Sensex ends 207 pts down on euro woes; bankex dives 2.5%

After a lacklustre trade since the opening, the BSE benchmark Sensex shed more than 200 points in the last hour of trade due to renewed concerns in the eurozone. The fall of 7% in SBI on account of worries over its assets quality too added severe pressure on the market. Banking, oil & gas, auto, capital goods and metal stocks caught in bears' hand.

Ritu Arora of Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company feels that global environment does pose a lot of challenges at this point in time and the center of worry is Europe. "The focus shifts from Greece to Italy and Italy is the second most leveraged economy at 120% of GDP in eurozone."

Fears that the debt crisis could spread to Italy even after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is ready to resign. European markets like France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE were down between 1% and 2%. Others like Athex Composite (Greece) tumbled 2% and FTSE MIB (Italy) plunged over 4%. The Dow Jones futures crashed 186 points.

Back home, the 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 207.43 points or 1.18%, to close at 17,362.10 led by fall in 24 stocks. The 50-share NSE Nifty slipped 68.30 points or 1.29%, to end at 5,221.05.

Ritu Arora said global economy overhang would continue to dominate Indian market sentiment and also FII flows.

Dilip Bhat, Joint MD of Prabhudas Liladher feels that gradually over the next 6-9 months, the markets will come down and probably will make lower bottoms. "4500 looks very much on the cards."

India's largest lender SBI's asset quality concerns disappointed the street. Its non performing assets rose to 4.19% in Q2FY12 versus 3.35% in a year ago period while the net profit and net interest income were better than expectations - moved up 12% to Rs 2,810 crore and 28% to Rs 10,442 crore. The stock crashed nearly 7%.

Among other banking stocks - ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank were down 1.5-2%. The BSE Bank and Metal indices fell 2.5% each.

From the oil & gas space, Reliance Industries and ONGC plunged 2-2.4%. HPCL, IOC and BPCL were down 3.5-5.5%.

In the metal space, Tata Steel, Hindalco and Sterlite Industries dropped 3-4%. In the infrastructure space, L&T, NTPC and BHEL lost 1-2%.

Auto stocks too lost the ground - Maruti Suzuki, M&M and Tata Motors plummeted 2.5-4% while Hero Motocorp gained 1%. Even DLF crashed 3.6%.

HUL has maintained its top position in the buying list, rising nearly 3% while ITC rose 0.7%.

TCS jumped 1.8% post the company has received order worth USD 2.2 billion from Friends Life. Wipro rose 2%.

The broader indices too declined over 1% and the declining outnumbered advancing ones by 3 to 1.

Volume also jumped in the later part of the session; total traded turnover was more than Rs 1.24 lakh crore.

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At 14:50 hours IST : Global cues drag Sensex 100 pts lower; SBI falls 6%

The BSE benchmark Sensex shed more than 100 points following negative European cues. France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE dropped over 0.5% on worries over Italy and Greece. The Dow Jones futures fell nearly a percent. The 30-share BSE Sensex plummeted 119 points to 17,450.35 and the 50-share NSE Nifty lost 41.5 points to 5,247.90.

SBI crashed over 6% due to deterioration in asset quality in the second quarter. Net profit and net interest income of the bank were up 12% and 28% to Rs 2810 crore and Rs 10442 crore, respectively. But the most worried part was its non performing assets, which rose to 4.19% in Q2FY12 versus 3.35% year-on-year.

Reliance Industries, ONGC, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, M&M, BHEL, NTPC, Sterlite Industries and DLF were down between 1% and 2%. HDFC Bank and L&T fell 0.8%.

Maruti Suzuki lost nearly 3% and Hindalco was down 2.5%.

However, HUL shot up 3.3% and ITC gained 0.76%. From the technology space, TCS jumped 1.8% post the company has received USD 2.2 billion order from Friends Life and Wipro gained 2%.

HDFC, Bharti and Coal India were marginally higher. Hero Motocorp rose over 1%.

Even the market breadth has worsened; about two shares dropped for every share rising on the National Stock Exchange.

At 13:56 hours IST : Europe cues fail to perk up mkt; TCS, ITC, HUL surge

Indian equity benchmarks remained directionless despite positive European cues. Capital goods, metals, oil & gas and select banking stocks were witnessing selling pressure while technology, telecom, FMCG and auto (2-wheeler) stocks were on buyers' radar. The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 8.7 points at 17,578.22 while the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 3.5 points to 5,285.85.

Tim Dickson of Invesco Perpetual expects to see range bound markets going forward. However, he feels that the downside risks for the markets are relatively limited. Moreover, he pointed out that he is not optimistic about a rally in emerging markets this year.

TCS surged 3% post the company has received worth USD 2.2 billion order. Among other technology stocks, Wipro gained 1.8% and Infosys was up 0.3%.

FMCG stocks maintained their upmove; HUL rallied 3.6% and ITC rose 1.4%. ICICI Bank, HDFC, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Auto, Coal India and JP Associates moved up nearly 0.5%. Hero Motocorp jumped 1.6%

However, SBI has remained its top position in the selling list, losing nearly 5%. This was post the rise in its non performing assets to 4.19% in Q2FY12 versus 3.35% year-on-year. However, the net profit and net interest income were better than expectations - rose 12% to Rs 2810 crore and 28% to Rs 10442 crore.

From the oil & gas space, Reliance Industries and ONGC were down 0.44% and 1.6%, respectively.

HDFC Bank, L&T, M&M, Tata Steel, Sterlite, Sun Pharma, NTPC, BHEL and Hindalco dropped 0.5-1%. Maruti Suzuki fell over 2% on labour problems.

The market breadth was in favour of declines; about 506 shares gained while 760 shares slipped.

On the global front, European markets like France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE were up 0.5-1% in the early trade.

At 12:40 hours IST : Nifty rangebound; SBI falls 4% on asset quality concerns

The NSE benchmark Nifty has been moving in a narrow range of 5270-5300 since the morning trade. Country's largest lender SBI fell sharply post second quarter numbers, which weighed on the market while the buying in HUL, TCS, ITC and Bharti Airtel were helping. The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 5 points to 17,564 and the 50-share NSE Nifty lost 7 points to 5,282.25.

SBI plunged 4.6% on the back of worries over its asset quality. The bank has reported better than expected increase of 12.34% year-on-year in net profit of Rs 2,810 crore for the second quarter of FY12 and net interest income jumped 28.43% to Rs 10,422 crore during the same period. But gross non performing assets increased to 4.19% in the July-September quarter of FY12 versus 3.35% in a year ago period.

ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank too were under pressure, falling 0.25% and 0.65%, respectively.

L&T, ONGC, BHEL, M&M, Maruti, NTPC, Sun Pharma and Sterlite were down 0.5-1%.

However, FMCG stocks were providing good support. HUL was the biggest gainer, rising 3.3% and ITC gained 1%.

TCS, Bharti Airtel, Hero Motocorp and Wipro rallied 1-2%. HDFC rose 0.5%.

At 11:47 hours IST : Sensex lacklustre; TCS rises 1.6%, SBI down

Indian equity benchmarks were marred by lacklustre movements in trade. The broader indices too followed the same trend and the market breadth remained unchanged. The 30-share BSE Sensex moved up 36 points to 17,605 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 6.5 points at 5,295.85.

Shares of country's largest lender SBI fell 1.6% ahead of its second quarter numbers. Capital goods stocks like L&T and BHEL were down 0.7% and 0.4%, respectively.

Maruti Suzuki dropped 1% on reports that workers may protest against unsatisfactory resolution of issues. Sun Pharma too was down 1%.

HDFC Bank and NTPC lost 0.4% each while ONGC declined 0.9%.

However, TCS surged 1.6% as the company is likely to announce a major order win today.

HUL was the biggest gainer, rising 2.4%. JSPL, Hero Motocorp and Wipro gained 1.5% each. RIL, HDFC, Bharti, ITC, Tata Steel and JP Associates moved up 0.3-1%.

In the midcap space, Jyothy Labs, Bajaj Corp, Ramky Infra, Sujana Towers and Apollo Tyres rallied 4-9% while KSK Energy Ventures plunged 18%. Gujarat Gas, HCL Info, Motherson Sumi and Essar Ports lost 3-6%.

At 10:29 hours IST : Sensex turns volatile; banks down post Moody's downgrade

The NSE benchmark erased all gains accumulated in the early trade after it slipped from above 5300 to around 5289. Banking stocks slipped into red after Moody's changed India's banking system outlook to negative from stable; HDFC Bank, SBI and ICICI Bank were down 0.3-0.8%. The 30-share BSE Sensex rose just 6 points to 17,575.47 while the 50-share NSE Nifty dropped 4 points to 5,285.55.

Asian markets too slipped from day's high. Shanghai fell 0.35%. Straits Times, Kospi and Taiwan were flat with a negative bias. However, Hang Seng was up 1.6% and Nikkei up 0.65%.

Back home, heavyweights L&T and ONGC fell 0.7%. BHEL, Maruti, Hindalco and NTPC were marginally lower.

However, technology stocks were quite supportive - TCS was up 0.66% and Wipro up 1%. Reliance Industries and Bharti Airtel too held its upmove, rising 0.3%.

HUL, HDFC, Tata Motors, Hero Motocorp, Tata Steel and JSPL gained 0.5-1%.

According to Jyotivardhan Jaipuria, head of research at BofA Merrill Lynch, growth momentum in India is slowing down, especially on the investment side.