Sensex, Nifty end 1% lower; Lupin, Sun Pharma outperform

Moneycontrol Bureau3:30 pm Market closing: After a lot of struggle, the market ended with severe losses. The Sensex slipped 266.44 points or 1.1 percent at 24020.98, and the Nifty ended down 89.05 points or 1.2 percent at 7298.20. About 856 shares have advanced, 1747 shares declined, and 119 shares are unchanged.

Coal India, Tata Motors, Dr Reddy's Labs, TCS and Infosys were major losers while Lupin, Sun Pharma, NTPC, Bajaj Auto and ONGC were top gainers in the Sensex

2:55 pm Dabur's Real: With the blockade at the Indo-Nepal border coming to an end, homegrown FMCG major Dabur today said it does not see any significant impact from the unrest on its juice business in the fourth quarter of the fiscal.

 "The unrest leading to blockade of certain border crossings between India and Nepal by Madeshi's has come to an end, and with this, the blocked border crossings has opened and the good movement across border has started," Dabur India said in a BSE filing.

The company further said: "We expect operations at our Nepal subsidiary's plant situated at Birgunj to return to normal in due course of time and we will be in a much better position to service peak season demand for juices going forward."

2:45 pm Oil payment: Government has exempted state-owned ONGC and Oil India from payment of fuel subsidy in the third quarter ended December 31, as slump in oil prices dented their revenues.

As per a new fuel subsidy sharing formula approved last year, upstream firms Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and OIL have to make good any revenue loss incurred by fuel retailers on selling kerosene through PDS and domestic LPG after taking into account the fixed subsidy provided by the government.

For the October-December period, retailers Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) lost Rs 6,149 crore in revenue on selling kerosene and LPG at government fixed retail price.

2:30 pm Result: Punjab National Bank has posted weak December quarter with higher provisions and asset quality further worsening. Its net profit has fallen 93.4 percent to Rs 51 crore in October-December quarter from Rs 775 crore in corresponding quarter last fiscal. During the period, net interest income (NII), difference between interest earned and interest expended, slipped 2.7 percent at Rs 4119.6 crore compared to Rs 4233 crore on annual basis. Its gross non-performing assets (NPA) climbed 8.47 percent in Q3 versus 6.36 percent while net NPA was at 5.86 percent in Q3 versus 3.99 percent quarter-on-quarter. In absolute terms, gross NPA rose 38 percent at Rs 34338 crore in Q3 against Rs 240945 crore (QoQ). Net NPA jumped 51.3 percent at Rs 22,983 crore in Q3 verus Rs 15,187 crore (QoQ).Don't miss: Dr Reddy's Q3 net at Rs 579 cr, India biz grows 34%

The market continues to fall as banks, IT and capital goods crack. The Sensex is down 270.26 points or 1.1 percent at 24017.16, and the Nifty slips 90.30 points or 1.2 percent at 7296.95. About 656 shares have advanced, 1826 shares declined, and 112 shares are unchanged.

Lupin, Sun Pharma, NTPC, ONGC and Bajaj Auto are top gainers while Tata Motors, TCS, Coal India, Infosys and Dr Reddy's Labs are major losers in the Sensex.

European stocks failed to hold on to their positive open, reversing gains to trade lower as investors remain concerned about global economic growth prospects. As investors looked for cover in safe-haven assets, the yield on 10-year Japanese government bonds (JGB) fell into negative territory for the first time. Bond prices move inversely to yields.