Sensex tanks 200 points, Nifty below 8,200; Tata Motors falls 2%

Benchmark indices continue to trade in a negative zone weighed down by rate-sensitive sectors like auto and banks. Besides, weak October industrial production data has also dampened investors’ sentiments. India’s industrial production declined 1.9% in October 2016 over October 2015.

The outcome of US Federal Reserve meeting, domestic macro data and the global market trend will keep investors hooked this week, say experts.

The two-day rate-setting meeting of the Fed will kick off on December 13, which will be keenly tracked worldwide. Talk of a policy tightening has kept emerging markets, including India, on edge as this means a flight of capital to the US.

At 15:00 pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 241 points at 26,506 and the Nifty50 fell 96 points at 8,165.  Among broader markets BSE Midcap fell 0.20% and Smallcap indices were down 0.65%.

“Resistance is expected at 8,400 levels. Buy on dips should be the strategy for the traders. Nifty50 is expected to trade with positive bias with intermittent profit booking at higher levels,” added Jimeet Modi, CEO, SAMCO Securities.

Among overseas markets, Asian stocks witnessed a mixed trend. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index was currently up 0.98%. Japan's October core machinery orders rose for the first time in three months to beat expectations, government data showed.

Back home, India is likely to miss a self-imposed deadline to launch the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from April after a meeting of federal and state officials ended on Sunday without deciding who would administer the tax.

Asian Paints, Bajaj Auto, Axis Bank, Tata Motors and Infosys are down 2% each. On the gaining side, ONGC, NTPC, Sun Pharma, RIL and L&T have gained between 1%-2%.

State Bank of India (SBI) was up 1.1% at Rs 269 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in early morning trade after the state-owned bank said that it will divest 3.9% of its stake in SBI Life Insurance Company to global investment firms KKR and Temasek for Rs 1,794 crore ($264 million).

Shares of oil exploration & production (E&P) companies such as Oil Natural Gas Corporation (up 2.3% at Rs 314) and Oil India (2.5% at Rs 454) have hit their respective fresh 52-week highs on the BSE in early morning trade tracking surge in oil prices.

Among other shares, Claris Lifesciences has moved higher to its 52-week high of Rs 326, up 5% in intra-day trade, extending its Friday’s 2% gain on the BSE, after the company reported a more-than-doubled its consolidated net profit at Rs 32 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2016 (Q2FY17).

Titagarh Wagons was up 4% at Rs 119 on the BSE, after the company said it has received an order for construction of two fuel barges for the Indian Navy in its recently added "Ship-building" vertical.

Alkem Laboratories was down 5% to Rs 1,588 on the BSE after the pharmaceutical company said it has received the inspection report from the US health regulator of the company’s manufacturing facility located at Ankleshwar, which contains three 483 observations.

Rolta India has surged 14% to Rs 62.50 on the BSE, after the company reported a strong 91% year on year jump in its consolidated net profit at Rs 54.30 crore for the second quarter ended September 2016 (Q2FY17).