Sensex jumps 352 points; Tata Motors up 4%, HDFC Bank falls 1%

03:40 pm Market closing
The market ended on a strong note with active participation by auto, realty and metals. Recovery in IT stocks also aided the indices. The Sensex was up 351.61 points or 1.58 percent at 22628.84, and the Nifty jumped 104.10 points or 1.56 percent at 6779.40. About 1662 shares have advanced, 1014 shares declined, and 172 shares are unchanged.

Hindalco and Tata Motors were up 4 percent each. Other gainers were ICICI Bank, BHEl and SBI.

HDFC Bank closed with a lose of 1 percent.

03:25 pm Market outlook
Dipan Mehta, Member of NSE and BSE believes investors will start valuing stocks on a fundamental basis rather than on sentiment or future events that may take place. He credits this to a good start to the earning season for the shift to corporate numbers from politics and elections.

This earning season could be a good opportunity for investors to move to interest rate sensitives or domestic-oriented companies from defensives, provided domestic-oriented companies provide softer aspects of better management commentary with a slight improvement in the environment, he says in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

"Although Infosys may have been a mild disappointment and maybe TCS came in line but by and large, the banks that came out with their numbers and HCL Technologies have enthused a lot of investors that is quite positive. To an extent, the focus is shifting away from politics and elections to corporate numbers and that always is positive because then investors start valuing stocks on a fundamental basis rather than just sentiment or future events that may take place," he explains.

03:15 pm Bond market
The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday fully sold the Rs 20000 crore worth of bonds on offer at its biggest auction ever, sparking strong gains in debt markets.

The 10-year benchmark bond yield fell 4 basis points to 8.93 percent from 8.97 percent before the auction results after the better-than-expected cutoffs. The yield was down 3 bps on the day.

The RBI set the cut-off price for 8.35 percent 2022 bonds at Rs 95.45 rupees, yielding 9.1584 percent, while the cut-off price for 8.24 percent 2027 bonds were set at Rs 92.05, yielding 9.3122 percent.

The cut-off for 9.20 percent 2030 bonds were set at Rs 99.50, yielding 9.2585 percent, while 9.23 percent 2043 bonds were set at Rs 99.27, yielding 9.3004 percent.

03:05pm Market Update
The market strengthened further with the Sensex surging 355.23 points or 1.59 percent to 22632.46 and the Nifty rising 103.90 points or 1.56 percent to 6779.20 supported by broadbased buying.

About 1591 shares have advanced, 1034 shares declined, and 179 shares are unchanged.

Shares of Hindalco Industries, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, SBI, BHEL, Ambuja Cements and Jindal Steel gained 3-4 percent. However, HDFC Bank was the only loser in Sensex 30.

02:59pm Tata Metaliks in focus, up 14%
Tata Steel says shareholders will meet on May 16 to discuss merger of Tata Metaliks with company.

"The court convened meeting of the equity shareholders of the company will be held on May 16 for the purpose of considering and approving the proposed scheme of amalgamation between Tata Steel and Tata Metaliks and Tata Metaliks DI Pipes (formerly known as Tata Metaliks Kubota Pipes) and their respective shareholders and creditors," the company said in its filing.

Tata Steel also said Tata Metaliks' shareholders would get four shares of the company for 29 shares held.

02:50pm Nikkei ends flat
Japan's Nikkei share average ended flat in choppy trade today as profit-taking from the previous day's large gains offset optimism that the US Federal Reserve will keep interest rates low for an extended period.

The Nikkei share average ended flat at 14,417.53 after a volatile session that saw the index move between positive and negative territories. Earlier in the day, it hit a one-week high of 14,500.66, reports Reuters.

02:40pm Crisil up 2%
CRISIL's consolidated income from operations rose 21.4 percent to Rs 308.98 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2014, compared with Rs 254.49 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Consolidated profit after tax for the quarter increased 38.6 percent to Rs 68.71 crore against Rs 49.57 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

The board of directors has declared an interim dividend of Rs 3 per share of Re 1 face value for the financial
year ended December 31, 2014.

02:30pm GSK Pharma in focus
GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals' first quarter (January-March) net profit fell 42.9 percent year-on-year to Rs 96.5 crore on lower revenues.

Total income from operations declined marginally to Rs 610 crore from Rs 637 crore while other income slipped to Rs 45 crore from Rs 77 crore during the same period.

02:20pm Piramal to buy stake in Shriram Capital
Piramal Enterprises will acquire 20 percent stake in Shriram Capital, the financial services arm of the Chennai-based Shriram Group, for Rs 2,014 crore.

While addressing the media, group chairman Ajay Piramal said the company is looking for a long-term partnership with Shriram Group as they share a similar vision.

Piramal Enterprises had picked up 10 percent stake in Shriram Transport Finance for Rs 1,700 crore in May last year.

''We want to build an enterprise which will not only create value for shareholders, but also for the society and will be part of India's growth story,'' he said.

He sees the economic gloom lifting, which will spur growth, adding that Shriram group is able to manage healthy growth even in tough economic scenario.

02:10pm FII View
Meanwhile, Sakhti Siva, Credit Suisse says Taiwan, India and Indonesia have received the bulk of the net foreign buying.

''With May approaching and MSCI Asia ex-Japan trading towards the top of its trading range of the last two years, we look at whether we are overbought by foreign investors. On a rolling 12 months basis, net foreign buying in Emerging Asia is 0.6 percent of market cap. Historically, a level of 1.2 percent has signaled tactical corrections,'' she adds.

02:00pm Equity benchmarks surged more than a percent in afternoon trade with the Nifty reclaiming 6750 level supported by banks, auto, technology and heavyweights.

The Sensex climbed 309.05 points to 22586.28 and the Nifty rose 90.50 points to 6765.80. Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of 1517 to 1013 on the BSE.

Private sector lender ICICI Bank, commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors and aluminium major Hindalco Industries rallied nearly 4 percent.

Index heavyweights ITC and Reliance Industries gained 1.5-2 percent. India's third largest software services exporter Wipro jumped 2.6 percent ahead of Q4 earnings today evening while its rivals TCS and Infosys rose 0.7-1 percent.

Shares of L&T, Sun Pharma, ONGC, Hero Motocorp, Tata Power, Sesa Sterlite, GAIL and BHEL advanced 1-2.6 percent.

However, HDFC Bank trimmed losses to 1 percent from 2.5 percent on short covering. MSCI says HDFC Bank's foreign inclusion factor will be cut from 0.49 to 0.16 w.e.f June 2.

2:00 pm: The Sensex is up 314.29 points or 1.41 percent at 22591.52, and the Nifty up 94.85 points or 1.42 percent at 6770.15.  About 1486 shares have advanced, 1020 shares declined, and 184 shares are unchanged.

1:55 pm Market check: The market seems to have lit up with energy ahead of a long weekend. The Sensex is up 295.59 points or 1.33 percent at 22572.82, and the Nifty up is 88.80 points or 1.33 percent at 6764.10. About 1483 shares have advanced, 1012 shares declined, and 189 shares are unchanged.

Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, Wipro are up around 3 percent each, followed by Tata Power and SBI. HDFC Bank is still down over 1 percent.

1:40 pm Results poll: Software services provider Persistent Systems will announce its fourth quarter (January-March) results. According to CNBC-TV18 poll estimates, the company is likely to report better growth in topline and bottomline but operational performance may be weak during the quarter.

Analysts expect profit after tax to rise 3.6 percent sequentially to Rs 66.5 crore on strong revenue that may grow 3.66 percent to Rs 448.5 crore quarter-on-quarter. Dollar revenue is likely to increase 3.9 percent to USD 72.6 million during the quarter.

On the operational front, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) is expected to decline to Rs 119 crore from Rs 119.7 crore and margin may decline 110 basis points to 26.5 percent during March quarter.

Analysts expect forex loss at Rs 7.5 crore in Q4FY14 as against loss of Rs 14.66 crore in previous quarter.

1:30 pm  FII view: Sunil Garg, Director of Asia-Pacific Equity Research, JP Morgan past few times Nifty has hit record highs have been driven by export-oriented sectors like metal companies, automobiles and IT services. But now, there is a rotation possibility which may allow other sectors to lead the index. Positive momentum now will be driven by cyclicals and domestic sectors, he adds. Meanwhile, Garg is overweight on India relative to Asian markets and emerging markets.

The market is holding its gains smartly. The gains are led by buying in index heavyweights such as ICICI Bank and Tata Motors. Realty and IT stocks also lend support.

The Sensex is up 164.21 points at 22441.44, and the Nifty is up 48.20 points at 6723.50. About 1390 shares have advanced, 1017 shares declined, and 182 shares are unchanged.

Wipro is set to announce its fourth quarter (January-March) earnings on Thursday. According to CNBC-TV18 poll, the revenue is likely to rise 2.07 percent sequentially to Rs 10,541 crore and dollar revenue may increase 2.5 percent to USD 1719.6 million during the quarter. Dollar revenue growth in constant currency is seen at around 2.2 percent and cross currency can add another 30 basis points. Hence, the reported dollar revenue is expected to be 2.5 percent (which is within the guidance). The stock is upover 2 percent.

Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, Hero Motocorp and SBI are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the laggards are HDFC Bank, Coal India, NTPC, Tata Steel and ONGC.

In a major setback to telecom companies, the Supreme Court has upheld Delhi High Court's order of allowing CAG to audit books of telecom companies. It says CAG is authorised to examine if government is getting its due share.
 
Meanwhile on the political front, it is a huge stake for Congress and the BJP as India votes in the crucial 5th phase spanning 121 constituencies across 12 states of Karnataka, Rajasthan, Bihar, UP and Maharashtra.

12:59pm TCS Boardroom
Rajesh Gopinathan, CFO of TCS said the 60 basis point drop in margins was due to the lower realisations and differential growth in fourth quarter. ''This quarter-on-quarter uptick or downtick is not a directional call. Whenever it (realisations) breaks in either direction, we will call it out,'' he told CNBC-TV18.

India's number one software services exporter Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) fourth quarter earnings was a mixed bag, with net profit exceeding analyst estimates, and revenues falling short. Net profit rose 0.5 percent sequentially to Rs 5,357.6 crore.

The average of a CNBC-TV18 poll had estimated net profit at Rs 5175 crore. Quarterly revenues came in at Rs 21,551 crore, up 1.2 percent sequentially and below the poll estimate of Rs 21,662 crore.

The operating margin came in at 29.1 percent, 60 basis points lower than last quarter but up 210 basis points for the full year. (More details)

Phiroz Vandrevala, VC & MD, Diligenta & EVP, TCS sees a reasonably stable regime going forward.

12:50pm Financial Technologies in focus
Financial Technologies' MCX stake is likely to go to multiple investors, sources told CNBC-TV18. Therefore, no single investor is likely to get the entire 24 percent stake in MCX. Sources say Kotak Mahindra Group and CME are currently front-runners for the MCX stake.

According to the prevailing norms, no single foreign investor can own more than 5 percent stake in MCX.

12:40pm Mindtree on buyers' radar
Shares of Mindtree are flying off the shelves, jumping 3 percent. Investors are hugely impressed by its January-March quarter performance with the net profit growing 11 percent sequentially to Rs 98.2 crore as against 4 percent growth expected by analysts. Higher growth in bottomline was despite forex loss of Rs 42.6 crore during the quarter as against Rs 27.2 crore in previous quarter.

Net revenue grew 4.2 percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 823.7 crore and dollar revenue rose 4.5 percent to USD 132.8 million.

Brokerages recommended buying the stock further. Citi remains a buyer with a revised target of Rs 1600 from Rs 1580. Mindtree is one of its top picks and reassuring commentary by Mindtree's management impresses the brokerage house.

12:30pm HCL Technologies in focus
India's fourth largest software services exporter HCL Technologies beat street forecast by reporting third quarter (January-March) net profit at Rs 1,624 crore, up 8.5 percent sequentially and 59 percent on yearly basis due to better operating performance. Analysts had expected profit at Rs 1,551 crore.

Net profit margin expanded to 19.4 percent from 18.3 percent Q-o-Q. Net profit in dollar terms stood at USD 264 million, up 9.4 percent compared to previous quarter and 39.9 percent compared to a year-ago period. The forex loss during the quarter was at USD 23.3 million as against USD 25.5 million Q-o-Q.

"Our success with the industrialized delivery model, increasing number of contracts moving into steady state, savings on G&A front, helped in improved net income margin of 19.4 percent this quarter, up from 15.9 percent in the corresponding quarter of last year," says Anil Chanana, CFO.

Rupee revenue of the company grew 2 percent quarter-on-quarter (29.8 percent year-on-year) to Rs 8,349 crore while dollar revenue climbed 3 percent Q-o-Q (14.3 percent Y-o-Y to USD 1,361 million. Both were in line with analysts' expectations of Rs 8,388 crore and USD 1,357.5 million, respectively.

12:20pm Hathway Cable up 5.5%
Brokerage house CLSA initiates coverage with a buy on the stock with a target price of Rs 302 that offers a 31 percent upside.

It believes there is also a big option value of broadband ramp-up. "If hathway maintains conversions and if half of subscribers move to higher ARPU, the discounted cash flow would rise to Rs 445 per share," CLSA says.

12:10pm FII View
Sunil Garg, Director of Asia-Pacific Equity Research, JPMorgan says the past few Nifty all-time highs have been driven by export-oriented sectors like metal companies, automobiles and IT services. But now, there is a rotation possibility which may allow other sectors to lead the index. Positive momentum now will be driven by cyclicals and domestic sectors, he adds.

Meanwhile, Garg is overweight on India relative to Asian markets and emerging markets.

12:00pm Equity benchmarks remain strong in noon trade as the voting for fifth phase of general elections in 121 constituencies is taking place today. The Sensex rises 183.89 points to 22461.12 and the Nifty gains 56.30 points to 6731.60.

About 1368 shares have advanced, 901 shares declined, and 167 shares are unchanged.

Private sector lenders ICICI Bank and Axis Bank are lead gainers, rising over 2 percent. Commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors and software services exporter Wipro (ahead of Q4 earnings) advance 2.6 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively.

Technology shares like TCS and Infosys climb 1 percent each while index heavyweights Reliance Industries and ITC gain 1.4 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.

Shares of Sun Pharma, State Bank of India, M&M, Hero Motocorp, Tata Power and GAIL jump over a percent. However, HDFC Bank falls nearly 2 percent as MSCI says HDFC Bank's foreign inclusion factor will be cut from 0.49 to 0.16 w.e.f June 2.

11:50 am Rating: Standard and Poor's may upgrade India's outlook if the government that is elected next month addresses some of the country's fiscal and economic challenges through steps such as passing a goods and services tax, reports Reuters.

"If in the future they implement policies that effectively addresses some of the credit weaknesses that I have highlighted, we could revise the outlook to stable again," said S&P senior director Kim Eng Tan in a webcast.

"In the absence of effective policy action, we could lower the ratings on the sovereign," he added.

11:40 am International results: IBM Corp, the world's biggest technology services company, reported its lowest quarterly revenue in five years, as Big Blue struggles with falling demand for its hardware and faces challenges in growth markets like China.

IBM's first-quarter revenue was the lowest the company reported since the first quarter of 2009, when revenue was USD 21.71 billion.

Hardware revenue, which includes servers and systems storage, plunged 23 percent to USD 2.4 billion, as sales in growth markets declined 11 percent, led by Asia-Pacific, where reported revenue declined 12 percent.

IBM has been restructuring its business and laying-off workers in efforts to achieve its targeted operating earnings of USD 20 per share by 2015. In January, the company agreed to sell its low-end server business to Chinese PC maker Lenovo Group Ltd for USD 2.3 billion in January.

11:30 am Market outlook: Dalton Capital Advisors' UR Bhat feels there is a strong possibility of the rally continuing for two years if a market-favourable government is formed. Bhat sees equities doing well if the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) led-NDA government is voted to power, and does not rule out the possibility of the Nifty hitting 8000 in the near future.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, he predicted a year-end (2014) of 7000 for the Nifty.

Bhat says there could be some profit booking at current levels following the recent run up, but says he is fully invested in the market. He is bullish on auto stocks, and is looking forward to some policy measures to revive confidence in PSU banks.

11:20 am FII view: Laurence Balanco, CLSA says the 'overbought' correction off the April highs of 6,900 continues to unfold. ''However, the fact that the daily momentum indicator has confirmed recent highs, suggests that this pullback should be short-lived and followed by new highs,'' he adds.

According to him, a pullback to the 6,480 area should be seen as a buying opportunity in anticipation of a move up the 7,036 area.

The market is gaining strength as IT stocks recover from yesterday's bruises. The Sensex is up 195.43 points at 22472.66, and the Nifty up 56.15 points at 6731.45. About 1339 shares have advanced, 717 shares declined, and 157 shares are unchanged.

Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, Wipro, Hindalco and Axis Bank are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers ares HDFC Bank, ONGC, NTPC and Coal India.

Asian share markets eked out gains as dovish comments from the head of the U.S. Federal Reserve combined with an upbeat economic assessment from the central bank to lift Wall Street for a third straight session.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen told the Economic Club of New York that it might take two years to return to full employment and there was more risk of inflation staying too low, than going too high.

Yellen said achieving the Fed's economic goals "will likely require low real interest rates for some time," a policy view she said was shared broadly across many advanced economies.

"We read this as a not-so-subtle signal that, although the committee has gradually begun to remove its outright commitment to low rates and balance sheet expansion, the Fed is in no hurry to accelerate the trend or initiate a rate hike cycle," said Michael Gapen, and economist at Barclays.

10:55am Wipro Q4 earnings today
Wipro, the fourth largest software services exporter in India, is set to announce its fourth quarter (January-March) earnings on Thursday. According to CNBC-TV18 poll, the revenue is likely to rise 2.07 percent sequentially to Rs 10,541 crore and dollar revenue may increase 2.5 percent to USD 1719.6 million during the quarter.

Dollar revenue growth in constant currency is seen at around 2.2 percent and cross currency can add another 30 basis points. Hence, the reported dollar revenue is expected to be 2.5 percent (which is within the guidance).

The company had guided 2-4 percent growth in dollar revenue at USD 1,712 million to USD 1,745 million for January-March quarter.

10:45am FII View
Laurence Balanco, CLSA says the 'overbought' correction off the April highs of 6,900 continues to unfold. ''However, the fact that the daily momentum indicator has confirmed recent highs, suggests that this pullback should be short-lived and followed by new highs,'' he adds.

According to him, a pullback to the 6,480 area should be seen as a buying opportunity in anticipation of a move up the 7,036 area.

10:35am Mindtree up 3%
Mindtree surpassed expectations on every parameter during January-March quarter with the net profit growing 11 percent sequentially to Rs 98.2 crore as against 4 percent growth expected by analysts. Higher growth in bottomline was despite forex loss of Rs 42.6 crore during the quarter as against Rs 27.2 crore in previous quarter.

Net revenue grew 4.2 percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 823.7 crore and dollar revenue rose 4.5 percent to USD 132.8 million as against CNBC-TV18 estimates of Rs 810 crore and USD 131 million, respectively.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased 15 percent to Rs 177 crore and margin expanded 200 basis points sequentially to 21.5 percent in the quarter gone by.

10:25am Market Update
The market gains strength. The Sensex is up 163.43 points to 22440.66 and the Nifty rises 49.20 points to 6724.50. About 1155 shares have advanced, 539 shares declined, and 90 shares are unchanged.

Tata Motors extends gains to 3 percent and Tata Motors DVR too gains 3 percent. Shares of ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Infosys, TCS, Wipro, M&M and SBI advance 1-2 percent.

10:20am Piramal Enterprises in focus
Piramal Enterprises is looking to invest in Shriram Capital, which is the holding company of Shriram Transport . Piramal already owns 10 percent in Shriram Transport.

Ajay Piramal's Piramal Enterprises is trying to consolidate its foray into the financial services segment.

According to CNBC-TV18's sources, investment in Shriram Capital will be to the tune of over USD 300 million and that would mean that the existing promoter of Shriram Capital, R Thyagarajan, is likely to dilute his stake in the company. Ajay Piramal will get a significant stake in Shriram Capital and this would be the foray of Piramal Enterprises into the banking sector through Shriram Capital.

Last week, Ajay Piramal sold his entire 11 percent stake in Vodafone for Rs 8900 crore, repaing rich profits of around 50 percent in just two years.

10:10am Fifth phase of general elections
With 121 seats across 12 states voting in fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections, India is witnessing the biggest round of electoral exercise today. With this phase the voting will cross the half-way mark in terms of seats in more than a month-long exercise. More than 25 bigwigs are trying their luck in Thursday's fifth phase of polling.

Nandan Nilekani, Maneka Gandhi, former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, Union Minister Veerappa Moily, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Srikant Jena, Supriya Sule and Lalu Prasad's eldest daughter Misa Bharti are amongst the 1,769 candidates in the fifth of the nine-phased elections.

Polling is taking place in all 28 seats in Karnataka, followed by Rajasthan (20), Maharashtra (19), Uttar Pradesh and Odisha (11 each), Madhya Pradesh (10), Bihar (7), Jharkhand (6), West Bengal (4), Chhattisgarh (3), Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur (1 each). So far polling has been held in 111 constituencies in four phases.

10:00am The market continues to hold positive momentum supported by auto, technology and banks stocks. The Sensex rises 39.66 points to 22316.89 and the Nifty advances 12.60 points to 6687.90.

The broader markets outperform benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.4 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively. Two shares advanced for every share declining on the BSE.

Commercial and luxury vehicles maker Tata Motors tops the buying list, rising 2 percent while software services exporter Wipro advances nearly 2 percent ahead of Q4 earnings.

Shares of Infosys, ICICI Bank, TCS, Reliance Industries, M&M, Sun Pharma, Axis Bank, State Bank of India and Hero Motocorp gain 0.4-0.9 percent.

However, HDFC Bank loses over 2 percent after MSCI says bank's foreign inclusion factor will be cut from 0.49 to 0.16 w.e.f June 2.

It further says, "HDFC Bank will be dropped from MSCI India Index if it remains on RBI ban list at November review.".

Shares of L&T, ITC, ONGC, HUL, BHEL and Tata Steel decline 0.3-0.8 percent.

9:50 am Strike: Labour trouble seems to plague Bajaj Auto yet again. The auto major's 850 permanent workers at Chakan plant have announced an indefinite strike effective April 28. The workers have demanded they be given 500 shares of the company for Rs 10 each. As per the company's closing share price, the value of the shares stands at Rs 10 lakh which the Union hopes to get for Rs 5,000. However Bajaj Auto has said that they will steadfastly oppose the demand.

9:40 am In focus: Shares of Shriram Transport are up 4 percent intraday on stake sale buzz. Piramal Enterprises is looking to invest in Shriram Capital, which is the holding company of Shriram Transport (listed on the stock exchanges). Piramal already owns 10 percent in Shriram Transport.

Ajay Piramal's Piramal Enterprises is trying to consolidate its foray into the financial services segment. It plans to invest into Shriram Capital which is the holding company of Shriram Transport which is listed on the stock exchanges.

Sources say the investment in Shriram Capital would be to the tune of over USD 300 million and that would mean that the existing promoter of Shriram Capital, R Thyagarajan, is likely to dilute his stake in the company.

9:30 am Results: India's fourth largest software services exporter HCL Technologies beats street forecast by reporting third quarter (January-March) net profit at Rs 1,624 crore, up 8.5 percent sequentially and 59 percent on yearly basis due to better operating performance. Analysts had expected profit at Rs 1,551 crore.

HCL says it continues to push the pedal on its new generation propositions including Digital System Integration while maintaining its profitable growth trajectory.

Net profit margin expanded to 19.4 percent from 18.3 percent Q-o-Q. Net profit in dollar terms stood at USD 264 million, up 9.4 percent compared to previous quarter and 39.9 percent compared to a year-ago period. The forex loss during the quarter was at USD 23.3 million as against USD 25.5 million Q-o-Q.

9:20 am Buzzing: Shares of TCS fell around 2 percent as its muted March quarter earnings growth is not impressing the market. Its net profit exceeded analyst estimates but revenues fell short.

Net profit rose 0.5 percent sequentially to Rs 5,357.6 crore. The average of a CNBC-TV18 poll had estimated net profit at Rs 5175 crore. Quarterly revenues came in at Rs 21,551 crore, up 1.2 percent sequentially and below the poll estimate of Rs 21,662 crore.

The company's dollar revenues grew 1.9 percent to USD 3.503 billion. The estimate was USD 3.315 billion. The company said the performance was driven by strong growth in Europe, particularly UK, and the Asia Pacific region.

The market sees a slight upmove in opening as the Nifty is still below 6700. The Nifty is up 20.15 points at 6695.45 and the Sensex is up 50.53 points at 22327.76. About 290 shares have advanced, 85 shares declined, and 18 shares are unchanged.

TCS and Wipro are up 1-2 percent while TCS is weak in early trade.

The Indian rupee opened flat at 60.29 per dollar versus 60.37 Wednesday. The yen wallowed at one-week lows against the dollar, having eased broadly overnight as a rally in global stocks dented demand for the safe-haven currency.

The dollar holds steady. The euro was at USD 1.3819, having retreated from Wednesday's high of USD 1.3851.

Mohan Shenoi of Kotak Mahindra Bank said that, ''Today's auction of Rs 20,000 crore of GSec is the highest amount in any auction. Bond market is clearly reeling under supply pressure. But above 9 percent yield, value buying is seen. The range for the 10-year yield is seen between 8.95-9 percent.''

''Rupee has settled in a comfortable range on the prospect of a stable Government post elections. The rupee is likely to trade in a range of 60.20-60.50/dollar,'' he added.

US markets rallied on renewed optimism over the US economic recovery as investors cheered supportive comments from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen reiterated her intention to support recovery even as the labour market improves with the 6.7 percent unemployment rate in March, still a percentage point higher than the Central Bank's projection of full employment.

In commodities, Brent crude trades around 110 dollars a barrel due to mounting tensions in Ukraine

In the precious metals space, gold stood just above USD 1,300 an ounce supported by tensions in Ukraine, but the metal is at the risk of adding to recent losses as the world's biggest gold-backed fund saw its sharpest outflow in nearly four months. Holdings in SPDR gold trust fell 8.39 tonnes to 798.43 tonnes the biggest outflow since Dec 23.