Nifty ends April series below 8200, Sensex skids 215 pts

03:30 pm Market check: After a volatile session, the market ended April F&O expiry below 8200-level. The 50-share index was down 58.25 points or 0.7 percent at 8181.50. The Sensex also slipped 214.62 points or 0.8 percent at 27011.31. About 1314 shares advanced, 1376 shares declined, and 193 shares were unchanged.

Axis Bank, BHEL, Reliance, Cipla and Vedanta were top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers, M&M, Tata Motors, Coal India, Tata Steel and ITC.

03:10 pm New kid in the block:  Shares of Bosch jumped 6 percent intraday as it will be soon added on the National Stock Exchange's benchmark index Nifty. Infrastructure financing firm IDFC will move out of the Nifty and will be replaced by auto component major Bosch.

The changes will come into effect from May 29, according to the changes announced today by India Index Services & Products Ltd (IISL), an NSE group firm which manages Nifty and other indices.

A host of changes have also been made in various other NSE indices such as CNX Nifty Junior Index, CNX 100 Index, CNX 200 Index CNX 500 Index and CNX Service Sector Index by its Index Maintenance Sub-Committee during a periodic review. The stocks being excluded from Nifty Junior index are Adani Enterprises and Bosch while Britannia Industries and MRF would be included in the index.

02:40pm Interview: Biocon's March quarter revenues rose 15 percent versus estimate of 6 percent growth and profits surged 78 percent. The bottomline was boosted by an exceptional inflow of Rs 105 crore from sale of Syngene. Speaking to, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, CMD, Biocon said the company delivered a robust earnings for Q4 and FY15.

The pharmaceutical company addressed all capacity constraints from last fiscal. It also got approvals from Mexican authorities for insulin drug. Biocon’s Malaysian facility has also commenced operations.

Shaw said the company deliberately took a hit on its topline in order to rationalize products. Biocon is focusing towards being a specialized products player.

Biocon strengthened its biopharma and contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) business and is seeing a lot of visibility in targets as the company advances in the biosimilar pipeline. The company has the largest potfolio of biosimilars globally, highlighted Shaw.

The company has increased its research and development (R&D) spends, which according to Shaw, is a positive signal for its growth. The R&D spend of the company is around 8-9 percent of its biopharma revenue and is sustainable. 

02:20pm Global markets: World stock markets and the dollar remained in a sharp sell-off mode today, having been jolted sharply lower by weak US growth data and cautious comments from the Federal Reserve.

Asian and European stocks continued a two-day decline for equity markets worldwide with Europe's FTSEurofirst 300 down 0.8 percent and heading for its worst week of the year.

The slide of more than 3.5 percent is being compounded by this week's jump in bond yields and a more than 2 percent surge in the euro to above USD 1.12, all of which are threatening to extinguish hopes for the region's recovery prospects.

Benchmark German Bund yields kept on climbing, having posted their biggest daily rise in two years on Wednesday on robust German inflation and a pick-up in ECB bank lending figures. Euro zone inflation data is due out at 0900 GMT.

02:00pm Market Check

The sell off continued on Dalal Street with the Sensex down more than 100 points in afternoon trade, though there was some recovery from day's low. The index lost 119.07 points to 27106.86 and the Nifty declined 31.60 points to 8208.15.

About 1213 shares have advanced, 1346 shares declined, and 164 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

S Naren of ICICI Pru said this correction is healthy for the market. There is a compelling case to invest into markets now. However, the capex cycle is not expected to pick up for next 6 months.

It has been a weak day for most global equities. Nikkei ended with a whopping 540-point loss while markets in Europe also fell significantly. Brent crude prices continued to inch higher, now at 6-month highs of USD 66 a barrel.

Shares of ITC, HDFC, Tata Motors, HUL, Bharti Airtel, M&M, Dr Reddy's Labs, Coal India, Tata Steel and Hero Motocorp lost 1-2 percent while Axis Bank remained firm, up 3 percent post Q4 earnings. Reliance Industries, Cipla and Vedanta gained 1-1.5 percent followed by ICICI Bank and ONGC with 0.5 percent gains.

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