Market recovers but Sensex, Nifty still down 1%; banks dive

Moneycontrol Bureau11:55 am Andhar Bank: State-run Andhra Bank is seeking to sell bad loans worth about 13.88 billion rupees (USD 209 million) to asset reconstruction companies, according to a newspaper advertisement on Monday.

The bad loans are in 29 accounts, the bank said in the advertisement.

Andhra Bank on Saturday reported a 74 percent increase in its second-quarter net profit to 2.51 billion rupees from a year earlier. Its gross bad loan ratio eased to 5.71 percent from 5.75 percent in the first quarter.

11:45 am  Cost cutting plan: Tata Motors -owned Jaguar Land Rover has drafted a new 4.5-billion pounds cost-cutting plan to offset rising emissions cost and the slowdown in China, one of the biggest automotive markets in the world. The project known as Leap 4.5 will scrutinise almost every area of spending at Britain's luxury car manufacturer, 'The Sunday Times' reported. The 3-billion-a-year pounds capital budget, focused on research and development and new plants, will be spared.11:30 am More populist measures by BJP now? The Bihar Assembly elections were slightly over-hyped due to intensive campaigning by both parties, says Shobhana Bhartia, Chairperson & Editorial Director at Hindustan Times Media.

Discussing the impact of BJP’s loss, Bhartia says that the loss will make BJP look at its previous reform promises and work on them in future. Course correction must be on agenda for the party, she says.

Bhartia believes that one of the main reasons for the party’s defeat was lack of a popular face. Also, the RSS chief's remarks on rservation impacted the win, she adds.

The grand alliance’s plans to take-on BJP at the national level will add to the current problems and will not contribute much, She says adding that it is BJP’s responisbiliy to bring in consensus among parties.

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The market has recovered a bit from the initial over-reaction to BJP's defeat in Bihar elections. The Sensex is down 277.68 points or 1 percent at 25987.56, and the Nifty slips 87 points or 1 percent at 7866.50. About 1110 shares have advanced, 1067 shares declined, and 92 shares are unchanged.

Sun Pharma is still reeling under pressure, down 4 percent. BHEL, Dr Reddy's Labs, ICICI Bank and Wipro are among losers in the Sensex. SBI, Tata Motors and Maruti are only green stocks in the Sensex.

Oil prices rebounded in Asia but stayed below USD 45 a barrel as gains were limited by a strong dollar and data showing a decline in Chinese crude imports. A bullish US jobs market report last week sent the dollar higher, which would make dollar-priced oil more expensive for holders of weaker currencies, hurting demand and prices.

The US government released a surprisingly strong October jobs report that showed the US economy still growing at a firm rate, with the unemployment rate falling to 5.0 percent on the back of 271,000 new jobs created, nearly double the number in September.