Sensex ends up 142 points, Nifty below 8450; Dr Reddy's up 5%

03:30 pm Market close: The market ended with zeal with benchmark indices pocketing smart gains. The Sensex was up 141.92 points or 0.5 percent at 27705.35. The Nifty ended July F&O series up 46.75 points or 0.6 percent at 8421.80. About 1741 shares advanced, 1126 shares declined, and 143 shares were unchanged.

Dr Reddy's Labs was up 5 percent while Cipla, ITC, HDFC and HUL were gainers. Sun Pharma, Hindalco, TCS and Infosys were laggards.

03:00 pm Gold price: Falling for the third straight day, gold prices tumbled by another Rs 200 to Rs 25,090 per ten gram at the bullion market on Thursday in line with a weakening global trend amid subdued demand from jewellers.

Silver also eased by Rs 150 to Rs 34,050 per kg on reduced offtake by industrial units and coin makers.

Traders said a weakening global trend where gold heading for its largest monthly decline in two years, as the Federal Reserve moved closer to boosting US interest rates for the first time since 2006, mainly kept pressure on precious metals prices.

02:30 pm Earnings: Dena Bank's first quarter net profit plunged 81.3 percent year-on-year to Rs 15.2 crore, impacted by higher provisions, lower operating profit and slow growth in net interest income. However, tax write-back supported bottomline.

Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest expended, grew by 2.6 percent to Rs 628.2 crore from Rs 612 crore during the same period.

During the quarter, other income (non-interest income) increased marginally to Rs 146.11 crore from Rs 144.42 crore while operating profit fell 27.9 percent to Rs 226.30 crore year-on-year.

Provisions for bad loans spiked 42.5 percent (down 32 percent sequentially) to Rs 325 crore in June quarter compared to Rs 228 crore in the corresponding quarter of last fiscal.

Asset quality was very weak in the quarter gone by as gross non-performing assets rose to 6.2 percent (from 5.45 percent in March quarter and 4.21 percent in the year-ago period) and net NPA climbed to 4.24 percent (from 3.82 percent Q-o-Q and 2.94 percent Y-o-Y).

02:00 pm Market Check
The market continued to see buying interest in afternoon trade, supported by FMCG, banking & financials, auto and select pharma stocks. The Sensex gained 195.06 points or 0.71 percent at 27758.49 and the Nifty rose 56.55 points or 0.68 percent to 8431.60.

The broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 1 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively. About 1710 shares have advanced, 1013 shares declined, and 139 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

Dr Reddy's Labs jumped more than 4 percent after better than expected earnings in June quarter. Profit grew by 14 percent year-on-year to Rs 626 crore and revenue rose by 7 percent, supported by North America and India businesses.

1:30 pm Buzzing: Shares of Cipla surged 4 percent intraday on launch of asthma treatment medicine. In partnership with Sandoz, the drug company has launched Pulmicort Respules 1mg /ml version which is used for long-term treatment of asthma and prevention of asthma. Cipla has 180 day exclusivity with Sandoz for the medicine. Branded sales of the drug stands at USD 242 million in the US market. Sandoz and Cipla are the only companies that have approval for 1 mg/ml version of Pulmicort Respules.

The market is gushing with gains on July expiry day. The Sensex is up 245.40 points or 0.9 percent at 27808.83 and the Nifty is up 73.30 points or 0.9 percent at 8448.35. About 1750 shares have advanced, 884 shares declined, and 142 shares are unchanged.

Cipla, HUL, HDFC, ITC and SBI are top gainers on the Sensex. On the losing side are Sun Pharma, TCS, Coal India, Infosys and Tata Steel.

Growth acceleration and policy reforms are making the India story attractive, Michael Every, Head of Markets Research, Asia-Pacific at Rabobank told CNBC-TV18. However, he says interest rates and inflation needs to fall.

He does not consider the Chinese stock market a direct threat to the Indian market, and said the Chinese market was being propped up by the authorities.

Chinese equities have pared losses after the stunning plunge on July 8, but most experts feel the partial recovery has been largely due to government directives, and not based on fundamentals.

12:50 am Caution: Moody's cautioned against tampering with the independence of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in deciding on interest rates saying it would hurt India's economic prospects. Moody's Analytics, an economic research unit of Moody's Corp, also raised a red flag over the Parliament logjam and said it is denting business confidence as key reform bills like land and GST are stuck. A revised draft of the Indian Financial Code calls for creation of an interest rate-setting panel, where majority of the seven members will be nominated by the government.

12:30 pm Result poll: ICICI Bank, the country's largest private sector lender, is expected to report stable earnings in the quarter ended June. According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, profit is seen rising 10 percent year-on-year to Rs 2,919 crore and net interest income may increase 15.5 percent to Rs 5,188.4 crore during the quarter. The bank will announce its earnings on July 31.

Both net profit and net interest income (the difference between interest earned and interest expended) growth are expected to be similar to previous quarters.

For profit, provisions and other income need to be closely watched. Provisions are expected to be elevated like Q3 and Q4FY15.

Provisions increased by 22.4 percent year-on-year to Rs 726 crore in Q1FY15, up 17 percent to Rs 850 crore in Q2FY15, up 41 percent to Rs 979.69 crore in Q3FY15 and up 88.4 percent to Rs 1,345 crore in Q4FY15.

The market is making strong gains with support from infra, banks, oil & gas and auto stocks. The Sensex is up 237.21 points or 0.9 percent at 27800.64, and the Nifty is up 66.85 points or 0.8 percent at 8441.90. About 1653 shares have advanced, 698 shares declined, and 115 shares are unchanged.

Cipla, HUL, HDFC, Hero Motocorp and NTPC are top gainers while Sun Pharma, TCS and Coal India are among losers in the Sensex.

Oil prices extended a rebound in Asia following data showing a decline in US inventories, analysts said. Dealers are also keeping tabs on the Federal Reserve's plans for raising interest rates after it held fire yesterday at its latest policy meeting but indicated the US economy is improving.

The dollar edged up after the meeting as expectations grow that the central bank will announce a liftoff as early as September.

The market will closely monitor the Fed's move as the rate hike will impact commodity prices heavily, say analysts.

10:50 am IPO: In a strong show, the Rs 550 crore IPO of biotechnology major Biocon's research arm Syngene International was over-subscribed 32.03 times on the last day of the offer on Wednesday as both retail and institutional investors bid aggressively for the shares.

 The company's IPO received bids for 51,24,24,840 shares as against 1,60,00,000 shares on offer, according to data available with the NSE till 1900 hrs, thus generating demand for shares worth over Rs 17,000 crore. Syngene's public offer opened for subscription on Monday.

The price band has been fixed between Rs 240 and Rs 250 per share. The public issue is of 2.2 crore shares (including the anchor investor portion of 60 lakh). At the given issue size, the company would raise Rs 550 crore at the upper end of the price band.

10:30 am Result poll: Cigarette-hotel-to-FMCG major ITC 's first quarter earnings are expected to be muted on decline in cigarette volumes (the major contributor to revenue) and subdued performances from other segments.

According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, consolidated net profit is seen rising 6 percent year-on-year to Rs 2,320 crore and revenue is likely to increase 0.6 percent to Rs 9,300 crore during the quarter. Operating profit (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) may rise 3 percent to Rs 3,381 crore and margin may expand 100 basis points to 36.4 percent. The full impact of price hikes on cigarette volumes will be seen in June quarter. ITC hiked cigarette prices on blended basis amount to around 30 percent in July 2014 and March 2015.

The market is surging ahead on July F&O expiry day. The Sensex is up 198.50 points or 0.7 percent at 27761.93 and the Nifty is up 57.60 points or 0.7 percent at 8432.65. About 1387 shares have advanced, 440 shares declined, and 94 shares are unchanged.

Cipla, HDFC, Bharti Airtel, ONGC and HUL are top gainers while Sun Pharma, GAIL, TCS, Infosys and ITC are among laggards in the Sensex.

The US Federal Reserve kept rates unchanged, giving no hint of lift-off coming in the next meeting. Policymakers said the economy is expanding moderately, but made no mention of recent volatility around Greece or China.

Gold dipped towards its weakest level since early 2010. Fed comments buoyed the greenback against a basket of currencies, making dollar-priced gold more costly for buyers using other currencies.

09:40 am FII View: Herald Van Der Linde, head of Asia Pacific equity strategy at HSBC Holdings Plc says the near-term looks challenging for emerging markets but valuations are getting attractive across Asia.

Linde has a cautious stance on India because equities here are little expensive than other markets. He sees Sensex at 26800 by year end.

Talking about Fed shelving plans to hike interest rates once again, Linde said US market has already priced that in. He says Fed may go for it later in the year.

09:15 am Market Check
The market has opened higher, tracking positive cues from Wall Street after the Federal Reserve kept rates unchanged. All eyes are on expiry of July derivative contracts today.

The Sensex gained 135.55 points at 27698.98 and the Nifty rose 40.75 points to 8415.80. About 713 shares have advanced, 119 shares declined, and 64 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

Cipla, HDFC, Axis Bank, BHEL, ONGC and Cairn India rallied 1-1.5 percent. However, ITC lost 0.6 percent ahead of earnings. GAIL, ICICI Bank, Tata Power and Ambuja Cements also declined.

In key earnings today, according to a CNBC-TV18 poll, ITC profit may rise 6 percent  to around Rs 2,300 crore. Cigarette volumes are expected to decline 15-18 percent due to price hikes. From the pharma space, muted numbers are expected from Dr Reddy's, the profits may rise 4 percent.

From the banking sector, this will be first quarter of Kotak-ING consolidated numbers. Analysts expect a muted profit growth while the margins may come off since ING Vysya has lower margins.

The Indian rupee opened lower by 5 paise at 63.96 per dollar against 63.91 Wednesday.

Mohan Shenoi of Kotak Mahindra Bank said, "As per July FOMC statement, Fed is poised to begin rate hikes in 2015 most likely in September. Dollar strength against major currencies is continuing."

"With Reserve Bank Of India (RBI) presence on both sides of the market, USD-INR is expected to trade today in a range of 63.85-64.15/dollar," he added.

In global markets, the US Federal Reserve kept rates unchanged, giving no hint of lift-off coming in the next meeting. Policymakers said the economy is expanding moderately, but made no mention of recent volatility around Greece or China.

The US markets closed in the green with the Dow Jones industrial average closing about 120 points higher. The Nasdaq Composite briefly dipped into negative territory before trading half a percent higher.

Asian markets gained today, taking heart from a positive finish on Wall Street and a modest recovery in commodity prices.

The dollar remained steady in cautious trade ahead of US GDP data that could reinforce expectations that the Federal Reserve is on track to raise interest rates as early as September.