Nifty ends above 7850, Sensex down 69 pts; SBI up 2%

Moneycontrol Bureau3:30 pm Market closing: The market has narrowed its losses at closing. The Sensex was down 69.00 points or 0.3 percent at 25704.61, and the Nifty slipped 20.60 points or 0.3 percent at 7870.15. About 1241 shares have advanced, 1314 shares declined, and 179 shares are unchanged.

SBI, Lupin, ONGC, L&T and Tata Steel are top gainers while Bajaj Auto, M&M, Hero MotoCorp, HDFC Bank and BHEL are losers in the Sensex.

3:10 Gold check: Falling for the second straight day, gold shed Rs 20 to Rs 29,800 per ten grams at the bullion market today, tracking a weak trend overseas amid easing demand from jewellers and retailers at domestic spot market.

Silver too faced selling pressure and broke below the Rs 41,000-mark by losing Rs 200 to Rs 40,900 per kg.

Bullion traders said sentiment remained bearish largely in tandem with a weak global trend where gold snapped three days of gains after strong inflation data that fuelled talk of an interest rate hike.

2:58 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks remained under pressure. The Sensex fell 126.07 points to 25647.54 and the Nifty declined 40.70 points to 7850.05.

Laggards in the index were HDFC (-1 percent),Maruti Suzuki (-1 percent),TCS (-1 percent) and Bharti Infratel (-1 percent). Gainers included ONGC (2 percent), Larsen (1 percent), SBI (1 percent) and Lupin (1 percent).

In sectoral performance as reflected by the respective indices, auto (-1.3 percent), IT (-0.5 percent), power (-0.3 percent) and oil & gas (-0.2 percent) were under pressure, while capital goods (0.5 percent) and metals (0.2 percent) gained.

European shares were trading weak with UK’s FTSE down 24 points at 6142, France’s CAC down 10 points at 4287, and Germany’s DAX down 22 points at 9868.

Key Asian markets ended on a bearish note. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng finished at the bottom of the heap, closing 292 points or 1.5 percent lower at 19826. China’s Shanghai fell 36 points or 1.3 percent to 2807, Korea’s KOSPI fell 11 points to 1956, Singapore’s Straits Times shed 6 points to 2774, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 8 points to 16644. Taiwan was the only exception to the bearish trend with the Taiwan Index climbing 19 points to close at 8159.2:50 pm Interview: State-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) posted net loss of Rs 5,367.14 crore in January-March quarter against profit of Rs 306.56 crore in year-ago period. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Usha Ananthasubramanian, MD & CEO of the bank said, the bank has done major cleansing in the last quarter and is now targeting recovery of loans worth Rs 15,000-20,000 crore in FY17. While asset quality review (AQR) stood at Rs 11,800 crore, amount of Rs 1,700 crore from discoms slipped into non-performing asset (NPA) in FY16, she said. She expects the bank to grow its loan book by 10 percent going forward. PNB's restructured book stands at Rs 20,000 crore currently, she said. The bank is focussing on small-ticket engagements, currently 57 percent of total loan book, like those to agriculture and retail sectors, Ananthasubramanian added.2:35 pm FM on GST: The Goods and Services Tax Bill has been hanging fire owing to Congress’ stalling tactics. Ideally, FM Arun Jaitley said he would want the opposition party to give its all-clear. If it doesn’t come through, then he is willing to let the Parliament do its job. “Enough is enough as far as GST proceedings go,” he said.

He said the government is in a state of readiness to roll out the GST, when it passes through all its hurdles. “It is a transactional tax and we are ready.”

He also spoke on states’ efforts to tackle the drought situation and Supreme Court’s attck on the government.2:20 pm Interview: Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Finance, spoke about the reforms under way in banking. But the general anti-avoidance rule, which looks to empower the taxmen in India to clamp down on evaders, will come into effect from April this year. The government is looking close loopholes in the tax system, said Sinha. They are in the process of collecting data still and will come out with a fool-proof measure to bring evaders to book. The recent tweaked tax treaty with Mauritius is silent on taxing derivatives. Sinha said India is one of the few countries to say that the current tax regime in inequitable and has to be changed. Currently, in India, taxes are applied at the destination rather than the source.Don't miss: PNB Q4 loss at Rs 5367 cr, provisions rise 3-fold to Rs 10485 cr, NPA surgesThe market continues to wobble as auto, IT and few bank stocks are putting pressure on the market. The Sensex is down 145.42 points or 0.6 percent at 25628.19, and the Nifty down 42.35 points or 0.5 percent at 7848.40. About 1113 shares have advanced, 1309 shares declined, and 166 shares are unchanged.

ONGC, Lupin, SBI and Tata Steel are top gainers while BHEL, Bajaj Auto, HDFC twins and Hero MotoCorp are losers in the Sensex.

Growth recovery in Indian economy is becoming more 'broad-based' with rise in public sector capital expenditure and foreign direct investment, says a Morgan Stanley report.

Also, going forward the consumption growth is expected to pick up further.

According to global brokerage firm, in India, recovery in growth is becoming more broad-based with the pick up in public sector capex and rise in foreign direct investment inflows spreading to discretionary consumption (both urban and rural).

According to the report, growth in the emerging market economies including India are stabilising at low levels.