Sensex, Nifty continue to fall; HUL, Maruti, ONGC top gainers

Moneycontrol Bureau10:59 am Market Update: Equity benchmarks remained under pressure. The Sensex fell 174.20 points or 0.71 percent to 24485.03 and the Nifty declined 46.10 points or 0.62 percent to 7439.20.About 1141 shares declined against 840 advancing shares on the BSE.

10:50 am Stake sale: Engineering firm Crompton Greaves today said it had sold its international transmission and distribution business to First Reserve International for enterprise value of 115 million euros."The sale will enable the company to reduce debt and focus on its faster growing Indian businesses," Crompton said in a release to the exchanges. "The company continues to actively examine its other international B2B bsuinesses with a view to monetise these businesses to enhance shareholder value."10:35 am Buzzing: Shares of National Aluminium Company fell nearly 3 percent intraday on postponement of plan to buy back government shares.

Indian aluminium company NALCO's plan to buy back up to Rs 3,250 crore (USD 483 million) of government shares will be delayed to the next fiscal year because of procedural delays, a government official said Tuesday.

"Buy-backs are a long process; you need to complete four to five important procedures," Mines Secretary Balvinder Kumar told Reuters.

The government will miss its divestment target in the 2015/16, for the sixth year in a row, as weak commodity prices dented demand for shares of NALCO and other state-controlled companies such as Coal India.

10:20 am FII View: Laurence Balanco of CLSA says the Nifty's recent break above 7,257 resistance triggers the short-term bullish implication of a minor 12/29 February double-bottom pattern.

This breakout supports an upside target of 7,695, below major trend resistance at the 200-DMA and upper boundary of the March 2015-to-date downtrend channel at the 7,954-8,064 area, he adds.

According to him, this rebound is unlikely to break above the cited downtrend resistance with a retest and probable break of the February lows likely. Below the February lows, the next chart support is at the 6,300-6,350 area, Balanco says.Also read - Crompton Greaves sells int'l T&D biz for EUR 115mn10:00 am Market Check

After a smart rally, bulls seem to be tired and on a resting mode today. The Sensex is down 162.08 points or 0.7 percent at 24497.15 and the Nifty slips 42.05 points or 0.6 percent at 7443.25. About 650 shares have advanced, 983 shares declined, and 82 shares are unchanged.

GAIL, HUL, Maruti, ONGC and Lupin are top gainers while Hindalco, Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors and SBI are losers in the Sensex.

Global oil and gas prices are likely to remain at current lows for several years, with oil dropping to USD 25 per barrel if Iranian production more than offsets supply cuts elsewhere, Moody's Investors Service said today.

"Oil prices continue the decline that began in June 2014, reaching lows not seen in more than a decade. We currently expect oil and gas prices to remain close to current lows for several years, as excess supply in the market is slowly absorbed," it said.

Moody's estimated oil prices to be around USD 33 per barrel in 2016, which will rise to USD 38 a barrel in the next and to USD 43 in 2018.