Closing Bell: Selling pressure grips Sensex as it ends 281 pts lower; Nifty below 10,250

3:30 pm Market at Close: Selling pressure in the final hour of trade dragged the market lower, with the Sensex closing over 250 points lower, while the Nifty closed below 10,250-mark.

The Sensex closed down 281 points at 33033.56, while the Nifty ended lower by 96.80 points at 10225.00. The market breadth was negative as 1091 shares advanced against a decline of 1635 shares, while 150 shares were unchanged.

Tata Consultancy Services and Mahindra & Mahindra were the top gainers on both indices, while Adani Ports, ONGC and Aurobindo Pharma lost the most on both indices.

3:25 pm GST outlook: SMERA Ratings believes that the implementation of the GST is structurally positive for India in the medium to long term. “India compares unfavourably with its peers in its tax coverage with central tax to GDP ratio at 11.2% in 2016-17. Globally, the implementation of GST has been seen to improve tax coverage with SMERA Ratings’ analysis highlighting that the average increase in the tax to GDP ratio has been 2% post implementation of GST,” the agency said in a statement.

Further, it also highlighted that the move will help India record significant improvement in the tax to GDP ratio in the next 1-2 years with the increase in tax base and higher tax base. “The additional steps being taken by the government to streamline the GST framework would only serve to take India closer to that objective,”

3:15 pm Buzzing Stock: Likely profit booking dragged the stock of Axis Bank lower by over 1 percent intraday after it gained over 3.5 percent intraday on Monday.

Investors initially cheered the development of 9 percent stake sale to Bain Capital and other investors including LIC in its bid to raise capital worth Rs 11,626 crore by issue of equity of equity linked securities on a preferential basis.

The issue price of equity Shares at Rs 525 per share while the issue price of convertible warrants is Rs 565 per share. Entities affiliated with Bain Capital propose to invest Rs. 6,854 crore while LIC or Life Insurance Corporation will be issued around 3.02 crore equity shares on a preferential basis to help the bank raise over Rs 1,583 crore, the bank said.

3:00 pm Market Check: Bearishness gripped the D-Street on Monday as Sensex lost over 200 points, while the Nifty breached 10,250-mark.

The Sensex was down 216.90 points at 33097.66, while the Nifty was down 76.10 points at 10245.70. The market breadth was negative as 1122 shares advanced against a decline of 1499 shares, while 115 shares were unchanged.

2:30 pm Europe opens: European stocks were mostly higher Monday as investors focused on earnings, while keeping an eye on tax reform plans in the U.S. and political woes in the U.K.

The FTSE 100 was the standout gainer, up 0.4 percent in early deals. The index was helped by a sharp drop in sterling over the weekend which boosts the profits of large U.K.-based multinational firms that collect revenues in U.S. dollars. Sterling fell on growing concerns over the future of Theresa May as prime minister.

In individual stocks news, Aggreko shares rose 3.6 percent after the company appointed a new chief financial officer and received a rating upgrade from Jefferies.

2:10 pm Shikha Sharma interview: The board of Axis Bank on Friday approved a 9 percent stake sale to Bain Capital and other investors including LIC in its bid to raise capital worth Rs 11,626 crore by issue of equity of equity linked securities on a preferential basis.

Approved by the Board, the bank proposes to raise Rs 9,063 crore through issuance of equity and the remaining Rs 2,563 crore through issue of warrants.

However, the capital raise is subject to shareholders’ approval at the EGM (extraordinary general meeting) of the Bank to be held on December 8, 2017.CNBC-TV18’s Latha Venkatesh spoke to Shikha Sharma, MD and CEO, Axis Bank.

She said in the past they have raised capital with a three-year cycle with an intent not to come to the market too often. The current capital raising is also with that cycle in mind and assuming growth would come back, this raise would suffice, she said.

The plan for capital raising was done with three things in mind – Indian accounting standards (IndAS) provisioning, growth and subsidiary capitalisation, she said.

Here are the top headlines at 2 pm from Moneycontrol News’ Anchal Pathak

1:50 pm Results: Drug firm Abbott India today reported 83.31 per cent jump in net profit to Rs 137.52 crore for the September quarter on account of robust sales.

It had posted a net profit of Rs 75.02 crore for the corresponding period of last fiscal, Abbott India said in a filing to BSE.

The total income of the company also rose to Rs 946.04 crore for the July-September quarter of 2017-18 as against Rs 743.78 crore in the same quarter of 2016-17.

1:35 pm Buzzing Stocks: Shares of Vakrangee and Abbott India touched their 52- week highs, gaining 5 percent and 20 percent respectively on the back of strong Q2 numbers.

Vakrangee has reported 13 percent jump in its Q2 (August-September) consolidated net profit at Rs 189.8 crore versus Rs 168 crore, in the quarter ended June 2017.

Its revenue rose 19.1 percent at Rs 1,550.8 crore versus Rs 1,301.9 crore.

The company board has approved bonus issue in the ratio of 1:1.

1:15 pm Asian Markets Close: Asian markets wavered in Monday trade after U.S. stocks closed mostly lower on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 index ending lower for the fourth straight session.

The Nikkei 225 fell 1.32 percent, or 300.43 points, to close at 22,380.99 — its lowest close since October 31. Trading houses, financials and tech plays ended mostly lower. Energy-related stocks, however, were mixed against the broadly declining index: JXTG Holding closed up 1.69 percent while Inpex slid 1.66 percent.

Across the Korean Strait, the Kospi edged down 0.5 percent to end at 2,530.35 as gains in automakers and cosmetics stocks were offset by losses in manufacturing names: Amorepacific closed up 0.62 percent, Hyundai Motor jumped 3.88 percent and Samsung Heavy fell 2.78 percent by the end of the session.

12:50 IPO Plans: Auto component manufacturer Sandhar Technologies plans to float an initial public offering this financial year to raise Rs 400-crore, according to a source familiar with the development. The Gurugram-based company has appointed Axis Capital and ICICI Securities as merchant bankers to advise it on its plans to list on the stock exchanges though it could not be independently confirmed.

The IPO will mostly comprise issue of fresh shares with Gaurav Dalmia-promoted GTI Capital, which is a minority shareholder in the company, likely to use the opportunity for an exit. Dalmia is a director on the board of the company.

Sandhar makes door handles for cars, wheel rims, locking systems, vision systems, clutch assemblies, brake panels and many other products auto products. The company, promoted by Chairman DN Davar and his family, counts Honda Cars as one of its biggest customers. The list includes Suzuki, Yamaha, Bosch, Korea’s Doosan and Hyundai Construction Equipment with TVS, Hero Group and BEML figuring among the local clients.

12:30 pm Management Speak: Suven Life Sciences reported a 19.5 percent increase in net profit to Rs 31.74 crore for the second quarter ended September 30 versus Rs 26.55 crore for the same quarter last fiscal.

The year on year (YoY) revenues were down 7.5 percent at Rs 107 crore vesus Rs 115.6 crore but EBITDA was up 22 percent at Rs 45 crore versus Rs 37 crore YoY.

Throwing more light on the quarterly performance and outlook going forward, Venkat Jasti, Chairman and CEO, Suven Life Sciences said the decline in Speciality chemicals impacted the revenues but the product mix aided our margins. CRAMS vertical posted a flat number around Rs 230 crore in Q2 but the asset allocation was up 25 percent. So, would this mean more capacity and post better numbers. Jasti said increase in capacity would take another 9-12 months and the results of that will be visible in FY19-20.

12:10 pm Market Check: Sensex continued to trade over 100 points lower, while the Nifty was firmly below 10,300-mark.

The Sensex was down 109.01 points at 33205.55, while the Nifty was down 49.40 points at 10272.40. The market breadth was negative as 1117 shares advanced against a decline of 1307 shares, while 123 shares were unchanged.

Mahindra and Mahindra, State Bank of India and Axis Bank were the top gainers on both indices, while Coal India, L&T and BPCL were the top losers.

Here are the top headlines at 12 pm from Moneycontrol News’ Anchal Pathak

11:55 am Buzzing Stock: Share price of Voltas declined 2.3 percent intraday Monday as CLSA has maintained sell rating on the stock with target price increased to Rs 390 from earlier Rs 366.

According to CLSA the early festive season drives Q2 AC revenue and margin, but Q3 is likely to remain on slow side.

The new energy efficiency norms effective January 2018 could hike cost by 2 percent.

Not see much improvement in Voltas’ fundamentals, but the stock is scaling new highs on PE bands on domestic liquidity, while FII remain sellers, it added.

Voltas has reported 22 percent jump in its consolidated Q2 net profit to Rs 95 crore against Rs 78 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

11:42 am Market Outlook: In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Udayan Mukherjee of CNBC-TV18 shared his reading and outlook on market as well as on some sectors and stocks.

I think the macro picture now looks a little shakier now than it was before and given that Rs 20,000 crore is going out of the fiscal number, already the fiscal deficit number was looking a bit shaky and coupled with the fact that you will probably have rate hikes from the US Fed in December and the crude prices are stubbornly high, there is a case to say that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will probably not be in a position to cut rates any longer from here, which robs the stock market of one tailwind, he said.

“I think there is some degree of macro-skepticism, which should accompany any kind of micro exuberance that one is seeing in specific stocks, which beneficiaries of GST handout on Friday,” he said.

According to him, the foreign investors might take a slighlty dim view of the macro picture, while local investors might be partying because of the GST news, he said.

11:20 am Expert View: The S&P BSE Sensex has rallied a little over 25 percent so far in the year 2017 and fear of higher valuations without a meaningful recovery in earnings has now started to grip market participants.

The equity market is not getting much support from the macros either. Hence, for markets to inch higher and fresh highs, earnings recovery is a must, Harsha Upadhyaya, Head – Equity investments for Kotak Mutual Fund said in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

“The valuations now appear to be on the higher side which we have been highlighting even earlier. Primarily, earnings continue to remain sluggish. The September quarter numbers have been sluggish which means that the full year consensus estimates would not be met,” he said.

11:00 am Market Update: Benchmark indices have extended the losses as Sensex has slipped over 100 points.

The Sensex was down 119.26 points at 33195.30, and the Nifty was down 49.40 points at 10272.40. About 1106 shares have advanced, 1187 shares declined, and 103 shares are unchanged.

M&M, SBI, TCS, Axis Bank, HUL, Tech Mahindra and Axis Bank are the top gainers on the indices, while top losers include Coal India, L&T, ONGC, Cipla, HDFC, Aurobindo Pharma and BPCL.

10:43 am Gold update: Gold prices were little changed on Monday, but held near the previous session’s low, pressured by a firmer dollar and expectations of a series of interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve this year and in 2018.

Spot gold was nearly unchanged at $ 1,275.63 per ounce at 0431 GMT. On Friday, gold dropped 0.7 percent for its biggest one-day percentage fall since Oct. 26, weighed down by a rise in U.S. Treasury bond yields.

10:25 am Market Check: Benchmark indices continued to trade lower on Monday, with the Nifty continuing to trade around 10300-mark.

The Sensex was down 63.44 points at 33251.12, while the Nifty was down 33.30 points at 10288.50. The market breadth was negative as 1055 shares advanced against a decline of 1,095 shares, while 86 shares were unchanged.

SBI and Mahindra and Mahindra continue to be index gainers, while L&T, Coal India and Aurobindo Pharma were the top losers.

10:21 am Buzzing Stock: Larsen and Toubro lost a little over 4 percent intraday on Monday as investors negatively reacted to the company’s tepid order inflow guidance.

As such, the engineering and infrastructure major’s consolidated profit grew by 26.2 percent year-on-year to Rs 2,131 crore on strong operational performance while revenue increased 6.4 percent.

L&T has maintained its full year revenue growth guidance of 12 percent but won’t be meeting order inflow guidance 12-14 percent, R Shankar Raman, CFO said while addressing press conference.

But, he further said total order inflows may be the same as last year or may be a bit above.

10:07 am New Listing: Shares of New India Assurance listed at Rs 750, a discount of Rs 50 or 6.25 percent, on the exchanges on Monday.

The new entrant’s initial public offering (IPO), which sought to raise Rs 9,600 crore, was oversubscribed around 1.19 times. The price band was Rs 770-800 per share.

The portion set aside for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) was oversubscribed 2.34 times, non-institutional investors 12 percent and retail investors 11 percent, according to data available with the NSE.

Here are the top headlines at 10 am from Moneycontrol News’ Anchal Pathak

9:48 am Order win: L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering, a wholly owned subsidiary of L&T, has bagged an offshore contract for the balance work for pipeline replacement project-4 from ONGC values at approximately Rs 1267 crore.

9:41 am Market Check: Benchmark indices gave up most of the gains and traded lower as index heavyweights and banks dragged the market lower.

The Sensex was down 70.50 points at 33244.06, while the Nifty was down 34.10 points at 10287.70. The market breadth was narrow as 915 shares advanced against a decline of 885 shares, while 78 shares were unchanged.

9:31 am Buzzing Stock: Shares of Idea Cellular, which opened 3 percent higher on the back of tower sale developments, gave up all of its gains and saw a sharp fall to 3.6 percent lower.

Idea’s board of directors approved sale of the tower business to ATC Telecom for Rs 4,000 crore, reports CNBC-TV18. Sale of Idea’s tower business is to be completed by the first half of 2018. Meanwhile, Vodafone too has sold its tower business in India to ATC Telecom for an enterprise value of Rs 3,850 crore.

9:15 am Market Opens: Benchmark indices began the week on a flat note, with the Nifty trading around 10,300- levels.

The Sensex was up 36.87 points at 33351.43, while the Nifty was up 0.50 points at 10322.30. The market breadth was positive as 712 shares advanced against a decline of 305 shares, while 53 shares were unchanged.

Axis Bank and M&M were the top gainers, while L&T and Coal India were the top losers on both indices.

Among big stocks, L&T lost over 3 percent as investors reacted to the lower order book guidance, while Axis Bank gains after higher than expected fund raising plan announced on Friday.

The Indian rupee slipped in the early trade on Monday. It has opened lower by 21 paise at 65.37 per dollar versus 65.16 Friday.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity said, “We have a neutral stance on the USD-INR, however the bias would remain positive for the rupee.”

“We expect the spot USD-INR pair to continue to trade in a range of 64.80-65.20,” he added.

The dollar received a lift against its major peers as US yields spiked and as the pound stumbled, although the main investor focus was still on a planned US tax overhaul.

Globally, Asian shares wavered in early trade after US stocks closed mostly lower on Friday. The Nikkei 225 fell 0.72 percent, with trading houses, financials and retailers mostly lower. Energy-related stocks, however, were mixed against the broadly declining index: Fuji Oil Holding rose 1.15 percent while Inpex slid 1.52 percent.

Meanwhile, major U.S. stock indexes closed mostly lower on Friday as they snapped multi-week winning streaks while some of the largest tech stocks pulled back. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 39.73 points to close at 23,422.21, with Intel and Merck as the biggest decliners. But a 3 percent gain in Disney shares capped losses in the 30-stock index.