Markets remain under pressure; IT stocks drag

Markets continue their southward journey triggered by a massive sell-off in global equities. However, a revision in country’s GDP growth for the current fiscal year has arrested the free fall on Dalal Street.

At 2 pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 286 points at 24,001 and the Nifty50 was down 92 points at 7,295.

The local markets are expected to react to global triggers until the government announce the Union Budget for the fiscal year 2016/17. The last batch of corporate earnings this week will also impact the equities as an immediate trigger, analysts say.

The Indian rupee today breached the 68 mark against the US dollar was trading 25 paise lower at 68.18 amid demand from importers and banks in addition to weakness in domestic stocks.

The top gainers on the Sensex are Sun Pharma, Lupin, NTPC, ONGC, and Bajaj Auto, up between 0.8-2.5% each.

The top losers on the Sensex are TCS, Infosys, Coal India, Tata Motors, and Cipla, down between 2-4% each.

TOP LOSERS: BSE 500 INDEX
COMPANY	LATEST PRICE	LOSS (Rs)	LOSS (%)
MOTHERSON SUMI	242.55	-28.9	-10.65
TAKE SOLUTIONS	142.7	-12.65	-8.14
JUST DIAL	503.05	-41.75	-7.66
RICOH INDIA	537	-33.5	-5.87
STRIDES SHASUN	1044	-63.3	-5.72
TOP GAINERS: BSE 500 INDEX
COMPANY	LATEST	GAIN (Rs)	GAIN (%)
ASHIANA HOUSING	148.85	10.15	7.32
SH.RENUKA SUGAR	12.64	0.59	4.9
BHARAT FORGE	799.05	29.3	3.81
T.V. TODAY NETW.	300.45	9.8	3.37
PTC INDIA FIN	36.75	1.05	2.94

Data as at 1:30PM

Among individual shares, auto component maker Motherson Sumi Systems reported a 20.90% increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 307.35 crore in the first quarter ended December 31. The company had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 254.21 crore in the same period in the last financial year. The stock has tanked 10%.

Punjab National Bank has plunged over 4% after reporting a sharp 93% year-on-year (yoy) decline in net profit at Rs 51 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2015 (Q3FY16) on account of higher provisioning towards non-performing assets (NPAs).  The bank made minor profit on back of Rs 909 crore of tax write-back. The state-owned bank had profit of Rs 775 crore in the year-ago period.

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(updated 10:40 pm)


Markets continued to remain under pressure with IT major leading the decline along with financials.

At 10:40am, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 275 points at 24,012 and the Nifty50 was down 83 points at 7,304.

In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were down nearly 1% each.

Market breadth was weak with 1331 losers and 661 gainers on the BSE.

Foreign funds were net sellers in equities to the tune of Rs 85 crore on Monday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

The Indian rupee breached the 68 mark against the US dollar was trading 25 paise lower at 68.18 amid demand from importers and banks in addition to weakness in domestic stocks.

Among other shares, Oriental Bank of Commerce was up 1%. The bank has decided to raise up to Rs 1,500 crore by the issue of preference shares to the government and LIC.

United Bank of India was up nearly 1%. The bank plans to raise up to Rs 1,000 crore by issuing securities.

JK Tyre & Industries was down 1.5%. The company posted a consolidated net profit increase of 20% at Rs 110 crore during the quarter ended December 31, as against Rs 92 crore posted during the same period a year ago.

Apollo Hospitals was down 1.2%. The company's retail healthcare subsidiary, Apollo Health & Lifestyle Limited (AHLL), is currently in talks with three private equity (PEs) players to raise funds through equity dilution.

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(updated at 9:40am)
Markets recovered partially even as IT stocks continue to drag indices amid lower guidance from IT major Cognizant..

At 9:40am, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 260 points at 24,027 and the Nifty was down 77 points at 7,311.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Most Asian markets are closed for Lunar Year Holidays. Japan’s Nikkei has slumped 5% mirroring a weak closing on the Wall Street with Dow Jones closing about 400 points lower. Meanwhile, jump in the yen piled further pressure and dented the sentiments.

Stocks on Wall Street slumped on Monday amid growth concerns and uncertainty over the Fed's stance on interest rates.

SECTORS & STOCKS

All sectoral indices were in thThe Technology shares will remain in focus after US-based Cognizant Technology Solutions posted a 17% growth in fourth-quarter profit that marginally came in ahead of expectations. However, the company’s guidance range is much lower than what it has been providing for. Cognizant has guided that its revenue will be in the range of $13.6-14.2 billion for CY16, representing a growth of 9.9-14.3%. with IT index leading the decline.

Infosys and TCS were down over 3% each while Wipro eased 1.8%.

In the financial pack, HDFC, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI and Axis Bank were trading 0.7-1% lower.

Tata Motors was down nearly 2%. The overseas arm Jaguar Land Rover reported its best ever sales figures for the month of January - selling more than 46,000 vehicles, according to media report.

Among the other index heavweights, ITC and Reliance were down 0.5%-1% each