Sensex, Nifty end 1% lower; IT, FMCG, IT index tank

Moneycontrol Bureau3:30 pm Market closing: The Sensex ended down 329.55 points or 1.3 percent  at 24287.42, and the Nifty was down 101.85 points or 1.4 percent at 7387.25. About 1186 shares have advanced, 1477 shares declined, and 136 shares are unchanged.

Bharti Airtel, SBI, Axis Bank, Lupin and Tata Steel were top gainers while Tata Motors, ONGC, ITC, Sun Pharma and TCS were losers in the Sensex.

3:20 pm Market check: The Sensex is down 329.08 points or 1.3 percent at 24287.89, and the Nifty down 109.40 points or 1.5 percent at 7379.70. About 1200 shares have advanced, 1425 shares declined, and 129 shares are unchanged. 2:58 pm Market extends losses: The Sensex declined 223.51 points or 0.91 percent to 24393.46 and the Nifty fell 71.70 points or 0.96 percent to 7417.40.The market breadth turned negative as about 1320 shares declined against 1276 advancing shares on the BSE.2:50 pm Earnings: Inox Wind disappointed analysts with third quarter earnings on Monday. Consolidated profit increased 2 percent year-on-year to Rs 103 crore, supported by other income but impacted by slow revenue growth and weak operational performance.

Revenue rose 0.9 percent to Rs 941 crore in quarter ended December 2015 compared to Rs 932 crore in corresponding quarter of last fiscal.

Profit was expected at Rs 143 crore on revenue of Rs 1,260 crore for the quarter, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

2:40 pm Market cracks: The market extended losses after rangebound trade. The Sensex fell 155.18 points or 0.63 percent to 24461.79 and the Nifty declined 48.95 points or 0.65 percent to 7440.15.About 1356 shares advanced against 1208 shares declined on the BSE.2:20 pm RBI on NBFCs: Reserve Bank of India today said that it has cancelled the certificate of registration of four non-banking financial companies. No details were given by the apex bank for cancellation of the certificates of these firms."The Reserve Bank has cancelled the certificate of registration of four non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) in exercise of the powers under the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934", it said in a notification today.

Goyal Commercial Pvt Ltd and First Debt Management Co. of India Ltd are the NBFCs belonging to Kolkata, while Nostalgia Finvest Private Limited and Narad Realtors Private Limited belong to Mumbai. The registration certificate of these NBFCs were cancelled in November and December of 2015.Also read  - Ipca Labs Q3 profit falls 44%, revenue down 8% on lower exports 

Equity benchmarks continued to be rangebound in afternoon trade with the Sensex rising 2.78 points to 24619.75 and the Nifty falling 3.95 points to 7485.15. FMCG, technology and HDFC group stocks remained under pressure while banks and infra stocks gained. SBI and Axis Bank rallied more than 4.5 percent.

The broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising nearly 1 percent. About 1505 shares advanced against 1028 declining shares on the BSE.

European markets opened higher but turned lower after mixed employment data from the US kept investors focused on the Federal Reserve's next move in its interest rate hiking path. CAC, DAX and FTSE were marginally lower.

Crude oil futures inched up in thin trade as many Asian markets were on holiday for Lunar New Year, with few trading cues expected until Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen gives testimony to lawmakers later in the week. Brent and Nymex futures gained 1.5 percent each.