Sensex down 155 pts, Nifty below 8400; Tata Steel up 5%

3:30 pm Market closing: After a choppy session, the market ended on lower levels. The Sensex was down 155.11 points or 0.6 percent at 27735.02 and the Nifty slipped 31.40 points or 0.4 percent at 8398.30. About 1370 shares have advanced, 1442 shares declined, and 155 shares are unchanged.

Cement and pharma stocks were under pressure while a weak rupee also added pressure on the indices. Sun Pharma, SBI, Tata Motors, NTPC and Wipro were major laggards in the Sensex. Tata Steel remained top gainer, adding 5 percent at day's end. Other gainers were Coal India, Maruti, BHEL and Cipla.

3:00 pm HDFC Bank Q4 results: HDFC Bank's net profit rose 20.6 percent to Rs 2807 crore in the quarter ended March 2015 as compared to Rs. 2326.52 crore year-on-year. During the quarter, its net interest income was up 21.4 percent at Rs 6013 crore versus Rs 4952 crore on a yearly basis. Net interest margin (NIM) was flat at 4.4 percent quarter-on-quarter.  

According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, profit was seen growing 20.9 percent year-on-year to Rs 2,812 crore and net interest income rising 20.6 percent to Rs 5971 crore in the quarter ended March 2015. 

Its gross non-performing assets (NPA) was at 0.9 percent versus 1 percent (Q-o-Q) while net NPA was at 0.2 percent. In absolute terms, gross NPA stood at Rs 3438.4 crore compared to Rs 3467.9 crore in the last quarter of the same fiscal. Net NPA was at Rs 896.3 crore.

2:30 pm Market outlook: Amit Dalal, executive director, Tata Investment Corp in an interview to CNBC-TV18 said it is not right time for long-term investors to exit. neither is it the best time to invest. "I would neither be a big seller nor be a big investor right now," he added. The house has a preference for private banks over public sector banks (PSUs) because the non performing asset (NPA) problem for the PSU banks according to Dalal could worsen if government regulations impose provisioning for bad debts. The house is upbeat on ICICI Bank and plans to stay invested in it. Dalal said: “Next three years would largely be positive for banks unless something goes wrong in the economy and we are stuck with paradigm we don’t have with us.”

Don't miss: Tata Steel surges 5% after BoAML reinstates coverage

The market is still under huge selling pressure. The Sensex is down 170.99 points or 0.6 percent at 27719.14 and the Nifty is down 38.75 points or 0.5 percent at 8390.95. About 1299 shares have advanced, 1336 shares declined, and 153 shares are unchanged.

Sun Pharma, Tata Motors and NTPC are down above 2 percent while SBI & M&M are other losers in the Sensex. Among the gainers are Tata Steel, Coal India, Cipla and Maruti Suzuki. Cairn India is down 2 percent ahead of its March quarter results.

Meanwhile, the government is considering clarificatory amendments to the rules relating to Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) for the benefit of foreign investors who have been battling tax demands worth Rs 40,000 crore.

"Clarificatory amendments to MAT rules are under consideration of the government," Minister of State for Finance, Jayant Sinha, told reporters. Sinha, along with top government officials, had held meeting with Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) yesterday, pressing for government's Rs 40,000 crore tax demand, saying they should approach courts to get relief on these matters. For more information please visit this site www.sharemarket259.blogspot.in