Sensex tanks over 350 pts, Nifty below 7150; banks, infra bleed

Moneycontrol Bureau1:45 pm Interview: Spicejet has come a long way in regaining customer confidence and operational course correction, in the last one year, says the company’s Chairman, Ajay Singh, in an exclusive interview to CNBC-TV18. The total payables including bank debt and vendor liabilities has reduced from approximately Rs 2200 crore at the time of change in ownership to Rs 700 crore now, he says adding the plan is to reduce this further to Rs 300-400 crore over one year. The airline has now reached the best on-time performance standards in the industry with significantly lower flight cancellations, he says. He points out that while most other hurdles have been cleared out, the focus over the next 9-12 months will be on stickier costs like acquisition and lease rentals, maintenance cost of fleet etc1:30 pm Buzzing: Shares of NTPC fell more than 3 percent intraday as its two-day offer for sale has opened for subscription. In previous session also ahead of OFS announcement, the stock lost more than 2 percent. The government is going to sell 41,22,73,220 equity shares (representing five percent stake) in NTPC via offer-for-sale (OFS) with hopes of collecting around Rs 5,000 crore. Stake sale is spread over two days with non-retail investors (institutional bidders) getting the first chance to participate in OFS today. On second day, retail as well as non-retail investors are allowed to buy shares.Don't miss: Banks need over Rs 2 lk cr; asset quality concerns to stay: ICRA  

The market is skiding fast as the Sensex is down 351.31 points or 1.5 percent at 23437.48. The Nifty slips 116.45 points or 1.6 percent at 7118.10. About 583 shares have advanced, 1770 shares declined, and 149 shares are unchanged.

ICICI Bank, SBI, Bharti Airtel, HUL and Bajaj Auto are major losers in the Sensex.

Oil prices dipped in Asia after mounting a strong rally the day before as traders remain doubtful that talks on an output freeze among key crude producers will lead to an agreement.

US crude rose back above USD 30 a barrel and European benchmark Brent climbed well over USD 34 yesterday on hopes that the discussions would lead to concrete action to stabilise the battered market.