Sensex breaches 24000, sinks 450 pts on further fall in Asia

Moneycontrol Bureau12:58 pm Market Update: The Sensex dropped 441.88 points or 1.81 percent to 24037.96 and the Nifty declined 134.95 points or 1.82 percenet to 7300.15.The market breadth remained positive as about five shares declined for every share advancing on the BSE.12:50 pm BoAML on Bharat Forge: Bharat Forge FY17 EPS is facing multiple cyclical headwinds including weaker exports of steel forging for USA capital goods and heavy trucks, says Bank of America Merrill Lynch in its note.According to the brokerage, an incremental negative is the slowdown in EU heavy truck demand. Hence, it sees downside risk to its estimate ofonly 1 percent EPS growth in FY17, which is 25 percent below consensus.BoAML has maintained underperform rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 650.12:40 pm India & UK deal: India and the UK have agreed to strengthen their economic cooperation in infrastructure and financial services as they vowed to address cross-border tax evasion and avoidance.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who held talks with his UK counterpart George Osborne as part of the 8th India-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue and had a series of meetings with UK-based investors and fund managers, on Tuesday said that his visit had carried the economic and financial dialogue with Britain forward.

After talks between Jaitley and Osborne, a joint statement was issued that talked about advancement of cooperation in a range of sectors including infrastructure financing, addressing issues of cross-border tax evasion and avoidance besides opening up of the Indian legal sector to foreign lawyers.12:25 pm Earnings Poll: UltraTech Cement's third quarter standalone profit is seen rising 22 percent to Rs 445 crore compared to Rs 364.4 crore in year-ago period, according to analysts polled by CNBC-TV18. It is likely to get support from other income and lower interest cost.

Revenue may increase 4.3 percent to Rs 5,840 crore in quarter ended December 2015 from Rs 5,601 crore in same quarter last fiscal due to capacity growth.

UltraTech, which has pan-India presence, is expected to register 3 percent growth in sales volume at 11.6 million tonnes against 11.3 million tonne year-on-year, driven by new capacity addition and Jaiprakash Associates’ acquired assets.

12:15 pm Market Experts: Nifty trading around 7300 has worried a lot of market analysts. Global tremors arising out of the turmoil in China is the biggest factor driving stock prices down, says Jagdish Malkani, Member, NSE. However, with "reasonably good" macro-economic conditions, the government managing implementation of the One Rank One Pension and the 7th Pay Commission and RBI cracking the whip on loan defaulters, it is not all gloom and doom yet, he adds.Meanwhile, Deven Choksey, MD at KR Choksey Investment Managers says there are lots of concerns about the banking system and he expects opportunities to arise in some of the good quality banking names.Also read - Good opportunity to buy great businesses; boom not over: Damani12:00 pm Market Check

Bears kept control over Dalal Street today as the Sensex breached 24000 level for the first time since May 16, 2014. Oil, banking & financials and infra stocks continued to be under pressure while Wipro was the only gainer on Sensex, up 0.2 percent.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 451.88 points or 1.85 percent to 24027.96 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 141.65 points or 1.91 percent to 7293.45. The market breadth was pathetic as about five shares declined for every share advancing on the Bombay Stock Exchange.The rupee weakened past 68 a dollar in afternoon trade, the lowest level since September 2013, down 38 paise on correction in equity markets.Asian markets continued to see selling pressure with the Nikkei and Hang Seng falling nearly 4 percent on global growth concerns. Oil also extended sell-off on glut worries. Brent crude fell 2.2 percent to USD 28.13 a barrel and US oil shed 3.2 percent to USD 27.55 a barrel.Europe futures fell 1-2 percent, indicating negative opening. Dow futures also dropped more than 250 points.