The BSE Sensex fell to a three-week low on Thursday as investors took gains off the table, continuing to book in recent outperformers as the upcoming quarterly reporting season is expected to be weak.
Markets are now focused on January-March earnings reports amid worries companies continued to suffer due to lacklustre economic growth and weak global demand.
Next week, cement makers ACC Ltd and Ambuja Cements Ltd, and software services provider Infosys are due to report their earnings results.
The Sensex closed 215 points or 0.86 per cent lower at 24,685 and Nifty declned 68 points to settle at 7,546.
3:23 p.m.: Nifty slips below its crucial psychological level of 7,550, falls 70 points.
3:06 p.m.: Market breadth turns negative as 1,338 stocks decline while 1,150 advance.
2:55 p.m.: The stock markets extended losses in the late noon trades. The Sensex was down 175 points to 24,725 and Nifty fell 58 points to 7,556.
2:17 p.m.: The Sensex continues to trade on a weak note, down 133 points to 24,768 and Nifty was down 38 points to 7,576.
2:12 p.m.: BHEL shares jumped as much as 4.5 per cent to Rs 119.30 after the company reported provisional order inflow of Rs 43,727 crore in FY15-16.
2:01 p.m.: The Rs 2,200 crore-IPO of Equitas Holdings, the first initial public offering in the current fiscal, was fully subscribed till afternoon trade on the last day of the offer on Thursday.
The IPO received total bids for 15,12,22,005 shares as against the issue size of 13,91,91,802 shares, generating a subscription of 1.09 times, according to the NSE data till 1300 hrs. (Read)
1:53 p.m.: Ashoka Buildcon shares staged a sharp recovery after crashing 20 per cent on Thursday. Shares in the highway developer tumbled following income tax raids at the company's Nasik office on Wednesday.
"Income Tax authorities are carrying out search and seizure proceedings at the premises of the company and certain officials," Ashoka Buildcon said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange yesterday.(Read)
1:39 p.m.: Market breadth turns neutral as 1,168 stocks advance while 1,180 decline.
1:23 p.m.: Shares of Future Retail rose by nearly 6 per cent today as asset management firm SSG Capital Management will acquire 40 per cent stake in Future Supply Chain Solutions from existing shareholders for Rs 580 crore.
Future Supply Chain Solutions (FSC) is a logistics company in which Future Retail holds 70.17 per cent stake.
1:09 p.m.: Macquarie maintains underperform on Tata Steel for target price of Rs 229 per share. It says investors should book profits in Tata Steel and current valuations capture all the positives. Macquarie sees it difficult for Tata Steel to find a buyer in Europe and pension liability will still remain leaving it open to downside risks.(Click here for more brokerage calls)
1:01 p.m.: Pharma stocks were witnessing buying interest. The BSE healthcare index was up 1.4 per cent; Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Labs, Lupin, Aurobindo Pharma, Divis Labs and Cipla were among gainers.
12:53 p.m.: FMCG stocks were witnessing selling pressure. The BSE FMCG index was down 0.8 per cent; ITC, United Spirits, Marico, Hindustan Uniliver, Colgate Palmolive and Britannia Industries were among the losers from this space.
12:36 p.m.: PC Jeweller Ltd will raise up to Rs 427 crore from DVI Fund Mauritius through debentures for expansion of its business.
"The board of Directors of the company at its meeting held on April 6 has approved the issue of compulsorily convertible debentures for an aggregate amount of up to Rs 427 crore by way of a preferential allotment on private placement basis to DVI Fund Mauritius Ltd subject to necessary approvals in this regard," PC Jeweller said in a regulatory filing today.
12:22 p.m.: Diamond Power Infrastructure, Dynamatic Technologies, Maxwell Industries, Vimta Labs, SRS Real Infrastructure, Jindal Poly Films and Delta Corp were among the gainers from the small-cap space, up 8.5-14.5 per cent each.
12:08 p.m.: Nifty 7,700 strike price call option was the most active options contract on the NSE. The premium on the contract fell 20 per cent to Rs 65.90.
11:58 a.m.: Banking stocks recover, Bank Nifty rises 0.4 per cent; Bank of Baroda, Axis Bank, Yes Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and Canara Bank were among gainers, up 0.2-1.4 per cent each.
11:47 a.m.: M&M Financial Services was the top mid-cap gainer, up 3.35 per cent to Rs 240.80. Wockhardt, MRPL, Piramal Enterprises, Divis Labs, Godrej Industries and NALCO were also among the gainers.
11:39 a.m.: The market breadth was positive as 1,133 stocks were advancing while 984 were declining.
11:34 a.m.: Capital goods stocks were facing selling pressure. The BSE capital goods index was down 0.5 per cent; Sadbhav Engineering was the top loser, down 3.2 per cent to Rs 267.75. Welspun Corp, Mahindra CIE, SKF India, BEL, BEML, Larsen & Toubro and Sterlite Technologies were also among the laggards.
11:09 a.m.: The stock markets came off the intraday high levels in the early noon trades. The Sensex was down 165 points at 24,736 and Nifty declined 43 points to 7,571.
10:54 a.m.: Infosys shares dip on huge volumes. As many as 5.7 million shares change hands on the BSE compared to its two week average of 1.33 lakhs shares. According to Bloomberg the stock has witnessed six block deals. Infosys stock fell as much as 3 per cent to hit intraday low of Rs 1,164.
10:36 a.m.: HDFC, Infosys, ITC, HDFC Bank, Maruti Suzuki and ICICI Bank were among the top Sensex movers.
10:10 a.m.: Banking stocks were among the worst hit. The Bank Nifty fell 1 per cent or 157 points to 15,479; Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra Bank, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Canara Bank were among the losers, down 1-2 per cent each.
10:07 a.m.: The stock markets continue to witness selling pressure. The Sensex fell as much as 242 points to 24,658 and Nifty declined 61 points to 7,553.
10:01 a.m.: HDFC was the top loser in the Nifty, the stock fell 2.4 per cent to Rs 1,075.50 after HDFC released pre-quarter indication on non-core items. It says that HDFC will make additional 1-time provision of Rs 450 crore against any unexpected risk in futures.
9:52 a.m.: Brokerage IIFL's Sanjeev Bhasin expects the Nifty to hit 9,000 by the end of 2016 as a new bull market takes shape by August-September. He expects the blue chip index to climb to 11,000 by December 2017.(Read)
9:49 a.m.: Mid-cap and small-cap indices edge lower. The BSE Mid-cap index was down 0.25 per cent; Bharat Forge was the top loser from mid-cap space, down 2.4 per cent to Rs 771. Bharat Electricals, L&T Finance Holdings, JP Associates, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Shriram City Union Finance, Titan, Cummins India and Glaxo Smithkline were also down 1-2 per cent each.
9:45 a.m.: Selling pressure intensifies in banking, metal, realty, auto, capital goods, IT and FMCG shares.
9:38 a.m.: The stock markets extended losses. The Sensex fell over 150 points to hit low of 24,729 in trades so far and Nifty was down nearly 50 points at 7,568.
9:25 a.m.: The Indian stock markets edged lower in opening deals today on the back of subdued global cues.
The Sensex fell 100 points while the 50-share Nifty moved below its crucial psychological level of 7,600.
From the Nifty basket of stocks, 28 were declining while 23 were advancing.
HDFC was the top Nifty loser, down 2 per cent to Rs 1,081. Maruti Suzuki, Hindalco, Tata Motors DVR, Bharti Airtel, ITC, Larsen & Toubro, Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank were among the laggards.
On the other hand, Tata Power, BHEL, Axis Bank, ONGC, BPCL, Lupin and Adani Ports were among the gainers.
On the sectoral front, select banking, IT, auto, FMCG and capital goods stocks were witnessing selling pressure.
The broader markets were outperforming the benchmark indices. The BSE mid-cap index advanced 0.13 per cent and the small-cap index was up 0.2 per cent.
8:00 a.m.: The Sensex and Nifty are likely to open on a flat note tracking subdued Nifty futures on the Singapore Stock Exchange amid listless global cues.
The Nifty futures traded on Singapore Exchange also known as the SGX Nifty traded 0.10 per cent or 7 points lower at 7,626.
Asian share markets edged ahead on Thursday after a sharp rise in oil prices whetted risk appetites and boosted Wall Street, with even Japanese stocks regaining a little ground despite a rising yen.
Meanwhile, China's Shanghai Composite was down 0.42 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.13 per cent and Japan's Nikkei fell 0.16 per cent.
Overnight, stocks on Wall Street and in Europe bounced from declines of more than 1 per cent in the prior session, led by energy and healthcare sectors.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 86.29 points, or 0.49 per cent, to 17,689.61, the S&P 500 gained 15.44 points, or 0.75 per cent, to 2,060.61 and the Nasdaq Composite added 55.81 points, or 1.15 per cent, to 4,899.74.
Back home, foreign institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 493.56 crore while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 258.68 crore on Wednesday.
