 "Sensex slips below 27,000;bank, pharma shares weigh")
Benchmark share indices continued to remain under pressure, amid weak global cues, dragged down by select private bank and pharma post their earnings annoucement while caution was also seen ahead of the expiry of October derivatives and signals on interest rate from the two-day US Federal Reserve meet which ends today.
At 1:25pm, the 30-share Sensex was down 274 points at 26,979 while the Nifty slipped 78 points at 8,155.
The broader markets were trading mixed with BSE MidCap down 0.3% and SmallCap index marginally down. Market breadth was negative with 1,283 losers and 1,110 gainers on the BSE.
"Investors have turned cautious and booking profits ahead of the expiry of October F&O expiry and the outcome of the US Fed meet," says G Chokkalingam, Founder & MD, Equinomics Research & Advisory.
The Indian rupee was trading lower at Rs 65.04 against the US dollar on the back of month-end dollar demand from importers.
GLOBAL MARKETS
Most Asian markets were trading lower with the exception of Japan. The benchmark Nikkei ended up 0.7% while Shanghai Composite was down 1.8% and Hang Seng lost 0.8% while Straits Times was down 0.4%.
European shares were trading lower in early trades with FTSE-100, CAC-40 and DAX down 0.8-1% each.
SECTORS & STOCKS
BSE Bankex was the top loser down nearly 2% along with Power, Realty, Healthcare, Oil and Gas among others.
Axis Bank was down 7%. The bank sold loans of Rs.1,850 crore to asset reconstruction companies (ARCs). That number is a bit on the higher side and indicates the underlying stress for banks in general.
Among other financial stocks, ICICI Bank, HDFC and SBI were down 1-3.5% each.
A slump in the global crude prices has hurt the energy shares. ONGC and RIL have shed 1.6% and 0.6% each.
Lupin was down 3.3%. The stock extended losses for second straight day. The company reported 35% year on year (YoY) decline in its consolidated net profit at Rs 409 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2015 (Q2FY16), due to single digit growth in net sales and lower other income. The drug maker had profit of Rs 630 crore in the same quarter last year.
Tata Motors was marginally up. The company reported 21% increase in its global sales, including that of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) vehicles, at 97,102 units in September.
Vedanta was down 0.8%. The company's net debt fell Rs 5,335 crore to Rs 27,105 crore in the quarter under review. The first quarter had showed a net debt of Rs 32,439 crore. The company believes that the right mix of low-cost assets fuelled with new technologies to benefit from future demand in India and globally.
Bharti Airtel was up over 1% after the company closed another deal—its eighth such deal this year—for the sale of telecom towers in Africa in an effort to monetize its assets and reduce its debt in the continent.
Tata Steel was up 0.3%. The safeguard duty was imposed on hot-rolled flats (HRF) last month, domestic steel companies are looking for more products to be brought under the duty cover to curb imports. Steel producers have now filed a petition for imposition of safeguard on colour coated products of steel.
Maruti Suzuki was up 0.6%. The auto major reported a 42 per cent jump in net profit for the July-September period on the back of increased volumes, lower material cost, lower discounts and favourable foreign exchange. Net profit for the quarter stood at Rs 1,225.6 crore, against Rs 862.5 crore a year ago. The stock has gained nearly 0.7%.
Among other shares, Deepak Nitrite was up over 6% at Rs 67 after the company said that it has bagged an annual contract of sizeable amount for the year 2016 for supply of a major agro intermediate from Bayer Crop Science.
Aptech was up over 3% after the company said that they are entering the formal K-12 school business with the maiden school will come in Kabul, Afghanistan and will enroll students in March 2016.
