Sensex falls 418 points on global growth worries, Nifty settles below 7,310; SBI plunges over 5%

Benchmark index BSE Sensex plunged 417.80 points to 24,062.04 on account massive selling in Asian indices after IMF slashed global growth forecast. Falling rupee and selling pressure in heavyweights such as Reliance Industries and State Bank of India further dampened the market sentiments. NSE Nifty fell 125.80 points to 7,309.30 on Wednesday.

In the 50-share index, Vedanta, Hindalco, Adani Ports, PNB and State Bank of India fell between 5 per cent and 7.20 per cent. On the other hand, Idea Cellular, Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma and HCL Tech gained between 0.08 per cent and 0.50 per cent.

During the day, Sensex also fell below the 24,000-mark for the first time since May 16, 2014. The index opened the day at 24,325.77 and touched a high and low of 24,325.77 and 23,839.76 (its new 52-week low) respectively.

S&P  BSE SENSEX

Gaurav Jain, director, Hem Securities, said, “Bears continue to hammer the bourses on global sell-off and crude hitting multi-year lows. Further, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) slashing its global growth forecasts for the third time in less than a year also spooked the sentiment worldwide. Relentless selling by foreign portfolio investors and sharp depreciation in rupee raised concerns to the investors.”

Sectorwise, the BSE Realty index fell the most — 3.49 per cent, followed by BSE Metal index (down 3.08 per cent), BSE Power index (down 2.39 per cent) and BSE Bankex (down 2.35 per cent). Rest all other sectoral indices on BSE also ended in red.

Shreyash Devalkar, fund manager, equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund, said, “It was a manic day on the bourses as global recession worries weighed in on investor sentiment.”

Reliance Industries (RIL) shares plunged 3.76 per cent on Wednesday despite strong Q3 numbers. The company on Tuesday reported its highest-ever quarterly net profit of Rs 7,290 crore for the three months ended December on refinery margins spiking to seven-year high.

Jimeet Modi, chief executive officer, SAMCO Securities, said, “Reliance Industries shares fell in line with overall market selloff in response to weak global clues. The fear of crude capitulation and the resulting sell-off in the equities from Sovereign Wealth funds to balance the shortfall in budget in the oil producing countries is keeping the global markets on the tender hooks. Reliance cannot remain isolated in the midst of turmoil inspite of beating street expectations by a wide margin by posting a rise of 39 per cent in its Q3 PAT number.”

Though, IMF retained India’s growth forecast at 7.5 per cent for 2016 and 2017 but lowered China’s forecast to 6.3 per cent in 2016 and further down to 6 per cent in 2017 even as global growth projection was revised down by 0.2 percentage point to 3.4 per cent for 2016.

Indian Rupee weakened to its lowest levels in the past 28 months, to a low of Rs 68 against dollar amidst overall pessimism and weakness in Chinese Yuan.

Asian equity markets ended in red on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei entering the bear market, as global sentiment remained low on concerns over economic growth, China, and oil wallowed at its lowest since 2003 after IEA’s warning that oil supply glut may last through 2016.

Source: Ace Equity

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Markets through the day

3.30 pm: Sensex plunged 417.80 points to end at 24,062.04, whle NSE Nifty50 slid below 7,400-mark, fell 125.80 points to 7,309.30.

3.24 pm: Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India’s step-down subsidiary — Holiday Club Resorts Oy, has increased its stake in Saimaa Gardens Arena Oy, Finland, (SGA), from 24% to 100% and consequently SGA became wholly owned subsidiary of HCR and in turn of the company with effect from January 19, 2016. Shares of Mahindra Holidays & Resorts were trading 2.84 per cent down at Rs 355.80. Sensex was down 411 points at 24,068.

2.56 pm: Meanwhile, for upcoming trading sessions, Vidya Bala, head of mutual funds research, Fundsindia.com, said, “We expect equity market continue to be volatile for the first half of 2016, meanwhile we can see some short rally that we saw yesterday. However, India is relatively in better position as compared to other emerging markets. Lower crude prices have helped India to repair itself internally in terms of current deficit. In the stock market it is a time to do some bargain hunting due to attractive valuations.” Sensex was down 404 points at 24,075.

2.53 pm: Index heavyweight Reliance Industries were trading 4.71 per cent down at Rs 994.70. Read: RIL shares fall 4 per cent despite strong Q3 results, here is why

2.46 pm: Reliance Communications (RCom) has paid an aggregate amount of Rs 5,383.84 crore as liberalization fee to Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in relation to spectrum in the 800/850 MHz band held by it in 16 telecom circles. Shares of RCom were trading 9.62 per cent down at Rs 66.25. Sensex was down 625 points, or 2.56 per cent, at 23,854.

2:42 pm: Sensex was down 617.34 points at 23,862.50, while Nifty was down 193.05 points at 7,242.05

2:25 pm: Sensex fell below 23,900-level by plunging 589 points at 23,890.98. Nifty was down 176.35 points at 7,258.75. BSE Energy stocks tank over 4 per cent after crude oil prices fell to near 13-year lows.

Read: Why Sensex plunges over 600 points today

2:05 pm: Pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 2.3 percent to a 13-month low. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 1.9 percent, Germany’s DAX slid 2.3 percent while France’s CAC retreated by 2.2 percent. Sensex was down 557.36 points at 23,922.48.

2.00 pm: South Indian Bank has registered a 15.58 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 101.63 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015. The bank had posted a net profit of Rs 87.93 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. Shares of South Indian Bank were up 0.27 per cent at Rs 18.40. Sensex was down 502 points at 23,977.71

1.45 pm: Laggard among the 30 Sensex stocks were Adani Ports, State Bank of India, BHEL, Coal India, Tata Motors and Reliance Industries. Sensex was down 456 points at 24,023.

1.24 pm: Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil struck a low of $27.92 a barrel before recovering to trade at $28.15, down 31 cents, or 1.09 per cent, while Brent crude was 13 cent lower at $28.63 per barrel in New York. Sensex was down 501 points 23,978. Nifty was down 151 points at 7,284.

1.03 pm: Ramco Systems, the global Aviation software provider on cloud, mobile & tablets, has signed an agreement with Far Eastern Air Transport (FAT) to automate the Taiwanese carrier’s maintenance and engineering operations. Under the agreement, FAT will install Ramco Aviation Suite V5.7, to streamline its Maintenance and Engineering functions, enabling it to track aircraft components more effectively while minimizing paperwork and human error. Shares of Ramco Systems were trading 5.20 per cent down at Rs 573.10. Sensex was down 1.83 per cent at 24,032.01.

12.42 pm:  IT firm Zensar Technologies on Wednesday reported a 2.9 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 71.54 crore for the December quarter. The Pune-based firm had posted a net profit of Rs 69.5 crore in the year-ago period. Shares of Zensar were trading 11.38 per cent down at Rs 835.

12.22 pm: Larsen & Toubro (L&T) today said its Korean joint venture (JV) firm has bagged Rs 3,115 crore order for construction of a new Ganga bridge in Bihar. Shares of L&T were down 2.91 per cent at Rs 1,090. Sensex was down 1.78 per cent at 24,044.

12.19 pm: State Bank of India (SBI) shares hit new 52-week low of Rs 175.10 and fell nearly 22 per cent in 2016. The BSE Bankex was down 2.49 per cent at 16,893.38.

12.15 pm: Sensex fell below 24,000-level for the first time since May 16, 2014, by plunging 482 points to 23,998.65.

Read: Indian rupee breaches 68-mark against dollar; first time since early Sept 2013

11.56 am: Market benchmark Sensex tumbled 476 points to 24,003 in late morning deals on massive sell-off in banks, metals and capital goods stocks, tracking bearish overseas cues after IMF slashed global growth forecast.

11.18 am: Godfrey Phillips India shares were up 16.77 per cent at Rs 1,236.90. Sensex was down 365 points at 24,114. Nifty was down 1.54 per cent at 7320. The 50-share index opened at 7,357 and had touched a high and low of 7,470.90 and 7,291.50, respectively, in trade so far. Nifty50 slid below 7,300-mark for the first time since June 2, 2014.

10.50 am: Sustained capital outflows amid weak trend on Asian bourses on renewed worries over global slowing economic growth and falling oil prices, dampened trading sentiments here, equity brokers said. Selling pressure was so strong even record earnings of Reliance Industries failed to impress investors, they said. The 30-share index was down 370 points at 24,109.

10.36 am: On the sectoral front, all the sectoral indices on the BSE were trading in red led by Realty, Power, Capital Goods, Bankex and Oil & Gas.

10.26 am: BASF shares fell over 5 per cent after the specialty chemicals company reported a net loss of Rs 106 crore for the third quarter ended December 2015 (Q3FY16) as against loss of Rs 40 crore in the same quarter last year. 

10.15 am: According to the data released by the NSE, the Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers of Rs 1184.60 crore in index futures and options segments, as per Tuesday’s data, January 19, 2016.

FIIs were net buyers of index futures to the tune of Rs 390.81 crore and they bought index options worth Rs 793.79 crore. In the stock segment, FII’s were net buyers of stock futures worth Rs 243.06 crore, while they sold stock options worth Rs 165.93 crore.

9.56 am: Reliance Industries retreated further. The scrip were trading 3.12 per cent down at Rs 1011. Sensex was down 368 points at 24,110.

9.47 am: The rupee tumbled 30 paise to trade over 28-month low at 67.95 against the dollar in early trade today, mainly due to strong demand for the American unit from importers and banks amid a lower opening in the domestic equity market.

Market Sell-Off: BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty fell over 20 per cent from their record highs.

9.36 am: Apollo Tyres and Exide Industries hit their new 52-week low in early trade. Sensex was down 421 points at 24,058.

9.30 am: In the 50-share index, Sun Pharma (up 0.60 per cent) was the only gainer. On the other hand, Cairn India, Vedanta, PNB, Adani Ports, Bank of Baroda were down between 3.20 per cent 4.65 per cent. Nifty was down 113.95 points at 7321.15.

Nifty 50 : Top Gainers and Losers

9.26 am: Sensex was down 408 points at 24,071. All the 30 components of the benchmark index were trading in red. Adani Ports shares plunged the most — 3.18 per cent, followed by L&T (down 3.09 per cent) and ONGC (down 3.03 per cent).

S&P BSE Sensex Heatmap @ 9.26 am

9.22 am: Meanwhile, Sensex hit its new 52-week low of 24101.50. The index was down 348 points at 24,131. Nifty50 also hit its new 52-week low of 7,315.70.

9.16 am: Sensex was trading 352.01 points, or 1.44 per cent, down at 24,127.83. Nifty was down 96.70 points, or 1.30 per cent, at 7338.40. RIL was trading 1.5 per cent down at Rs 1,027 in the early trade.

9.15 am: Sensex opened 154.07 points down at 24325.77, while NSE Nifty opened 78.10 points down at 7,357.

8.38 am: Benchmark indices BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty are likely to open in negative on Wednesday tracking SGX Nifty and Asian markets.

At 8.29 am (IST), SGX Nifty was down 71 points, or 0.96 per cent, at 7,366.

Asian share markets slipped on Wednesday as a relentless slide in oil prices wiped out an attempted rally on Wall Street and dealt a fresh blow to risk appetite.

Hang Seng, Nikkei and Shanghai were down by 3 per cent, 2.15 per cent and 0.71 per cent.

US markets ended mix on Tuesday, as gains in the utilities, telecoms and consumer goods sectors led shares higher, while losses in the oil & gas, basic materials and healthcare sectors led shares lower.

Back home, Sensex rebounded from 20-month lows by recovering 291.47 points to end at 24,479.84 on value-buying in recently beaten-down stocks amid firm Asian cues.

Reliance Industries will remain in focus as the index heavyweight on Tuesday posted its highest-ever quarterly net profit of Rs 7,290 crore for the three months ended December on refinery margins spiking to seven-year high.

(With agency inputs)