Sensex sheds 155 pts ahead of RBI policy; Jet Airways up 4%

Moneycontrol Bureau

The market fell for the fourth consecutive session Monday with the Sensex shedding 155 points ahead of RBI's first quarter review of monetary policy on July 30.
The BSE Sensex closed at 19593.28 while the NSE Nifty fell 54.55 points or 0.93 percent to finish at 5831.65, but the cut was deeper in midcaps as the BSE Midcap Index fell 1.3 percent.
Experts do not see any major action from the much-awaited monetary policy review as the central bank had already taken liquidity measures in past one month to curb rupee depreciation.
Rahul Chadha, head of India investment, Mirae Asset Global Investments (HK) believes the RBI is unlikely to change rates in its monetary policy on Tuesday. "They will maintain the status quo. Whatever had to be done, they did over last one month," he adds.
"Recent government and RBI actions highlight that protecting the rupee now takes precedence over growth revival. While we see lower probability of extreme actions from the RBI, quick reversal of the new policies is unlikely," says Mahesh Nandurkar of CLSA. Also Read - Credit squeeze in Asia now worst since financial crisis
The BSE Bankex lost more than 5 percent from last week. Disappointing earnings from public sector banks was another reason for sharp fall in banks.
The credit rating agency CRISIL in its recent report has warned that Reserve Bank of India's recent liquidity tightening measures to curb exchange volatility would worsen non-performing asset of banks as the sectors like power, construction, engineering and steel will find it difficult to repay loans.
Country's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank, which will announce its earnings on Wednesday, declined just 0.26 percent while its rivals State Bank of India and HDFC Bank slipped 1-1.7 percent.
Vijaya Bank, Allahabad Bank, Syndicate Bank and Indian Bank dropped 3-7 percent on asset quality concerns in the first quarter.
Jet Airways shares rallied 3.7 percent to Rs 411 today. (News after market hours) Foreign Investment Promotion Board has cleared the Jet-Etihad deal, according to CNBC-TV18 quoting sources. It is learnt that the FIPB gave conditional nod to that deal.
Ahead of first quarter earnings on Tuesday, Dr Reddys Labs lost nearly 4 percent while Jindal Steel gained close to 5 percent.
Wipro shares surged nearly 7 percent post earnings that were in-line with analysts’ forecast. India's third largest software service exporter is fairly confident of growth in upcoming quarters given the pick up in large deal closures in first quarter and recovery in key markets like US and Europe.
Metals stocks remained under pressure; Sterlite Industries, Hindalco Industries and Coal India were down 3-4 percent.
FMCG stocks also dropped further with the Hindustan Unilever (HUL) and ITC falling nearly 3-4 percent. Among others, Tata Motors and Sun Pharma gained 2 percent.
CLSA has a sell call on HUL with a target price of Rs 500 while JP Morgan has downgraded it to underweight and expects earnings downgrades given slowing revenue growth trends and waning tailwinds on the margin front.
Natco Pharma was the biggest gainer today, rising 20 percent after the pharmaceutical firm received favorable US ruling on Copaxone patent case.
Declining shares outnumbered advancing ones by 1393 to 817 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Indian rupee depreciated by 37 paise to close at 59.41 against the US dollar.
Globally, Asian markets closed lower with the Japan's Nikkei falling 3.3 percent on stronger Yen and China's Shanghai losing 1.7 percent.