Sensex falls 250 pts, Nifty opens below 7400; ICICI falls again

Moneycontrol Bureau9:55 am Auto launch: Maruti launched its compact SUV Vitara Brezza at the Delhi Auto Expo. It is the first model that has been developed by a team led by an Indian engineer. It will also showcase concepts of hatchback Ignis and Baleno RS.RS Kalsi, Executive Director- Marketing and Sales, Maruti Suzuki speaking at the expo said the company has introduced various models and introduced hybrid technologies in Ciaz and Ertiga.The company is also coming up with new facilities in Gujarat which will be operational by January 2017.With regards to Nexa, he said the experience has been wonderful, they already have done 50,000 in 6 months, as well as have set up 100 outlets in a span of 5-6 months. It is the fastest growing network as far as automotive retail is concerned said Kalsi, adding that customers are delighted with it.9:45 am Commodities: Manish Kabra, Vice President - European equity and quant strategy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Research says, commodities, credit market, stock are virtually in recession territory. There are some long term secular trends which are deflationary like debt levels, deleveraging of financial sector, poor demographics etc all are creating a secular backdrop of growth, he adds.9:35 am FII View on Earnings: Mahesh Nandurkar, CLSA says among the 54 companies under his coverage that reported earnings for the December quarter so far, only 6 companies saw FY17 earnings upgrades and 35 saw downgrades.

According to him, downgrades were largely driven by weaker revenue trend. He says margin continues to improve YoY, adding overall, consensus has lowered FY17 earnings estimates by 3 percent during 2016 and earnings growth for FY17 is now down to 18 percent.

Nandurkar feels downside risk to earnings is still not over but the low base should help the YoY numbers for the next quarter and FY17.Also read - Most important advice for this market: 'Do not time it'9:15 am Market Check

The market has opened sharply lower following correction in global peers and crude oil prices. The Sensex fell 254.69 points or 1.04 percent to 24284.31 and the Nifty declined 82.80 points or 1.11 percent to 7372.75.

ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, BHEL, ONGC, Cairn India, Vedanta, Idea Cellular and Bank of Baroda were down 2-2.5 percent while HUL gained over a percent.

The Indian rupee slipped below 68 a dollar mark in the early trade today. It has opened lower by 21 paise at 68.19 per dollar against previous close of 67.98.Pramit Brahmbhatt, Veracity said taking cues from global equity market sell-off, he expects rupee to depreciate further and will head towards Rs 68.50/USD mark.According to him, range for the day will be Rs 67.5-68.25 per dollar.US dollar fell against the euro and yen after a drop in oil prices suggested US inflation would stay low and prevent the Federal Reserve from hiking interest rates at a steady pace this year.Sharp cuts were seen in the global markets, with US market ending sharply lower on back of oil price crash and weak earnings. The major indices fell nearly 1.8 percent. Asian markets also saw selling off. Yen strengthened to sub 120 levels leading to nearly four percent cuts in export companies like Toyota, Honda and Nissan. In Europe, markets tumbled over the oil prices. In earnings, oil major BP reported an annual loss of USD 6.5 billion in 2015, its worst in 20 years amid volatility in oil prices. The company’s shares closed down 8.7 percent. In commodities, Nymex crude slipped below the USD 30 per barrel weighed by concerns about demand and rising supply.