Gear up for Diwali: Sensex up 146points, Nifty ends above 7900

03:30 pm Market close:
After a sluggish drive, the market accelerated in the last trading hour. The Sensex was up 145.80 points at 26575.65 and the Nifty ended up 48.35 points or 0.6 percent at 7927.75.

About 1492 shares have advanced, 1333 shares declined, and 109 shares are unchanged. BHEL, GAIL, Sesa Sterlite, ICICI Bank and Maruti were top gainers while ONGC, M&M, Coal India, Sun Pharma and Infosys.

03:10 pm Moody's take
India's decision to remove price controls on diesel and to raise natural gas prices signals fiscal discipline and is a "credit positive" step, although the overall impact could be limited, Moody's Investors Service said.

"The decision to fully deregulate diesel prices signals fiscal discipline on the part of the sovereign, which we view as credit positive," Moody's said in a note.

Still, Moody's also noted the fiscal savings for the government's diesel measures "are likely to be limited" given total subsidies account for less than 1 percent of the country's 2013/14 gross domestic product.

02:58pm South Indian Bank disappoints street
Private sector lender South Indian Bank's second quarter net profit fell 40 percent year-on-year to Rs 76.3 crore dented by sharp jump in provisions. Profit in the year-ago period was Rs 127 crore.

Net interest income increased marginally to Rs 358.3 crore from Rs 356 crore while other income (non-interest income) jumped 34.7 percent to Rs 93.63 crore from Rs 69.52 crore during the same period.

Provisions and contingencies 4.8 times year-on-year (up 1.2 percent sequentially) to Rs 95.7 crore in the quarter ended September 2014.

Asset quality showed improvement on yearly basis with the gross non-performing assets (NPA) declining (up 5 basis points Q-o-Q) to 1.55 percent during July-September quarter compared to 1.92 percent in same quarter last year. Net NPA dropped to 0.90 percent in second quarter of current financial year 2014-15 from 0.91 percent Q-o-Q and 1.39 percent Y-o-Y.

02:30pm Gainers and Losers
Bank Nifty gained more than a percent as top private sector lender ICICI Bank surged 2.5 percent and its rival Axis Bank rose over a percent. SBI was up 0.8 percent but HDFC Bank was flat post Q2 earnings.

Sesa Sterlite topped the buying list, up over 5 percent followed by Gail and BHEL with over 4 percent gains. Tata Motors, Wipro, Bharti Airtel, Maruti Suzuki, Hero Motocorp, NTPC, Tata Steel, Hindalco Industries and Tata Power rallied 1-3 percent.

However, ONGC, Infosys, Mahindra and Mahindra and Coal India were down 1-2.6 percent.

02:00pm Market Check
Equity benchmarks maintained positive momentum amid consolidation with the Sensex rising 115.01 points to 26544.86 and the Nifty gaining 38.10 points at 7917.50.

About 1466 shares have advanced, 1186 shares declined, and 103 shares are unchanged on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Financial Technologies tanked 20 percent after the government issued draft order for merger of NSEL with company, saying the entire business of NSEL will be transferred to Financial Technologies.

Merger will be effective with reference to FY14 balance sheet. "Members of 2 companies and creditors will provide suggestions in 60 days," it added.

Finance Technologies is not in favour of NSEL's merger with company.

1:50 pm Buzzing: Shares of Coal India slipped over 2 percent intraday after the Cabinet recommended promulgation of an ordinance that will deal with the process of coal mine allocation of deallocated blocks. The government will now issue e-auction guidelines which will be completed in three-four months. Investors of the state-run company are concerned that about the enabling clause within the ordinance that will allow commercial players in the coal mining business, once okayed. It is said this provision will serve as a threat to Coal India to ramp up its production.

However, Rakesh Arora, Head of Research - India, Macquarie Capital says though there is a provision for commercial sale of coal in the amendment but government won't go ahead with an auction process to allow coal blocks for sale of coal right now. "They will wait and see the reaction of these e-auctions for captive mining and some of the coal blocks may not attract any attention at all. There is a chance that those coal blocks then eventually might be offered for commercial mining maybe a year or two down the line," he said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

1:30 pm Exclusive: The government is likely to move the much-awaited Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill in the Winter Session of Parliament, sources told CNBC-TV18, adding that the Finance Minister Arun Jaitely will meet states soon in this regard. According to sources, the government may release the first tranche of CST (Central Sales Tax) arrears, up to Rs 12,000 crore, to states in the Winter Session. The Centre's current arrear liability stands at Rs 34,000 crore for FY10-FY12.

Also, the GST compensation could well be a part of Central GST (CGST). The government, which has proposed a 3-year compensation for GST against states' demand of 5 years, has been waiting for finance panel's recommendation on it.

The market is sluggish with the Nifty falling below 7900-level. The 50-share index is up 16.90 points at 7896.30. The Sensex is up 47.36 points at 26477.21. About 1354 shares have advanced, 1165 shares declined, and 111 shares are unchanged.

Both PNB and HDFC Bank are in focus after it announced July-September quarter earnings. PNB is down around 1 percent as its asset quality worsened in the quarter. HDFC reported net interest margin at 4.5 percent with net profit at Rs 2380 crore. The stock is up 1 percent.

GAIL, Sesa Sterlite, BHEL, Wipro and Bharti Airtel are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are ONGC, M&M, Coal Indi, ITC and Sun Pharma.

The Sensex may hit 30,000 by end of 2015 as the macro-economic environment is improving, feels Jitendra Sriram, MD and Head of Research, HSBC India. He is overweight on India among Asian markets and sees inflation slipping below 6 percent by December next year. In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Sriram said the urgency shown by the government on the allocation of coal blocks was a big positive.

12:59pm Tata Motors in focus
British luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover, owned by Tata Motors, expects its China sales to grow 20 percent this year, Greater China head Bob Grace said.

The target compares with a rise of around 40 percent last year which Grace partly attributed to a larger base of comparison.

Grace was speaking with reporters in the eastern Chinese city of Changshu, where Jaguar Land Rover's first overseas factory is beginning production, reports Reuters.

12:30pm PNB under pressure post earnings
Public sector lender Punjab National Bank missed street expectations on all parameters with the second quarter net profit rising 13.8 percent as against expected growth of 142 percent as provisions remained at elevated levels. Profit increased to Rs 575.3 crore during the quarter as against Rs 505.5 crore in same quarter last year due to higher other income.

Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest expended, grew by 3.4 percent to Rs 4,151 crore in the quarter ended September 2014 compared to Rs 4,015 crore in same quarter last year. NII growth was expected at 10 percent, according to the average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

Other income (non-interest income) jumped 73.3 percent to Rs 1,558.4 crore from Rs 899.33 crore during the same period. The stock declined 3.5 percent.

12:00pm Market Check
The market erased morning gains due to fall in index heavyweights like ITC, Reliance Industries, Infosys and HDFC twins. The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 20.73 points to 26450.58 and the Nifty advanced 10.15 points to 7889.55.

About 1387 shares have advanced, 1048 shares declined, and 110 shares are unchanged on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

State-run ONGC fell nearly 3 percent on profit taking. Shares of ITC, Infosys, HDFC, Reliance Industries, Mahindra and Mahindra, Coal India and Dr Reddy's Labs declined 0.7-1.9 percent.

Lupin (down 1.7 percent), Sun Pharma (down 1 percent) and HDFC Bank (down 0.25 percent) were under pressure as Foreign Investment Promotion Board has postponed its meeting. FIPB was going to consider proposals of HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma and Lupin.

However, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Sesa Sterlite, Wipro, Gail, Axis Bank, BHEL, NTPC, Hindalco Industries and Tata Power gained 1-4 percent.

11:30 am Results: IT hardware firm HCL Infosystems has reduced its consolidated net loss to Rs 45.3 crore in the quarter ended September 2014 from Rs 72.4 crore in previous quarter due to exceptional gain.

The company earned an exceptional gain of Rs 19.2 crore on sale of subsidiary during the quarter, as against loss of Rs 7.2 crore in previous quarter. During the quarter, the company completed the sale of its subsidiary RMA Software Park to Vama Sundari Investments (Pondi).

Consolidated net sales declined 4.38 percent to Rs 1,683 crore in July-September quarter compared to Rs 1,760 crore in April-June quarter while other income halved to Rs 14.60 crore from Rs 28.4 crore during the same period.

The Nifty sees gains for the third consecutive session retracing back to 7900 as sentiment turned positive with foreign investors returning to Indian market. Metal and cement stocks are also adding strength after the cabinet decision to introduce an ordinance to re-auction the de-allocated coal blocks which will be completed in the next 3-4 months.

The Sensex is up 150.35 points at 26580.20, and the Nifty is up 45.30 points at 7924.70. About 1415 shares have advanced, 733 shares declined, and 81 shares are unchanged.

The Bank Nifty is at a lifetime high today outperforming the Nifty month-to-date in October with a gain of 6.7 percent in the month versus a 0.44 percent gain for the Nifty. HDFC Bank and PNB also trade higher ahead of Q2 earnings today.

Sesa Sterlite, GAIL, BHEL, NTPC and Bharti Airtel are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Coal India, ONGC, Sun Pharma, ITC and M&M.

Globally, Asia is mostly lower reacting to a raft of economic data from china. GDP for Q3 in China came in at 7.3 percent slightly better than the estimated 7.2 percent but slower than the 7.5 percent in the previous quarter. September industrial data from China jumped 8 percent beating estimates but retail sales missed estimates.

10:59am Interview
Internet search engine JustDial's board has approved the raising of funds for an amount up to Rs 1,000 crore through issue of equity or equity-linked securities, subject to approval of shareholders.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Ramkumar Krishnamachari, chief financial officer says this capital would allow the company to pursue strategic objectives.

While he refrained from sharing any details of the capital utilization, he says the company is maintaining its FY15 revenue growth target of 25-30 percent.

10:30am FII View
Bhuvnesh Singh, Barclays says the Q2FY15 earnings season is off to a positive start as 13 BSE-100 companies have reported so far and 54 percent registered 'beats' on earnings consensus estimates.

''FY15 EPS growth rate estimate for BSE-100 has steadied at 16.8 percent, up 40 basis points since the end of the last earning season. This compares with 8.6 percent EPS growth in FY14 and 2.8 percent in FY13,'' he adds.

''We reiterate our long-term view that positive earnings momentum is required to sustain the returns of Indian equities,'' says Singh.

10:00am Market Check
Equity benchmarks extended gains with the Sensex rising 173.90 points to 26603.75 and the Nifty jumping 49.40 points to 7928.80 supported by banks, capital goods, metals and telecom stocks.

More than two shares advanced for every share declining on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The broader markets advanced too with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 1 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively.

Jindal Steel and Gail India topped the buying list, gaining 5-5.5 percent followed by NTPC, Hindalco Industries, BHEL and Sesa Sterlite with 2-3 percent upmove.

ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Tata Motors, Larsen and Toubro, State Bank of India, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, Wipro and Tata Steel jumped 1-1.7 percent. However, ONGC and Coal India were top losers, falling over a percent followed by ITC with 0.7 percent loss.

PNB gained nearly 2 percent ahead of its results. CNBC-TV18 poll expects a 10 percent NII growth at Rs 4,421 crore and a 142 percent jump in profits to Rs 1,224 crore.

BGR Energy surged 4 percent on the back of an order win of Rs 250 crore. Order is for the electrical sub stations segment of the electrical projects division.

Shriram Transport Finance fell 2.5 percent after Q2 profit declined 7.5 percent on the back of a rise in provisions. NII growth was steady at 12 percent.

Punjab Communications surged 5.5 percent as the Punjab government through a cabinet committee on disinvestment has decided to liquidate all assets of the company. The government holds 71.2 percent stake in the company.

9:50 am Earnings poll: Private sector lender HDFC Bank is expected to report a 21 percent growth in profit after tax of Rs 2,398 crore in second quarter of current financial year 2014-15 compared to Rs 1,982 crore in same quarter last year, according to the average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest expended, may grow by 18 percent to Rs 5,275 crore in the quarter ended September 2014 from Rs 4,476.5 crore in corresponding quarter of last fiscal. Loan growth is estimated at more than 18-20 percent year-on-year, which is similar to Q1 growth of 20.7 percent led by corporates while retail growth was modest at 14 percent.

9:35 am Coal e-auction: In a move to decide the fate of coal blocks that were de-allocated by the Supreme Court recently, the government on Monday proposed an ordinance to allow e-auction of mines to private players while adding that state-run companies would be allocated mines directly. The process would be completed in three-four months, finance minister Arun Jaitley said today, adding that proceeds of the auction would go directly to states where respective mines are located. However, in what would come as a disappointment to investors as well as key sectors related to coal mining, such as power, the government stopped short of allowing full commercial mining, with the FM stating that the ordinance would only feature an ''enabling provision'' to allow the same in future.

The decision by the government, which has been a logical progression in the wake of the Supreme Court to cancel coal licences to captive users, however, came as disappointing to experts tracking the sector as well as companies related to it.

After a strong rally, the market has opened tepidly on Dhanteras, a day considered auspicious for buying gold. The Sensex is up 59.32 points at 26489.17 and the Nifty is up 16.15 points at 7895.55.

About 485 shares have advanced, 142 shares declined, and 20 shares are unchanged.

Sesa Sterlite, NTPC, Hindalco, Cipla and Tata Steel are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are ONGC, Coal India, HUL, M&M and Sun Pharma.

Meanwhile, both the exchanges have decided to extend the trading session for Gold Exchange Traded Funds on Tuesday till 7 PM on account of Dhanteras - a day considered auspicious for buying gold.

Besides, both the bourses have decided to waive off the transactions charges for all trades in gold ETF securities on that day.After the regular market hours from 9:00 AM to 3:40 PM, trading in gold ETFs will resume at 4:30 PM and continue till 7 PM, the exchanges said.

Gold prices rise to USD 1,245 an ounce as renewed weakness in European stocks boosted interest in the metal as an alternative asset, though a tentative recovery in risk appetite in other markets limited its gains.

The Indian rupee opened marginally higher at 61.30 per dollar against previous close of 61.36.
Major currencies traded in tight ranges with investors facing a vacuum of data and modest price changes in global markets.

Ashutosh Raina of HDFC Bank said, "The markets seem to be taking a breather after the volatile and turbulent last week. The Rupee continues to trade in a broad 60-62/dollar range. Expect the rupee to appreciate from current levels and trade in 60.50-61.50/dollar range."

In US the stocks climbed, with the S&P 500 marking its longest winning run in a month, as Apple's quarterly results outdid disappointment that came with a reduced outlook from IBM.

Asia stocks seem to have paused after yesterday's big rally. Nikkei is lower after the index witnessed its biggest daily rise in more than a year. The stronger yen is also dragging the index down further The mood is cautious ahead of key Chinese economic data. Chinese third-quarter GDP, industrial output, fixed asset investment and retail sales for September.

Among commodities, Brent crude prices slip below USD 86 per barrel resuming a downward move that took the global oil benchmark to near a four-year low last week as supply overwhelmed weak demand in several key markets.