Late sell-off drags Sensex 152 pts; Bank Nifty down 386 pts

Jitendra Sriram, MD and Head of Research, HSBC India said the market will be rangebound here on. Earnings growth is likely to be muted till June quarter, he added, while he maintained December 2015 Sensex target at 30000.

Globally equity markets reacted positively to a dovish statement from the US Federal Reserve. Most Asian benchmarks barring Nikkei ended with higher. European markets were marginally in the green (at 16 hours IST).

The FOMC last night removed the word ‘patient’ from the text as expected, opening the door for rate increases, bolstering the bullish tone as it lowered its growth and inflation forecast. It said hikes won't start until the labour market has healed further and the 2 percent inflation target looks achievable. Jannet Yellen added that the timing of initial increase in target range will be data dependant.

Jitendra Sriram believes the Fed would hike interest rates only at its September meeting, instead of in June, as was expected earlier.

Bank Nifty fell the most among sectoral indices, down 386 points. ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and State Bank of India were down 1-2.5 percent.

Reliance Industries, ITC, Tata Motors, Larsen & Toubro, Sesa Sterlite, BHEL and Tata Power declined more than 1 percent. However, TCS, ONGC, NTPC, GAIL and Tata Steel bucked the trend, up 1-2 percent.

Lupin rallied 2.5 percent on getting approval from US Food and Drug Administration for anti-inflammatory drug Celecoxib.

In the broader space, Just Dial spiked 11 percent as Nomura maintained buy recommendation on the stock. However, the brokerage slashed target price on the stock to Rs 1,930 (from Rs 1,985) on higher advertising.

Wockhardt was up 1.7 percent after the US health regulator did not find any issues at Chikalthana plant in Maharashtra.

However, SpiceJet plunged 4.4 percent as the Delhi High Court has directed DGCA to de-register 6 planes of the company. Two Irish lessors had moved court seeking de-registration of planes alleging non-payment of dues.

IPO listing: Ortel Communications closed at 5 percent discount to its issue price of Rs 181 on the first day. It closed at Rs 171.95 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.