Sensex, Nifty extend losses

The market has extended losses in the mid-noon deals, on the back of sharp fall in all sectors, led by metal, capital goods, IT, consumer durables, oil & gas and power shares.

The BSE Sensex has touched a fresh intraday low at 27,489 - down 362 points from the day’s high of 27,851. The BSE benchmark index has now dropped over 150 points at 27,541.

The BSE Nifty has also slipped below 8,300, and is now down 50 points at 8,274.

The broader markets are also trading in line with the BSE benchmark index, the Mid-cap and Small-cap indices have declined over 0.5 per cent each at 10,045 and 10,891, respectively.
All sectoral indices are in red, the Metal index is the major loser - down nearly 2 per cent at 10,561. The IT, Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables and Capital Goods indices have shed a per cent each.

The Bankex, Healthcare, Realty and Power indices are the other notable losers.

The market breadth is negative in mid-noon deals. Out of 2,795 stocks traded on the BSE so far 1,766 stocks have declining, while 912 stocks are still advancing.
Among Sensex-30: Sesa Sterlite is the top loser - down almost 3 per cent to Rs. 205. Tata Power has surged 2.5 per cent at Rs. 81.95.

Tata Steel has dropped over 2 per cent at Rs. 395. Hindalco has slipped nearly 2 per cent at Rs. 153.

Coal India, ONGC, Larsen & Toubro have shed over a per cent each at Rs. 385, Rs. 352, Rs. 1,508 and Rs. 1,978, respectively.

Reliance, BHEL, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, HDFC and Wipro have also declined around a per cent each.

On the other hand, Bharti Airtel and Bajaj Auto have spurted over 1.5 per cent each at Rs. 355 and Rs. 2,514, respectively.

NTPC and Hero MotoCorp have advanced nearly a per cent each at Rs. 140 and Rs. 3,138, respectively.

Mahindra & Mahindra has added over 0.5 per cent at Rs. 1,270.

Sensex surges 100 points...Auto, Bankex lead

At 11:34AM, the S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 27,822 up 120 points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 8,354 up 30 points.

The BSE Mid-cap Index and BSE Small-cap Index was trading flat.

Auto, Power, Banking, Healthcare, IT, Capital goods, FMCG indices are the gainers, while Metal, Oil and gas, Realty,Consumer Durables indices are losers.

Tata Motors, Axis Bank, L&T, Bajaj Auto, M&M, Bharti Airtel are among the gainers, whereas Hindalco, Coal India, DRREDDY, Wipro, ONGC are losing sheen on BSE.

Global cues may not really offer much support as investors will look more at how the expiry will pan out.  Parliament proceedings will be watched keenly.

There is no major build-up witnessed at any significant strikes in Nifty options. FIIs have sold stocks worth US$1bn over the past 10 trading sessions. The current index futures long/short ratio for FIIs has reduced to 3x as against 14.5x in the start of the December expiry.  

Data on the US economy will be eyed later in the day. The Dow Jones added 0.87%, the S&P 500 gained 0.38% and Nasdaq Composite gained 0.34%. Asian shares are mixed. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index is up while China's Shanghai is down over a percent. 

Gold struggled to get past overnight losses, trading near its lowest in three weeks.Oil prices were down, after Saudi Arabia's powerful oil minister said OPEC would not cut production at any price. Brent closed down $1.27, or 2 percent, at $60.11 a barrel.

Deadline to exchange pre-2005 currency notes ends on Jan 1

There are only 10 days left for the People to exchange CURRENCY notes of various denominations, including 500 and 1,000, which were printed before 2005.The deadline for exchanging the pre-2005 notes is January 1, 2015.

Shares of Crompton Greaves was down 1% at Rs181 on reports that Avantha Holdings picked up 1.15 crore shares of Crompton Greaves for over Rs 211 crore through open market route. 

SKS Micro hits new 52-week high

SKS Microfinance smartly moved higher in morning trade, and registered a fresh 52-week high at Rs. 412 after the company said it has issued Commercial Papers of an aggregate amount of Rs 25 crore.

Now, the stock is trading with a gain of more than a per cent at Rs 407. So far 206,000 shares have been traded at the counter so far, as against the two-week daily average volume of 727,000 shares on the BSE.

Earlier in the day, SKS Microfinance started the day at Rs. 406.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex is up almost 100 points at 27,794.

Nifty nears 8,350 levels

At 10:27AM, the S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 27,792 up 90 points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 8,349 up 25 points.

The BSE Mid-cap Index and BSE Small-cap Index was trading flat.

Auto, Consumer Durables, Power, Banking, Healthcare, IT, Capital goods, FMCG indices are the gainers, while Metal, Oil and gas, Realty indices are losers.

Tata Motors, Axis Bank, L&T, Bajaj Auto, M&M, Bharti Airtel are among the gainers, whereas Hindalco, Coal India, DRREDDY, Wipro, ONGC are losing sheen on BSE.

Global cues may not really offer much support as investors will look more at how the expiry will pan out.  Parliament proceedings will be watched keenly.

There is no major build-up witnessed at any significant strikes in Nifty options. FIIs have sold stocks worth US$1bn over the past 10 trading sessions. The current index futures long/short ratio for FIIs has reduced to 3x as against 14.5x in the start of the December expiry.  

Data on the US economy will be eyed later in the day. The Dow Jones added 0.87%, the S&P 500 gained 0.38% and Nasdaq Composite gained 0.34%. Asian shares are mixed. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index is up while China's Shanghai is down over a percent. 

Gold struggled to get past overnight losses, trading near its lowest in three weeks.Oil prices were down, after Saudi Arabia's powerful oil minister said OPEC would not cut production at any price. Brent closed down $1.27, or 2 percent, at $60.11 a barrel.

Shares of Jet Airways was up 3% at Rs400 after the airline closes landmark five-year syndicated loan in the Middle East region for US$ 150mn.

Jet Airways up 5.5%, gets syndicated loan facility in Gulf

Shares of  Jet Airways (India) climbed 5.5 percent intraday Tuesday on successfully concluding a five-year syndicated loan facility of USD 150 million in the Gulf. The airline company said the transaction was fully subscribed by banks spread across the Middle East region, from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Doha-based financial institutions. The participating banks include Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC, and Commercial Bank International PJSC as the mandated lead arrangers and Ahli United Bank B.S.C and Arab Banking Corporation B.S.C., as the lead arrangers. Mashreqbank psc was the sole initial mandated lead arranger and book runner for the transaction while Alpen Capital acted as financial advisors to Jet Airways for the transaction. "We will continue to build on this strong foundation as part of our three-year turnaround plan. This syndicated loan facility will be instrumental in underpinning the airline on this progressive path," said Cramer Ball, CEO of Jet Airways. Earlier, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways PJSC and Jet had announced a long term strategic alliance with the investment by Etihad of a 24 percent equity stake in Jet Airways and a 50.1 percent stake in Jet Privilege Private Limited. The partnership between the two airlines will be mutually beneficial across multiple areas including network growth, operational synergies, revenue enhancement and cost optimization. At 09:48 hours IST, the stock was quoting at Rs 403.20, up Rs 15.65, or 4.04 percent on the BSE.

BoB spurts after fixing record date for stock split

Bank of Baroda (BoB) has started the day on a firm note with a gain of a per cent at Rs. 1,068, after the bank fixed 23 January 2015 as the record date for 5-for-1 stock split.

Soon, the stock added more gains and touched a high of Rs. 1,080. Currently, Bank of Baroda has jumped almost 2 per cent at Rs. 1,076.

The counter has witnessed trades of around 29,000 shares in early morning deals, as against the two-week daily average volume of 150,000 shares on the BSE.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex has rallied over 100 points at 27,816.

Counting begins in Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir

Counting of votes for the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly began in 24 centres across the state today amid tight security. There are 1,312 counting tables, besides 83 tables for assistant returning officers, an Election Commission release said here. The process began at 7 AM and the actual counting started an hour later. Deogarh constituency would have the maximum rounds of 31 and Chakradharpur the minimum with 10 rounds. The nearly four-week long elections to the Assembly concluded on December 20 to decide its fate after two previous voters' verdict throwing a hung House. A record 66.47 per cent polling had been registered in the five-phase polling, which began on November 25. Chief Minister Hemant Soren (JMM -Dumka and Barhait seats) and ex-CMs Arjun Munda (BJP-Kharsawan), Madhu Koda (Jai Bharat Samanta Party-Majhgaon) and Babulal Marandi (Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Dhanwar-Giridih) are among the total 1,136 candidates, including 111 women, who contested the polls. Other prominent candidates in the fray were Speaker Shashank Sekhar Bhokta (JMM) from Sarath and ex-Speaker C P Singh (BJP) from Ranchi. J&K Counting of votes for the 87-member Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly began today amid tight security at various centres set up by the Election authorities. Counting centres have been set up at all 22 district headquarters of the state while additional counting centres have been set up in constituencies which have been cut off by snow or inclement weather, officials said. Elaborate security arrangements have been made for the counting process with police and paramilitary personnel deployed in strength around the counting centres and in some parts of the city. A strategy has been put in place to deal with any law and order problem which may arise during or after?the counting. The early trends are expected in 30 to 45 minutes, the officials said. A total of 821 candidates, including 276 independents, contested the elections. The voter turnout in the state this year was 65 per cent which was 4 per cent more than the last Assembly elections held in 2008?development which has generated hope as well as anxiety among all major political parties. While the ruling National Conference is claiming that higher voter turnout will benefit it at the hustings, PDP and BJP are maintaining that it is a reflection of the people's desire for a change. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Opposition PDP's chief ministerial candidate Mufti Muhammad Sayeed are among the 821 candidates, who are seeking election from the 87 constituencies.

Sensex, Nifty open flat; M&M, Bharti, NTPC gainers

After the rally seen on Monday, the market has opened flat today. The Sensex is up 8.16 points at 27709.95 and the Nifty is up 0.60 points at 8324.60. About 386 shares have advanced, 191 shares declined, and 33 shares are unchanged. M&M, NTPC, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel and Coal India are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Dr Reddy's Labs, HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma, Sesa Sterlite and Hindalco. The Indian rupee opened marginally lower at 63.30 per dollar against the previous closing of 63.25. The dollar holds firm, having risen to its highest level in nearly nine years against a basket of major currencies, driven in part by persistent weakness in the euro and a fresh fall in the yen. Ashutosh Raina of HDFC Bank said, "The upward march of USD continues amid thin trading in holiday season. The revival of risk appetite helped global equity markets end higher, with dollar broadly firm on divergent yield outlook." Globally, US markets ended higher leading the Dow and the S&P 500 to record finishes. European markets too closed with gains with the sentiment boosted by a rebound in the Russian ruble. Asian markets are positive. In other asset classes, crude prices declined, with Brent Crude down 2 percent to USD 60 per barrel after Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister said OPEC would not cut production at any price. Gold slipped below USD 1180 an ounce and silver slid 3 percent after US existing home sales fell to a six-month low, and as oil prices eased back.