Sensex closes lower; L&T, BHEL, ICICI, NTPC drag

03:30pm Market Update
The market closed lower on profit booking on Tuesday after rallying more than 300 points on the Sensex in earlier session.

The Sensex declined 76.62 points to 21,249.80, and the Nifty lost 31.10 points 6,332.80. About 979 shares have advanced while 1450 shares declined on the BSE.

Among midcaps, Ruchi Soya , Linde India , WABCO India , Lakshmi Machine and Oberoi Realty rallied 5-7 percent while Kirloskar Oil , Sadbhav Engineering , Edelweiss Financial, Torrent Power and ILandFS Transporation fell 5 percent each.

In the smallcap space, Swan Energy , EIH Associated Hotel, Binani Industries and Sasken Communications surged 11-16 percent. However, Techno Electric , Shree Global, Gujarat Industries Power, Ashapura Minechem and Somany Ceramics lost 5-7 percent.

03:20pm Kajaria Ceramics up 4% to hit a 52-week high

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has withdrawn restrictions on buying shares of Kajaria by foreign insitutional investors after foreign share holding by FIIs in the company dropped below the revised threshold limit stipulated under the extant FDI Policy.

03:10pm Ess Dee Aluminium up 8% on hike in FIIs investment limit by RBI

"The Reserve Bank of India on Monday notified that Ess Dee Aluminium has passed resolutions to enhance the limit for purchase of its equity shares and convertible debentures by FIIs through primary market and stock exchanges upto 100 percent and by NRIs/PIOs upto 24 percent of its paid up capital, under the portfolio investment scheme (PIS)," according to the banking regulator.

03:05pm Brokers await CERC's final draft regulations before taking call on NTPC

After announcement of draft regulations for FY15-19 by CERC, Antique Broking says the firm will not buy NTPC at current levels.

"We will wait for final recommendations on NTPC. Final regulations may differ vastly from CERC draft," Antique told CNBC-TV18.

NTPC is attractive at Rs 135/share, but the brokerage house says it will not buy yet.

3:00pm GVK Power surges 5 percent
GVK Power and Infrastructure's subsidiary GVK Hancock has received approval from Australian Federal Government for its Abbot Point Port Capital Dredging programme.

"This move finalises ministerial environmental approvals for its Galilee Basin coal assets and associated infrastructure," the company said in its filing.

02:53pm Power stocks lose ground
Shares of electric utilities drop after the power regulator tightened certain rules for tariffs and operations for the sector in its draft 2014-19 guidelines.

The guidelines were posted on the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) website late on Monday.

NTPC slumps 11 percent, Power Grid Corporation of India falls 3.4 percent, while Tata Power declines 1.5 percent.

Analysts say the guidelines tightened some operational parameters, reducing the use of financial incentives for achieving transmission and generation targets.

The guidelines also propose that some of the savings from fuel costs be partially passed on to consumers.

Analysts warn the proposals could hit returns for the companies. The rules need to be finalised by March, reports Reuters.

02:43pm Strides Arcolab most active on BSE, up 1%

Bangalore based pharma company Strides Arcolab on Tuesday announced a special dividend of Rs 500 a share. The company is looking to return 88 percent of the free cash it holds to the shareholders. This special dividend to cost us USD 525 million, Grp CEO & VC Arun Kumar told CNBC-TV18 in an interview.

Speaking about the latest developments in the company, he said that Strides Arcolab will become debt free post the Agila deal and it has a fairly strong organic growth strategy in place at the moment.

Recently, Strides completed the sale of its Agila Specialties division to Mylan Inc for a total consideration of up to USD 1.75 billion. The company, however, agreed to a hold back of USD 250 million due to a warning letter received by it from the USFDA for one of its injectable facilities in Bangalore. Meanwhile, Kumar expects a satisfactory resolution of issues with US FDA.

02:33pm Reliance Communications plans $ 1 bn bond issue

The Anil Ambani-led telecommunications firm Reliance Communications is considering a bond issue to the tune of USD 1 billion, reports CNBC-TV18, quoting sources.

The firm is said to have appointed bankers to finalize the issue and has short-listed European and Singapore markets as potential markets.

The issue, which is targeting fund-raising at the cost of debt of around 8 to 9 percent, would, however, depend on market conditions.

Proceeds from the issue would likely go towards retiring and restructuring the company's existing high-cost debt.

The debt-laden firm had total liabilities of Rs 41,169 crore as of September 2013.

When contacted, Reliance Communications declined to comment on the issue.

02:23pm Losers
Shares of NTPC crashed over 11 percent as analysts say CERC norms on multi-year power tariffs may hurt the company's earnings by as much as 10 percent.

ICICI Bank , Larsen and Toubro and BHEL plunged 3.5 percent each. Coal India , State Bank of India and ONGC lost more than 2 percent.

02:13pm The 50-share NSE benchmark continued to hold the 6,300-mark amid choppy trade today supported largely by technology stocks. Index heavyweights Reliance Industries (up 0.6 percent) and ITC (up 1.5 percent), too, are quite supportive.

The Sensex slid 78.39 points to 21,248.03, and the Nifty dipped 33.10 points to 6,330.80.

According to Hans Goetti, chief investment officer, Finaport it is a common perception that any change of government in India would be a welcome change because then the country would move out of political gridlock.

"I think there would be improvement going into 2014 no matter who wins the next election and the preferred choice would obviously be Modi," he adds.

The sentiment in the US too seems to have changed feels Goetti. Earlier good news in the US was considered as bad news because that would then mean the Fed would start tapering but now good news is considered as good news and market seems resigned to the fact that tapering will take place at some point.

At Finaport they expect tapering to happy in March at the earliest.

Shares of TCS , the country's biggest software services exporter, rallied 3.6 percent followed by Wipro and Infosys with a 1-2 percent gain. Sesa Sterlite and Hero Motocorp are other gainers that rose between 2-3 percent.

Lupin is among the top Nifty gainers today, rising 1.7 percent as management told CNBC-TV18 that it will be the third player for Trillipix and expects to launch 100 products in the next three years.

01:50pm Rupee outlook
Rupee move below 60/USD is possible but it is unlikely to sustain at levels much below that believes Brijen Puri, head of markets, JPMorgan. Also, given the fact the world is discounting taper either in December, January or March, given the improved underlying factors for the rupee and the momentum, rupee is likely to outperform its peers, says Puri.

However the upmove for the rupee is capped at 64-65/USD, unless the taper is much larger than expected.

Going forward he does not expect bond yields to rally more than 10-15 basis points and expects it to remain range bound around current levels. He also expects the RBI to hold rates in the December18 meeting.

The domestic currency fell 9 paise to 61.22 against the US dollar.

01:45pm China's November factory output

Growth in China's factory output and investment eased slightly in November while retail sales grew at their strongest rate this year, official data showed, suggesting the economy is on track to achieve the government's growth target this year.

Industrial output grew 10.0 percent in November, a four-month low and slightly below market expectations, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday.

Retail sales, a key gauge of domestic consumption, rose 13.7 percent in November from a year earlier. That was the fastest growth since last December, and beat market expectations.

Fixed-asset investment, an important driver of economic activity, climbed 19.9 percent in the first 11 months from the same period last year - the weakest increase in a decade, reports Reuters.

01:40pm Market Update
The market is in bear grip as the Sensex dropped 136.87 points to 21,189.55, and the Nifty fell 51.65 points to 6,312.25.

NTPC topped the selling list, falling nearly 12 percent followed by BHEL , Larsen and Toubro , Jaiprakash Associates , ICICI Bank , IDFC and ONGC with a 3-5 percent loss.

However, TCS has bucked the trend, rising 3.5 percent. Wipro , Infosys , ITC , Hero Motocorp , Lupin and HCL Technologies are other gainers.

01:30pm CERC draft norms to impact NTPC, Power Grid most: CARE

The electricity regulatory body CERC released draft regulations for power generation companies that will decide power tariffs for the five-year 2014-2019 period. Among other things, the draft guidelines suggest that power tariffs are set to get cheaper which saw its first casualty in NTPC. The stock crashed more than 10 percent.

Revati Kasture, Head of Research, CARE Ratings - the orgnisation came out wih a detailed analyses of 30 Discoms in 11 states - expects NTPC to be affected the most because of the new CERC draft norms.

"With stricter operational and maintenance norms coming into play and tax benefits slated to be passed on to the consumer, NTPC would see a deceleration in its RoE," she told CNBC-TV18. Power Grid is another stock that will be impacted, but lesser than NTPC.

01:20pm Crude Update
Brent crude rose toward USD 110 a barrel today, recouping some of the previous session's sharp losses, as data from China reaffirmed signs of stabilising growth and fuel demand in the world's second-largest oil consumer.

China's implied oil demand rose 1.5 percent in November to about 9.94 million barrels per day (bpd) from October and was the highest level in five months, according to Reuters calculations based on preliminary government data.

Brent crude for January gained 50 cents to USD 109.89 a barrel by 0635 GMT, after a 2 percent drop on Monday, its biggest daily loss since November 1 when it fell 2.7 percent.

US crude futures for January delivery were at USD 97.69 a barrel, up 35 cents, after its first decline in seven sessions on Monday, reports Reuters.

01:10pm Fitch Ratings on state elections outcome

The setback faced by the Congress Party in state elections could potentially raise political pressure on the government's near-term fiscal goals, says Fitch Ratings. The government has articulated a strong commitment to fiscal consolidation. But this commitment may be tested further as the deficit-reduction goals are stretched, and a steeper political struggle to pull in more votes may hinder the full scope of expenditure restraint.

The state of public finances forms an important driver of India's sovereign ratings. Amidst the monetary authorities' anti-inflation policy bias, appropriate fiscal policies have a greater chance of shoring up the country's savings-investment imbalance. This could lower the current account deficit, and help alleviate another key pressure point for the credit profile.

The central government has stressed its strong commitment to lowering its fiscal deficit to 4.8 percent of GDP by the end of the fiscal year (ending in March 2014). Moreover, in the last fiscal year it also demonstrated its ability to take difficult measures to trim expenditure towards the end of the fiscal year, and to meet its headline deficit target, reports Reuters.

01:00pm Equity benchmarks extended fall in afternoon trade on further weakness in capital goods, banks, power and metals stocks. However, the upside in technology stocks and index heavyweights like ITC and Reliance Industries capped the downside.

The Sensex fell 116.95 points to 21,209.47, and the Nifty declined 47.55 points to 6,316.35. Declining shares outnumbered advancing ones by 1386 to 773 on the BSE.

Asian markets declined in muted trade even as Chinese November retail sales beat estimates while industrial output matched market expectations. European futures, too, indicate a mildly negative start.

Most active shares are NTPC, Strides Arcolab , SKF India , ICICI Bank, Just Dial, Larsen and Toubro, Infosys and HDFC Bank .

Shares of Strides Arcolab rose over 1 percent as the healthcare company announced special dividend of Rs 500 per share. The company is going to spend USD 525 million for dividend payout.

12:40pm Thermax sees improvement in Q4 performance

While the market expects capital expenditure (capex) to soar given the current sentiment post state elections outcome, MS Unnikrishnan, MD, Thermax does not see any significant improvement. India's main opposition party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is widely perceived as being more business friendly, performed well in state assembly elections. It won in four states Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Another factor that would give a boost to capex is positive global cues as one is seeing recovery in counties like China, Japan and the US, he told CNBC-TV18 in an interview. "The lifting of these three markets will have a trickle impact on India also. Irrespective of the election results, we will benefit from the positivity in the global markets," he said.

Meanwhile, speaking about the latest happenings in the company, he said the company is hopeful of stable third quarter and is likely to see an improvement in performance in the fourth quarter (Q4).

Unnikrishnan further added that the company's margins are unlikely to improve in the second half of this financial year unless orders pick up. In Q2FY14, the company had reported a standalone sales turnover of Rs 1,043.27 crore and a net profit of Rs 30.17 crore. Its standalone sales turnover was Rs 1,192.38 crore and net profit was Rs 91.06 crore for the same quarter last year.

12:30pm SIAM report on monthly auto sales

In the face of continuing softness in the economy, high inflation and interest rates, passenger vehicle sales fell 8.2 percent to 1,42,849 units in November, from 1,55,535 in the same month last year, the sharpest this fiscal, data released by automakers' body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said.

Sales of commercial vehicles were down a major 28.8 percent while medium-heavy commercial vehicles were off 34 percent year-over-year.

Two-wheeler sales, however, grew 5.5 percent to 12.4 lakh units, lifting the total tally of vehicles sold in November to 15.12 lakh, a 0.9 percent increase.

Carmakers had to cut down production to the tune of 8 percent overall to align with demand, SIAM said, adding that production at Maruti Suzuki fell 10 percent while Tata Motors reduced production by 35 percent.

The auto body further said it does not expect any turnaround in December and that it sees FY14 as a "washout year" for the industry.

12:15pm Lupin talks to CNBC-TV18
S Ramesh, chief financial officer, Lupin says the pharma major is confident of logging 15-20 percent compounded annual growth in US and India in the days to come.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Ramesh says the company is expecting to launch about 100 new drugs in the next three years.

Lupin today got the final approval from the United States Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) to sell the generic version of Trizivir tablets, used in the treatment of HIV. The stock gained 1.5 percent.

12:02pm The market failed to keep previous day's cheer on, seeing mild profit booking amid volatility today. NTPC plunged 11 percent on multi-year tariff regulations while L&T, BHEL and ICICI Bank drag.

The Sensex dipped 85.79 points to 21,240.63, and the Nifty fell 39.20 points to 6,324.70.

About 773 shares have advanced, 1238 shares declined, and 121 shares are unchanged.

Pratik Gupta of Deutsche Equities feels the risk of quantitative easing in December has gone up and, back home, expects Sensex to inch higher in the next six months.

NTPC crashed 11 percent on back of CERC norms. Management says prima facie, CERC changes are positive, but analysts feel company's earnings may be impacted by 10 percent.

CERC released draft regulations which will decide the multi-year power tariffs for 2014-2019. The draft will set basis for regulations that will impact regulated power generating and transmission companies whose tariff rates are set to get cheaper.

12:40pm Thermax sees improvement in Q4 performance

While the market expects capital expenditure (capex) to soar given the current sentiment post state elections outcome, MS Unnikrishnan, MD, Thermax does not see any significant improvement. India's main opposition party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is widely perceived as being more business friendly, performed well in state assembly elections. It won in four states Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Another factor that would give a boost to capex is positive global cues as one is seeing recovery in counties like China, Japan and the US, he told CNBC-TV18 in an interview. "The lifting of these three markets will have a trickle impact on India also. Irrespective of the election results, we will benefit from the positivity in the global markets," he said.

Meanwhile, speaking about the latest happenings in the company, he said the company is hopeful of stable third quarter and is likely to see an improvement in performance in the fourth quarter (Q4).

Unnikrishnan further added that the company's margins are unlikely to improve in the second half of this financial year unless orders pick up. In Q2FY14, the company had reported a standalone sales turnover of Rs 1,043.27 crore and a net profit of Rs 30.17 crore. Its standalone sales turnover was Rs 1,192.38 crore and net profit was Rs 91.06 crore for the same quarter last year.

12:30pm SIAM report on monthly auto sales
In the face of continuing softness in the economy, high inflation and interest rates, passenger vehicle sales fell 8.2 percent to 1,42,849 units in November, from 1,55,535 in the same month last year, the sharpest this fiscal, data released by automakers' body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said.

Sales of commercial vehicles were down a major 28.8 percent while medium-heavy commercial vehicles were off 34 percent year-over-year.

Two-wheeler sales, however, grew 5.5 percent to 12.4 lakh units, lifting the total tally of vehicles sold in November to 15.12 lakh, a 0.9 percent increase.

Carmakers had to cut down production to the tune of 8 percent overall to align with demand, SIAM said, adding that production at Maruti Suzuki fell 10 percent while Tata Motors reduced production by 35 percent.

The auto body further said it does not expect any turnaround in December and that it sees FY14 as a "washout year" for the industry.

12:15pm Lupin talks to CNBC-TV18
S Ramesh, chief financial officer, Lupin says the pharma major is confident of logging 15-20 percent compounded annual growth in US and India in the days to come.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Ramesh says the company is expecting to launch about 100 new drugs in the next three years.

Lupin today got the final approval from the United States Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) to sell the generic version of Trizivir tablets, used in the treatment of HIV. The stock gained 1.5 percent.

12:02pm The market failed to keep previous day's cheer on, seeing mild profit booking amid volatility today. NTPC plunged 11 percent on multi-year tariff regulations while L&T, BHEL and ICICI Bank drag.

The Sensex dipped 85.79 points to 21,240.63, and the Nifty fell 39.20 points to 6,324.70.

About 773 shares have advanced, 1238 shares declined, and 121 shares are unchanged.

Pratik Gupta of Deutsche Equities feels the risk of quantitative easing in December has gone up and, back home, expects Sensex to inch higher in the next six months.

NTPC crashed 11 percent on back of CERC norms. Management says prima facie, CERC changes are positive, but analysts feel company's earnings may be impacted by 10 percent.

CERC released draft regulations which will decide the multi-year power tariffs for 2014-2019. The draft will set basis for regulations that will impact regulated power generating and transmission companies whose tariff rates are set to get cheaper.

10:55am Escorts' interview with CNBC-TV18

Sameer Tandon, chief of sales- service & spares, Escorts Agri Machinery says the company is investing into developing new products in order to bring comfort and style to Indian farmers.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Tandon says the agricultural products firm is likely to see sales growth of 10-12 percent in December-January.

However, he is more optimistic going into 2014 and says sales will pick up from January and sales growth of around 20 percent is likely.

10:50am Tata Chemicals in focus
Tata Chemicals Europe (TCE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Chemicals, has decided to restructure its soda ash and sodium bicarbonate business in Northwich, Cheshire.

"The restructuring will see the closure of the Winnington soda ash and calcium chloride plants due to high energy costs. Production is expected to cease during the 4th quarter of financial year 2013-14," the company said in its filing to the BSE. The stock is flat at Rs 274.50.

11:40am Accel Frontline locked at 5% upper circuit

CAC Corporation, headquartered in Japan, announced today the acquisition of Chennai-based IT services company Accel Frontline at an investment of about Rs 130 crore. With this transaction, Accel Frontline will now increase its equity base from 24.26 crore to 29.76 crore.

NR Panicker, Executive Chairman, Accel Frontline says: "It is not very big money because our market capital is very low. Share price is Rs 30 in last 2 years. Currently the share price is Rs 45. But we need more money. So we acquire some stake from promoters and promoters have agreed to bring the part of the money back to the company as an unsecured loan. Our object is to reduce our interest rate."

The move will provide opportunities to both the companies. While CAC will gain an immediate platform in the fast-growing Indian IT services market, Accel Frontline will have access to CAC's market in Japan to provide IT services from India.

'In 2011-12, Accel's revenues were at Rs 480 crore. But last year it went down to Rs 400 crore. This year, due to this transaction, we expect it to grow by 15-20 percent', added Panicker.

11:30am Emkay maintains buy rating on Glenmark

Emkay expects steady growth in India and US business of Glenmark Pharma going forward. The brokerage house maintains a buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 644.

"Glenmark announced launch of Hydrocortisone Butyrate cream in the US (generic for Locoid Lipocream). Glenmark also has 180 days exclusivity on the product, According to IMS Health sales data for the 12-month period ending September 2013, Hydrocortisone Butyrate cream garnered annual sales of approximately USD 36.8 million. It is likely that AG on the drug would go off the market leaving Glenmark as the only generic player. We believe it can attain 60-70% market share with USD 10-15 million sales," Emkay report said.

11:18am Yes Bank talks to CNBC-TV18
YES Bank expects the third quarter to pan out the same way as the second quarter in terms of cost of funds and margins. NIMs will continue to be in a tight range, says Rajat Monga, CFO, Yes Bank. It will see sub-10 basis points movement, he adds.

The bank had posted a net profit of Rs 371.13 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2013 as compared to Rs 306.08 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2012. Though Q3 maybe a more challenging quarter because the brunt of RBI policy will fall in this quarter, Q2 it was transient. He expects Q4 to be better than Q3.

Monga sees 15-20 percent loan growth. He says deposits side is doing better because of some of the Reserve Bank schemes. Though second half will be better in terms of loan growth because it is a more busy season, agricultural sector will do well. He expects the agriculture sector to demand more than its normal share of credit.

He says as slowdown drags, non-performing assets will continue to remain a worry. According to him, this year is taking a higher burden than last year. He does not think credit costs are increasing, but they are higher than the previous year. He expects 50-60 basis points movement on credit costs.

11:04am The market sees profit booking today after a 330-point rally seen in earlier session on BJP's one-sided win in three states elections (Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh). In Delhi, BJP won highest seats, but did not get majority.

The Sensex lost 69.18 points to 21,257.24, and the Nifty dropped 30 points to 6,333.90. Declining shares outpaced advancing ones by a ratio of 1033 to 693 on the BSE.

BSE Power and Capital Goods indices plunged 4 percent and 3 percent, respectively followed by Bankex with 1.6 percent loss.

Shares of NTPC crashed more than 10 percent on proposed five-year power norms. Larsen and Toubro and BHEL plunged 4-5 percent.

Top private sector lender ICICI Bank slipped more than 3 percent followed by State Bank of India with a 1 percent loss.

However, technology stocks are in bull grip with the BSE IT index gaining 1.6 percent.

Tata Consultancy Services rallied more than 3 percent and Wipro gained over 2 percent.

11:00am Gold update
Gold was steady after gaining 1.3 percent over the past two days, but trading volumes were thin as investors turned their attention to a US Federal Reserve policy meeting next week.

Volumes on the futures market and the physical market were thin as investors waited on the sidelines for a clearer outlook on the US central bank's commodities-friendly monetary stimulus measures.

Spot gold had eased 0.1 percent to USD 1,239.39 an ounce by 0319 GMT. It had gained over the last two sessions on short-covering, technical-selling and some fund-buying, reports Reuters.

10:50am Fed meet crucial
Macquarie's Richard Gibbs, who tracks India closely, says a lot of stability is seen in equity market but next week's Fed meet is crucial. He remains bullish on emerging market including India.

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard suggested that "a small taper might recognize labor market improvement while still providing the committee the opportunity to carefully monitor inflation during the first half of 2014."

10:40am Crude Update
Brent crude hovered above USD 109 a barrel today ahead of data from China that may reaffirm signs of stabilising growth and fuel demand in the world's second largest oil consumer.

The oil benchmark fell 2 percent on Monday, its biggest percentage drop in six weeks, following weak economic data from Germany.

Traders also sold Brent to unwind bets on its spread with West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude as a new pipeline and year-end crude stock drawdowns could reduce supply at WTI's delivery point in Cushing, Oklahoma.

Brent crude for January edged up 14 cents to USD 109.53 a barrel by 0315 GMT. The contract slipped nearly 2 percent on Monday, the biggest daily loss since November 1.

US crude futures for January delivery was at USD 97.52 a barrel, up 18 cents, after its first decline in seven sessions on Monday, reports Reuters.

10:24am Equity benchmarks are marginally under pressure amid choppy trade weighed down by power, capital goods and banks stocks.

The Sensex dipped 47.32 points to 21,279.10, and the Nifty slipped 20.05 points to 6,343.85. About 707 shares have advanced while 925 shares declined on the BSE.

Bharat Iyer of JP Morgan feels the market is currently caught between challenging fundamentals and supportive technicals.

"We have been advising investors to be tactically neutral since late September. We retain that stance, particularly in the backdrop of our houseview that the US Fed will start quantitative easing (QE) tapering in January 2014," he adds.

Shares of NTPC , the government-owned power generation company, plunged more than 10 percent after the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) released draft regulations for power generation companies (gencos), late Monday.

BHEL is the second biggest loser in the Sensex, falling nearly 5 percent followed by ICICI Bank , Larsen and Toubro , ONGC and Tata Power with a 1.5-3 percent loss.

However, TCS is quite supportive with a 3 percent upmove. Infosys , Reliance Industries , Wipro , Bajaj Auto , Sesa Sterlite and Cipla gained between 1-2 percent.

Macquarie maintains outperform rating on Eicher Motors and increased target price to Rs 5,800 from Rs 4,800 apiece. The stock gained over 1 percenet.

"Eicher Motors unveiled "Pro" series range of trucks and buses. The company aims to double market share in domestic heavy-duty truck segment and is planning to sell new trucks in South-East Asia and Africa," Macquarie report said.

9:55am Market Update
The market extended losses. The Sensex fell 68.36 points to 21,258.06, and the Nifty slipped 23.35 points to 6,340.55. Declining shares outnumbered advancing ones by a ratio of 660 to 494 on the BSE.

NTPC plunged more than 10 percent and Tata Power lost 2.4 percent. Capital goods stocks, too, are under pressure on profit booking; Larsen and Toubro and BHEL dropped 3-4 percent.

However, TCS , Reliance Industries , Wipro , Coal India , HCL Technologies , ACC and UltraTech Cement are gainers.

9:50am Eicher Motors gains over 1%
Macquarie maintains outperform rating on Eicher Motors and increased target price to Rs 5,800 from Rs 4,800 apiece.

"Eicher Motors unveiled "Pro" series range of trucks and buses. The company aims to double market share in domestic heavy-duty truck segment and is planning to sell new trucks in South-East Asia and Africa," Macquarie report said.

9:45am CCEA approves reserve price of spectrum

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today approved the reserve price of spectrum for the upcoming 2G auctions. This price is significantly lower than the previous round of auctions held in November and March this year, reports CNBC-TV18. These auctions failed because it couldn't attract any bidders.

Auctions will be held in 22 circles for 1800 Mhz band of spectrum and in three circles of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata for 900 Mhz band of spectrum.

Meanwhile, it would be interesting to see if telecom players such as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone, whose licenses will come up for renewal in 2014, will bid because the government has decided that there will not be any reservation of spectrum for any telecom company.

It is also to be noted that by the end of next week, a notice inviting applications is going to be floated by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). The government targets to garner Rs 40,000 crore approximately from the sale of spectrum.

9:30am FII view on Fed tapering
Bruce Kasman, JPMorgan does not expect US Federal Reserve to start tapering next week but expects it to set the groundwork for the tapering in January unless the economic news turns out to be extremely weak.

According to him Fed's forward guidance on rates is of more importance. The Fed has been successfully guiding to a start of rate hike cycle by end of 2015.

He does expect bond yields in the US and around the globe to move up but not to the extent that they would create stress in global financial markets.

9:16am After more than a 300-point rally on Monday, the market started off Tuesday's trade with mild profit booking amid volatility. NTPC plunged nearly 7 percent after CERC released draft MYT regulations 2014-19 for power generation companies.

The Sensex declined 35.93 points to 21,290.49, and the Nifty fell 9.20 points to 6,354.70.

Jindal Steel extended its fall, losing 2 percent on top a 6 percent loss in earlier session. Tata Steel , too, lost further.

Larsen and Toubro, ICICI Bank and ONGC are under pressure on profit taking. BHEL slipped over 2 percent.

However, gainers are TCS, HDFC Bank , Bharti Airtel, ITC , Reliance Industries, Sesa Sterlite, Bajaj Auto and Wipro.

Asian markets are mixed today as investors remain cautious ahead of the Chinese Iindustrial production data.

US stocks closed higher, with S&P 500 at a record, as Wall Street weighed when the Federal Reserve would begin curbing its monetary stimulus and tracked budget negotiations on Capitol Hill. European equities were strong.

Meanwhile, in the currency space, Indian rupee gained in the early trade today. It opened higher by 15 paise at 60.98 per dollar as against previous day's closing value of 61.13.

The euro scaled a fresh five-year high on the yen and six-week peak against the dollar as expectations for further stimulus from the European Central Bank continued to fade.

In commodities, gold has shaky start this morning after gaining 1 percent in the previous session. Brent has come off from yesterday's levels, but is flat this morning and Nymex prices edged higher, holding above USD 97 a barrel.