The market ended lower amid volatility on January Future and Options (F&O) series expiry day.  US Federal Reserve maintained a status quo in its January monetary meet and kept open the prospect of more rate hikes later this year. BSE Sensex ended down by 23 points at 24,470 and the Nifty50 settled at 7,425, down by 13 points. Broader markets also closed down, BSE Mid cap closed down by 0.36% at 10,221.08 and BSE Smallcap ended marginally down by 0.04% at 10,754.52.

On BSE advance/decline ratio stood lower at 0.93. Volumes on BSE dropped below yesterday’s levels. On NSE volumes were up by 36.5% compared to yesterday. India volatility index dropped by 6.07% to end at 17.9000.

 

Market cap change of both BSE and NSE was flattish. FII’s sold Rs.961.8 crore worth of shares, DII’s bought Rs.394.20 crore worth of shares.

Nifty FMCG (+ 1.69%), Nifty Media (+1.43%) and Nifty Energy (+1.42%) were the big gainers. Godrej Consumer Products closed up 3.08% at Rs.1182.10 after the company reported 22.52% jump in consolidated net profits. The company’s net sales were up 5.73% on yoy basis. Cairn India was the other big gainer and gained 4.51% ending the day at Rs.124.05. Impending merger with Vedanta Limited and possible removal of oil cess budget gave push to the stock.

Vedanta Ltd. reported 3rd quarter net profit of Rs.18 crore down 99% on yoy basis, mainly hurt by falling commodity prices. Company sales fell 23% to Rs.14,801 crore on yoy basis. The reported numbers were above street estimates and the company gained 5.64% to close at Rs.67.40.

Bharti Airtel’s net profit in 3rd quarter fell 22.21 per cent to Rs 1,117 crore from Rs 1,436 crore in year-ago period. Total revenue of the company rose 3.7 per cent to Rs 24,066 crore for December quarter as against Rs 23,217 crore in year-ago period. The company ‘s numbers were below analyst expectations. Results were announced after market hours, however the company closed down 2.96% at Rs.289.0.

ICICI Bank closed down 1.71%. The company reported it’s 3rd quarter numbers after market hours. The company’s net profit declined 4.3% to Rs 3,122 crore for the quarter ended December 31 on account of rising bad loans. The total income of the bank on consolidated basis increased to Rs 25,585.14 crore, from Rs 23,053.82 crore on yoy basis. GNPA rose to 4.72% as against 3.40 % in the same quarter of the previous fiscal. It’s net non-performing assets also rose to 2.28% from 1.90% during the period under review.

Maruti Suzuki ‘s third quarter profit surged 27% to Rs 1,019 crore compared to Rs 802.2 crore in same quarter last fiscal. Revenue increased by 19.9% to Rs 15,082 crore in quarter ended December 2015 compared to Rs 12,576 crore in year-ago period. The company’s share prices ended marginally down at Rs.4109.

Yes Bank and L&T will report their quarterly numbers tomorrow.

Thomson Reuters India Personal Products Index was the best performing sub sector closing up 1.98%, Thomson Reuters India Paper & Forest Products Price Return Index lost 4.11% and was the worst performer.

Gold price on MCX closed up marginally and was trading at Rs.26,771. Rupee depreciated against the Dollar and was trading at Rs.68.1183. Brent crude was trading at $33.70/bbl up 2.18% at 19.36 hrs.