Here are the key highlights from today's trading session:

1. Weak global cues weigh on market; yesterday's gains erased

2. Nifty Bank falls the most amongst frontline indices; slips over 2%

3. Sensex, Nifty & Midcap Index slip 1% each

4. 43 Nifty stocks close in the red; IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank & HDFC top losers

5. Sensex slips 600 points to 39,922 & Nifty 160 points to 11,730

6. Nifty Bank falls 537 points to 24,233 & Midcap index 170 points to 17,048

7. Dr Reddy’s slips 3% despite reporting earnings better than estimates

8. Bharti Airtel top Nifty gainer on an all-around beat in Q2; stock up 3%

9. Titan closes 1% lower after reporting largely in-line earnings

10. Marico ends 2% higher after reporting volume growth higher than estimates

11. Route Mobile surges 10% on strong Q2 earnings

12. Angel Broking, Adani Green, Happiest Minds, PTC Finance amongst top Midcap gainers

13. Vedanta, Amara Raja Batteries, DLF, HOEC amongst top Midcap losers

14. Market Breadth favours declines; Advance-Decline ratio at 1:2

Closing Bell: Sensex ends 600 points lower, Nifty below 11,750; banks, financials drag

Indian shares ended around 1.5 percent lower on Wednesday following in selloff in the global markets, dragged by losses in all key sectors but mainly banks and financials.

Shares around the world tumbled on Wednesday as coronavirus infections grew rapidly in Europe and the United States, igniting fears of possible strict lockdown measures that could damage already fragile economic recoveries.

The Sensex ended 600 points lower at 39,922 while the Nifty fell 160 points lower at 11,730. Broader markets were also lower for the day with the Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap indices down 1 percent each.

On the Nifty50 index, Bharti Airtel, UPL, M&M, Hero Moto and Eicher Motors were the top gainers while HDFC, IndusInd Bank, Adani Ports, Dr Reddy’s and Tech Mahindra led the losses.

All sectors were also in the red for the day. Nifty Bank and Nifty Fin Services dragged the most, around 2 percent each. Meanwhile, Nifty IT, Nifty Metal and Nifty Pharma indices were down between 1 percent and 1.8 percent.

Manish Hathiramani, proprietary index trader and technical analyst, Deen Dayal Investments: The Index is still stuck in a range between 11650 and 12050. While choppy markets can test a trader's patience, one must exercise caution and avoid trading in rangebound markets. If we can get past 12050, the Nifty can achieve 12200-12300. If it breaks 11650, we could drop to 11400-11450.

Dow Futures down 400 points as Wall Street factors rising COVID cases, earnings, and US elections

US stock futures fell early Wednesday noon following a mixed session in which traders weighed a recent uptick in coronavirus infections and latest corporate earnings.

As of 14:16 IST, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 467 points or 1.71 percent lower at 26,898, NASDAQ 100 futures lost 107.38 points or 0.93 percent at 11,480.62, and S&P 500 Futures fell 42.48 points or 1.26 percent at 3,340.62.

The daily coronavirus cases in the US have risen by a record average of 69,967 over the past week, according to John Hopkins University. Here's more on this

Technical Experts' View: Prakash Gaba likes Deepak Nitrate and Escorts. "Deepak Nitrate looks good to me due to a base formation. Possibly we could see an up move to around Rs 800 zone, so keep a stop loss below Rs 750." Escorts is climbing up on levels closer to Rs 1,270 and could possibly go even higher in the days to come. Stop loss below Rs 1,230 should be fine, said Gaba.

Rupee Close: The Indian currency ended lower by 16 paise at 73.87, amid selling seen in the domestic equity market. The rupee opened flat at 73.70 per dollar against Tuesday's close of 73.71 and trade in the range of 73.64-73.93.

COVID-19 pandemic to severely impact finances of states: RBI

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on October 27 said the COVID-19 pandemic is certain to have a severe impact on the finances of states, especially their revenue collection abilities, even as expenditure commitments continue to rise as states are at the forefront of the healthcare crisis.

“It is increasingly certain that the slump in economic activity due to COVID-19 led lockdown will adversely impact states’ revenue collections,” said the central bank in its study of state finances and their 2020-21 budgets.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories Q2 net profit dips 30% YoY to Rs 762.3 crore; revenue rises 2%

Pharma major Dr Reddy's Laboratories (DRL) reported a net profit of Rs 762.3 crore in the second quarter of fiscal 2021, which was better than CNBC-TV18 analysts' poll estimates of Rs 646 crore. The net profit was down 30 percent as against Rs 1,092.5 crore in the year-ago period.

Revenue in Q2FY21 increased 2 percent to Rs  4,897 crore from Rs 4,800.1 crore, YoY.

On the operational front, EBITDA during the quarter fell 11 percent to Rs 1,267.3 crore from 1,433.7 crore while EBITDA margin contracted by 400 bps to 25.9 percent from 29.9 percent.

However, DRL's September quarter earnings beat CNBC-TV18 analysts' poll estimates. Read more

This tech stock has jumped 84% in a month and is tipped to rise more

Shares of classified search company Just Dial have surged about 84 percent in just the last 1 month, with analysts saying it has legs to go further.

The bull run in the stock stems from the shift to e-commerce brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as Just Dial’s positioning, including its recent efforts to foray into the business-to-business (B2B) market.

Just Dial stock has more than doubled investor wealth (up 132 percent) this fiscal, from Rs 293 to Rs 682 now, even as UBS recently upgraded its price target on the stock to Rs 800. Continue reading

Tata Group to buy majority stake in BigBasket for about $1 billion: Report

Bengaluru-based BigBasket competes with Walmart Inc-owned Flipkart and Amazon’s ”Fresh” service as more consumers stay indoors and choose to shop online during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Trending Stock: Lakshmi Vilas Bank's shares slip 5 percent lower to Rs 14.95 per share on the NSE after the Reserve Bank of India asked the Bank to reconsider the names proposed for the post of new MD & CEO, a senior official said on Tuesday.

States controlling COVID-19 testing to show lower number of cases, says Thyrocare

Thyrocare Technologies on Wednesday said that many state governments were controlling COVID-19 testing to show reduced numbers of cases due to pressure on them to show lower infections than others.

“To be very honest, government is still controlling. I am not referring to the Maharashtra government, it’s all over the country. In some states, Thyrocare has been told not to pick up samples, verbally. In some states – ‘don’t report to ICMR, reverse the data, we will tell you the cutoff, then you report’,” said A Velumani, CMD & CEO of Thyrocare Technologies, in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

“Let me tell you that because of antibody levels rising, the number of people getting admitted in hospitals is reducing, number of beds are either stagnating or coming down. So positive side is happening but the government is unnecessarily panicked to show the neighbouring state that ‘I am a better state’. They are controlling the numbers and this is unfair,” he added.

Don’t go aggressively ‘overweight/underweight’; have a balanced portfolio: Emkay

Earnings Impact: Castrol India shares jump 8% on strong operating profit

Tata Group to buy majority stake in BigBasket for about $1 billion: Report

Indian online grocery startup BigBasket is in advanced talks to sell a majority stake for about USD 1 billion to salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group, the Economic Times reported on Wednesday, citing three sources familiar with the matter. The century-old group has been planning to launch a ”super app”, one that will tie in all its consumer businesses, several media reports have said, as it competes against Amazon and Reliance Industries, who have made big bets on India’s booming e-commerce market. Bengaluru-based BigBasket competes with Walmart Inc-owned Flipkart and Amazon’s ”Fresh” service as more consumers stay indoors and choose to shop online during the COVID-19 outbreak. The Tata Group and BigBasket did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. More here

Hero MotoCorp's shares jump over 4%; Co to sell, service Harley-Davidson motorcycles in India

Wait for a pullback to buy Kotak Mahindra Bank, says Mehraboon Irani

According to Irani, things are working in favour of tyre segment, "The stock or company management doing the right thing in the tyre sector would be JK Tyre and Industries. I am ready to stick my neck out and say that JK Tyre and Industries could possibly be the best in the overall tyre segment for the next one-three quarters,” he stated. More here

Market Watch: Ruchit Jain of Angel Broking

MakeMyTrip Q2 loss narrows to $12.9 million

Leading online travel firm MakeMyTrip on Tuesday said its adjusted operating loss narrowed to USD 12.9 million (around Rs 95 crore) in the second quarter ending September 30. The company had reported adjusted operating loss of USD 19.3 million (over Rs 140 crore) for the corresponding period previous fiscal, MakeMyTrip said in a statement.

Technical View | The Index is still stuck in a range between 11,650 and 12,050. While choppy markets can test a trader's patience, one must exercise caution and avoid trading in rangebound markets. If we can get past 12,050, the Nifty can achieve 12,200-12,300. If it breaks 11,650, we could drop to 11,400-11,450, says Manish Hathiramani, Proprietary Index Trader and Technical Analyst, Deen Dayal Investments.

Buzzing: Bharti Airtel hits 10% upper circuit post Q2 earnings

Shares of Bharti Airtel were locked in a 10-percent upper circuit on Wednesday after the telecom major reported a substantial narrowing of losses. The telco posted a consolidated net loss of Rs 763.2 crore in Q2 against a loss of Rs 23,044.90 crore in the year-ago quarter (Q2FY20). The sentiment was also lifted after brokerages maintained 'buy' calls on the stock after Q2. The stock rose a much as 10 percent to Rs 476.30 per share on BSE. The company posted revenues of Rs 25,785 crore for the September 2020 quarter, up 22 percent over the corresponding period last year. Among brokerages, Goldman Sachs maintained a 'buy' call on the stock with a target at Rs 635 per share. It said that the company's execution continues to be near-flawless.

Market Watch: VK Sharma, EVP, HDFC Securities

Opening Bell: Sensex opens marginally lower, Nifty holds 11,850; Bharti Airtel top gainer

Sensex, Nifty opened marginally lower on Wednesday dragged by banks and FMCG stocks, however, gains in IT stocks and heavyweights Bharti Airtel capped some losses. Bharti Airtel rose over 4 percent post its September quarter earnings. At 9:18 am, the Sensex was trading 88 points lower at 40,433 while the Nifty fell 22 points to 11.867.

The bank and fin servcies indices fell the most around 0.8 percent each while Nifty FMCG lost 0.7 percent. Nifty Metal and Nifty Realty were also down 0.6 percent each. However, Nifty IT, Nifty Pharma and Nifty Auto continued to trade in the green. Among stocks, Bharti Airtel, Hero Moto, Tata Motors, M&M and L&T were the top gainers on the Nifty50 index while Kotak Bank, Nestle, HDFC, Adani Ports and Hindalco led the losses.