Blame it on China! Sensex plunges over 450 points

The India VIX (Volatility) index rose nearly 16% to 16.35. Out of 1,782 stocks traded on the NSE, 928 declined and 570 advanced today.

Circuit breakers were triggered on Shanghai & Shenzhen exchanges as CSI 300 fell 5% initially and then fell 7% to close for the day.  Stocks fell as manufacturing contracted for a fifth straight month and investors anticipated the end of a ban on share sales by major stakeholders.Under a new mechanism which is effective today, a move of 5% in the CSI 300 triggers a 15-minute halt for stocks, options and index futures, while a move of 7 percent close the market for the rest of the day. 

Indian manufacturers saw business conditions deteriorate at the end of 2015. Dipping from 50.3 in November to 49.1 in December, the seasonally adjusted Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) – a composite single-figure indicator of manufacturing performance – pointed to a deterioration in operating conditions across the sector, with the PMI posting below the no-change level of 50.0 for the first time since October 2013.
At 11:58 AM, the S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 25,703 down 458 points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 7,821 down 142 points.

The BSE Mid-cap Index is trading down 0.95% at 11,134, whereas BSE Small-cap Index is trading down 0.76% at 11,850.

Some buying activity is seen in utilities, consumer durable,metal, power and realty sectors, while banking, IT, oil & gas, IT and FMCG sectors are showing weakness on BSE.

GAIL, NTPC and Wipro are among the gainers, whereas Bharti Airtel, Adani Ports, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, Hero MotoCorp, Axis Bank and Lupin are losing sheen on BSE.

The India VIX (Volatility) index rose nearly 16% to 16.35. Out of 1,782 stocks traded on the NSE, 928 declined and 570 advanced today.

A total of 85 stocks registered a fresh 52-week high in trades today, while eight stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE.

Indian rupee opened at 66.25/$ lower by 11 paise in early trade on Monday as against the previous close of 66.14/$. On macroeconomic side, output of core‐sector industries during November declined 1.3% on yoy basis. The weakness in number is attributed to dip in the output of steel, cement and crude oil.

On global front, China’s Caixin Manufacturing PMI for December declined to 48.2 from 48.6 in November. This represents the tenth consecutive monthly contraction. A reading below 50 denotes contraction. Meanwhile, China’s official manufacturing PMI reading for December was reported at 49.7. The difference between official and Caixin PMI is that government PMI covers only the large or state owned companies, while Caixin PMI encompasses smaller and medium‐sized enterprises.

IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd rallied 8.2% to Rs.265 on BSE. The company have received the Letter of Award from Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Govt. Of India for Construction, Operation and Maintenance of Zozila Tunnel including approaches on NH-1 in the State of Jammu & Kashmir on Design, Build, Finance, Operate & Transfer basis.

Ashok Leyland jumped 3% to Rs.91.65 on BSE. The company reported December total sales rise 31% yoy to 12,209 units while M&HCV sales were up 35% yoy at 9,758 units. This included growth of 35% in sales of M&HCVs and 18% growth in LCVs to 9,758 units and 2,451 units respectively. For the period April to December 2015, total sales grew 36% to 96,518 units over the corresponding period of previous year.

Eicher Motors climbed 2.6% to Rs. 17,801 after the company has reported total sales for December 2015 rose 41% to 40453 units compared to 28634 units in December 2014. This included 37475 units of models with engine capacity upto 350 cc and 2978 units of models with engine capacity exceeding 350 cc. Exports for December 2015 stood at 416 units.

Jai Corp galloped 14% to Rs.88.60 on BSE. Currently, the stock is trading 52-week high on BSE. The company experienced a spurt in volume by more than 1.05 times.

IDBI Bank slipped 2.3% to Rs.88 on BSE. The Government is unlikely to go for a strategic stake sale of IDBI Bank during the current fiscal year due to some procedural issues, as per media reports. Govt. of India has conveyed its approval to IDBI Bank to raise capital to the tune of Rs.3,771 crore, through QIP route.