BSE Sensex sheds 49 pts; Reliance dips 1%, ICICI up 1.7%

Equity benchmarks could not sustain recovery in late trade Thursday, losing marginally at close. The NSE Nifty, which fell below the 50 day moving average of 5877.42 in morning trade on weak global cues, managed to recoup all losses in afternoon trade on financials' support. But further fall in Reliance and Infosys in last 15 minutes of trade dragged the Nifty 2.45 points down, to close at 5921.40

The BSE Sensex fell 48.73 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 19519.49. But the broader market outperformed benchmarks, with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were up 0.1 percent.

The market is down more than 3 percent from last week as FII inflows continue to wane. "If money flow tapers off further then probably a greater fall cannot be ruled out. But my own sense is that 5800 should still hold out," Dilip Bhat, Joint MD of Prabhudas Lilladher said.

Reliance Industries shares slipped one percent despite chairman Mukesh Ambani, at 39th annual general meeting, says he will invest Rs 1.5 lakh crore over next three years.

Software services exporter Infosys slipped 1.4 percent while telecom operator Bharti Airtel lost more than 2 percent.

Housing finance company HDFC erased all its gains towards close, which ended flat after rising more than 1.6 percent during the day.

Steel and healthcare shares remained under pressure throughout the session today whereas banks gained momentum in second half of trade.

Country's largest lenders ICICI Bank and State Bank of India rose by 1.7 percent and 0.86 percent, respectively.

Larsen & Toubro shares advanced 0.6 percent. Brokerage house CLSA is overweight on the stock with a target price of Rs 1,715 . ''The management is confident about meeting its 20% order inflow guidance for FY14, driven by the infra and hydrocarbons segment,'' CLSA in its report said.

3:35 pm: Reliance Industries closed down 1 percent at Rs 792.30 on the BSE.

3:30 pm Market update: The Sensex has ended down 62.80 points at 19505.42, and the Nifty slips 6.15 points at 5917.70 (provisional). ICICI Bank , Wipro , Maruti Suzuki, SBI and L&T are major gainers in the Sensex.

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The market is going through an extremely volatile session. After a struggle, the Nifty is not able to hold its gains. The Nifty is down 4.25 points at 5919.60 while the Sensex is down 53.66 points at 19514.56. About 1077 shares have advanced, 1173 shares declined, and 144 shares are unchanged.

Pharma stocks are dragging the indices with a loss of 1.2 percent from its previous close. ICICI Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Wipro, SBI and L&T are big gainers in the Sensex.

Reliance Communications touched 52-week high at Rs 119.15. The stock is currently at Rs 118.10, up Rs 1.75, or 1.50 percent.

02:59pm IOC shares declined 1.5 percent, after the government is planning to sell 10 percent stake in company through offer for sale. The share sale could fetch over Rs 6,800 crore to the government, reports PTI.

While addressing shareholders at 39th annual general meeting, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani said he remained bullish on business of Reliance Jio. "We have finalised key vendors for launch of 4G services and Reliance Jio will make aggressive launches this year," he added.

He also said the company had spent Rs 18,000 crore on 4G so far.

02:50pm JM Financial shares surged nearly 10 percent while UCO Bank is up 5.5 percent. Muthoot Finance rose 4.5 percent.

Market breadth also improved; 628 shares advanced and 591 shares declined on the National Stock Exchange.

02:45pm BSE Sensex recovered nearly 240 points and NSE Nifty close to 80 points from day's low while even the Bank Nifty rebounded quite sharply from day's low.

02:40pm Gujarat Fluorochemicals shares spiked 8 percent amid large volumes, especially after a big block deal worth Rs 9.24 crore.

More than 3.48 lakh equity shares changed hands at Rs 265 a piece on National Stock Exchange.

02:35pm HDFC Bank trimmed losses to 0.08 percent from 0.6 percent. Infosys , Reliance Industries and Bharti Airtel too cut their half of losses.

India Cements shares advanced 3 percent, after the company increased cement prices in Andhra Pradesh by Rs 100 per bag this month.

It is also looking to trim other non-core business. "We will take decision soon and will fully focus on core business," India Cementss said.

02:30pm NSE Nifty hit the 5950 level after a recovery in afternoon trade, led by banks. ICICI Bank and State Bank of India shares rose by 1.9 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively. The Bank Nifty gained 167 points.

BSE Sensex is up 46.34 points at 19614.56, and the Nifty is up 26.30 points or 0.44% at 5950.15.

02:20pm Zuari Agro Chemicals gained more than 6 percent, after the company resumed its production of urea/ammonia.

It had shutdown its urea/ammonia plant from March 24 for annual maintenance. It had completed its annual turnaround work in May, but the the plant operations could not be started as per the plan in view of non-availability of water from the Government of Goa.

02:10pm Indian equities rebounded in afternoon trade Thursday, supported majorly by financials. The Bank Nifty rose 0.8 percent or 98 points to 12,387.40 as country's largest lenders State Bank of India and ICICI Bank gained 0.4 percent and 1.34 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, Axis Bank shares surged 3 percent followed by Bank of Baroda with 2.6 percent gains. But HDFC Bank declined 0.6 percent.

HMT rallied 9 percent after media reports that the government is planning to sell properties of the company.

1:50 pm Bharti Airtel , Tata Steel , Hindalco , NTPC and GAIL are key losers in the Sensex.

1.44 pm: The Sensex is down 18.66 points at 19549.56, and the Nifty up 0.95 points at 5924.80.

1:35 pm FM speech: Finance Minister P Chidambaram urged banks to pass on the benefits of policy rate cuts to their borrowers. At the same time, he stressed on scarping the fetish for gold investment. Higher imports of gold is fuelling the widening current account deficit.

"Since 2012 the Reserve Bank of India cut repo rate by 125 basis points. However, commercial banks have reduced their rates only by 30 bps. Moreover, banks have a role to play in dampening the enthusiasm for gold. Gold is like another metal, which shines a little more than copper or glass," he said while addressing a conference held by India Banks' Association in Mumbai.

1:30 pm Check out: Foreign institutional investors have built short position to the tune of USD 700 million in last four trading sessions of June series, which signals they foresee weaker levels ahead, says Vineet Bhatnagar, MD, PhillipCapital. The Nifty could face resistance at 5800-5850. The upside for Nifty in this series is limited at 5950-5960, he said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

He pointed out that more short positions are seen building in the index than specific stocks. Those looking to play this series can adopt a bull spread strategy by buying 1 call of 6000 strike and sell 2 calls of 6100 strike, he recommended.

1:20 pm Buzzing: India Cements is looking to trim other non-core business and will fully focus on core business, report CNBC-TV18. The company is looking to exit Jagati Publications. The stock is currently at Rs 66.20, up Rs 0.80, or 1.22 percent on the BSE.

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The market has recovered its early losses led by capital goods and realty stocks. The Nifty has tested 5900 and is currently at 5928, up 4 points while the Sensex is down 5.02 points at 19563.20. About 919 shares have advanced, 1109 shares declined, and 142 shares are unchanged.

L&T, HDFC , Wipro , Maruti Suzuki and ICICI Bank are major gainers in the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma , GAIL, Hindalco and Tata Steel are laggards of the day.

12:59pm Ambassador maker HMT shares rallied 14 percent as the government is planning to sell properties of the company, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting New Indian Express.

Redington India is up 1.2 percent to Rs 77, as brokerage house Nomura advised buying the stock with a target price of Rs 108. "We have scaled back our FY14-15 EPS to factor in the knock-on impact of a relatively tough FY13," Nomura in its report said.

12:50pm L&T Construction received orders worth Rs 2,002 crore in May-June; the stock rose 1.2 percent.

McNally Bharat will consider allotment of equity shares on preferential basis on June 10; but the stock is down 3 percent.

Sterlite Industries shares declined one percent after Tamil Nadu Pollution Board moved to Supreme Court against Sterlite unit, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting cogencis.

It is learnt that the pollution body is seeking stay on Green Tribunal's Sterlite order. Green Tribunal had allowed reopening of Sterlite's Tuticorin unit.

12:40pm Benchmarks are flat after a sharp recovery from day's low, helped by rupee appreciation. European markets opened flat to positive, ignoring weak US and Asian cues and fears of Federal Reserve scaling back fiscal stimulus plan.

Indian rupee depreciated by 10 paise to 56.83 per dollar in afternoon trade. In morning trade, it was down more than 27 paise.

The BSE Sensex is down 31.75 points at 19536.47, and the Nifty is down 5.45 points at 5918.40.

12:30pm Equity benchmarks are trading marginally lower after recovery, weighed down by metals and oil & gas stocks. Shares of ITC , Infosys , State Bank of India and HDFC Bank too are under pressure.

The BSE Sensex is down 64.94 points to 19503.28, and the Nifty is down 18.10 points to 5905.75.

12:25pm Education stocks are under pressure today; Educomp Solutions tumbled 5 percent and Core Education lost 4 percent.

Aptech declined nearly 2 percent and Everonn Education fell 2.6 percent.

12:15pm Telecom operator Bharti Airtel shares slipped further to 3 percent and even other GSM operator Idea Cellular dropped nearly 3 percent.

Bombay Rayon Fashion is the top midcap gainer with 18 percent gains followed by Zydus Wellness with 12 percent gains.

12:05pm The NSE Nifty recovered more than half of its losses from day's low to trade above 5900 level at 5905, down 18 points. The BSE Sensex is down 65.85 points to 19,502.37.

HDFC (up 1.6 percent), Larsen & Toubro (up 1.1 percent) and ICICI Bank (0.4 percent) are lead gainers that helped the market to trim losses.

Maruti Suzuki and Wipro rose 1.3 percent each.

11:52 FII views: Despite quantitative easing (QE) not really bearing any fruit for the common man, the Federal Reserve is likely to continue with it and go "up to QE99," says investment guru Marc Faber . He strongly feels easy money has not boosted employment for the ordinary people; instead it has given a philip to asset prices owned by very small portion of the population. Property prices over the last 12 months are up 35 percent, but all this has not helped the man on the street, he says.

11:50 am Market update: The Sensex is down 98.29 points at 19469.93, and the Nifty slips 28.65 points to 5895.20. RIL is down 1.1 percent.

11:40 am Oil check: Brent futures slipped below USD 103 a barrel on Thursday amid persistent worries that the US Federal Reserve may roll back its stimulus, although a surprise fall in crude stockpiles in the world's top oil consumer helped stem the slide.

Riskier assets weakened across the board, including equities and base metals, as investors remained nervous ahead of a key US jobs report due on Friday that will be scoured for indications on the health of the world's largest economy and what this means for the Fed's policy.

11:35 am Index check: BSE Oil & Gas, BSE Metals and BSE Realty index are dragging the index.

11:30 am Alert: The country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India will be going for a one-day production shutdown at its two plants at Gurgaon and Manesar tomorrow ahead of a six-day scheduled maintenance closure later this month. The stock is up 1.5 percent on the BSE.

The one-day shutdown of the two plants on Friday is to adjust the production to market demand, a company spokesperson said, adding that the plants will also remain closed on June 8 for a scheduled holiday, the spokesperson added.

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11:25 am: Bharti Airtel is down 2.4 percent while Hindalco slips 1.8 percent on the BSE.

11:20 am AGM update: Reliance Industries shares declined one percent while chairman Mukesh Ambani addresses shareholders at the company's 39th annual general meeting.

He said the company would invest Rs 1.5 lakh crore over 3 years . "We will double Paraxylene capacity at Jamnagar."

Ambani said Reliance would expand petchem capacity from 15 mtpa to 25 mtpa and Silvasa petchem plant would be operational this year. "We will be among top 5 petchem producers in world."

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The market has managed to trim some early losses as rupee gained some strength. The Nifty somehow tests 5900 and is back to 5899.85, down 24 points. The Sensex is down 81.32 points at 19486.90.

ICICI, RIL, Tata Motors are supporting the market.

Larsen , Maruti Suzuki, HDFC , Wipro and Cipla are major gainers in the Sensex.

Exide is under pressure as Citi recommends selling it given muted demand outlook, rising lead prices and cash flow into unrelated investment.

Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel, GAIL,Hindalco, Tata Steel and Sun Pharma are key losers in the Sensex.

Indian bonds are marginally lower on some profit taking after big sales by FIIs and PSU banks earlier this month.

Speaking on the fall in the rupee, Montek Singh Ahluwalia says artificially stabilising the currency is not the right thing to do. Intervention will not help without macro stability. On the current account deficit, he is targeting a sub-5 percent figure this year and around 2.5 percent of GDP by end of the 12th five year plan.

11:02am Indian equities trimmed losses on recovery in Reliance Industries , ICICI Bank and Tata Motors . Index heavyweight HDFC shares gained 0.66 percent and Larsen & Toubro rose 1.3 percent.

The BSE Sensex is down 87.22 points or 0.45 percent at 19481.00, and the Nifty is down 24.05 points or 0.41 percent at 5899.80.

10:59am Maruti Suzuki has ordered a one-day shutdown of all its facilities, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting sources.

It is learnt that facilities at Gurgaon and Manesar will be shut on June 7 and Suzuki Powertrain factory at Manesar will also be shut.

Sources say Maruti will shut diesel car production at Manesar for first time, owing to low demand in diesel car segment.

Reliance Communications is the most active stock on exchanges, which hit a 52-week high of Rs 118.80 in morning trade. The stock is up 0.43 percent after Business Standard reported that the company is in talks to acquire a stake in MTN group.

10:50am The BSE Sensex trimmed losses to 98.82 points from 150 points on recovery in rupee. Indian rupee depreciated by 14 paise to 56.86 per dollar, showing a recovery of 14 paise from day's low of 57.

The NSE Nifty is down 28.90 points or 0.49 percent at 5894.95.

Larsen & Toubro extended gains to 1.2 percent to trade at Rs 1,436.50. Brokerage house CLSA is overweight on the stock with a target price of Rs 1,715 . "The management is confident about meeting its 20 percent order inflow guidance for FY14, driven by the infrastructure and hydrocarbons segment," CLSA in its report said.

10:45am Den Networks is up 1 percent on preferential allotment to Goldman Sachs affiliates. Shareholders approved issue of shares worth USD 110 million at Rs 217.5 per share to affiliates of Goldman Sachs.

Infinite Computer is up 1.2 percent, after the board of directors approved the buyback of around 7 percent equity at a price of upto Rs 120 per share.

10:40am The annual general meeting of Reliance Industries will take place today. Two important triggers that people would be expecting from this annual general meeting (AGM) are additional information on the gas find and the launch date of Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJIL), said Ambareesh Baliga, Edelweiss Financial Services . RJIL is a subsidiary of RIL and is looking to roll out 4G services in India.

He further added that he is positive on the stock on back of expected gas price hike.

10:35am Zydus Wellness is the top midcap gainer, rising 12.75 percent to Rs 694.20. The stock rallied 53 percent in past one month and more than 75 percent in one year.

Bombay Rayon , Indian Infotech, Muthoot Finance and Hexaware Tech are other top gainers, which rallied 2.5-8.5 percent. However, Educomp Solutions , Punjab & Sind, National Fertiliser and HMT slipped 4-5 percent.

10:30am The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty fell 0.7 percent each on weak global cues. Asian markets are under pressure on concerns that the Federal Reserve may begin to scale back its bond-buying stimulus while the economy is still sluggish.

The Sensex is down 134.85 points to 19433.37, and the Nifty is down 41.45 points to 5882.40.

Indian rupee is at one year low, breaching 57 to the dollar for the first time since June 27, 2012. HSBC believes that rupee will touch its all time low of 57.30 in the near term. "The depreciation is mainly due to a strong dollar, and the RBI will not intervene aggressively to stem the currency fall," he says.

10:20am Deccan Chronicle shares surged 15 percent, after the company turned corner with its fourth quarter net profit at Rs 14.8 crore as against a loss of Rs 2.2 crore reported in previous quarter.

Allahabad Bank is quoting ex-dividend today, due to which the stock slipped 4 percent to Rs 118.50. The bank announced a dividend of Rs 6 per share.

10:10am Indian rupee is trading close to 57 per dollar - nearly one year low.

Sanjay Shah, MD, co-country head & co-head of equities at Morgan Stanley says all emerging market currencies are depreciating against dollar.

He says India will attract more flows given positioning among EMs and global liquidity will continue to be benign.

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10:00am Indian equity benchmarks remained under pressure, weighed down by financials and oil & gas stocks. Infosys and ITC too are in bear grip.

The Sensex is down 126.83 points or 0.65 percent at 19441.39, and the Nifty is down 39.45 points or 0.67 percent at 5884.40.

Meanwhile, shares of Larsen & Toubro, TCS , Cipla and Wipro are outperforming other largecaps, rising between 0.4 percent and 1 percent.

10:00am: Newly listed Just Dial is up 1.7 percent on the BSE.

9:55 am Index check: Banking, oil & gas, metals and realty stocks are dragging the market. 

9:45 am Losing stocks: Bharti Airtel (down 2.05 percent), Hindalco , Infosys , hero MotoCorp and Tata Steel are major losers in the indices.

9:40 am Buzzing: Jewellery stocks are in focus today as government hiked gold import duty to 8 percent from current 6 percent in order to curb extremely high demand for the yellow metal. The government also hiked platinum import duty to 8 percent from 6 percent. Shree Ganesha is up 5.2 percent, Titan Industries is down 1 percent, Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri is down 1.17 percent among others.

9:38 am Rupee hits 57 per dollar for the first time since June 27, 2012.

9.36 am Market update: The Sensex is down 127.11 points at 19441.11 while the Nifty slips 41.25 points to 5882.60.

9:20 am Yellow metal update: Gold edged to below USD 1,400 an ounce on Thursday as India, the world's biggest bullion consumer, raised import duty on the metal by a third to reduce its current account deficit.

Spot gold had dropped 0.25 percent to USD 1,399.36 an ounce by 0016 GMT, after gaining slightly on Wednesday as investors looked for safer assets after a private US jobs reading fell short of expectations.

9:17 am Experts take:

Mahesh Nandurkar, CLSA: Investment upcycle is not visible just as yet, but the confluence of better policy environment, expected corporate recovery, lower inflation and interest rate should drive an improvement. We build in cyclical recovery by FY14-end and our top ideas are ICICI Bank , Axis Bank , L&T, Maruti, Tata Motors and Zee.

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Indian market has opened in the red terrain. The Sensex is down 85.30 points at 19482.92, and the Nifty has slipped 28.40 points or 0.48% at 5895.45.  About 93 shares have advanced, 200 shares declined, and 28 shares are unchanged.

Wall Street saw sharp losses on Wednesday with major indices closing down over a percent. Dow closed below the 15,000 mark. Asian markets were mixed in morning trade on Thursday. European Central Bank & Bank of England will announce their monetary policy decisions today, which global markets will be closely watching.

Stock specifically, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma , Reliance, Tata Power and Cipla are gainers in the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Hindalco, Tata Motors, TCS , Sterlite Industries and HDFC are major losers.

Reliance Industries will hold its 39th AGM today. The stock is up 0.7 percent on the BSE.

The Indian rupee opened weak at 56.92 per dollar against 56.72 Wednesday. Mohan Shenoi, Kotak Mahindra Bank said, "The import duty hike on gold to 8 percent is rupee positive. However, dollar demand from importers and tapering custodial flows will be negative for the rupee. The range for the day is seen between 56.45-56.80/USD."

The euro stayed above 1.30 to the dollar. The dollar index was around 82.60 mark. The dollar-yen was below the 100 mark.