Sensex, Nifty slip 1%; ICICI, HDFC Bank, ITC, TCS under pressure

Moneycontrol Bureau12:53 pm Market extends losses: Equity benchmarks fell further in afternoon trade with the Sensex falling 304.44 points or 1.28 percent to 23484.35 and the Nifty down 102.95 points or 1.42 percent to 7131.60.Nearly three share declined for every share advancing on the BSE.12:40 pm NTPC OFS: Government's 5 percent stake sale in India's largest power producer NTPC got off to a thumping start today with the institutional investors portion getting oversubscribed within two hours of opening of trade.Of the over 32.98 crore shares on offer for institutional investors, bids for over 38.92 crore shares or 1.18 times the shares on offer have come in during the first two hours of trade. Bidding would open for retail investors, for whom 20 percent shares are reserved, tomorrow.

The government is selling over 41.22 crore shares or 5 per cent stake in NTPC at a floor price of Rs 122 a piece. If fully subscribed, the stake sale would fetch Rs 5,030 crore to the exchequer. In the secondary market, the scrip was trading at Rs 124.65, down 1.73 per cent over the previous close.12:20 pm Moody's on Fiscal deficit: Days ahead of the Union Budget, Moody's Investors Service today said India's fiscal metrics will remain weaker than its peers in the near term even if Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was to stick to fiscal consolidation roadmap.

Jaitley in his Budget for 2016-17 will on Monday reveal if the credit-positive five-year trend of narrowing Budget deficits - from 6.5 percent of GDP in fiscal 2010 to 4.1 percent in 2014-15 - will continue.

He will also say if the government was on track to reduce deficits to 3.9 percent and 3.5 percent of GDP this fiscal year and the next respectively.

Moody's said the importance of the upcoming Budget lies in its message on the government's fiscal consolidation plans.

Also read - Low Budget expectation good; stay away from high risk shrs: HSBC12:00 pm Market Check

Equity benchmarks fell for the first time in last five sessions today. The Sensex shed 213.42 points or 0.90 percent to 23575.37 and the Nifty declined 70.15 points or 0.97 percent to 7164.40 on profit booking in banking & financials, FMCG, infra and select auto stocks.

The market breadth too remained weak as more than two shares declined for every share advancing on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The BSE Midcap was down 0.9 percent and Smallcap fell 0.7 percent.

ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, ITC, HDFC, TCS, L&T, HUL and SBI were top contributors to Sensex's fall while Sun Pharma, Infosys, ONGC, Dr Reddy's Labs and Maruti Suzuki outperformed.

Oil prices dipped slightly after posting strong gains the previous session on the back of an expected drop in US production, but which analysts expect to be countered by rising output from Iran. US front-month West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 1.65 percent to USD 32.84 a barrel and international benchmark Brent was down 52 cents at USD 34.17 a barrel.