Nifty ends Jan series at 6074; SBI falls 4%, Hero down 3%

3:50 pm Results Hero Motocorp , the world's largest two-wheeler manufacturer by volume, missed street expectations with the third quarter net profit growing 7.5 percent, less-than-expected, to Rs 524.6 crore compared to same quarter last year. Higher raw material cost, tax expenses and advertisement spends dented profitability. Year-on-year net sales of the company grew 11 percent, in-line, to Rs 6,876 crore in the quarter ended December 2013. The CNBC-TV18 poll of analysts had expected the company to report net profit of Rs 621 crore on revenue of Rs 6,900 crore for the quarter.

03:40 pm Market closing Reeling under US Federal Reserve's tapering measures, the market closed on a feeble note after struggling with the bears. The Nifty ended the January series at 6073.70, down 46.55 points. The Sensex closed down 149.05 points at 20498.25. Banking, metals and realty stocks were smashed on Dalal Street. SBI , Hero Motocorp, Sesa Sterlite, Hindalco and Tata Steel were major laggards in the Sensex.

03:35 pm Big launch Commercial Vehicle maker Ashok Leyland on Thursday launched two new light commercial vehicles (LCVs) -- PARTNER truck and MiTR bus, an LCV bus, the latest offering from the Ashok Leyland-Nissan JV stable. Also Read: Ashok Leyland posts Rs 167cr loss in Q3 The company said it is taking efforts to expand exports and is looking to increase its footprint in the LCV segment. "The new launches will help fill the gap in product portfolio,'' said V Sumantran, Vice-Chairman, Ashok Leyland.

03:25 pm Stock view Gopi Suvanam, Founder of InvestWorks told CNBC-TV18, "If you look at global markets there has been a sudden sell in a lot of technology stocks across the world yesterday, which is sort of getting missed out because the focus today is on banking in India per se. So a lot of people are missing out this big trend of technology stocks being overvalued and people moving away from technology into core traditional sectors, so that trend would continue in February." "We could see some amount of selling in big names like Tata Consultancy Services ( TCS ), where the valuations are high and positions are also slightly high from FIIs stand point. So have a target of about Rs 2,200 in TCS," he added.

03:15 pm Oil update India imported nearly 40 percent less Iranian crude last year, with no sign in the last month of 2013 that the easing of Western sanctions in a landmark deal resulted in Indian refiners bumping up their purchases, reports Reuters. The breakthrough agreement between Tehran and six world powers that was reached on November 24 and took effect earlier this month allowed it to keep oil exports at reduced levels of about 1 million barrels per day (bpd), less than half pre-2012 levels. But while analysts have expected Iran's exports to start creeping up as some sanctions are eased, data from its top buyers indicate imports have held steady to lower so far. Oil industry sources in India have said they expect no rapid increases in the imports in coming months, while noting shipments could fall further in the upcoming fiscal year.

03:05pm Market expert expects expiry around 6100
Vineet Bhatnagar, MD, PhillipCapital expects the January F&O series to expire at around 6,100 levels unless there is a last half a minute volume-weighted average price (VWAP) related pressure. But the market may see some intraday recovery, he adds. He expects Bank Nifty to continue to be under pressure in February series unless there is a bounce back in the market, which looks unlikely at this point in time.

02:54pm Market recovers post LPG cap hike
The market recovered some losses supported by HDFC. Banks, metals and FMCG stocks trimmed losses on short covering. The Sensex declined 172.88 points to 20,474.42, and the Nifty slipped 52.75 points to 6,067.50. About 745 shares have advanced, 1722 shares declined, and 186 shares are unchanged. Tata Motors rallied 2 percent and index heavyweight HDFC gained 0.7 percent.

02:44pm Finally LPG cap hiked to 12 from 9
Cabinet has approved the LPG cap hiked to 12 from 9 cylinders per year. HPCL and BPCL declined 2.5 percent and 1 percent, respectively while IOC gained 0.66 percent.

02:34pm Double whammy for market
Federal Reserve reduced its monthly bond purchases by another USD 10 billion to USD 65 billion and said it will continue tapering going ahead. Economists believe the tapering may end by October-end. Business conditions for China's manufacturers worsened in January as output and new order growth weakened, a private survey showed on Thursday, pointing to a weak start for the economy in 2014, reports Reuters. The Markit/HSBC final manufacturing PMI for January dipped to 49.5 from December's 50.5, the first deterioration in six months. The figure was in line with the 49.6 reported in the preliminary version of the PMI released a week earlier. A reading below 50 indicates a contraction while one above shows expansion.

02:24pm Equity benchmarks extended sell-off in last hour of trade on account of further fall in banks and metals stocks ahead of January series expiry. The Sensex fell 271.74 points or 1.32 percent to 20,375.56, and the Nifty lost 81.65 points or 1.33 percent to 6,038.60. Nearly three shares declined for every share advancing on the BSE. BSE Realty Index hit quite badly, falling 3.5 percent followed by Metal and Bank indices with 3 percent loss. Country's largest lenders State Bank of India and ICICI Bank crashed 3 percent each while rivals HDFC Bank and Axis Bank declined 2.2 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively. Sesa Sterlite kept its top position in the selling list intact, losing 5 percent. Tata Steel and Hindalco Industries dipped 3-4 percent. Index heavyweights Reliance Industries , ITC , Infosys and Larsen and Toubro declined over a percent. Bharti Airtel continued to outperform, rising 2.5 percent on short covering. GAIL gained 2 percent, continuing uptrend post strong results in the quarter ended December 2013.

2:00 pm Opinion on Fed: India has no target for the rupee's exchange rate and the currency will remain rangebound, the economic affairs secretary said, despite recent global market volatility, reports Reuters. The Indian rupee fell on Thursday, tracking weakness in emerging markets after the Federal Reserve further pruned its monetary stimulus. "We are vigilant...we believe that we are capable of withstanding (the impact of the Fed tapering)," Arvind Mayaram said.

1:50 pm Exclusive: The National Conference is not looking for an easy exit from the alliance with the Congress-led UPA, as many believe, said Omar Abdullah. ''We are not fair-weather friends,'' he said in an interview with Shereen Bhan of CNBC-TV18. At the same time, he refused to comment on his party National Conference's stance on the alliance. ''I am not going to express an opinion through the media. Obviously, I have one and it has been shared with the senior colleagues of the National Conference as also with the senior functionaries of the Congress party as well,'' said. Abdullah said there was some disagreement between the NC and UPA on an administrative manner relating to Kashmir. ''As far as we are concerned if we get a suitable resolution to this issue about the administrative units there should be no speculation about our future with the UPA,'' he said.

1:40 pm Results: Public sector lender Bank of India disappointed street with the third quarter net profit falling 27 percent to Rs 586 crore on account of higher provisions. Net interest income grew 17.8 percent, slightly higher-than-expected, to Rs 2,719 crore in the quarter ended December 2013 as against Rs 2,308 crore in same quarter last year. The CNBC-TV18 poll of analysts had expected net profit of Rs 677 crore and net interest income of Rs 2,686 crore for the quarter.

1:30 pm Boardroom: Midcap IT player Polaris Financial Technology is gung-ho on its product business and expects it to grow 20 percent in FY15. With Q3FY14 EBITDA margin at 22 percent, this segment's EBITDA has grown 3 times over the last four quarters, Chairman & Group CEO Arun Jain told CNBC-TV18 in an interview. The company reported 24.8 percent increase in net profit at Rs 50.75 crore for Q3FY14 versus Rs 40.66 crore during the corresponding period of previous year. The income from operations for the October-December 2013 quarter rose to Rs 643.39 crore from Rs 572.88 crore during the same period of previous year.

The market is tanking reacting to the Fed's decision to continue to reduce its monthly bond purchases. However, the Finance Ministry is trying to soothe nerves stating that Fed move will not affect the Indian market and all steps would be taken by the RBI and the government to ensure financial stability. Investors are also eyeing January F&O expiry. Nifty falls over 300 points in the last five trading sessions. The Sensex is down 237.91 points or 1.15 percent at 20409.39, and the Nifty is down 72.20 points or 1.18 percent at 6048.05. About 641 shares have advanced, 1626 shares declined, and 188 shares are unchanged. Sesa Sterlite, Tata Steel , Hindalco , ICICI Bank and SBI are top losers in the Sensex. Bharti Airtel , GAIL , M&M, Tata Motors and ONGC are major gainers in a tumbling market. Fertiliser stocks gain as Group of Ministers hiked fixed costs of urea companies by Rs 350 per tonne. Hike in fixed costs will result in a subsidy outflow of Rs 900 crore.

12:55pm Bank of India plunges 6%, Q3 disapppoints
Public sector lender Bank of India disappointed street with the third quarter net profit falling 27 percent to Rs 586 crore despite higher net interest income. Net interest income grew 17.8 percent, slightly higher-than-expected, to Rs 2,719 crore in the quarter ended December 2013 as against Rs 2,308 crore in same quarter last year. The CNBC-TV18 poll of analysts had expected net profit of Rs 677 crore and net interest income of Rs 2,686 crore for the quarter.

12:45pm SJVN gains 2% post signing MOU
SJVN has signed a MoU to form a joint venture company to plan, develop and operate this 4000 MW ultra mega solar project in Sambhar area of Rajasthan with five other PSUs namely Bharat Heavy Industries, Power Grid Corporation of India; Sambhar Salt; Rajasthan Electronics & Instrumentation, Solar Energy Corporation of India.

12:35pm Market Expert
Vineet Bhatnagar, MD, PhillipCapital expects the January F&O series to expire at around 6,100 levels unless there is a last half a minute volume-weighted average price (VWAP) related pressure. But the market may see some intraday recovery, he adds. He expects Bank Nifty to continue to be under pressure in February series unless there is a bounce back in the market, which looks unlikely at this point in time.

12:25pm Titan Company talks to CNBC-TV18
Watch-eye wear-to-jewellery manufacturer Titan Company justified its poor performance by saying that the industry as a whole witnessed pressure in the third quarter. S Subramaniam, CFO, Titan says the jewellery business was a major disappointment. Titan Company missed street expectations on every parameter with the third quarter net profit falling 18.6 percent year-on-year to Rs 166 crore on weak operational performance and sales. He further adds that the company's December performance was reasonable, but October and November pulled the entire quarter down. He says festive season sales were below expectation.  Titan managing director Bhaskar Bhat too echoes similar sentiments. "The sentiments in the market continue to be weak and the company witnessed an extremely poor retail-sales quarter for both its watches and jewellery businesses. The impact of festive season this quarter was much below our expectations." The company's debt may rise to Rs 1100-1200 crore by FY14 end. Subramaniam expects finance costs to be higher going ahead. On a relatively positive note, the CFO expects margins to be higher for a few more quarters. Analysts and experts had however expected the company to post much higher margins in the third quarter.

12:15pm Sintex Industries loses 3% ahead of Q3 earnings
Profit after tax of the company is expected to go up 99.5 percent year-on-year to Rs 107 crore and total income may go up 11.4 percent to Rs 1,590 crore in the quarter gone by. Year-on-year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation is seen going up 12.4 percent to Rs 247 crore and operating profit margin may expand 10 basis points to 15.5 percent compared to a year ago period. Company had a big forex loss of Rs 45 crore in a year ago period. Adjusting for which, PAT last year comes to Rs 98.6 crore.

12:00pm The market maintains its downtrend in noon trade, heading towards weak closing for the fifth day today. Traders are worried about inflow of foreign money as Federal Reserve reduced its monthly fiscal stimulus by another USD 10 billion and said it will continue tapering bond purchases. Economists feel if the Fed continues tapering then it may end QE3 by third quarter of current calendar year 2014. The Sensex slips 216.60 points or 1.05 percent to 20,430.70, and the Nifty drops 64.05 points or 1.05 percent to 6,056.20. About 577 shares have advanced, 1477 shares declined, and 168 shares are unchanged.   John Woods MD & Chief Investment Strategist, APAC, Citi Private Bank cautions that downward pressure seen on EMs is likely to continue. Investors should brace up for correction as this crisis unfolds, he told CNBC-TV18 in an interview. Continuing his bearish tone, Woods added that the Indian equity market could head to August lows. ''The risk reward at the moment for holding Indian equities given potential upside and downside is skewed to the latter,'' he added. He sees the Sensex finding support at 18,000 levels. Realty, Bank and Metal indices lose over 2 percent while Power and FMCG decline over 1 percent. Sesa Sterlite topped the selling position, losing 4.5 percent followed by Tata Steel and Hindalco Industries with a 2.5 percent loss. Shares of ITC , ICICI Bank , State Bank of India, Axis Bank , Hero Motocorp and BHEL drop 2 percent each. However, Bharti Airtel and GAIL (post Q3 earnings) are top gainers in the Sensex, rising 2 percent each. Tata Motors , M&M and ONGC are other gainers.

11:50 am FM's opinion: The Finance Ministry on Thursday said the US Federal Reserve's decision to trim its monetary stimulus will not affect the Indian markets and all steps would be taken by the RBI and the government to ensure financial stability. ''Both the government of India and the Reserve Bank of India will continue to remain vigilant and will take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that there is stability in the financial markets,'' the Finance Ministry said in a statement. The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday decided to cut its bond purchases by another USD 10 billion. It has now decided to purchase USD 65 billion per month of mortgage-backed securities and longer-term treasury securities as against USD 75 billion per month earlier. ''This decision was expected and should not in anyway surprise or affect the Indian markets. However, it may be noted that $65 billion is not a small sum and will continue to infuse a large amount of liquidity into the world markets,'' the statement added.

11:40 am FII view: Unlike Adrian Mowat of JP Morgan who is bullish on EMs and is buying them, John Woods MD and Chief Investment Strategist, APAC, Citi Private Bank cautions that downward pressure seen on EMs is likely to continue. Investors should brace up for correction as this crisis unfolds, he told CNBC-TV18 in an interview. Continuing his bearish tone, Woods added that the Indian equity market could head to August lows. ''The risk reward at the moment for holding Indian equities given potential upside and downside is skewed to the latter,'' he added. He sees the Sensex finding support at 18,000 levels.

11:30 am Buzzing: Shares of Crompton Greaves jumped 7 percent as it turned profitable in December quarter. Its third quarter consolidated net profit rose to Rs 62 crore as against loss of Rs 189 crore in same quarter last year. Sharp reversal in profitabilty was driven by higher revenues that grew 12.8 percent year-on-year to Rs 3,351.9 crore on strong growth across segments. Macquarie has an outperform rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 140. The brokerage states that Crompton is a top pick in the capital goods space as valuations are attractive with an earnings growth CAGR of about 15 percent.

Weakness in the market continues as the Sensex is down 212.41 points or 1.03 percent at 20434.89. The Nifty is down 65.10 points or 1.06 percent at 6055.15 on January F&O expiry day. About 544 shares have advanced, 1373 shares declined, and 163 shares are unchanged. Sesa Sterlite, BHEL , Tata Steel,  Hero Motocorp and Hindalco are top losers in the Sensex. Led by good results, Bharti Airtel is still leading the gainers, followed by GAIL , Tata Motors and M&M. Rupee is trading lower against the dollar in line with weakness seen in other emerging market currencies. Government bond prices are sharply down as the rupee fell against the US dollar after the US Federal Reserve cut its monthly asset purchase programme by USD 10 billion to USD 65 billion from February. Gold hold gains in risk of trade at 1260 levels. Brent is stable at USD 107 currencies saw the yen back in favor as global risk aversion continued. Emerging currencies such as the Brazilian real weakened to 5-month lows and the Turkish lira reversed all of its intraday gains.

10:59am Tata Global gains over a per cent
Tata Global Beverage on Wednesday reported a 48.95 percent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 119.55 crore for the third quarter that ended in December 2013. The company had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 80.26 crore for the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year, it said in a statement. Net sales during the quarter under review rose to Rs. 2,053.91 crore during the third quarter as compared to Rs 1,900.11 crore during the year-ago period, reports PTI. "This has been an exciting quarter for us at Tata Global Beverages. We have relaunched some of our key tea and coffee brands with new products and powerful marketing programs during the quarter, which have entailed significant marketing investments," Tata Global Beverages managing director and CEO Harish Bhat said. According to Mr Bhat, the company has faced and responded appropriately to some challenging marketplace conditions in a few global markets, particularly on account of commodity price trends in coffee and significant competitor activity.

10:51am Crompton Greaves rallies 6% post earnings
Transformer manufacturer Crompton Greaves turned profitable with the third quarter consolidated net profit reporting at Rs 62 crore as against loss of Rs 189 crore in same quarter last year. In Q3FY13, the company had an exceptional item of Rs 120.7 crore that was a liability related to employee cost as the company carried out right sizing of its operation Belgium facility. In addition, other restructuring related cost of Rs 108 crore was also accounted under operating expenses. Sharp reversal in profitabilty was driven by higher revenues that grew 12.8 percent year-on-year to Rs 3,351.9 crore on strong growth across segments. Year-on-year revenue from power systems grew 17.3 percent to Rs 2,132.19 crore while consumer products business rose 7.2 percent to Rs 651 crore and industrial systems jumped 5.9 percent to Rs 478.3 crore in the quarter ended December 2013.

10:41am FII View
Adrian Mowat, chief Asian and emerging equity strategist, JPMorgan is bullish on emerging markets (EMs) and expects them to deliver healthy returns this year. While EMs, fueled by foreign funds, have been fretting about QE taper, Mowat believes that tapering is fundamentally bullish for these markets. He feels that market must focus on the fact that US Federal Reserve has confidence in the economy. Global markets slipped on Wednesday after the Fed opted to stick with its plan to continue to reduce its monthly bond purchases despite the recent distress in emerging markets. In its announcement, the Fed said it would buy USD 65 billion in bonds per month starting in February, down from USD 75 billion now. Mowat is not worried about market reaction to this announcement and the slide seen in emerging markets and added that tapering coupled with bond yields falling is a positive. Sharing views on the recent global currency rout on the back of concerns in Turkey , he told CNBC-TV that Turkey is not significant for emerging markets, so one should not extrapolate weakness in turkey to other emerging markets. Mowat is looking to buy emerging markets at current levels.

10:31am Titan under pressure
Shares of  Titan Company skid over 5 percent, as decline in jewellery business dented December quarter results . The company missed street expectations on every parameter with the third quarter net profit falling 18.6 percent year-on-year to Rs 166 crore on weak operational performance and sales. Net sales slipped 11 percent (year-on-year) to Rs 2,650.5 crore in the quarter ended December 2013. It was the lowest quarterly growth in sales during FY14 due to a poor festive season. Blaming that festive season sales been below expectations, S Subramanian, CFO of the company reasons that jewellery business witnessed sharp decline in the quarter and Titan has stopped selling gold coins on current account deficit. Its jewellery business recorded degrowth of 15.4 percent in Q3 primarily due to a lower demand for gold jewellery.

10:21am Hero Motocorp fell nearly 2% ahead of Q3 earnings
Hero Motocorp, the country's largest two-wheeler manufacturer, will announce its third quarter earnings today. Profit after tax may grow 27 percent year-on-year to Rs 621 crore and revenue is seen going up 11.5 percent to Rs 6,900 crore in the quarter gone by. On the operational front, Year-on-Year EBITDA is expected to rise 35 percent to Rs 1,051 crore and operating profit margin may expand 270 basis points to 15.2 percent compared to a year ago period.

10:11am Equity benchmarks slip further, losing a percent on weak global cues after Federal Reserve reduced its monthly fiscal stimulus by another USD 10 billion to USD 65 billion. The Sensex is down 224.53 points to 20,422.77, and the Nifty falls 71.20 points to 6049.05. More than two shares declined for every share advancing on the BSE. Michael Gapen of Barclays said as was widely expected, the Fed further reduced the pace of its asset purchases but made no mention of recent financial market volatility in its statement. He continues to expect the Fed to reduce the pace of asset purchases by USD 10 billion per meeting through September, and then take a final USD 15 billion reduction in October to conclude QE3. Country's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank lost 2.4 percent followed by HDFC Bank , State Bank of India and Axis Bank with 1-1.9 percent loss. Metals stocks like Sesa Sterlite, Hindalco Industries and Tata Steel declined 2-3 percent while capital goods majors L&T and BHEL slipped 1-2 percent. Shares of ITC and Hindustan Unilever plunged over 1.5 percent while index heavyweight Reliance Industries went down 0.9 percent.  Bharti Airtel bucked the trend, rising 2 percent after falling 1.5 percent in previous session on Q3 earnings. Tata Motors and GAIL gained 0.6 percent each.

9:50 am Poll: Hero Motocorp will be the most awaited December quarter earning today. According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, revenues may come in 12 revenue higher at Rs 6900 crore while profits may jump 27 percent. Volumes are expected to be better- up 7 percent year-on-year due to good festive season demand.

9:40 am Buzzing: Shares of Titan Company skid over 5 percent intraday on Thursday, as decline in jewellery business dented December quarter results. The company missed street expectations on every parameter with the third quarter net profit falling 18.6 percent year-on-year to Rs 166 crore on weak operational performance and sales. Net sales slipped 11 percent (year-on-year) to Rs 2,650.5 crore in the quarter ended December 2013. It was the lowest quarterly growth in sales during FY14 due to a poor festive season.

9:30 am FII view: Ridham Desai of Morgan Stanley sees downside risk to margins in consumer staples, financials and upside risk in technology, telecom, and consumer discretionary. He is overweight on telecom and are already overweight on technology and consumer discretionary. For cyclical sectors such as industrials and materials, a margin recovery is linked to macro outcomes. Michael Gapen of Barclays expects the Fed to reduce the pace of asset purchases by USD 10 billion per meeting through September, and then take a final USD 15 billion reduction in October to conclude QE3.

The market has opened in negative terrain on January F&O expiry day, reacting to the  Fed's decision to stick with its plan to continue to reduce its monthly bond purchases, which is now down to USD 65 billion, regardless of recent distress in emerging markets. The Sensex is down 177.12 points at 20470.18, and the Nifty is down 53.25 points at 6067. About 55 shares have advanced, 258 shares declined, and 74 shares are unchanged. Both the Nifty and Sensex opened at 2-month low. Bank Nifty is down over 1 percent while Hindalco , L&T, Tata Power , Hero Motocorp and Tata Steel are major laggards in the Sensex. Afer reporting better December quarter results, Bharti Airtel is still up 1 percent in today's trade. The Indian rupee slipped in the early trade. It has opened lower by 49 paise at 62.90 per dollar versus 62.41 Wednesday. Investors plough back into the yen as safe-haven demand returned with a vengeance, dollar-yen currently at 102 levels. The dollar index was down just a touch as the euro rebounded to USD 1.3661 from a one-week low of USD 1.3603. Mohan Shenoi of Kotak Mahindra Bank said,"Further tapering of bond buying programme by USD 10 billion announced by FOMC is expected to impact EM currencies. This is expected to exert bearish impact on local bond markets though rupee is expected to whether the storm well." "Ahead of auction tomorrow the 10-year yield is expected to trade in a range of 8.78-8.83 percent. Expectation is the rupee will move between 62.40-62.90/USD," he added. Brent Crude inches towards USD 108 levels per barrel. From the precious metals space, gold gained over a  percent to USD 1260 dollar levels. Gold held on to the sharp overnight gains on Thursday, as another cut to the US Federal Reserve's stimulus measures and continued concern over emerging markets prompted a drop in stock markets, boosting the metal's safe-haven appeal.