Sensex falls over 200 pts, Nifty weak; Tata Steel drags 3%

On consolidated basis, analysts expect profit at Rs 1,075 crore on revenue of Rs 22,850 crore for the quarter.

9:45 am Result analysis: Shares of Tata Steel slipped 4 percent intraday after it announced disappointing results on Friday late evening. Its profits fell 68.7 percent to Rs 157.1 crore and revenues fell 8.4 percent year-on-year to Rs 33,633 crore.

However, brokerages are mixed on the stock. Barclays maintains overweight rating on Tata Steel with a 12-month price target at Rs 618 per share. It states that improved raw material availability, balance sheet de-leveraging, European business recovery and India volume growth visibility are key drivers for the stock. Deutsche Bank also holds buy rating but has reduced  target price by 29 percent to Rs 480 per share and FY15/16 earnings by 31percent /24 percent.

Meanwhile, Kotak reiterates reduce rating and slashed FY2015-17 EBITDA by 9-16 percent with a reduced target price of Rs 400. According to the brokerage, Tata Steel’s Indian operations may remain under pressure.

9:30 am Opinion: Sunil Jain, Managing Editor, Financial Express, says though the Delhi poll outcome will not be a referendum for the Narendra Modi government, but it would definitely be a reality check for BJP if the party fails to win in the capital. “It will be interesting to see how AAP works with the Centre if comes in power,” says Jain, who feels the party’s manifesto has been more realistic this time around. He however expects AAP's reform promises to have an impact on companies like Reliance Infra and Tata Power.

9:22 am Market check: The Sensex is down 232.01 points or 0.8 percent at 28485.90 and the Nifty is down 70.30 points or 0.8 percent at 8590.75. GAIL is down 5 percent, Tata Steel and Tata Power are down 3 percent. Sesa Sterlite and M&M are other losers in the Sensex. ONGC and HUL are up 1 percent  while SBI is among gainers in the Sensex.

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The market has opened in red as exit polls of Delhi Assembly election indicate that BJP may not get majority to form government.. The Sensex is down 151.41 points or 0.5 percent at 28566.50. The Nifty slips 75.70 points or 0.9 percent at 8585.35. About 93 shares have advanced, 196 shares declined, and 127 shares are unchanged.

Tata Steel, Sesa Sterlite, Tata Power, BHEL and Tata Motors are losers in the Sensex.

The Indian rupee has breached 62 per dollar mark in early trade on Monday, down 31 paise compared to Friday's closing value of 61.69 a dollar.

Agam Gupta, Standard Chartered said, "The US Jobs data release on Friday was very strong which has led to a bout of Dollar strength against all currencies. We expect the USD-INR to trade in the range of Rs 61.80-62.20/USD. Local govt-owned banks will continue to buy dollars on any dips till Rs 61.80-61.85/USD. We expect selling to emerge from exporters on any upticks towards Rs 62.15-62.20/USD.

US markets too ended on a weak note on Friday despite a positive jobs report. The US ten year bond yields soared to 1.95 percent and the dollar index shot past the 94 mark.

Stocks closed down on Friday amid continued concerns over Greece and a strong jobs report that renewed the possibility of an earlier fed rate hike. The CBoE volatility index edged higher to trade near 18.

On the European front, the Greek government is under pressure to find a solution to its funding situation as its current bailout ends at the end of February and there is still a tranche of bailout funds it has not received

Lenders are not ready to release the funds until Greece makes a commitment to continue with the conditions of its bailout. Meanwhile the S&P downgraded its rating on Greece to "b-" from "b."

Asia too was mixed in morning trade as weak trade data from china weighs on sentiment. Nikkei was trading with mild gains as the yen moved to four-week lows of 118.9 against the dollar. From precious metals space, gold gained for the first time in three sessions, boosted by safe-haven bids as Asian equity markets fell on disappointing Chinese trade data.