BSE Sensex ends 74 pts higher; Oil & Gas leads, IT drags

3:45 Movers and shakers: Jindal Steel , ONGC , Reliance, BHEL , HDFC Bank are top gainers in the Sensex. GAIL , Bharti Airtel , M&M, ICICI Bank and Coal India are top losers in the Sensex. Oil and gas stocks lend support to the indices while technology stocks were laggards.

3:40 pm Expert view: Optimistic Regan Homavazir, Associate VP-Technical Research, Darashaw sees the Nifty heading to 6,000 and then 6,300 going ahead.

"The Nifty is largely bound between 6000 and 5500. So, there is no real move on either side happening. However, the charts are not bearishly poised," he said in an interview on CNBC-TV18.

However, one should be cautious if Nifty slips below 5,750.

From the banking space, one can consider buying HDFC Bank , ICICI Bank , YES Bank and SBI . He is also upbeat on ONGC  and Reliance from the oil and gas sector.

"Look at ONGC between Rs 290 and Rs 300, for a bare minimum upside of Rs 350. We will remain positive on RIL at Rs 850 too, and expect the stock to reach Rs 1150 in due course," he added.

3:30 pm Market closing: The Sensex ends 74 points up at 19484.84, and the Nifty closes the day at 5867.90 up 30.95 points (provisional). About 1187 shares have advanced, 1123 shares declined, and 164 shares are unchanged.

3:20 pm FII view: Sanjay Mathur of RBS believes India's macro economic data is likely to worsen in the days to come due to the weak rupee, lack of income growth and demand slump.

Though investment environment has improved reflecting steps taken by the government, Mathur says, for it to translate into actual capex will take some more time. "All (concerns) put together, it is hard to see how the economy accelerates (going forward)," he told CNBC-TV18.

He says the only cushion to growth can come from the agriculture numbers.

In terms of inflation numbers, Mathur expects the CPI to drop down to 8 percent levels from the 9.31 percent registered in May. "As far as the WPI is concerned, we haven't quite built in the rupee weakness, but I do think that sort of steady state of around 4 percent is possible over the next three months," he says.

The market has cooled off a bit in the last trading hour of the day. The Nifty is up 30.55 points at 5867.50 while the Sensex is up 89.22 points at 19500.06. About 1199 shares have advanced, 1100 shares declined, and 145 shares are unchanged.

Shares of IDFC and Jaiprakash Associates topped the buying list, rising 4 percent each while NMDC and Jindal Steel gained 2.5 percent.

Oil & gas explorers Reliance Industries and ONGC jumped 2 percent each. Meanwhile, Lupin and Bharti Airtel shares lost 2 percent each.

02:50pm The BSE Sensex is up 93.92 points or 0.48 percent at 19504.76, and the Nifty is up 27.55 points or 0.47 percent at 5864.50.

Shares of IDFC and Jaiprakash Associates topped the buying list, rising 4 percent each while NMDC and Jindal Steel gained 2.5 percent.

Oil & gas explorers Reliance Industries and ONGC jumped 2 percent each.

Meanwhile, Lupin and Bharti Airtel shares lost 2 percent each.

02:40pm Power Finance Corporation rose 1 percent after Nomura has a buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 240. "The management does not expect significant impact due to the large forex exposure," Nomura report said.

Sobha Developer shares rallied nearly 3 percent as Goldman Sachs advises buying the stock with a target price of Rs 541. The brokerage house believes the company will continue its cash flow acceleration. "Lower-than-expected volumes & slower execution however remain the key risk," report said.

02:30pm BGR Energy's offer for sale (OFS) issue fully subscribed today. The issue received bids for 21.76 lakh equity shares against issue size of 21.75 lakh shares. The stock fell 2.8 percent amid large volumes.

SJVN shares rallied more than 3 percent after the company acquired Buxar Bijlee from Bihar government. Hydro power producer will set up greenfield thermal power project in Buxar.

02:20pm Equity benchmarks shed half of gains in afternoon trade, weighed down by country's largest lenders State Bank of India and ICICI Bank .

The BSE Sensex is up 117.69 points or 0.61 percent at 19528.53, and the Nifty is up 32.20 points or 0.55 percent at 5869.15.

Even the advance:decline gap also narrowed as about 1170 shares advanced and 1045 shares declined while it was 4:1 in morning trade.

Top lenders State Bank of India and ICICI Bank lost 0.8 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively.

Thermax shares gained 3 percent as the company received order worth Rs 1,700 crore to supply high-pressure boilers.

Tech Mahindra rose 0.5 percent. Deutsche Bank has a buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 1360. "Given the inexpensive valuation of the merged entity, the software company has the potential to report above-industry average growth rate," Deutsche Bank report said.

Indian rupee fell by 0.5 percent or 30 paise to 60.43 per dollar.

Arvind Narayanan, SVP & Head - India Sales, Treasury & Markets, DBS Bank expects the rupee to weaken over the next couple of months.

1:55 pm Buzzing: Sakthi Sugars says 5 percent rise in sugar import duty to not impact demand much. It is currently selling at Rs 31 per kg and production cost stands at Rs 34 per kg. The company says sugar availability sufficient to meet demand requirements. The stock is up above 4 percent on the BSE.

1:50 pm Interview: Girish Bhat, CFO, Gammon India expects the company's corporate debt restructuring (CDR) to be approved shortly, which includes a two-year moratorium plus eight years of repayment schedule.

The debt-ridden company's interest rates will be at 11.5 percent, with a promoter contribution of around Rs 92 crore, Bhat says. ''This will give us a breather in terms of executing the project and bringing some liquidity back into the business,'' he told CNBC-TV18.

Gammon India has an exposure of Rs 14,000 crore to a consortium of eight banks led by ICICI Bank and Canara Bank . Banks of around Rs 10,000 crore of the debt is in the form of non-fund based exposure, and Rs 4,000 crore is fund-based exposure. The debt is supported by bank guarantees and letters of credit.

1:45 pm Management speaks: Lupin aims at 15-20 percent growth for FY14 on year-on-year basis. CFO S Ramesh believes that the margins of the company will increase on a quarter-on-quarter basis.

Meanwhile, Lupin recently got approval from the American authorities for Yasmin, an oral contraceptive and hopes to launch it soon in the US. He further added that the company is looking at around 100 new launches in the span of next three years.

With regards to the domestic pricing policy, Ramesh expects the prices to come down by at least 2-3 percent. "Lupin will be impacted by around Rs 30-40 crore which will flow to the bottom-line as well, but overall penetration would certainly increase in India, so one expects the growth to continue," he adds.

1:40 pm Buzzing: Thermax bags order worth Rs 1,700 crore to supply high-pressure boilers. Thermax was quoting at Rs 608.00, up Rs 16.05, or 2.71 percent on the BSE.

1:35 pm Management speaks: Canara Bank has deciced to cut base rate by 30 bps to 9.95 percent  following reduction in cost of funds in April-June, CMD, RK Dubey told CNBC-TV18 .

"I have brought my high cost deposits from 44.5 percent to 13.5 percent over last five months. Almost Rs 1 lakh crore of high cost deposits we have replaced or shed. Our Non-Performing Asset (NPA) has come down from 2.54 percent in March to 2.3 percent in June," Dubey explained.

Canara Bank will reduce its base rate with effect from July 08, 2013. The bank also reduced the rate of interest on deposits on few maturity slabs.

1:30 pm Expert views: Professional investor Sangeeta Purushottam expects the market to remain in the range of 5600-6000 (plus or minus 100 points) for now. She told CNBC-TV18 in an interview that the narrowness in the market, with very few stocks giving positive returns is  a worry.

She sees the volatility in the market to continue throughout the upcoming first earnings season as there will be some negative surprises from some companies. The depreciating rupee may impact the balance sheets and P&L accounts in the next or subsequent quarters, she adds.

Purushottam believes that IT stocks are a good place to hide in the current market conditions. She is not too upbeat on fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and pharma names as they are highly overvalued now.

1:25 pm Losers: GAIL , M&M, Bharti Airtel , M&M, Bharti Airtel, Coal India and Sterlite are losers in the Sensex.

The market has come off from intra-day highs but the Nifty is trading above 5850. The Sensex is up 120.90 points at 19531.74, and the Nifty adds 31.70 points at 5868.65. About 1154 shares have advanced, 875 shares declined, and 160 shares are unchanged.

Select commodities and banks are under pressure even as metals, power hold up.The mid and small caps too slip intra-day and the market breadth narrows down.

BGR Energy under pressure today. The promoter will sell nearly 22 lakh shares through an offer for sale at a floor price of Rs 118 a share.

It's a firm run for Asian markets with Hong Kong, Japan & Taiwan clocking 1 percent plus gains and Europe opens positive. All eyes are on the crucial jobs data due later today. Consensus estimates indicate the June non-farm payrolls lower at 161000. Unemployment rate may see some improvement to 7.5 percent.

12:50pm Hindustan Unilever rose just 1 percent after erasing 4 percent gains from its record high of Rs 632 on profit booking. Nearly USD 5 billion open offer by Anglo Dutch firm Unilever for Hindustan Unilever's shareholders received strong response, subscribing close to 66 percent.

Among smallcaps, United Breweries Holdings , Parekh Aluminex , Sulabh Engineering and Gravita India are locked at 10 percent upper circuit.

12:40pm Kesoram Industries shares gained 6 percent after Rakesh Jhunjhunwala's wife Rekha Jhunjhunwala hiked stake in the company by 3.56 percent to 6.83 percent via rights issue, reports CNBC-TV18.

FIPB had deferred clearance on Mylan, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting government sources.

Strides Arcolab had sold subsidiary Agila Specialties to Mylan for USD 1.6 billion in February.

Indian rupee depreciated further, losing 38 paise to 60.51 per dollar in noon trade.

12:30pm The BSE Sensex is up 157.02 points or 0.81 percent at 19567.86, and the Nifty is up 44.50 points or 0.76 percent at 5881.45.

Meanwhile, European markets declined marginally in early trade on profit booking. France's CAC and Britain's FTSE fell 0.2 percent, which had rallied 3 percent each in previous session.

Also Read - India's macros to worsen; see rupee at 57/$ by year-end: RBS

12:20pm Indian rupee depreciated by 17 paise to 60.30 per dollar. Anant Narayan of Standard Chartered Bank said the rupee could be weak on overnight dollar strengthening. "The range for the day is seen between 60.10-60.40/USD," he added.

Gammon India gained nearly 3 percent today on media reports that the company's debt recast approved by lenders.

Girish Bhat, CFO of Gammon India says interest cost will come down by Rs 280 crore annually after this debt recast. "Promoters will have to bring in fresh equity of around Rs 100 crore," he adds.

He further says the company is in the process of monetising non-core assets, but do not expect any announcements on asset monetisation in FY14, he quickly adds.

12:10pm Equity benchmarks gained strength with the NSE Nifty inching towards the 5900 level ahead of opening of European markets. France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE had rallied 2-3 percent in previous session after the ECB declared it would keep interest rates at record lows for an extended period and may even cut further.

The BSE Sensex is up 188.86 points or 0.97 percent at 19599.70, and the Nifty is up 55.75 points or 0.96 percent at 5892.70, but the advance:decline gap narrowed from 4:1 to 1.7:1.

Shares of Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank are the leading gainers in noon trade, rising more than 2 percent. ITC , Larsen & Toubro, Tata Motors and ONGC are up nearly 1.5 percent.

Metals stocks are on buyers' radar; Jindal Steel , Tata Steel and Hindalco Industries rallied 2-3 percent while Tata Steel rose 1.5 percent.

11:50 am Management speaks: After Deepak Fertilisers picked up a little less than 25 percent stake in Mangalore Chemicals, the latter's management has clarified that it was not a hostile takeover.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Deepak Anand, managing director, Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizers said that four stakeholder offloaded stake to Deepak Fertilisers and there is no further talk of any asset sale in the company.

Meanwhile, Deepak Fertilizers & Petrochemicals Corporation today said it has acquired 24.46 per cent stake in the Vijay-Mallya-promoted Mangalore Chemicals for an undisclosed amount. However, at current market price, the valuation goes upto above Rs 150 crore.

11:45 am Movers: Jindal Steel (up 2.7 percent),  Reliance(up 2.4 percent), HDFC Bank (up 2 percent), Hindalco (up 2 percent) and Sterlite (up 1.8 percent) are top gainers in the Sensex.

11:40 am Buzzing: Strides Arcolab rallies 3 percent after the board gives its nod to increase FII limit to 74 percent from 49 percent.

11:35 am Expert views: Dhirendra Tiwari, head of research of Antique Institutional Equities believes that the market will be volatile through out this year and things will only turnaround in FY15.

He says even though Q1 earnings were disappointing, recent government moves like the diesel and the gas price hikes will auger well for the economy in the long run.

Even though the market is sulking right now, according to Tiwari, there could be some sort of recovery because of these steps in the next nine-12 months.

He strongly believes that it is this outlook for FY15, which is helping the markets to hold grounds.

11:30 am Alert: Lupin has received approval for oral contraceptive Yasmin and is closer to launching it in the US market. The drug company is expecting 100 launches in the next three years and is likely to launch 20 new products next year. Post the launches, the company is targeting increase in margins by 75-100 basis points over next three years.

11:27 am Buzzing: Exide is up over 2 percent after it announced a 5 percent price hike across products to pass on the impact of rupee depreciation. The hike takes effect from today.

The market is maintaining momentum but the Nifty is still below the 5900-mark. The Nifty is at 5885.15, up 48.20 points while the Sensex is up 159.02 points at 19569. About 1177 shares have advanced, 635 shares declined, and 138 shares are unchanged.

HUL touches a life-time high after the open offer that closed yesterday was subscribed almost 66 percent. Unilever's stake in HUL will now increase to just over 67 percent.

ITC gains as company increased prices of its Gold Flake cigarette brand by over 7 percent. The price of gold flake filter pack of 10 cigarettes will now cost Rs 59 from 55 earlier.

The Asian markets gain, Nikkei and HangSeng up 1.5 percent taking cues from the European markets close. Nikkei is getting additional support due to yen weakening below 100.

Dollar strengthens to 83.8, while the euro weakens and is against the dollar below 1.29.

In commodities space, Brent Crude is still at elevated levels, above USD 105 mark, while gold is at USD 1245 per ounce.

The rupee opened higher close to 60 to the dollar on expected Unilever flows but fell thereafter on good demand from PSU banks. The currency has been ranged as market awaits the non farm payrolls data.  Indian bonds are marginally lower on continued higher oil prices and depreciating rupee.

10:50am Jaiprakash Associates topped the buying list, rising 4 percent followed by IDFC , Hindalco Industries , Axis Bank and Ranbaxy Labs with 2-3 percent gains.

Among midcaps, Gitanjali Gems remains under pressure from last week; it is locked at 5 percent lower circuit for the fifth day today, after losing 57 percent in last week.

10:40am BGR Energy slipped 1.5 percent, as its offer for sale began today. floor price for the offer for sale has been set at Rs 118 a share, a near 7 percent discount to Thursday's closing price.

Strides Arcolab is up 3 percent on news that the board approved increase in FII limit to 74 percent from 49 percent.

Sugar stocks are in the green on reports that the government is planning to hike import duty on sugar to 15 percent from 10 percent currently.

10:30am The BSE Sensex is up 149.48 points or 0.77 percent at 19560.32, and the Nifty is up 45.30 points or 0.78 percent at 5882.25.

BSE Midcap Index is up 1 percent and Smallcap gained 0.7 percent, both are off day's high. More than two shares advanced for every share declining on the Bombay Stock Exchange. In early trade the ratio of advance:decline was 4:1.

Sobha Developers shares rose 2.66 percent after reporting all-time high realisations in first quarter operational data released Thursday. Reported Q1 sales growth of 26 percent was driven by strong performance of its core Bengaluru residential property market.

CLSA upgraded the stock to buy today with a target price of Rs 480 on the counter. The foreign brokerage house estimated 12 percent growth for FY14.

10:20am Hindustan Unilever ( HUL ) shares trimmed gains from 5.2 percent to 1.3 percent on profit booking. The stock touched a record high of Rs 632 in opening trade today after Unilever raised its stake in HUL to 67 percent successfully via the open offer. The open offer was subscribed over 66 percent with an acceptance ratio of 100 percent.

United Spirits also hit its life-time high of Rs 2,626 today on announcing the completion of 14.98 percent stake sale to Diageo plc, post which the latter's stake in the company now stands at 25.02 percent.

Exide Industries is up 3 percent after the company announced a price hike of 5 percent across all products with effect from today to pass on the impact of rupee depreciation. Imported lead is 50 percent of lead procurement. While international lead prices have been soft (down 7 percent Q-o-Q), it has been more than offset by rupee depreciation, which increases the landed cost for battery players.

10:05am Indian equity benchmarks erased some early gains, weighed down by ICICI Bank , Infosys and HDFC . The Sensex saw more than 200 points gains on opening, tracking positive global cues after the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England (BoE) assured investors they were in no hurry to wind down stimulus.

The BSE Sensex is up 141.68 points or 0.73 percent at 19552.52, and the Nifty is up 38.60 points or 0.66 percent at 5875.55.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rose nearly 1 percent as nearly 3 shares advanced for every share falling on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Hindustan Unilever (HUL) shares gained more than 3 percent and also touched an all-time high of Rs 632 after getting strong response to the open offer nearly USD 5 billion of its Anglo Dutch firm Unilever.

ITC gained more than one percent as the cigarette major hiked prices of Gold Flake brand by over 7 percent.

However, Infosys declined 0.8 percent while ICICI Bank and HDFC declined marginally.

Asian markets like Hang Seng and Nikkei gained 1.5 percent each. The ECB declared it would keep interest rates at record lows for an extended period and may even cut further.

10:00 am Alert: India, the world's biggest sugar consumer, has decided to raise the import duty on the sweetener to 15 percent from 10 percent currently, to discourage overseas buying amid a drop in local prices due to ample supplies, two government sources said, reports Reuters.

9:50 am Mover: Global drinks firm Diageo said on Thursday it had acquired a 25-percent stake in United Spirits , considerably less than the London-listed firm had originally hoped for.  In November, Diageo said it was buying 27.4 percent of United Spirits directly from the group, which is controlled by tycoon Vijay Mallya.

It also launched a mandatory offer for another 26 percent on the open market.  United Spirits is currently at Rs 2,609.00, up Rs 52.75, or 2.06 percent on the BSE.

9:42 am Expert views: Raamdeo Agrawal, Joint MD, Motilal Oswal Financial Services is not expecting major fireworks from earnings season. He sees the rupee stabilising at 60/dollar. Agrawal stresses that current account deficit still remains big concern, even though the government is determined to keep fiscal deficit at sub 5 percent.

9:35 am Winners and losers: Besides HUL , Jindal Steel , Hindalco , Strelite and L&T are big gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are GAIL , Coal India , Wipro and HDFC .

9:30 am Buzzing: CLSA has upgraded Sobha Developers to buy rating with a target price of Rs 480 per share. According to the brokerage, Sobha Developers' April-June quarter sales growth will be driven by strong Bangalore unit performance. The stock is  at Rs 347.95, up Rs 7.85, or 2.31 percent on the BSE.

9:23 am Alert: Hindustan Unilever hits all-time high at Rs 632 per share as the parent company Unilever acquired a little over two-thirds of HUL following the close of a voluntary tender offer, falling short of its plan to raise its stake to as much as 75 percent. Shareholders of HUL tendered 319.7 million shares to the offer, taking Unilever's holding in the unit to 67.28 percent from 52.48 percent, Unilever said in a statement. Gaining around 3 percent, the stock is up 3 percent on the BSE.

The market has opened on a strong note on second consecutive day as the Nifty inches closer to 5900. The Sensex is up 155.79 points at 19566.63, and the Nifty is 5889.95 up 53.00 points. About 234 shares have advanced, 37 shares declined, and 24 shares are unchanged.

The rupee opened flat at 60.11 per dollar versus 60.13 yesterday.

Anant Narayan, Standard Chartered Bank said, "Demand from oil importers and the much expected inflows for the HUL open offer led to rupee volatility yesterday. The rupee could be weak on overnight dollar strengthening. The range for the day is seen between 60.10-60.40/USD."

Asian markets were positive in morning trade on Friday.

European markets rallied on Thursday with over 2-3 percent gains as both the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England left key policy rates unchanged at record lows. US markets were shut on account of their Independence Day.

Brent Crude stood around USD 105 per barrel. From the precious metals space, gold traded below USD 1250 an ounce.