Sensex ends below 26000 on profit booking; IT, banks drag

Moneycontrol Bureau3:30 pm Market closing: The market saw profit booking on Wednesday ahead of F&O expiry. The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 119.45 points to 25960.03 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 32.70 points to 7896.25.

The market breadth remained positive as about 1386 shares advanced against 1276 declining shares on the BSE.Infosys, Reliance Industries, TCS, Wipro and SBI fell over 1 percent while ITC, Tata Motors, NTPC and Tata Steel outperformed, up more than half a percent.3:08 pm Textile package: Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved Rs 17,822 crore for textile sector under Tech Upgradation Fund Scheme, saying amended scheme for textile sector will attract investment worth Rs 1 lakh crore.

Nahar Spinning, Arvind, SEL Manufacturing, Supreme India, Indian Card, Lakshmi Machine, Indo Rama Synthetics, RSWM, Alok Industries, Garden Silk, Siyaram Silk and Welspun India rallied 1-15 percent.2:58 pm Market Update: Benchmark indices were little changed over the last half an hour of trade. The BSE Sensex is at 26006, down 72 points and the Nifty fell 18 points over its previous close.Other laggards in the index were Reliance (-1 percent), ICICI Bank (-1 percent), HCL Tech (-1 percent) and BPCL (-1 percent).

Gainers included Zee Entertainment (3 percent), Tech Mahindra (1 percent), Dr Reddys Labs (1 percent) and Tata Steel (1 percent).In sectoral performance as reflected by the respective indices, IT (-0.7 percent), oil & gas (-0.3 percent) and auto (-0.1 percent) were under pressure, while metals (0.5 percent), power (0.4 percent) and FMCG (0.3 percent) gained.European shares were trading weak with Germany’s DAX down 63 points at 10796, UK’s FTSE down 36 points at 6277, and France’s CAC down 17 points at 4684.     

Key Asian markets ended mostly lower. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was the biggest loser, closing 117 points lower at 21882. Singapore’s Straits Times fell 9 points to end at 2878, Korea’s KOSPI closed 5 points down at 1961 and Taiwan’s Taiwan Index shed 13 points to end at 8279. In gainers China’s Shanghai rose 8 points to 3572, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 51 points to close at 19033.2:45 pm Railways, states JVs: Eyeing greater financial role of states in execution of rail projects, Union Cabinet today approved the formation of joint venture companies with several states, which will enable the Centre to mobilise resources for various rail infrastructure projects.Chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Cabinet decided that the initial paid up capital of Railway Ministry would be limited to Rs 50 crore for each state. The JVs envisage financial participation of the states as well as faster decision making process to ensure speedy implementation of rail projects in respective states.

Joint Venture Companies would be formed with equity participation of Railways and concerned state governments, according to a release. Several rail projects are delayed due to financial crunch. Each Joint Venture would have an initial paid up Capital of Rs 100 crore based on the quantum of projects to be undertaken.2:20 pm Global growth: Global economic growth will be "disappointing" next year, the head of the International Monetary Fund said in a guest article for German newspaper Handelsblatt published on Wednesday.

"In many countries the financial sector still has weaknesses and in emerging markets the financial risks are increasing. All of that means global growth will be disappointing and uneven in 2016," IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said.

She added that low productivity, aging populations and the effects of the global financial crisis were putting the brakes on growth, which has weakened the medium-term prospects.Also read - Inflation target achievable; India best bet among EMs: Gopinath2:00 pm Market Check

Equity benchmarks continued to be in tight range while the broader markets outperformed, rising 0.4 percent. The Sensex declined 15.60 points to 26063.88 and the Nifty fell 0.95 points to 7928.

The market breadth was positive as about 1390 shares have advanced against 1118 declining shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Moser Baer and Ujaas Energy rallied 7-15 percent after the government increased solar power scheme investment.

"Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved scaling up of budget from Rs 600 crore to Rs 5,000 crore for implementation of grid connected rooftops systems over a period of five years upto 2019-20 under National Solar Mission (NSM). This will support installation of 4200 MW solar rooftop systems in the country in next five years," says the government.