Sensex falls 165 points; Tata Steel & HUL dip 3-5%, banks drag

03:55 pm Gold check
Gold prices fell by Rs 130 to Rs. 30,600 per 10 grams in the national capital on Tuesday on selling by stockists in tandem with a weak global trend.

Silver, on the other hand, rose by Rs 100 to Rs. 43,400 per kg on increased industrial demand.

Traders said stockists selling in line with a weak global trend on speculation that the Federal Reserve will further reduce monetary stimulus led to decline in gold prices.

Gold in Singapore, which normally sets price trend on the domestic front, fell 0.2 percent to USD 1,293.68 an ounce.

Appreciations of the rupee against the American currency also influenced gold prices, they said.

03:40 pm Market closing
The market ended in negative terrain. The Sensex closed 165.42 points down at 22466.19 and the Nifty ended below 6750-mark, down 46.00 points at 6715.25. About 1253 shares advanced, 1507 shares declined, and 123 shares were unchanged.

Banks, metals and autos kept the indices under pressure with Tata Steel losing 5 percent. HUL, Tata Power, Hindalco and Maruti were other losers in the Sensex.

Among the gainers were Sun Pharma, Coal India, HDFC and BHEL.

03:30 pm Boardroom
In an interview to CNBC-TV18 Vellayan Subbiah, MD, Cholamandalam Investment & Finance spoke about the financial performance of the company in Q4FY14.

Fourth quarter was a mixed bag for Chola-Mandalam Investment & Finance, a part of part of Murugappa Group, with higher net interest income (NII) and a mild deterioration in asset quality at the gross NPA level.

It posted a net profit of Rs 92.36 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2014, as against Rs 87.41 crore for the same period of previous fiscal year.

The vehicle finance segment saw a broad-based deterioration in asset quality and stress remains higher in the heavier commercial vehicles segment, he added. The company reported marginally lower disbursements for this segment on a year-on-year (YoY) basis.

Subbiah expects the company's asset quality to worsen if there is no improvement in the current business environment.

03:20 pm El Nino woes
Research house Credit Suisse believes many observers have overstated the risk of Asian food inflation surge from El Nino. El Nino weather cycles are caused by high temperatures arising in the equatorial Pacific, which can have dramatic consequences on the climate around the world but especially on major agricultural producing areas.

El Nino, which in Spanish translates to boy, traditionally meant higher wholesale food prices for a range of staples and bullish agricultural commodity markets.

With both the Australia's Bureau of Meteorology and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasting a strong likelihood of El Nino developing this year (perhaps as soon as July), there have been concerns about the potential impact on the region's food inflation.

03:05 pm Rupee check
The rupee falls to a high of 60.42/43, compared with its close of 60.6450/65 on Monday, reversing earlier losses due to large dollar sales from corporates, including some exporters.

Firmer Asian currencies also weigh on the dollar, although investors are largely cautious ahead of the Fed's policy meeting ending on Wednesday.

Traders expect USD/INR to remain under pressure for the rest of the session, although they note oil importers could step in to buy dollars, reports Reuters.

02:55 pm Results impact
Shares of GMR Infrastructure slumped 4 percent intraday as its plan to list energy unit has been put on the back burner. Its subsidiary GMR Energy has withdrawn the DRHP filed with Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on April 28, 2014 due to various business reasons.

''GMR Energy Limited had filed a draft red herring prospectus dated March 28, 2014 with the SEBI. Due to various business reasons GMR Energy along with the selling shareholders have withdrawn the DRHP filed with SEBI on April 28, 2014,'' it said in a statement.

GMR Infra holds 100 percent stake in GMR Energy, which was valued at Rs 6,000 crore. The company was looking to raise around Rs 1500 crore from primary sources. PE Funds like Temasek, IDFC Consortium have Rs 1,200 crore in GMR Energy via compulsorily convertible preference shares.

02:35pm Dabur India Q4 earnings
FMCG major Dabur India met street expectations with the fourth quarter (January-March) net profit rising 17.3 percent year-on-year to Rs 235.3 crore on revenues of Rs 1,774.4 crore (up 15.5 percent Y-o-Y).

According to CNBC-TV18 poll estimates, analysts had expected the company to report net profit of Rs 235.3 crore on total income of Rs 1,768 crore for the quarter. Operating profit grew 15.2 percent on yearly basis to Rs 295 crore and margin was unchanged at 16.7 percent in the quarter ended March 2014 while total expenses jumped 15.7 percent to Rs 1,505.31 crore during the same period.

02:20pm FOMC meet
The US Federal Reserve will continue on its USD 10 billion tapering path is a given now. But the thing to watch out for will be whether Janet Yellen will maintain a more dovish stance, says Richard Gibbs, global head, Macquarie Securities. He says there have been some substantial structural headwinds in relation to recovery not just in the US, but in other major economies as well.

02:10pm Hexaware falls 6%
Midcap IT company Hexaware Technologies missed street expectations on every parameter with the first quarter (January-March) net profit falling 32 percent sequentially to Rs 70.3 crore on lower revenues and operational performance.

"Hexaware experienced decline in revenue from some of its top 10 customers. This was primarily due to some project closures as well as budget re-allocation to other initiatives on the client side. However, the relationships with all these customers continue to be strong and the company expects a healthy growth from the same set of clients in the coming quarters," the company says in its filing.

02:00pm Equity benchmarks trimmed losses in afternoon trade supported by HDFC and L&T. The Sensex declined 51.74 points to 22579.87 and the Nifty fell 9.65 points to 6751.60. About 1285 shares have advanced, 1294 shares declined, and 130 shares are unchanged.

Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro gained 0.5 percent while top software services exporter TCS and housing finance company HDFC rose 0.3 percent each.

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel advanced 0.3 percent too, ahead of fourth quarter earnings today. According to CNBC-TV18 poll estimates, analysts expect a decent quarter driven by a strong India performance while Africa is expected to drag. PAT may fall 6.4 percent at Rs 1000 crore versus Rs 1068.2 crore on sequential basis.

Drug maker Sun Pharma and private sector lender Axis Bank climbed 0.6 percent each whereas shares of Hindustan Unilever, Tata Steel, Bajaj Auto and Hindalco Industries lost 2-4 percent.

HDFC Bank, State Bank of India, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Hero Motocorp, Tata Power and Cipla fell 0.8-1 percent. Top private sector lender ICICI Bank cut losses to 0.3 percent from 1.3 percent earlier.

1:50 pm Interview: National Buildings Construction Company (NBCC) has won a Rs 10,000-crore order to develop 10,000 residential flats on a 240-acre land parcel owned by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) near Vasant Kunj in South Delhi.

NBCC has proposed to construct and market 30 percent of the total built-up area to generate revenues for construction of the entire complex. The project, to be called Vasant Kunj Extension, is estimated to come up in 5-6 years.

The company will receive 10 percent fee on the construction cost and an additional 2 percent for sale and marketing activities for the project, said CMD Anoop Kumar Mittal said.

He expects to receive the government approval in the next 6 months.

NBCC's current total orderbook stands at around Rs 16,000 crore, of which 95 percent belongs to the project management consultancy (PMC) division.

1:40 pm Buzzing: Shares of IRB Infra rallied over 4 percent intraday on Tuesday. The road developer was selected as the preferred bidder for the project of Four Laning of Yedeshi-Arungabad worth Rs 3200 crore.

Meanwhile, investors are also excited about it as Macquarie has initiated coverage on the stock with an outperform rating and a target price of Rs 151 with an upside of 30 percent.

According to Macquarie, IRB is one of the few road developers with a strong enough cash flow and balance sheet to fund current projects and take on new ones to gain market share. It estimates revenue and earnings CAGRs of 18 percent and 11 percent respectively for FY14-16E. ''We believe strong portfolio growth, superior dividend yield, earnings growth and compelling valuation are the key reasons to own IRB,'' it said in a note.

1:30 pm Market outlook: The market and experts alike are contemplating various outcomes; if the BJP get 240, 200 and 180 seats respectively, in the current general elections. However, even if a majority government comes to power, it is unlikely to do any wonders for the Indian economy that continues to be plagued by high inflation.

The BJP has only announced a minimum supply price (MSP) 50 percent over the cost of production of food grains inclusive of labour and land cost. This will only increase the inflation further and the Reserve Bank will keep increasing rates, he explains. ''The crude ground reality is that inflation has eaten into purchasing power. Autos, FMCGs are all suffering due to this and it is unlikely to sort out soon. We have a tough year ahead of us,'' he highlights.

The market looks exhausted with the Nifty still below the 6750-mark. The Nifty is down 20.25 points at 6741.00 and the Sensex is down 82.78 points at 22548.83. About 1224 shares have advanced, 1210 shares declined, and 116 shares are unchanged.

Telecom stocks are in focus as Telecom Disputes Settlement and Arbitration Tribunal (TDSAT) has allowed intra-circle 3G roaming. The tribunal also says that 3G ICR does not violate licence agreement and has quashed all penalties imposed by department of telecom on Bharti Airtel, Idea and Vodafone.

M&M, Sun Pharma, BHEL, Wipro and L&T are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the laggards are Tata Steel, HUL, Bajaj Auto, Hindalco and Cipla.

Meanwhile on the political front, caught in a crossfire, Gautam Adani breaks his silence and says he has received no undue favours from any government including Narendra Modi's Gujarat government. He adds Modi and the BJP are paying market prices for use of Adani aircraft and the Adani group has not made any contributions towards the BJP's election kitty.

12:55pm SKS Microfinance in focus
Shares of SKS Microfinance jumped 2.5 percent as March quarter of FY14 impressed investors. The microfinance company reported a net profit of Rs 27.11 crore in Q4, against Rs 2.70 crore in the same period of previous fiscal.

Total income of the company stood at Rs 138.29 crore during the last quarter of FY14, up from Rs 95.09 crore over the corresponding period a year ago, it said in a filing to the BSE.

12:40pm IRB Infra gains 2.5%
IRB Infrastructure Developers has received letter of award from NHAI for the project of four laning of Yedeshi-Aurangabad section of NH-211 in Maharashtra to be executed as BOT (Toll) on DBFOT oattern under NHDP Phase – IV.

The estimated project cost of the company is approximately Rs 3200 crore with construction period of 910 days. The concession period for the same is 26 years.

Construction order book of the company was Rs 5800 crore as on December 2013 which will be now increased to Rs 8600 crore, to be executed in the next three to four years.

12:25pm Asian markets
Asian share markets put in an indecisive performance today as caution ahead of some major events this week overshadowed a late rally on Wall Street, though futures pointed to opening gains for European stocks.

The Eurostoxx 50 contract was up 0.5 percent, while the FTSE rose 0.3 percent and the DAX 0.7 percent. Deutsche Bank reported a 30 percent drop in profit but still managed to beat forecasts.

Among currencies, the euro made promising progress on the yen and Australian dollar even as a holiday in Tokyo sapped market liquidity elsewhere.

Activity in Asia had been very much muted with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan drifting off 0.25 percent.

Australia's market did hit a six-year peak early, only to run into profit-taking ahead of earnings results from the major local banks, reports Reuters

12:15pm FII View
Pimco has been steadily increasing its exposure to India from December last year when expectations were rather lackluster, there was a kind of a growth drop and there was a change at the helm of the Reserve Bank (RBI) that gave confidence that the slump in the rupee could be arrested. Now there is a sharp rerating in a number of shares that are held by Pimco and a sharp rerating in financials that are bellwether stocks for the market, says Masha Gordon of Pimco.

She cautions investors against betting on election outcome and says: ''We never invest because of polls. We look at fundamental value, we look at position and cheapness of the currency.''

She says going ahead a lot will depend on whether the new government in India can deliver. An extremely unstable coalition will obviously unnerve the market and lead to a lowering of rating. However, it may provide a buying opportunity in certain sectors and stocks that are not dependent on policy changes, she adds.

12:00pm The market remained weak in noon trade with the Nifty struggling at 6750 level. The index fell 16.65 points to 6744.60 while the Sensex slipped 73.76 points to 22557.85. About 1162 shares have advanced, 1138 shares declined, and 109 shares are unchanged.

Tata Steel maintained its top position in the selling list, falling 3 percent followed by Hindustan Unilever, Bajaj Auto, HDFC Bank, Cipla, Hindalco Industries, Tata Power and Maruti Suzuki with 1-2 percent.

Shares of ITC, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, Dr Reddy's Labs, Hero Motocorp and Coal India declined 0.3-0.8 percent whereas Wipro bucked the trend, rising 1 percent.

Infosys, L&T, Sun Pharma, ONGC, TCS and Mahindra & Mahindra slipped 0.2-0.7 percent.

11:50 pm Houseview: Brokerage house Credit Suisse sees the Discover 125M as crucial to Bajaj Auto 's attempt to regain market share in the motorcycle segment. The company had lost around 4 percentage point-market share in FY14, dragged by a 6 percentage point market share loss in the executive segment, comprising 100 and 125 cc motorbikes.

''The Discover 100M failed to revive Bajaj's share in the 100cc segment. However, its pricing was not as aggressive as the 125M as Bajaj already had a cheaper 4G variant in the 100cc segment,'' the Credit Suisse report said.

11:40 pm Interview: In a bid to reorganise operations and improve performance, Piramal Glass has announced its plans to delist. Managing Director Vijay Shah told CNBC-TV18 in an interview that the delisting offer by the promoter is at an indicative price of Rs 100/share.

Promoters hold 74 percent stake in the company and are confident about the company's business, he said. Further, he said that the delisting price of Rs 100 is a fair value for providing exit route to shareholders and 2/3rd of minority shareholders are in the favor of delisting.

11:30 pm FII view: Pimco has been steadily increasing its exposure to India from December last year when expectations were rather lackluster, there was a kind of a growth drop and there was a change at the helm of the Reserve Bank (RBI), says Masha Gordon of Pimco.

She cautions investors against betting on election outcome and says: ''We never invest because of polls. We look at fundamental value, we look at position and cheapness of the currency.''

She says going ahead a lot will depend on whether the new government in India can deliver. An extremely unstable coalition will obviously unnerve the market and lead to a lowering of rating. However, it may provide a buying opportunity in certain sectors and stocks that are not dependent on policy changes, she adds.

11:20 am Poll: Bharti Airtel, India's largest telecom operator by subscriber base, will announce its fourth quarter (January-March) earnings today. According to CNBC-TV18 poll estimates, analysts expect a decent quarter driven by a strong India performance while Africa is expected to drag.

India business wireless growth is seen to be driven by a volume growth of 3.5 percent and improvement in average revenue per user (ARPU). March quarter is a seasonally weak quater for Africa; hence they expect flat to negative revenue and EBITDA. Also African currencies have depreciated by 3 percent against US dollar.

There may be a one month interest expense for the newly acquired spectrum. IIFL expects Rs 80 crore of one month amortisation and interest. Analysts feel March quarter may see a forex gain of Rs 100-190 crore as against forex loss of Rs 200 crore.

The market is on a losing spree as the Sensex is down 134.49 points at 22497.12 and the Nifty is down 35.10 points at 6726.15. About 1019 shares have advanced, 1074 shares declined, and 96 shares are unchanged.

Tech stocks like Wipro, TCS and Infosys are on buyers' list while HUL, Tata Steel, Bajaj Auto, Hindalco and Bharti Airtel are among the losers.

The rupee is marginally higher tracking improved global risk appetite globally. However dollar bids from a large UK bank and weak equities weigh on.Gilts are slightly down due to lack of buying support, heavy supply in truncated trading week. Sentiment is cautious ahead of key US data, FOMC meeting this week

Most Asian currencies including the Korean won and Taiwanese dollar trade flat to marginally higher against the dollar after reports of new sanctions against Russia by the US and EU ended speculation of further geopolitical unease.

Asian markets trade volatile reacting to US and European Union sanctions on Russia. Japanese markets are shut today.

Brent crude held at USD 108 a barrel as sanctions on Russia increased concerns regarding crude supplies while gold prices ended below USD1300 per ounce.

10:59am Interview
Idea Cellular beat expectations in the fourth quarter with net profit rising 26 percent to Rs 589.8 crore compared to Rs 467.7 crore quarter-on-quarter. Strong growth in volumes help push fourth quarter revenue growth 6.5 percent higher to Rs 7,043.8 crore from Rs 6,613.1 crore on a quarterly basis.

Himanshu Kapania, managing director, Idea Cellular said, "As far as Idea is concerned it remains focused on growth. We have been on a CAGR basis delivering for the last five years over 20 percent revenue growth. We have been delivering between 1.7 to 2 times the growth of the industry."

"For us the focus number one is subscriber growth. Last year we delivered 18 million of subscriber growth and we remain focused on subscriber growth," he added.

10:50am TVS Motor to announce Q4 earnings
Motilal Oswal expects TVS Motor Company to report a 7.7 percent degrowth quarter-on-quarter (degrowth of 14.5 percent year-on-year) in net profit at Rs 63.5 crore.

Sales are expected to increase by 5.4 percent Q-o-Q (up 24 percent Y-o-Y) to Rs 2168 crore, according to Motilal Oswal.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) are likely to fall by 6.7 percent Q-o-Q (up 22.8 percent Y-o-Y) to Rs 151.1 crore.

10:40am Market Expert
Deven Choksey of KR Choksey Securities said the brokerage house was expecting that this week the market would remain soft and probably next week onwards it would start to see the long building of the position taking place.

"Given that situation, individual stock specific action is something which we are advising to investors because overall Nifty trading is not something which we are very comfortable with at this point of time. But within the basket of Nifty as well as from a midcap companies I think we find the individual stocks performing far better than the Nifty performance," he added.

10:30am Gujarat Gas up 3.5%
Gujarat Gas Company says as per the relevant provisions of the PNGRB Act, 2006 and PNGRB (Exclusivity for City or Local Natural Gas Distribution Network) Regulations, 2008. the PNGRB has granted to company, an extension of exclusivity for a block often years to lay, build and expand the CGD network in the authorised geographical area of Surat-Bharuch-Ankleshwar CGD network up to March 31, 2024.

10:20am Nomura on Ranbaxy
Brokerage house Nomura has upgraded its rating on Ranbaxy Labs to buy, with a price target of Rs 543, saying the stock price was likely to move in tandem with Sun Pharma's stock price.

Earlier this month, Sun Pharma had agreed to merge Ranbaxy with itself in an all-share deal, with Ranbaxy shareholders getting 0.8 share of Sun Pharma for every one Ranbaxy share.

''We now value Ranbaxy's stock price at 0.8 times Sun Pharma's target price of Rs 679 to arrive at a target price of Rs 543, which implies around 13 percent upside,'' said the Nomura report.

10:10am FII View
Bhuvnesh Singh, Barclays says EPS beats in Q4 were largely in financials, materials and IT. "Consensus expects BSE-100 earnings growth for FY15 of 16.6 percent Y-o-Y compared with 8.5 percent Y-o-Y for FY14. This would come on strong turnaround expectations in cyclical sectors compared with financials, industrials and materials," he adds.

Singh says the brokerage house expects downward revisions to consensus estimates to persist as the earnings season progresses.

10:00am Equity benchmarks extended fall with the Sensex losing over 100 points and Nifty falling below the 6750 level weighed down by banks, FMCG, capital goods and metals stocks.

The Sensex fell 132.02 points to 22499.59 and the Nifty slipped 36.85 points to 6724.40. About 797 shares have advanced, 912 shares declined, and 65 shares are unchanged.

India's largest private sector lenders ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank dropped over a percent followed by State Bank of India and Axis Bank with 0.4-0.9 percent. Index heavyweights Reliance Industries, ITC and L&T declined 0.7 percent each.

Tata Steel topped the selling list, falling over 3 percent followed by Hindalco Industries with 2 percent. Hindustan Unilever shed over 1 percent post Q4 earnings while telecom operator Bharti Airtel gained 0.3 percent ahead of March quarter earnings today.

Technology stocks bucked the trend with the Infosys and Wipro gaining 0.3 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.

9:50 am FII view: The US Federal Reserve will continue on its USD 10 billion tapering path is a given now. But the thing to watch out for will be whether Janet Yellen will maintain a more dovish stance, says Richard Gibbs, global head, Macquarie Securities. He says there have been some substantial structural headwinds in relation to recovery not just in the US, but in other major economies as well.

However, he believes an escalation in geopolitical tensions in Ukraine has the potential to derail global equity markets.

On the domestic front, he says BJP is being seen as a pro-reformist, pro-business and an anti-corruption party – all the things that an investor wants to hear.

 9:40 am Result poll: Bharti Airtel is likely to post decent Q4 numbers. In a CNBC-TV18 poll, revenues are expected to see a 2 percent growth at Rs 22380 crore while profits may decline 6 percent sequentially. This quarter could also see a forex gain of Rs 100-190 crore.

9:30 am Borkerage view: Brokerage house CLSA has rated telecom firm Idea Cellular as a sell after its fourth quarter earnings, citing high debt and inadequate 3G spectrum as the main concerns. The company's voice and data traffic rose quarter-on-quarter, but revenue per minute shrank.

''Margins were slightly lower due to higher subscriber acquisition and roaming costs. We remain concerned about continuing risk of re-farming of Idea's entire 900MHz spectrum, compelling it back into auctions in FY15,'' said the CLSA report.

In the spectrum bidding auction in February, Idea had won 60MHz in the 1,800MHz band in 11 circles and 5MHz in 900MHz band in Delhi, for Rs 10,700 crore.

The market has once again opened on a flat note. The Sensex is up 14.22 points at 22645.83, and the Nifty is up 7.75 points at 6769.00. About 337 shares have advanced, 81 shares declined, and 14 shares are unchanged.

Idea Cellular is up 3 percent while HUL lost around 1 percent on March quarter earnings. Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, Tata Power and HUL are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the laggards are ITC and Coal India.

The rupee opened with marginal gains of 5 paise at 60.59 per dollar on Tuesday as against previous day's closing value of 60.64 a dollar.

Ashutosh Raina of HDFC Bank said that, ''The escalating tension in Ukraine has had some bearish impact on the developed as well as emerging markets. Indian markets, though, have outperformed peers.''

''The consistent but slightly reduced FII flows have resulted in currency as well as equity market gains. The expected positive election results are keeping sentiment positive. The range for rupee for the day is seen between 60- 61/dollar,'' he added.

The euro traded at multi-week highs against the yen early and held firm against the dollar following a surprisingly strong performance overnight as expectations for additional stimulus from the European Central Bank waned.

Meanwhile, global markets are mixed as the Nasdaq rebounded from an over 1 percent drop. European shares closed marginally higher boosted by merger and acquisition activity and Asia is subdued in morning trade.

Brent Crude prices tumbled, on expectations of greater supplies as OPEC producer Libya prepares to reopen a second port, and as traders unwound the spread versus US crude. In precious metals space gold traded below USD 1300 an ounce, holding on to most of its losses from the previous session as strong US data offset safe-haven bids from escalating tensions between Russia and the West.