Market ends near 4-month low, Nifty below 8500; ITC gains 2%

Moneycontrol Bureau3:30 pm Market closing: The market ended at near 4-month low. The Sensex is down 96.94 points or 0.3 percent at 27430.28, and the Nifty down 29.05 points or 0.3 percent at 8484.95. About 1169 shares have advanced, 1785 shares declined, and 124 shares are unchanged. 3:10 pm Results: Ambuja Cements disappointed analysts with its quarterly earnings. Profit increased 79.2 percent year-on-year to Rs 277 crore on the back of solid growth in other income.

Revenue during the quarter declined 3.8 percent to Rs 2,031.4 crore from Rs 2,110.9 crore in same period last year, impacted by lower sales volume.2:59 pm Market Update: Benchmark indices extended losses in last hour of trade. The Sensex fell 78.19 points to 27449.03 and the Nifty declined 22.45 points to 8491.55.About 1665 shares declined against 1234 advancing shares on the BSE.2:50 pm Payment default: Jindal Steel and Power today said it has failed to pay Rs 15.43 crore interest on non convertible debentures (NCDs), which was due on October 31.

"The company has not made payment of Rs 15.43 crore towards the interests due on NCDs, the due date for payment of which was October 31, 2016," JSPL said in a regulatory filing.

Last month, the firm had said it has defaulted on payment of interest on NCDs, due on September 30, 2016 on account of cash flow mismatches.

In the last few months, the Naveen Jindal led company has divested some of its assets to pare debt. JSPL has a net debt of around Rs 46,000 crore.

In October, the company said it will sell its 24 MW wind power plant in Satara, Maharashtra to a subsidiary of India infrastructure Fund II for an undisclosed amount.2:37 pm Earnings: Diagnostic chain Dr Lal PathLabs has reported more than 8-fold increase in consolidated profit at Rs 52.5 crore for July-September quarter compared with Rs 6.2 crore in same period last year. It was partly driven by low base in year-ago period. The company had reported one-time loss of Rs 16.6 crore in Q2FY16. Hence, adjusted profit increased 40 percent.

Revenue during the quarter jumped 21.6 percent to Rs 262.2 crore as patient volumes increased substantially on account of outbreak of Dengue and Chikungunya in Delhi / NCR region.

About 70 percent of company's business comes from North India.2:20 pm GST rates: Good & services tax (GST) rates are likely to be finalised today, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting agencies.

According to reports, GST rate on tobacco may be fixed at 40 percent while panel may fix GST rate at 5 percent, 12 percent, 18 percent and 28 percent slabs.Also read - Morgan Stanley ups ICICI Bank target on insurance arm valuations2:00 pm Market Check: Equity benchmarks continued to be lacklustre in afternoon trade but the broader markets underperformed with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices falling 0.4-0.7 percent.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 12.46 points to 27514.76 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 12.20 points to 8501.80.

Grasim, Tata Steel, ONGC, Adani Ports, Bank of Baroda, Asian Paints and SBI were top losers, down 2-4 percent while Hero Motocorp, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, TCS, HDFC Bank, Hindalco, Bharti Infratel and ACC gained 0.5-4 percent.

European markets were mixed on continued concerns over the US election, with investors also focused on the Bank of England's latest rate decision and fresh corporate earnings.

Crude oil futures rose as an attack on a Nigerian oil pipeline and a weaker US dollar buoyed sentiment in the market, lifting prices for five-week lows. Brent crude was trading up 0.47 percent at USD 47.09 a barrel. US crude was up 0.26 percent at USD 45.46 per barrel.