Late sell-off drags Sensex 213 pts, Nifty slips 74 pts

03:30 pm Market ending: Late sell-off drags the market sharply, in one of the biggest fall after Budget  proposals were presented in the Parliament. The Sensex ended down 213.00 points or 0.7 percent at 29380.73 and the Nifty slipped 73.60 points or 0.8 percent at 8922.65. About 1015 shares advanced, 1891 shares declined and 186 shares were unchanged.

Sun Pharma, Bajaj Auto, ITC, Bharti Airtel and HDFC are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers were Sesa Sterlite, Axis Bank, SBI, Tata Power and Hindalco.

02:58pm Market extends losses: The Sensex fell more than 650 points from day's high, down 224.50 points to 29369.23. The Nifty declined 80.15 points to 8916.10. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices shed more than 1 percent.

About 986 shares have advanced, 1843 shares declined, and 192 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

02:49pm Stocks in Action: Axis Bank, Sesa Sterlite, Hindalco and Tata Power lost more than 3 percent. Infosys, TCS, Reliance Industries, SBI, Wipro, HUL, M&M, Coal India, Tata Steel and BHEL shed 1-2 percent.

However, Sun Pharma bucked the trend and maintained its strong uptrend, up 7 percent. HDFC, ITC, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank and Bharti Airtel continued to support the market with marginal gains.

02:35pm Market under pressure: The marked washed out all its gains in afternoon trade with the Sensex falling 8.51 points to 29585.22 and the Nifty losing 12.65 points to 8983.60. Banks, technology and metals stocks see profit booking. However, pharma maintained its strong uptrend.

About 1190 shares have advanced, 1606 shares declined, and 197 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

02:20pm Usha Martin up 7%: In an ongoing coal block e-auctions: Usha Martin won bids for Brinda and Sasai block at Rs 1,804 per tonne.

Usha Martin says it will take minimum 1.5 years to make block operational. Total distance from Brinda and Sasai block to plant is 170 km; hence the landed cost for railways will be Rs 700 per tonne, it adds.

02:00pm Market Check

The market remained in a positive terrain led by healthcare, auto, telecom and select banking & financial stocks. The Sensex advanced 229.32 points to 29823.05 and the Nifty climbed 57.65 points to 9053.90.

The broader markets underperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.3 percent each. About 1310 shares have advanced, 1441 shares declined, and 192 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

In a surprise move, the Reserve Bank of India slashed repo rate today by 25 basis points to 7.5 percent.

Sandeep S Shenoy of Pioneer Investcorp believes the market will take the rate cut very positively since it has exhausted all other triggers with the results season and Budget out of its way.

He believes this rate cut will ensure that flows into equity market will continue for the next couple of weeks.

Sun Pharma extended gains in afternoon trade, up 8 percent after its subsidiary Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company received USFDA nod for Elepsia XR extended release tablets, an anti-epileptic drug. It says product will be manufactured by Sun Pharma at Halol unit.

Shares of ICICI Bank, ITC, HDFC, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, Dr Reddy's Labs and Cipla rally 1-3 percent whereas Infosys, TCS, Wipro, Hindalco, Sesa Sterlite, HUL, Coal India and Tata Power declined 1-3 percent.