Sensex sheds 152 pts, Nifty weak; SBI, BHEL, Reliance drag

03:20pm Market close: The market ended lower. The Sensex was down 152.45 points or 0.5 percent at 28469.67 and the Nifty slipped 51.25 points or 0.6 percent at 8634.65. About 1123 shares advanced, 1714 shares declined and 195 shares were unchanged. Axis Bank, BHEL, SBI, Reliance and ICICI Bank were laggards. Among the gainers were GAIL, TCS, NTPC, ONGC and Tata Steel. 

03:10pm Market Update:  The market washed out all its gains. The Sensex plunged 165.19 points to 28456.93 and the Nifty fell 70.10 points to 8615.80.

About 1125 shares have advanced, 1619 shares declined, and 197 shares are unchanged on the BSE. 

According to sources, BNP Paribas wants to consolidate its operations in India and wants to exit its non-core assets. The company is learnt to have invited expression of interest (EoI) from prospective buyers. Private equity player KKR is said to have expressed interest to acquire stake.

BNP Paribas may sell part or complete stake in the business, sources said, adding that the company’s new CEO Sharad Sharma has given a mandate to optimise operations.

02:45pm Market off day's high: The market trimmed gains in last hour of trade. The Sensex advanced 76.63 points to 28698.75 and the Nifty rose 19.50 points to 8705.40, dragged by Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, SBI, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank.

The market breadth too turned in favour of declines. About 1282 shares have advanced, 1438 shares declined, and 189 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

02:30pm FII View: Richard Gibbs of Macquarie Securities believes the US central bank’s removal of a reference to being “patient” on rates from its policy statement has pushed the rate hike to as late as September.

In an interview, Gibbs says the Fed is focusing on price stability and full employment.

Furthermore, he expects India to be a greater beneficiary of capital inflows and expects the growth differentiation between India and China to widen further.

02:00pm Market Check: 

The market continued to see buying interest following the Federal Reserve statement lastnight saying rate hikes won't start until the labour market has healed further and the 2 percent inflation target looks achievable.

The Sensex rose 212.68 points to 28834.80 and the Nifty advanced 62.80 points to 8748.70. The market breadth has been in favour of advances.

Jitendra Sriram of HSBC said the market will be rangebound here on. Earnings growth is likely to be muted till June quarter, he added, while he maintained December 2015 Sensex target at 30000.

Lupin, Asian Paints and Tata Steel topped the buying list on Nifty, up 4 percent each. GAIL, Sun Pharma, L&T and TCS gained 1.6-2.8 percent.

The rupee too recovered today to trade at 2-week high post dovish statements from Federal Reserve, up 10 paise to 62.59 a dollar.

Global markets traded mostly in the green today. Hong Kong rallied 350 points while European markets traded with more than 0.5 percent gains. Crude slipped in afternoon trade with the NYMEX falling 1 percent to USD 43 a barrel as US stockpiles increased. More information please visit this site www.sharemarket259.blogspot.in