Selling pressure continues on D-St; Reliance, Tata Motors fall

Moneycontrol Bureau11:55 am Tobacco stock to be hit? The Commerce and Industry Ministry has moved a proposal for the consideration of the Cabinet to completely ban foreign direct investment in the tobacco sector, Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said.

She said the government did not want to encourage foreign investment in this sector.

"We wanted to be sure that for the production of cigarettes or other things (in the tobacco sector), we do not want to encourage FDI because we have ratified (a framework of) the WHO," the Commerce and Industry Minister told PTI in an interview.

11:45 am Exclusive: Sources tell CNBC-TV18 that Fairfax is in advanced talks to buy controlling stake in Camlin Fine Sciences.

It is likely that Fairfax may acquire Camlin Fine Sciences via its investee company ADI Finechem. 

It is believed that this acquisition will set the ball rolling for an open offer.

Fairfax deal may value Camlin Fine close to Rs 1,200 crore in equity.11:30 am Interview: In a bid to overcome the impact of demonetisations, Dabur India has cut their ad spends by 50 percent in the month of November, said CEO Sunil Duggal in an interview to CNBC-TV18. Talking about the impact of the cash cleanup drive taken up by the government he said the impact on destocking has been severe. Primary sales, too, have dropped by 30 percent up until now. To ease the impact of demonetisation, the company may offer credit to clients but not take too much exposure to risk. According to him, around two-thirds of downstream transactions take place in cash. However, some sort of normalcy is expected to come back in December with some stimulus coming in from government to stimulus consumption.Don't miss: Buy, sell, hold: 5 stocks that analysts are watching out

The market continues to struggle ahead of November Futures and Options (F&O) expiry. The Sensex is down 105.71 points or 0.4 percent at 25946.10 and the Nifty is down 37.90 points or 0.5 percent at 7995.40. About 1135 shares have advanced, 929 shares declined, and 110 shares are unchanged.

Asian Paints, Infosys, Bajaj Auto, TCS and SBI are top gainers while Tata Motors, NTPC, ICICI Bank, Reliance and Adani Ports are losers in the Sensex.

The Reserve Bank of India was spotted intervening in the foreign exchange market after the rupee fell to as low as 68.8350 per dollar on Thursday, on the verge of surpassing its previous record low of 68.85 in August 2013, traders said.

The rupee was trading between 68.81 and 68.83 per dollar, compared with its close of 68.56 on Wednesday.

The rupee has been hit hard this month by a rally in the dollar and outflows from emerging markets, as well as worries about the country's demonetisation drive.