Sensex continues to fall on profit booking; Castrol most active

Moneycontrol Bureau12:59 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks remaind under pressure with the Sensex down 108.37 points at 28526.13 and the Nifty down 35.45 points at 8772.95.About 1407 shares declined against 1081 advancing shares on the BSE.12:45 pm Europe opens: European stocks opened in negative territory as global markets await the outcomes of separate policy meetings of the US Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan.The pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.23 percent.

Global markets are pausing for breath as the US Federal Reserve starts a two-day meeting on Tuesday, although the chances of a rate hike at this meeting are slim following a deluge of disappointing US data.12:35 pm Credit Suisse on SAIL: Credit Suisse has maintained underperform call on Steel Authority of India (SAIL) as the stock remained expensive even at FY18 EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) and any deleveraging looks unlikely till FY19.

The brokerage says SAIL's surprise positive EBITDA (operating profit) per tonne in Q1 (USD 4 per tonne) raises a larger question on whether its turnaround is indeed under way, as its much delayed capex programme draws to a close.

It further says the company's capex (capital expenditure) programme is likely to be completed by FY17-end, though mining related capex will continue.

Its capex guidance for FY17 is Rs 4,000 crore while Q1FY17 capex was around Rs 1,140 crore. Net debt of the company was over Rs 34,000 crore in FY16.

EBITDA for the quarter was at around Rs 230 crore while analysts were expecting the company to post EBITDA loss of over Rs 300 crore.12:20 pm USFDA inspection: Cadila is expected to complete its remediation for its Moraiya facility by September-end, sources say. The company will call the United States Food & Drugs Association (US FDA) for re-inspection in October. The company had received warning letters for Moraiya and Zyfine plants in December last year. Zyfine facility, however, will take another 3-4 moths for remediation, sources say. Moraiya facility is the most important unit for Cadila as it contributes nearly 60 percent to the US sales. The company has done 14 product transfers from the plant and is looking to do 5-6 more on back of capacity constraints. The company today also said that Zydus in partnership with Takeda will be looking to tackle chickungunya.Also read - BoAML retains buy on Aurobindo, sees 23% EPS CAGR over FY16-1812:00 pm Market Check

The benchmark BSE Sensex continued to fall amid consolidation as investors keenly waited for the outcome of two-day meetings of central banks - Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan - which will be announced Wednesday.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 99.67 points to 28534.83 and the 50-share NSE Nifty was down 29.25 points at 8779.15.

Experts believe once these central banks meetings get over, the market may start concentrating on September quarter results that will kick off in second week of October. They expect the Nifty at its record high soon.

Bank of Japan (BoJ) is expected to make a bigger move in its current policy meet, believes Ian Hui of JPMorgan.

He says that the bank is likely to expand its quantitative and qualitative easing (QQE) as well as move more into the negative interest rate category. This will mainly help Japan support its spending and inflation target, he feels.

Castrol India is the most active stock on exchanges as the parent company Castrol sold 8.5 percent stake today. The stock gained 8 percent.