Sensex Drops 370, Nifty Below 8,750 In Line With Global Sell-Off As ONGC, ICICI Bank Tank

Closing Bell

Indian shares declined the most in nine trading sessions reflecting a selloff in global equities as concern mounted that the recent rally has outpaced the outlook for earnings growth.

The S&P BSE Sensex dropped 1.3 percent to 28,294; while the NSE Nifty lost 1.2 percent to 8,723. This is the first time the index has closed below the 8,750 level since September 15.

The market breadth was firmly in favour of the bears with 1,070 declines, 542 advances and 259 stocks remaining unchanged.

HPL Electric IPO Fully Subscribed:

The Initial Public Offer (IPO) of HPL Electric & Power was fully subscribed till afternoon trade on the last day of the bidding today.

The IPO received bids for 1,53,74,240 shares as against the total issue size of 1,44,40,001, translating into a subscription of 1.06 times till 1 p.m., according to data available from the National Stock Exchange.

Mid-Day Wrap: Markets At Day’s Low:

Weakness continued on the benchmark indices as the are trading at the day’s lowest point. ICICI Bank continues to lead the losses on the Nifty whereas both Bharti Airtel and Infratel are among the top losers as well. Stocks like Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. and Reliance Industries Ltd. are managing to hold on to gains.

SBI Subsidiary Bank Spikes As Board Approves Merger

Shares of State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ), a subsidiary of the State Bank of India spiked to as high as 4 percent to Rs 714.95 after its board approved its merger with the parent bank. The stock is currently trading higher by 2 percent at Rs 692.50.

Reliance Continues Strong Upmove

Shares of Reliance Industries Ltd. hit a fresh 52-week high as the company continued its strong surge over the last one month. The shares of the company have risen almost 10 percent this month on the back of the Jio launch and other such factors. The stock is currently trading with gains of 1.7 percent at Rs 1,121.60 per share.

Nifty Bank Drops 200 Points For A Second Day

The benchmark for banking stocks fell as much as 1 percent to 19,707 for a second straight session.

According to a BloombergQuint report, the quantum of loans in the ‘SMA-2’, or category-2 special mention accounts, has risen nearly 47 percent between March and June 2016 to Rs 1.89 lakh crore. (Read full article HERE)

Rupee Slumps 13 Paise Against U.S. Dollar in Early Trade

Rupee was down 13 paise at 66.78 against the dollar in early trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange today.

Dealers attributed the rupee’s fall to increased demand for the U.S. currency from importers and banks and a lower opening in domestic equity market. However, the dollar’s weakness against the euro and yen, restricted the fall.

On Friday, the rupee had closed almost flat at 66.65 a dollar as currency traders restrained form taking any major positions ahead of the weekend, despite positive sentiments emerging from U.S. Fed meeting where rates were left unchanged.

From PTI

Opening Bell

Indian shares declined as investors weighed prospects of major oil producers agreeing output curbs at talks this week. Crude rebounded following its steepest drop in two months.

The S&P BSE Sensex dropped as much as 0.5 percent to 28,505; while the NSE Nifty lost 0.5 percent as well to 8,780. The market breadth was skewed in favour of the bears at 987 declines, 616 advances and 82 stocks remaining unchanged.

Market Movers: Vardhman Textiles, Dilip Buildcon, HDFC And More

Stocks to Watch

• Vardhman Textiles: Board approved a buyback of 61.27 lakh equity shares for Rs 1,175 each.
  
• Dilip Buildcon: Bagged two road construction orders worth Rs 613.08 crore and Rs 350 crore by the NHAI and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
  
• NHPC: The company’s offer for sale kept on hold owing to ‘technical reasons’.
  
• Dena Bank: To issue bonds worth Rs 1,100 crore through private placement.
  
• HDFC: Postal ballot results over Non-compete fee to be declared tomorrow.
  
• Reliance Industries: Accuses Cellular Operators Association of India to be biased against Bharti Airtel (Economic Times)
  
• L&T: Unit eyes Rs 9,000 crore orders in 3 years, mostly from Navy (Business Standard)
  
• ONGC said to approve pact to buy GSPC gas block stake (PTI)
  
• Tata Power’s plan to sell Indonesian units hits valuation hurdle (Business Standard)
  
• Tata Steel set for trade union talks in U.K. (PTI)

For a complete list of stocks to watch, click HERE

IPO Watch

• HPL Electric IPO gets 29 percent demand for shares offered on second day of sale September 23, offer scheduled to close today
  
• GNA Axles share listing on NSE/BSE after IPO got 54.9 times demand at Rs 207 apiece

Talking Points

• Sebi allows foreign funds direct access to corporate bond market
  
• Sebi approves raising limit on foreign investment in exchanges
  
• Top court orders probe into alleged irregularities at IFCI
  
• ICICI Prudential AMC to manage India state cos’ new ETF
  
• India cuts import duty on wheat to 10 percent from 25 percent
  
• Modi magic doesn’t awe Moody’s amid biggest bond gain since 2014

• RBI’s Patel downplays inflation risk, harps on growth (Economic Times)
• Brookfield to invest Rs 450 crore in Peninsula Land’s project in Mumbai (Mint)
• Modi says India to ratify paris climate agreement on October 2 (PTI)
  
• Forex reserves fall $1.68 billion to $369.6 billion in week to September 16: RBI
  
• India to buy 36 Rafale Jets to bolster aging Air Force fleet
  
• India issues arrest warrant for Malaysian billionaire Ananda Krishnan
  
• Government names Sanjiv Singh as chairman of Indian Oil Corp.
  
• Twitter said to start sales talks after Salesforce interest
  
• Goldman Sachs said to plan 25 percent cut in Asia investment bank jobs
  
• Global funds sell Rs 300 crore of local stocks; domestic funds buy Rs 496 crore on September 23: Provisional data

Good Morning!

The Nifty Futures on the Singapore Exchange, an early indicator of Nifty performance in India, dropped 0.5 percent to 8,790.

Asian stocks fell for the first time in six days Monday, with the MSCI Asia Pacific Index paring the biggest weekly advance since July, as Japanese exporters retreated and a rally in Hong Kong equities lost steam.

On Friday, U.S. stocks retreated as Apple and Facebook Inc. dragged down the technology group, while tumbling crude oil sank energy shares on worries OPEC won’t reach an agreement to curb output.

Gold is headed for the biggest weekly advance since July after U.S. central bankers opted to leave interest rates unchanged, while reining in their outlook for future increases. Investors added 6.3 metric tonnes to exchanged-traded funds backed by gold last week through Thursday, data compiled by Bloomberg show.