Late surge lifts Sensex; Tata Steel, Larsen key gainers

Benchmark indices closed firm, riding a late surge, but finished roughly 3 percent lower week-on-week. Brokers say the mood is cautious after the global sell-off on Thursday, and back home, a mixed bag of quarterly earnings.

The Sensex closed at 19704, up 30 points over the previous close, after touching a low of 19568.49 earlier in the day. The Nifty ended 16.50 points higher at 5983.55.

Tata Power, Tata Steel, Larsen, Sterlite Industries and ICICI Bank were among the key gainers in the Sensex, rising 2-4 percent.

Healthcare and realty were among the worst performing sectors, while buyers queued up to buy shares of metal, banking and capital goods companies.

Wockhardt led losers in the pharma sector, finishing around 6.5 percent down, after coming close to touching the lower end of the 20 percent intra-day circuit filter. The stock has been under pressure since yesterday after the US FDA red flagged its export-oriented unit at Aurangabad.

Sun Pharma shares fell around 4 percent after operating margins of its Israeli subsidiary, Taro Pharma, fell below analyst estimates.

Brokers said liquidity would be the deciding factor near term, in the absence of any supportive macroeconomic fundamentals. Last week, rating agency Standard & Poor's retained its negative outlook on India, and yesterday Moody's said there was no certainty that India's GDP growth would not fall further.

"In an environment of a stronger dollar and developing markets giving back some of the gains, I do expect to see more downside in the next few weeks as the market normalises a bit more. So, potentially a test down to around (Nifty) 5,400 cannot be ruled out," Mohammed Apabhai of Citi said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

03:30pm Financials helped the benchmarks to close higher with mild gains Friday. The BSE Sensex is up 30 points or 0.15% at 19704.33, and the Nifty up 16.50 points or 0.28% at 5983.55.

Tata Steel shares rallied 4.56 percent, after the company improved its operational performance during the fourth quarter.

ICICI Bank and Larsen & Toubro rose over 2.5 percent. Tata Power shares rallied nearly 4 percent.

However, Sun Pharma plunged 3.67 percent on fall in operating profit margin of its subsidiary Taro during the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, top lender State Bank of India fell another 1 percent today after losing 8 percent in previous session due to lower than expected earnings in March quarter.

Among midcaps, Amara Raja Batteries, eClerx Services, Peninsula Land,
DB Realty and WABCO India gained 5-6 percent whereas Info Edge,
Apollo Hospital, Fortis Health, Jet Airways and Glenmark fell 4-7 percent.

Among midcaps, Wockhardt fell the most this week, losing more than 30 percent after the company received an 'import alert' from USFDA on one of its manufacturing unit located in Waluj near Aurangabad.

03:25pm Realty stocks hit quite badly this week; the BSE Realty Index crashed more than 11 percent followed by Capital Goods with 8 percent fall.

Healthcare, Oil & Gas and Power indices are down over 5 percent. However, IT and FMCG are flat this week.

Ranbaxy Labs and Jaiprakash Associates are the biggest losers among frontliners, falling more than 17 percent.

03:20pm Puravankara Projects' offer for sale issue fully subscribed, it received bids for 1.417 crore equity shares as against issue size of 1.413 crore shares till 03:15pm. The stock fell 1.7 percent.

Coal India has resumed a supply of coal to NTPC's Farakka and Kahalgaon plants. NTPC gained one percent.

03:15pm Tata Power shares is on buyers' radar in late trade, rising 3.6 percent. Meanwhile, Wockhardt shares recouped its losses quite sharply now, recovering 18 percent from day's low; it is down 3 percent.

03:10pm Indian equities remain lacklustre since morning trade, but the Bank Nifty gained more than one percent.

Country's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank rallied 2.5 percent followed by HDFC Bank with 0.4 percent gains. However, top lender State Bank of India continues to fall since yesterday especially after lower than expected fourth quarter results, losing one percent.

03:05pm Aurobindo Pharma promoter released a pledge on 3.5 lakh equity shares.

Fortis Healthcare tanked as much as 5.6 percent intraday to touch a new 52-week low of Rs 89.55. More than five lakh equity shares of the company changed hands on National Stock Exchange at Rs 91.10 a share.

02:57pm Glenmark Pharma lost 4 percent after the US Food and Drugs Administration said the company's generics arm is recalling several lots of three of its drugs from the US market due to an "odd smell."

Apollo Hospital Enterprises crashed more than 5 percent to Rs 898.

02:50pm United Spirits rallied 7 percent to touch a new record high of Rs 2,585 Friday, led by value buying.

TTK Healthcare surged more than 17 percent and TAJ GVK gained 11 percent.
 
02:45pm The Indian rupee appreciated by 8 paise to 55.51 per dollar today, which hit a 8.5-month high of 56.07 yesterday despite continuous inflow of foreign money.

The BSE Sensex had dropped 388 points yesterday whereas foreign institutional investors have net bought Rs 316 crore worth of equity shares.

02:40pm Oil marketing companies like BPCL, HPCL and IOC advanced one percent each, after they increased LPG prices by around Rs 10 per cylinder in Mumbai.

These companies upped domestic subsidised and non-subsidised LPG rate in Mumbai due to change in state-specific charge in Maharashtra.

Puravankara Projects' offer for sale (OFS) issue has received bids for 44.7 lakh shares as against 1.4 crore issue till 2:15 pm.

02:30pm Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL) shares tumbled nearly 3 percent, after it reported a loss at Rs 62 crore during the March quarter as against profit of Rs 602 crore in a year ago period.

However, net sales of the company increased 17 percent Y-o-Y to Rs 18,579 crore.

02:25pm Uttam Galva Steel shares declined more than one percent Friday, after its fourth quarter net profit fell by 29.5 percent year-on-year to Rs 28.2 crore and net sales slipped 23 percent Y-o-Y to Rs 954 crore.

02:15pm Equity benchmarks continues to trade higher amid volatility, helped by private financials. Reliance Industries and Larsen & Toubro bounced back on short covering, rising 0.5 percent & 3 percent, respectively.

The Sensex is up 36.56 points or 0.19% at 19710.89, and the Nifty up 18.75 points or 0.31% at 5985.80

Among others, AP Paper Mills jumped 9 percent while ABB, GMR Infrastructure, Amara Raja, Hexaware and Gammon Infra gained 4-7 percent.

Jaypee Infratech rose 2 percent. Realty firm Gaursons bought 300 acre from Jaypee for Rs 1500 crore in Greater Noida.

Kalyani Steels' fourth quarter net profit declined to Rs 10.3 crore from Rs 14 crore and net sales fell to Rs 196 crore from Rs 235 crore year-on-year.

02:14pm News flash Shares of Jaypee Infratech surged more than 4 percent after realty firm Gaursons bought 300 acres from company in Greater Noida for Rs 1500 crore.

02:09pm News flash Sources told CNBC-TV18, " The government has filed contempt plea against Idea In Delhi high court. DoT has alleged that Idea is violating order on new subscribers. The stock was down over a percent.

01:57pm News flash Karnataka High Court has permitted United Breweries Holdings Limited to sell shares to Diageo and Religare. UBHL will deposit Rs 250 crore post Diageo deal transaction. Shares of United Breweries were up 3 percent while United Breweries Holdings Limited locked at 10 percent upper circuit after touching fresh year low in the morning trade.

01:55pm Brokerage views: Citi maintains 'buy' on Dish TV, target Rs 77

Shares of Dish TV bounced back today after losing 5 percent yesterday post results. The concerns of drop in average revenue per user (ARPU) persist for market watchers. However, Citi has maintained its 'buy' rating on Dish TV India with a price target of Rs 77. Dish TV remains top pick in the Indian media space for Citi. 

01:50pm Brokerage views: Jefferies retains 'underperform' on State Bank of India

SBI was down close to a percent today failing to stage a comeback after yesterday's fall of 8 percent. Brokerage house Jefferies has retained its 'underperform' rating on State Bank of India (SBI) citing no catalyst in the near term for the stock to move up.

01:45pm Wockhardt can see 15% EPS cut, may slide further: CIMB

Shares of Wockhardt extended fall to more than 10 percent on Friday after its 20 percent fall on Thursday owing to the import alert issued by US Food and Drugs Administration over its concerns of the quality of drugs manufactured at their Aurangabad plant in Maharashtra.

Prakash Agarwal of CIMB said that there could be a 15 percent cut on the EPS and could take a hit furthermore due to the risk of blockage in future approvals like in niche injectable ones.

01:40pm Earnings Boardroom: Hopeful of maintaining profit from tolling segment: PTC

Shares of PTC India jumps 3 percent after the company reported 23 percent jump in its net profit at Rs 37 crore compared to Rs 30.1 crore in a year ago period. CMD, Deepak Amitabh is hopeful of maintaining growth rate in FY14. He believes the company will maintain profits in its toll segment for next couple of years.

01:32pm Ranbaxy's revival tough; 5-10% correction likely: Antique

Ranbaxy is down another 1 percent today. The stock has tanked 17 percent in last five days on the back of legal woes in the US. It seems the investors are dumping stock on concerns of Ranbaxy taking a hit post Daiichi-Singh saga. Anmol Ganjoo, pharma analyst, Antique Stock Broking warns that the stock may see further 5-10 percent correction.

01:23pm As per latest data available on the site, Puravankara has received bids for 29.5 lakh shares against its issue size of 1.4 crore shares at Rs 81 per share. The stock is up 2 percent today. However, it has lost 13 percent in previous five trading sessions partly due to lower offer for sale floor price of Rs 81 per share.

01:20 pm Shares of Jet Airways were down over 2 percent ahead of its results today. The company said its debt will be reduced from USD 2.1 billion dollars to USD 1.5 billion post Etihad deal.

Also Read:  Jet Airways shareholders approve Etihad deal

01:12pm Karur Vysya Bank reported 5 percent growth in its net profit at Rs 158.6  crore compared to Rs 147 crore , a year ago. The stock was up 2.7 percent.

Key equity benchmarks were trading flat today after losing over 2 percent Thursday on jitters of Japanese market. Indian rupee has appreciated in the afternoon trade and was down 9 paise at 55.55. It touched a fresh 8.5-month high of 56.07 yesterday.

At 13.09 hrs IST, the Sensex is up 10.16 points or 0.05% at 19684.49, and the Nifty up 14.50 points or 0.24% at 5981.55. About 982 shares have advanced, 991 shares declined, and 140 shares are unchanged.

Capital goods, metal and realty stocks staged a comeback after being hammered badly earlier this week.

Key gainers in the Nifty were Tata Steel (Rs 311.95, 4.14%), Lupin (Rs 774.10, 3.52%), Tata Power (Rs 90.65, 3.01%), Larsen (Rs 1,459.95, 2.94%) and ICICI Bank (Rs 1,200.00, 2.36%).

Laggards included Hindalco (Rs 105.75, 2.89%), Sun Pharma (Rs 979.00, 2.68%), BHEL (Rs 191.90, 1.94%), Cipla (Rs 407.30, 1.82%) and TCS (Rs 1,465.55, 1.82%)

12:50 pm Big star: Tata Steel is still going strong with 4.1 percent gains at Rs 311.65, up Rs 12.15 on the BSE.

12:45 pm News update: NHAI has opposed Law Ministry's dismissal of GMR road project restructuring. NHAI has written for intervention to Finance and Road Ministry and Planning Commission. GMR had offered corporate guarantee to cover shortfall in net present value (NPV) while 21 highway projects at risk due to Law Ministry's comments. GMR Infrastructure was quoting at Rs 21.70, up Rs 0.75, or 3.58 percent.

12:37 pm Bank Nifty: Bank Nifty is holding up firmly at 12796.20, up 159.70 points or 1.26 percent from its previous close. ICICI Bank (up 2.5 percent), Axis Bank (up 1.4 percent) and YES Bank (up 1.9 percent) were contributing actively to the Bank Nifty index.

12:30 pm Euorpean markets: European markets saw a stable opening. CAC is up 0.4 percent while FTSE gains 0.3 percent from its previous close.

12.25 pm Market update: the Sensex is up 72.52 points at 19746.85, and the Nifty is up 24.85 points  at 5991.90. About 1035 shares have advanced, 909 shares declined, and 139 shares are unchanged.

12:17 pm Currency corner: RBI ED says that the central bank will continue efforts at rupee 'internationalisation' and can consider more changes to boost rupee invoicing.  Rupee is currently at 55.56 per dollar.

12:10 pm Movers and Shakers: Tata Steel, L&T, ICICI Bank, Tata Power and NTPC are key gainers in the Sensex. Sun Pharma, Hindalco, TCS, Cipla and ONGC are major losers.

Expert comments:

Retail selling on every rise; Apr outflow rose: Reliance MF

Shun high-beta stocks; stay with IT, healthcare: Religare

The market is riding over choppy water as the Nifty slipped below 6000 on Japanese jitters. The Sensex is up 37.15 points at 19711.48, and the Nifty gains 17.50 points to be at 5984.55.

Realty and capital goods stocks are holding firm the indices.

Jonathan Garner of Morgan Stanley says it is neutral on India with positive bias but Mohammed Appabhai of Citi warns of more downside in Indian market for next few weeks and doesn't rule out a dip to 5400.

Government bonds strengthened as traders used the recent fall in prices as a buying opportunity, with expectation of cuts in interest rates also ensuring a firm appetite for dated securities

In the Asian markets, wild swings in the Japanese markets continues for the second day. The Bank of Japan Governor says will continue flexible market operations to avoid volatility in bonds and will make efforts to stem deflationary pressure.

11:55am Zee News crashed nearly 8 percent, after it reported poor earnings in fourth quarter. Consolidated net profit dropped 39 percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 7 crore during the quarter. It earned exceptional gain of Rs 4.5 crore and reported other income of Rs 8.7 crore in March quarter.

Tata Steel shares rose 4 percent after improvement in operational performance. Brokerage house Centrum said would maintained neutral rating on the stock. The firm positively surprised by Tata Steel's fourth quarter earnings, but it does not expect the steel major to maintain current EBITDA level going forward. Also Read - Tata Steel stock gains: How brokerages analyse Q4 earnings

11:45am Crompton Greaves bounced back today, rising 1.5 percent on short covering. The company will declare its fourth quarter numbers today; analysts feel the numbers will be good on quarter-on-quarter basis.

According to CNBC-TV18 poll, Crompton may report a 30.2 percent degrowth year-on-year in consolidated profit after tax at Rs 70 crore in fourth quarter. It had reported a loss of Rs 189 crore in third quarter.

The stock had fallen more than 10 percent yesterday.

11:35am SpiceJet rallied 4 percent to Rs 38.45 ahead of fourth quarter earnings that will be announced today. Analysts on an average expect the company to post a loss at Rs 60 crore, which is significantly lower compared to Rs 249.17 crore reported a year ago period.

Narrowing of losses attributed to higher load factors and strong yields year-on-year.

11:28am Tata Communications has signed a five-year strategic voice sourcing agreement with Vonage Holdings Corp.

But the stock continued to fell due to weak market conditions, losing another 3 percent today. It also touched a 52-week low of Rs 203.4.

11:20am Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal said Etihad would help company deleverage and grow in sustainable manner.

"Commercial agreement with Etihad will help company to expand network and will reduce costs & increase profitability," he added.

Jet Airways fell 2.5 percent ahead of its fourth quarter earnings that will be declared today. Merrill Lynch expects the company to report a loss of Rs 31.3 crore during the quarter due to lean season, but the losses will be trimmed significantly on year-on-year basis. It had reported a loss of Rs 298.1 crore in fourth quarter of FY12.

11:10am PTC India shares gained more than 3 percent after its March quarter net profit grew by 23 percent year-on-year to Rs 37 crore and total income from operations jumped 52 percent Y-o-Y to Rs 2,198 crore.

Deepak Amitabh, CMD of PTC India is hopeful of maintaining growth in FY14. "We will recover all outstanding dues from Tamil Nadu & Uttar Pradesh this year."

He expect dues from TN SEB to be cleared in 2-3 months. PTC already received Rs 375 crore from TN electricity board last year.

11:00am Equity benchmarks consolidates Friday after a sharp fall seen in previous session due to crash in Japan's Nikkei.

The Sensex is up 55.85 points or 0.28% at 19730.18, and the Nifty up 18.95 points or 0.32% at 5986.

Drug major Sun Pharma fell more than two percent after its subsidiary Taro's operating profit margin declined 740 basis points year-on-year to 38.2 percent during the fourth quarter.

Nikkei 225 Average erased morning gains, losing nearly 2 percent. The index rebounded in early trade, rising close to 3 percent after seeing a 7.3 percent fall in previous session.

10:54am BSE Sensex back in green

Key equity benchmarks recovered from day's low after Nikkei market recouped losses.

10:50am Indian rupee was trading weak.

The rupee was marginally lower on dollar buying from oil importers. the USDINR pair was up 10 paise at 55.7075. Dollar-yen pair was trading at 101.472, down 0.5 percent.

10:43am Jet Airways is down 3 percent prior to earnings announcement. The company will report losses since this is a lean season but losses will narrow significanlty on a Y-o-Y basis. The revenue growth will lower as passenger growth has declined 13.3 percent Y-o-Y due to slowdown coupled with lean season.

10:37am SpiceJet is up 4 percent ahead of its results. The company is likely to report loss of Rs 60 crore, much lower compared to Rs 250 crore a year ago. The low-cost carrier has also gained market share to 20.2 percent from 19.2 percent in December quarter.

10:32 am Sun Pharma down 3 percent

Shares of Sun Pharma slipped after its subsidiary Taro reported disappointing results. The margins of Taro slipped to 38 percent from 45 percent earlier.

10:27am McNally Bharat bags order worth Rs 277 crore. The stock is up 2 percent.

The company has received an order for construction of a portion of 4 laning of National Highway at a value of Rs. 277 crores. The contractual completion period is within 22 months.

10:22am Tata Steel's operational performance was above the street estimates barring one time impairment provision. The stock was up 4 percent on short covering after bears created short positions yesterday.

10:20am Key losers in the Nifty were Sun Pharma (Rs 975.90, 2.99%), BHEL (Rs 191.80, 1.99%), Hindalco (Rs 106.75, 1.97%), Cipla (Rs 406.80  1.94%), and Maruti Suzuki (Rs 1,615.80, 1.92%)

10:16am Japan's Nikkei down 1000 pts from day's high of 15007.

Indian shares gave up early morning gains after Japan's Nikkei slipped into red. Nikkei was up close to 3 percent a while ago and a sharp sell-off pushed Japanese market in red. BSE Sensex too pared early gains of over 100 points and slipped into red tracking movement in Japanese shares.

At 10.06 hrs IST, the Sensex is up 15.02 points or 0.08% at 19689.35, and the Nifty up 6.95 points or 0.12% at 5974.00. About 631 shares have advanced, 650 shares declined, and 76 shares are unchanged.

Japan's Nikkei has lost over 700 points from day's high of 15007.40.

Pharma stocks were reeling under pressure after recent USFDA orders probing several pharma company's plants.

Shares of Wockhardt was down 10 percent today after losing 20 percent yesterday as USFDA raised import alert at one of its plant in Aurangabad. The stock was down 20 percent in the opening bell and  recovered nearly 10 percent from day's low

9:56am Among the midcap stocks AstraZeneca, Glenmark, HDIL, JK Cement, Tata Communication are major losers.

9:55am Rupee talk: Indian equities could slide further in the coming weeks , warns Mohammed Apabhai, Head, Asia-Pacific Trading Strategies, Citi. He said the possibility of Nifty touching 5400 could not be ruled out.

A major worry for global markets was the strength in dollar, which could force unwinding of carry trade. Conversely, the appreciating dollar also indicated a risk aversion in other asset classes.

Apabhai said the US Federal Reserve has already given the first indication that it would slowly start reversing the monetary stimulus, now that the US economy is showing signs of strength.

9.54 am Market check: The Sensex is down 4.91 points at 19669.42, and the Nifty is down 0.95 points 5966.10.

9:47 am: Glenmark's arm has recalled some lots of three drugs from the US on 'odd odour'. Glenmark Pharma was quoting at Rs 558.00, down Rs 14.00, or 2.45 percent.

9:40 am: Metal stocks were gaining buyers' interest while pharma and autos are still under selling pressure.

Sudarshan Sukhani warns: Nifty to slip sub 5970; don't catch falling knife

9:35am Losers: Sun Pharma, BHEL, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and SBI are the major losers in the Sensex.

9:27 am Asian market update: Nikkei has slipped 400 points from the day's high.

9:17 am Losing stock: Wockhardt was quoting at Rs 1,082.90, down Rs 232.35, or 17.67 percent. The stock is under US Food and Drugs Administration's import alert overhang. The USFDA import alert is on one of the pharma company's manufacturing facility at Aurangabad in Maharashtra. The drug firm said import alert issued by the US health regulator on its manufacturing facility near Aurangabad could impact the company's business by USD 100 million.

Udayan speaks: Thursday's damage may keep market edgy for next few days

After taking a heavy beating on Thursday, Indian market managed to gather strength today. The Sensex opened up 108.11 points at 19782.44, and the Nifty was up 43.65 to be at 6010.70. About 193 shares have advanced, 53 shares declined, and 20 shares are unchanged.

Tata Steel was up 5.2 percent on the BSE. The company reported its third straight quarterly loss on Thursday , which could lead to pressure for further cost cuts and closures, especially in its older plants in Britain. Tata Steel Ltd said it expected to take no further charges in Europe and has put no European assets up for sale, following a USD 1.6-billion writedown for the region in the past financial year due to weak demand.

CLSA has upgraded Tata Steel  to underperform from sell but adds "won't recommend extrapolating Q4 into FY14".

Other early gainers in the Sensex were Jindal Steel, L&T, Maruti Suzuki and ONGC.

The Indian rupee opened flat at 55.61 per dollar versus Thursday's close of 55.59.

Himanshu Arora, Religare said, "The dollar lost heavily against a basket of currencies with investors opting for safe haven currencies like the yen. Better than expected US economic data could add to the pressure. Profit-booking at higher levels may also weigh on the dollar versus the rupee. The range for the rupee is seen between 55.37-55.61/USD."

The euro rose to 1.28 to the dollar. The dollar index was slightly below the 84 mark.

Meanwhile, companies which are expected to announce March quarter earnings today are Britannia, Crompton Greaves, JetAir, Karur Vysya Bank, OMDC, SpiceJet, Eclerx, Gammon Infra, HSIL, ICRA, LML, Mangalore Ref, JB Chemicals, JMT Auto, Pratibha Industries, Royal Orchid, Take Solution and Williamson Magor.