Sensex cracks over 400 pts, Nifty holds 8300; banks bleed

Moneycontrol Bureau

11:55 am Interview: With green shoots of recovery in the economy, the residential sector is showing some improvement, says Sarang Wadhawan of HDIL .The company has reduced its debt considerably to Rs 110 crore in the fourth quarter to become cash positive. Over the next two quarter the company will focus on execution of existing projects, given its business in TDR vertical is looking promising. He expects to realize a rate of Rs 5000 per square feet in TDR.

11:38 am Market check: The market continues to slip. The Sensex is down 427.24 points or 1.5 percent at 27421.75. The Nifty is down 128.75 points or 1.5 percent at 8304.65. About 770 shares have advanced, 1429 shares declined, and 134 shares are unchanged.

Hero, HDFC, ITC, SBI and Cipla are among major laggards while Bharti Airtel is in green.

11:20 am: RBI has revised inflation forecast for January 2016 to 6 percent versus 5.8 percent earlier.

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The market has fallen sharply after RBI has kept cash reserve ratio (CRR) unchanged. The Sensex is down 274.08 points or 0.9 percent at 27574.91 and the Nifty is down 93.25 points or 1.1 percent at 8340.15. About 818 shares have advanced, 1243 shares declined, and 128 shares are unchanged.

The Reserve Bank of India has slashed the repo rate by 25 basis points. The repo rate is now 7.25 percent. Consequently, the reverse repo rate moves lower to 6.25 percent.

Hero, HDFC, ITC, Tata Power and SBI are major laggards in the Sensex. Among the gainers are Bharti Airtel and TCS.

Meanwhile, crude oil dipped on expectations that OPEC would not cut output at its meeting this week, but firm refinery demand curbed price losses.

Front-month Brent crude futures had fallen 10 cents to USD 64.78 per barrel by 0227 GMT on Tuesday, while US crude was down 5 cents at USD 60.15 a barrel. Those slight declines extended a 1-percent drop from the previous session.