BSE Sensex loses 146 points; banks, infra, auto, realty hurt

3:50 pm Market closing: The market finally closed on a weak note as it could not manage to hold its feet firm. The Sensex lost 146.21 points at 20708.71 while the Nifty ended at 6160.95 down 40.90 points. About 1133 shares have advanced, 1324 shares declined, and 182 shares are unchanged. Banks, capital goods, auto and realty stocks were hurt in today's trade. ICICI Bank , ITC , Tata Motors , ONGC , Tata Motors and Hindalcowere major laggards in the Sensex. Among the gainers are Tata Power , Wipro , Jindal Steel , Tata Steel and Infosys.

3:40 pm FII view: Shane Oliver of AMP Capital Investors says the worries of US Fed taper basically mean that the economy is strengthening which should be good for investor profits. Additionally, he says there is a 50 percent chance that the taper occurs in December itself. On emerging markets (EMs), Oliver advises a case-by-case approach as China is relatively cheap whereas India, he believes, is still expensive.

3:30 pm Update: The governemnt will allow a portion of the country's USD 80 billion in employee pensions to be invested in a wider array of debt, including short-term bills, in a bid to boost returns and further develop domestic bond markets, reports Reuters. Fund managers handling money on behalf of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) will also be given more flexibility to invest in corporate bonds, according to new rules from the Labour Ministry marking the first overhaul of investment rules in a decade.

The market slid further in the last trading hour of the day. The Sensex is down 168.74 points at 20686.18, and the Nifty down 47.30 points at 6154.55. About 1083 shares have advanced, 1278 shares declined, and 178 shares are unchanged. The Bank Nifty is also in the red. However, IT and a few metal stocks are gaining in trade today. Tata Power, Wipro, Tata Steel, Jindal Steel and Infosys are top gainers in the Sensex. on the losing side are Hindalco , ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, ONGC and ITC are top losers in the Sensex. Unitech drops 11 percent on news that LIC is likely to declare the company a defaulter. Meanwhile, as the market keenly watch the Delhi state election result, 34 percent polling is recorded in Delhi so far. Debutant Aam Admi Party is promising to dent prospects of the two big players in the fray- BJP and Congress.

03:05pm Market Update The market widened its losses with the Sensex falling 171 points to 20,683.92, and the Nifty dropping 46.70 points to 6,155.15. Shares of Tata Motors and ICICI Bank plunged over 2 percent followed by L&T, ONGC and ITC with a 1.7 percent loss.

03:00pm Essar Oil in focus Essar Oil has received a notice from promoter company, Essar Energy Holdings, holder of foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) aggregating to USD 262 million seeking conversion of the FCCBs into equity shares, the company said in its filing to the BSE. Essar Oil, in its meeting, will decide on allotment of 3.8 crore shares on FCCB conversion at Rs 138 apiece and 4.5 crore shares on FCCB conversion at Rs 153 apiece.

02:51pm JSW Energy talks to CNBC-TV18 Power producer JSW Energy has witnessed pressure on its volumes on the back of overall subdued demand and strong monsoon during Q2FY14. The company, part of the diversified JSW Group, reported 36 percent decline in net profit at Rs 162.59 crore in Q2FY14 versus Rs 254.04 crore (Y-o-Y), mainly hit by forex losses.  It raked in a total income of Rs 2,024.63 crore in Q2FY14 compared to Rs 2,076.53 crore in the same period a year ago. Power demand had surged last time during elections, but this time the company didn't see any uptick in power demand during the state assembly elections since all the four states – Delhi, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and MP have surplus power, Joint MD and CEO Sanjay Sagar told CNBC-TV18 in an interview. However, he is hopeful of demand firming up in the last quarter. Merchant realisations have been steady in southern India, but have been subdued in the West and North, he added. The company has been guiding for overall realizations of 4.25-4.50/unit on an average and hopes to be able to sustain with the same guidance.

02:41pm Unitech plunges 9%; LIC likely to declare co defaulter The Life Insurance Corporation is likely to declare real estate firm Unitech a defaulter for non-payment of interest on a Rs 200 crore loan, reports CNBC-Awaaz, quoting unnamed sources. The development knocked 9 percent off the stock price, pushing it down to Rs 15.80. Unitech had taken the loan in 2007 from LIC Housing Finance in 2007. The loan portfolio was later shifted to parent LIC. The state-owned insurer has also issued a notice to the company barring it from selling the Noida Sector 96 land, which has been pledged as collateral against the loan. The company had issued an advertisement seeking buyers for parts of the property. LIC has made it clear that the land cannot be sold unless Unitech repays the loan.

02:31pm Ashapura Minechem at 29-month high, VST Tillers at record high Ashapura Minechem jumped 8 percent to touch a 29-month high of Rs 70.95 apiece after Merrill Lynch bought 5 lakh shares of the company via block deal in earlier session. The stock is up 3 percent now. VST Tillers soared 9 percent to a record high of Rs 649 apiece on the BSE after HDFC MF bought 1.47 lakh equity shares of the company in previous session. The stock rallied 6 percent today. 02:21pm The market extended its fall amid volatility in last hour of trade with the Sensex falling around 100 points, weighed down by further decline in ICICI Bank and ITC. Tata Motors and Larsen and Toubro , too, slipped further.  The Sensex dropped 114.62 points to 20,740.30, and the Nifty dipped 32.75 points to 6,169.10. Declining shares outpaced advancing ones by a ratio of 1263 to 1096 on the BSE. Regan Homavazir, analyst, Darashaw says the Nifty has a very stiff resistance at 6350. However, if it were to breach this, a level of 7000 won't be too difficult to reach, he adds. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Homavazir says investors should buy into every decline towards 6000. ''When one looks at the longer-term picture, the parameters are well positioned on the buy side for the Nifty. So, any major decline should be bought into,'' he highlights. Shares of Hindalco Industries , ICICI Bank, Tata Motors and L&T are the biggest losers in the Sensex, falling 2.4 percent, 2 percent, 1.9 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively. FMCG majors ITC and Hindustan Unilever , and oil & gas companies Reliance Industries and ONGC lost more than 1 percent. However, Wipro and Tata Power bucked the trend with nearly 2 percent upmove. Infosys shares advanced 0.6 percent after Bank of America Merrill Lynch maintains buy on the stock. The brokerage house also raised target price on the stock to Rs 4,000 from Rs 3,700 apiece and PE multiple to 18.5 times FY15 expected as against 17.5 times earlier. Aggressive buying in Thomas Cook has taken the stock up to 5.2-year high as the company expanded to South India. Investors are euphoric as the travel company launched a new branch outlet in Puducherry. The stock jumped 5 percent intraday.

01:00pm Market Update The market continued to be rangebound in afternoon trade. The Sensex is down 35.55 points to 20,819.37, and the Nifty declined 8 points to 6,193.85. Among midcaps, Unichem Labs , Whirlpool , Jyothy Labs, Redington and Jaiprakash Power surged 5-7 percent while Ramco Cements, Edelweiss Financial, Eicher Motors , Shoppers Stop and India Tourism lost 2-3 percent. In the smallcap space, Hitachi Home , Hercules Hoists , Tata Elxsi , Tata Sponge and Diamond Power rallied 9-17 percent whereas Fulford, Banas Finance, Asian Hotels , Sabero Organics and Shree Global slipped 5-11 percent.

12:55pm Tata Elxsi at 32-month high Shares of Tata Elxsi rallied 17.8 percent in intraday trade to touch a 32-month high of Rs 344.35 on value buying. It is also the top most active stock on exchanges. The stock climbed 90 percent in last three months while the Sensex surged 12 percent and BSE Midcap jumped 20 percent during the same period.

12:45pm Market Expert Jonathan Garner, managing director, Morgan Stanley currently prefers betting on developed markets (DMs) over emerging markets (EMs) like India, Indonesia, Brazil and South Africa. He is hopeful of the US growing at a better pace going forward and sees a 70 percent probability of the US Federal Reserve tapering by March.  In an interview to CNBC-TV18, he said, elections are scheduled next year in all these countries, he remains cautious on all these markets not just because of the political risk, but because of funding risk issues. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on India. Garner sees the rupee trading in the range of 63-64/USD and recommends betting on export-oriented companies in India. According to him, elections will be the key trigger for India next year and is looking for strong structural reforms post 2014 polls. From the EM basket, he likes China given its cheap valuations and the recently announced reforms. Between Indian and China, he would bet on the latter.

12:40pm Wockhart under pressure Shares of Wockhardt slipped 4 percent intraday as it has been failing to meet health regulators' standards. In a latest, the US Federal Drug Administration (US FDA) has said that management of the drug major company has deleted key trial data from hard drives, reports CNBC-TV18. It raises concerns about integrity of data the company has generated. The US FDA has said that it is concerned about Wockhardt's responses to the health regulator's queries and lab records are not in compliance with established standards. It also added that company did not take appropriate actions to resolve defects while actual samples were used as 'trial' injections. Meanwhile, the generic drug manufacturer has been asked by US FDA to conduct a global assessment of its plants to ensure that the drug produced by the company conform to FDA requirements for safety, efficacy, and quality. Questioning the reliability and accuracy of tests conducted by Wockhardt, the FDA in a letter expressed concerned about its inability to implement a robust and sustainable quality system.

12:30pm HDFC hikes home loan rates Housing finance major HDFC hiked interest rate on home loans of up to Rs 30 lakh to 10.5 percent and that of Rs 30 lakh-sub Rs 75 lakh to 10.75 percent, effective December 1. The 10 basis points (bps) rise in interest rate comes on the back of cost of funds adjustment, says Keki Mistry, vice-chairman and chief executive officer, HDFC   in an interview to CNBC-TV18. Mistry however sees rates going down in 2014 when food prices will see a substantial decline owing to a good monsoon season.  Meanwhile, the central bank - the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) - has given permission to the home financier to raise USD 300 million through external commercial borrowing (ECB). "The reason for raising money through the ECB window is because we raised a lot of money during the course of the year and tried to raise money from different sources. There is no pressure. There is no lack of availability of money,'' he emphasises.

12:20pm Asian markets weak Most Asian shares slumped today as the prospects of a reduction in the US Federal Reserve's stimulus early next year prompted investors to cash in gains from recent rallies. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.4 percent after earlier hitting its lowest levels in almost two weeks, while Japan's Nikkei share average dropped 2.2 percent from a six-year closing high set on Tuesday. That retreat, which came after European shares had suffered their biggest falls since August, stemmed from profit-taking ahead of Friday's US job data, but also reflected worries about the Fed's exit from its asset purchase scheme. European equities were expected to open flat to modestly higher, according to financial bookmakers, reports Reuters.

12:10pm Jyothy Labs on fire Shares of Jyothy Laboratories are witnessing buying interest on Wednesday after the company raised Rs 263 crore through preferential allotment. The stock gained 6 percent. "The preferential allotment committee of the company has allotted 1.5 crore equity shares to Sahyadri Agencies on preferential basis at Rs 175.15 apiece against receipt of cash aggregating to Rs 262.72," the company said in its filing to the exchanges.

12:00pm Equity benchmarks are marginally under pressure amid volatility in noon trade, weighed down by financials, FMCG and auto stocks. However, metals and telecom shares see buying interest. The Sensex slipped 50.14 points to 20,804.78, and the Nifty declined 13.85 points to 6,188, but the broader markets continued to outperform benchmarks. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rose 0.2 percent and 0.56 percent, respectively. About 1057 shares advanced while 931 shares declined on the BSE. Infosys gains 0.6 percent after Bank of America Merrill Lynch maintains buy on the stock. The brokerage house also raised target price on the stock to Rs 4,000 from Rs 3,700 apiece and PE multiple to 18.5 times FY15 expected as against 17.5 times earlier. Sesa Sterlite is the top gainer in the Sensex with 2.7 percent upmove followed by Tata Power with 2.3 percent gains. However, shares of ICICI Bank and Larsen and Toubro dropped 2 percent.

11:50 am Update: In a development that has increased the risk of collapse of Bali talks, India in a strongly-worded message to the WTO members said the food security issue is "non-negotiable" for New Delhi. Addressing the plenary session of the 9th Ministerial Conference of the WTO, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said the Bali package must be substantive, and historical imbalances in trade rules must be corrected to ensure a rule-based, fair and equitable order.

11:40 am Interview: The 10 basis points (bps) rise in interest rate comes on the back of cost of funds adjustment, says Keki Mistry, vice-chairman and chief executive officer, HDFC  in an interview to CNBC-TV18. Mistry however sees rates going down in 2014 when food prices will see a substantial decline owing to a good monsoon season.  Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)- has given permission to the home financier to raise USD 300 million through external commercial borrowing (ECB).

11:30 am Market outlook: Gautam Chhaochharia, Head of India Research, UBS Securities says that the market is likely to remain subdued if election outcome is mixed. He feels political cues will impact the market only if the verdict is unilateral. Chhaochharia believes that now is a good time to enter the market from a one-year horizon. Also, he sees attractive risk reward at 5500-5700 levels. He has cherry picked array of stocks that deserve a place in investors' portfolio. He is bullish on Voltas given its good business, attractive valuations and healthy balance sheet. He also likes Bluestar and Carborundum .

The market is going directionless, waiting patiently for some triggers. The Sensex is down 14.83 points at 20840.09, and the Nifty down 2.95 points at 6198.90. About 999 shares have advanced, 715 shares declined, and 120 shares are unchanged. Tata Power , Sesa Sterlite, Bharti Airtel , Jindal Steel and Wipro are top gainers in the Sensex. L&T, ICICI Bank , HUL , ITC and Sun Pharma . The rupee started lower on a mild global risk off but recovered sharply on dollar inflows for the Power Grid FPO. The dollar index has stabilised near 80.6 levels. The yen enjoys a small reprieve as investors locked in profits ahead of major risk events including US jobs data due later in the week. Bonds sold off in early trade on the back of slight weakness in rupee and re-emergence of taper talk, but have recovered a bit from early lows. In commodities, ahead of an OPEC meet today, Brent inches towards USD 113/bbl while Nymex prices surge on news of the start up of a key pipeline while gold prices have steadied near five month lows of USD 1220/oz. Asian markets are trading mixed with Japan leading losses on the back of a slightly stronger yen while Chinese shares rallied on news of financial reforms.

11:00am Market Update The market is rangebound in morning trade. The Sensex slipped 19.63 points to 20,835.29, and the Nifty lost 6.90 points to 6,194.95. However, the broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gaining 0.3-0.7 percent. About 993 shares advanced while 714 shares declined on the BSE.

10:55am BofAML on Infosys Bank of America Merrill Lynch maintains buy on Infosys and raised target price to Rs 4,000 from Rs 3,700 apiece. The brokerage house also raised PE multiple to 18.5 times FY15 expected as against 17.5 times. "Cost optimisation efforts may start showing even in Q3," Bank of America Merrill Lynch report said.

10:50am Market Expert Not even political experts can predict the outcome of state elections, so investors looking to play the market now should be positioned for moves on either side, says Gautam Chhaochharia, Head of India Research, UBS Securities. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, he said market is likely to remain subdued if election outcome is mixed. He feels political cues will impact the market only if the verdict is unilateral. Also, election outcome will drive the market sentiment only for a short while. After next week, this noise related to elections will take a backseat and global cues like the QE taper talks and the US payroll data will come to the fore, he adds. He expects the US Federal Reserve to start withdrawing its monetary stimulus early next year. Meanwhile, Chhaochharia believes that now is a good time to enter the market from a one-year horizon. Also, he sees attractive risk reward at 5500-5700 levels.

10:40am Asian markets mixed Asian markets are mixed with the Nikkei falling more than 2 percent and Hang Seng losing 0.5 percent. However, Shanghai gained 1.4 percent and Taiwan Weighted rose 0.35 percent.

10:30am NTPC tax-free bond issue oversubscribed State-run power major, NTPC on Tuesday received an overwhelming response for its bond issue by garnering Rs 3,310 crore, much ahead of its scheduled closing. "The issue was oversubscribed by 3.3 times. As against Rs 1,000 crore, NTPC has already collected about Rs 3,310 crore, Rs 2,310 crore above the base size," the company said in a statement. The tax-free bond issue which opened on Monday was earlier scheduled to close on December 16 but will formally close Wednesday, a company official said. This is the state-run company's first bond issue after a gap of over 20 years. Under the offer, the company issued tax-free secured redeemable non-convertible bonds. The base issue size aggregates to Rs 1,000 crore with an option to retain over-subscription up to Rs 750 crore for issuance of additional bonds, aggregating up to Rs 1,750 crore, reports PTI.

10:20am EGoM approves M&A guidelines for telecom sector An empowered group of ministers (EGoM) today approved the much-awaited mergers and acquisitions (M&A) guidelines for the telecom sector. The high-powered ministerial panel, which is headed by finance minister P Chidambaram, also cleared the sale of 403 MHz of spectrum in the 1800 MHz band, a source said. "EGoM has approved M&A guidelines, which will now go for the approval of the Cabinet," the source said, adding that legal opinion will be taken if M&A amounts to sale of equity, reports PTI.

10:10am Mahindra Holidays surges Shares of  Mahindra Holidays and Resorts gained 4 percent after the Mahindra group company divested  investment in two subsidiaries in Austria - BAH Hotelanlagen AG and MHR Hotel Management GmbH.

10:00am The market continued to trade in a tight range with a negative bias from early trade due to lack of trigger. The market is waiting for outcome of five state  elections due on December 8. Delhi goes to vote today while polling in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and Chattisgarh is completed. The Sensex declined 41.55 points to 20,813.37, and the Nifty fell 12.45 points to 6,189.40. Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of 655 to 562 on the BSE. The widely held view is that the market may tumble if the BJP does not fare as well as is expected of it. However, Arindam Ghosh, MD and CEO, Blackridge Capital Advisors feels the market has already priced in the poll results, and hence that would not be a key trigger from hereon. Shares of ICICI Bank and L&T are biggest losers in the Sensex, falling over 1 percent followed by ITC , HUL , Sun Pharma and HDFC with a 0.4-0.9 percent loss. However, Sesa Sterlite and Tata Power topped the buying list, gaining more than 2 percent.  Bharti Airtel rose over 1 percent as the telecom operator hit the international market with a benchmark Euro bond offering. The country's largest telecom firm is offering the five-year euro bonds for investors and the money is being raised through its wholly owned subsidiary Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV, reports PTI quoting sources.

10:00 am Stock in news: Shares of Bharti Airtel jumped 2 percent as it hit the international market with a benchmark Euro bond offering. The country's largest telecom firm is offering the five-year euro bonds for investors and the money is being raised through its wholly owned Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV,  reports PTI quoting sources. The company's arm Bharti Airtel International Netherlands is raising the money, which will be fully guaranteed by the parent company. In March this year, the company had raised USD 1.5 billion in overseas debt in two tranches.

9:50 am FPO update: The follow-on-public offer (FPO) of Power Grid Corporation of India was subscribed 69 percent on the opening day today. Of the 78.70 crore shares offered for sale, total bids for 54.32 crore shares were received, as per the data available on the bourses. As many as 72.98 lakh bids came at the cut off price of the issue. The shares are being offered at a price band of Rs 85-90 apiece and the issue would remain open till December 5 for institutional buyers and December 6 for retail investors.

9:40 am Buzzer: Shares of Mahindra Holidays and Resorts gained 5.1 percent in early trade on Wednesday after the Mahindra group company divested  investment in two subsidiaries in Austria - BAH Hotelanlagen AG and MHR Hotel Management GmbH. "BAH Hotelanlagen and MHR Hotel have ceased to be subsidiaries of the company with effect from November 29," the company said in its filing to the exchanges.

9:30 am FII view: Bharat Iyer of JP Morgan feels that the market is currently caught between challenged fundamentals and supportive technicals. According to him, the impact of the Winter session and RBI policy is likely be short-lived. "The Fed's decision on quantitative easing (QE) could have the most substantial role in driving the markets in early 2014," he said. Andrew Garthwaite of Credit Suisse is overweight on equities, and raise 2014-end target on the S&P 500 to 1,960 from 1,900. "QE has meant that there are no cheap asset classes, but equities continue to look attractive in relative terms. We remain neutral on emerging markets, but within a global context are overweight Korea and India." he added.

The market has opened on a tepid note with the Nifty sinking below 6200. The Nifty is down 13.90 points at 6187.95. The Sensex is down 48.98 points at 20805.94. About 155 shares have advanced, 139 shares declined, and 23 shares are unchanged. Banks are dragging the indices with ICICI Bank and SBI as major laggards. Other losers are Bajaj Auto , ONGC and M&M. On the gaining side are Sesa Sterlite,  Bharti Airtel, Infosys , NTPC and Jindal Steel.  The rupee fell 8 paise in early trade on Wednesday to 62.43 per dollar as against previous day's closing of 62.35 per dollar. The dollar index has slipped 0.5 percent in early trade. And the yen enjoys a small reprieve as investors locked in profits ahead of major risk events including US jobs data due later in the week. According to NS Venkatesh of IDBI Bank , the rupee is expected to trade weaktoday and will take cues from weak global equity markets. "The range for the day is seen between 62.20-62.50/USD," he adds. Global markets extended losses as uncertainty continued to build over the US Federal Reserve's next step. Dow lost almost 100 points and European markets closed at six week lows. Asia too is trading weak with the Nikkei down over 1 percent in early trade. In commodities, crude prices surged with Nymex at a four-week high on expectations that the January start up of a pipeline from Cushing, Oklahoma, to the Gulf coast would drain crude stocks at the giant storage hub and also ahead of an OPEC meeting today to chart out production targets. From the precious metals space, gold traded near five-month lows after upbeat US data fueled expectations that the Fed is set to taper its monetary stimulus, curbing investment interest in the precious metal.