suzuki and Hero Motocorp are up nearly 1%

 

Consumer Durables stocks gained on expectation of demand ahead of the festive season. Whirlpool, Videocon Industries and Titan have gained between 1-2%.

 

In the Oil & gas space, ONGC, RIL and GAIL have declined between 1-2% on uncertainty on Gas price hike. 

 

In the financial segment, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and HDFC twins lost between 0.5-1.5%.

 

Commercial real estate developer DLF lost more than 4% after BNP Paribas downgraded DLF stock to "reduce" from "hold". 

 

L&T, Cipla and Bharti Airtel are some of the notable names in red down between 1-2%.

 

On the flip side, shares of information technology (IT) are in demand after the S&P BSE IT index hit a record high in otherwise subdued market. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), HCL Technologies and MindTree have hit their respective lifetime highs. Following the tandem, Wipro and Infosys have surged between 0.6-2.5%.

 

Fresh buying is visible in the FMCG space with ITC and HUL up 1%.

 

The government has withdrawn the drug pricing authority's powers that allowed it to fix the prices of medicines not deemed essential. The move comes after industry protests against the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) decision to impose price caps on more than 100 drugs. Dr Reddy’s Lab is up nearly 1% while Sun Pharma is trading flat with a positive bias.