Nifty ends above 10,200, Sensex up 101 points; Infosys drags IT index 1%

3:30 pm Market Check: Equity benchmarks ended higher, backed by banks, metals, select FMCG and auto stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 100.62 points at 32,607.34 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 22.80 points at 10,207.70.

About 1,457 shares advanced against 1,290 declining shares on the BSE.

3:21 pm Earnings: Indian Metals and Ferro Alloys (IMFA) today said its profit after tax (PAT) dived 82 percent to Rs 7.37 crore in the second quarter ended September.

The company had clocked Rs 42.31 crore PAT in the year-ago quarter, it said in a BSE filing.

Total income of the company rose 5.60 percent to Rs 422.18 crore as against Rs 399.76 in similar period of the preceding financial year.

Odisha-based Indian Metals and Ferro Alloys (IMFA) mostly exports ferrochrome to the Far-East -- China, Japan and Taiwan. In India, the company supplies the alloy to Jindal Stainless, Shah Alloys and other producers.

3:11 pm Drug launch: Glenmark Pharmaceuticals today said it has launched Apremilast, the first advanced oral systemic treatment for Psoriasis in India.

Apremilast, which is a phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) inhibitor indicated for the treatment of moderate to severe Psoriasis, will revolutionise the treatment of Psoriasis, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals said in a statement.

The Mumbai-based company has launched Apremilast under the brand name Aprezo. It has received approval from DCGI for Apremilast after conducting clinical trials on the molecule as per the regulatory requirements.

3:01 pm Results: Asian Paints' second quarter profit grew by 20 percent year-on-year to Rs 593.66 crore, including discontinued operations.

Profit for the quarter ended September 2016 stood at Rs 494.8 crore.

"Net profit after non-controlling interest (from continuing operations) increased by 8 percent to Rs 508.42 crore compared with Rs 470.83 crore in previous corresponding quarter," the company said.

Consolidated revenue during the quarter grew by 2.3 percent to Rs Rs 4,274.2 crore but revenue (excluding excise duty) jumped 13.7 percent compared with Rs 3,757.66 crore in same quarter last fiscal.

2:52 pm Debt settlement: Solar equipment maker Indosolar today said Union Bank of India has approved its proposal for one time settlement of debt.

"Union Bank of India has approved our proposal for One Time Settlement 'OTS'," Indosolar Ltd said in a BSE filing today.

According to the statement, the proposal has two components -- serviceable debt and non-serviceable debt.

Serviceable debt shall be paid within six years and last installment will be due on or before March 31, 2024.

Non-serviceable debt shall be converted into optionally convertible cumulative redeemable preference shares 'OCCRPS' and shall be redeemed within four years starting from the date April 1, 2024, it added.

2:40 pm Buzzing: Panacea Biotec's shares rose 6 percent, as the company announced the launch of the generic version of anti-platelet medication Prasugrel 5mg and 10mg tablets in US.

Panacea's Prasugrel copies are first-to-file abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) approved by US FDA. There will be 180 days of shared marketing exclusivity under the provisions of Hatch-Waxman Act.

Panacea's partner Canada-based Apotex will distribute and market the drug in US.

Panacea in May received tentative approval for this ANDA.

2:37 pm Results: Phillips Carbon Black today posted a four-fold jump in net profit to Rs 50.78 crore in the quarter ended September from Rs 12.49 crore in the corresponding period a year ago.

Net sales of the carbon black major rose 17 percent year-on-year to Rs 597.58 crore in the quarter under review.

PCBL Chairman Sanjiv Goenka said the plants registered 99 percent capacity during the quarter.

Goenka said the company has started work on expanding capacity through a 1.2-lakh tonne per annum greenfield plant, which will be set up in south India.

2:28 pm Buzzing: Zee Entertainment share price rallied 7 percent after stellar growth at profit and EBITDA margin.

2:20 pm Earnings: Can Fin Homes said profit grew by 36 percent year-on-year to Rs 75 crore and net interest income rose by 26.7 percent to Rs 127.98 crore in Q2FY18.

2:17 pm Market Check: Equity benchmarks remained rangebound in afternoon, with the Nifty hovering around 10,200 level ahead of expiry of October derivative contracts on Thursday.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 62.12 points at 32,568.84 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 17.60 points or 0.17% at 10,202.50.

2:15 pm Buzzing: Textile company Page Industries crossed another milestone of Rs 20,000 per share today.

The stock hit a record high of Rs 20,349.85, up 3.74 percent intraday on the BSE.

2:10 pm Highway projects: The government today approved Rs 7 lakh crore worth highway projects including the ambitious Bharatmala, an official said.

The development comes barely few months after Union Minister Nitin Gadkari told PTI that the government will soon launch the Bharatmala project to build over 20,000 km of highways in the first phase.

The Cabinet today gave the go ahead to highway projects worth about Rs 7 lakh crore for development of over 80,000 km of highways including Bharatmala project in the next five years, an official who did not wish to be quoted, told PTI.

Bharatmala is a mega plan of the government and the second-largest highways project after NHDP that saw development of about 50,000 km, and aims at improving connectivity in border and other areas.

1:59 pm Moody's on SBI: The ongoing rounds of non-performing loan resolutions initiated by the Reserve Bank of India hold the key to the State Bank of India's credit profile, said Moody's Investors Service.

"The resultant haircut on SBI's assets will likely show a substantial impact. Our scenario analysis concludes that SBI can absorb haircuts of up to 50-55 percent, while maintaining a common equity Tier 1 ratio of above 9.5 percent at the end of March 2019," it said in a report.

Such a common equity Tier 1 ratio would give the bank some buffer above the minimum regulatory requirement of 8.6 percent by March 2019, it said.

The scenario analysis assumes about 35-40 per cent of the bank's non-performing assets (NPAs) are resolved under the various resolution processes in the next two financial years, it said.

1:50 pm Market Check: Equity benchmarks erased gains in afternoon, with the Nifty breaking 10,200 level. Reliance Industries, Infosys, Tata Motors and HDFC Bank drove the market lower.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 1.88 points at 32,504.84 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 0.80 points to 10,184.10.

1:45 pm Upcoming IPO: New India Assurance (NIA), the largest general insurance company in India, will hit the capital markets on November 1 to raise an estimated Rs 10,000 crore through IPO, merchant banking sources said.

The company's initial share sale will close on November 3, they added.

The IPO comprises sale of 9.6 crore shares by the government, besides fresh issue of 2.4 crore shares. Thus a total of 12 crore shares of the non-life insurer would be sold through the share sale offer, constituting around 14.56 percent of the company's post issue share capital.

New India Assurance is expected to list on the stock exchanges on November 13, merchant banking sources said.

1:35 pm Earnings: Kitchen appliances firm TTK Prestige has reported a 11.23 percent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 43.28 crore for the second quarter ended September 30.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 38.91 crore in July-September period of the previous fiscal.

Its total income went up by 8.87 per cent at Rs 547.37 crore during the quarter under review against Rs 502.73 crore last year.

1:25 pm Listing: State-owned General Insurance Corporation of India will make stock market debut tomorrow after having concluded the Rs 11,370-crore initial public offer (IPO).

GIC Re's IPO was oversubscribed 1.38 times during October 11-13.

The reinsurance company had fixed the price band at Rs 855-912 for its IPO.

The company proposed to utilise the proceeds towards augmenting the capital base to support business growth and maintain current solvency levels as also for general corporate purposes.

1:15 pm Lowest bidder for smart meters: State-run ITI has emerged as the lowest bidder for 50 lakh smart meters quoting a rate of Rs 2,503 per unit, followed by Genus Power and KEONICS in a reverse auction by EESL.

Earlier this month, L&T had quoted the lowest price for smart meters at Rs 2,722 per unit, which was 40-50 percent lower than the current market price.

State-run Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) has achieved a further price reduction in the procurement of 50 lakh smart meters on the basis of a reverse auction of the tender conducted last week, a Power Ministry statement said.

According to the statement, ITI has emerged as the lowest bidder (L1 bidder) in this reverse auction, followed by Genus Power and KEONICS.

ITI share price gained 3 percent.

1:00 pm Buzzing: Reliance Industries saw profit booking, after hitting a fresh record high in early trade that helped it to touch Rs 6 lakh crore mark in market capitalisation for first time ever.

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries shares hit a fresh record of Rs 947.7 on NSE. The company is India's most valued company far ahead of TCS which has a market capitalisation of Rs 4.95 lakh crore.

12:50 pm Europe trade: European markets opened slightly lower, as investors continued to monitor the latest corporate earnings reports and kept a close eye on Spain's constitutional crisis.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 edged 0.1 percent lower shortly after the opening bell with almost all sectors and major bourses in negative territory.

12:43 pm Earnings: HDFC Bank's July-September quarter earnings matched analysts' expectations on Tuesday as profit grew by 20 percent year-on-year to Rs 4,151 crore despite sharp increase in provisions for bad loans.

The country's second largest private sector lender had reported profit at Rs 3,455.33 crore for corresponding quarter last fiscal.

Net interest income during the quarter rose by 22 percent to Rs 9,752 crore compared with Rs 7,993.6 crore in same quarter last year.

Provisions for bad loans nearly doubled to Rs 1,476.2 crore in Q2FY18, compared with Rs 748.99 crore in Q2FY17 but declined 5.3 percent on sequential basis.

12:31 pm Recapitalsation: PSU banks rallied 3-6 percent on hopes of early recapitalisation plan.

12:20 pm Market Check: Equity benchmarks remained higher in afternoon, backed by banks and metal stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 111.47 points at 32,618.19 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 36.50 points to 10,221.40.

The BSE Midcap index was up 0.33 percent and Smallcap gained 0.8 percent on positive market breadth. About 1,433 shares advanced against 999 declining shares on the BSE.

12:10 pm Earnings Estimates: HDFC Bank, the country's second largest private sector lender, is expected to report a 20 percent growth year-on-year in profit at Rs 4,143.5 crore for the quarter ended September 2017.

Profit in same quarter last fiscal was at Rs 3,455.3 crore.

Net interest income during the quarter is seen rising 20.9 percent to Rs 9,664.1 crore, compared with Rs 7,993.6 crore in corresponding quarter last fiscal, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

Analysts feel if loan growth comes above 20 percent, domestic loan growth above 20 percent and net interest margin above 4.2 percent then that will be taken positively by the Street.

11:59 am Buzzing: Media house Zee Entertainment Enterprises' consolidated profit grew by a whopping 147.8 percent year-on-year to Rs 590.80 crore, largely led by proceeds from sale of sports broadcasting business.

The company has earned an exceptional gain of Rs 134.61 crore as the Group has concluded closure of its second phase of transaction for disposal of sports broadcasting business to Sony Pictures Networks India.

Revenue from operations during the quarter declined 6.7 percent to Rs 1,582 crore in quarter ended September 2017.

At 11:59 hours IST, the stock was quoting at Rs 507.30, up Rs 14.45, or 2.93 percent on the BSE.

11:42 am Earnings: Novartis's third-quarter core net income rose 4 percent at constant currencies, beating expectations, as the drugmaker said it had made "significant progress" in preparing its Alcon eyecare unit for a possible spinoff by the first half of 2019.

Core net income rose to USD 3.02 billion, compared to the average analyst estimate of USD 2.93 billion in a Reuters poll.

Sales rose 2 percent to USD 12.4 billion, compared to the USD 12.2 billion Reuters poll average.

11:32 am Production Ramp up: The world's leading carbon black major, Phillips Carbon Black Limited (PCBL) is aggressively working to ramp up speciality and value-added carbon in the next three years.

"We are aiming at taking up speciality and value-added carbon production to at least 40 percent of our total production in the next three years. In value term it will be more than 50 percent of our turnover," PCBL sources told PTI.

Currently, speciality and value added carbon are about 20 percent of the total production of the company, they said.

Speciality carbon is used in a host of non-rubber industry. PCBL is also working on value-added carbon for high end rubber applications in several sectors including automotive, they said.

11:18 am Market Outlook: Foreign investors' (FIIs) have pulled out over Rs 8,000 crore from Indian equity markets so far in the month of October, but the quantum of selling has reduced, according to provisional data from SEBI.

Foreign investors remained net sellers in six out of last nine months in the calendar year 2017 putting further pressure on the Indian market.

The sentiment is likely to remain tepid, thanks to higher valuations and absence of earnings growth, Saurabh Mukherjea, Ambit Capital said in an interview with CNBC-Tv18.

''What has happened in the last six months is a combination of circumstances -- valuations in India have gone up with a commensurate improvement in underlying fundamentals. The P/E multiple of Indian market shot through,'' he said.

11:09 am Banks lead: Nifty Bank index gained 136 points, driven by Yes Bank, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Axis Bank, PNB, ICICI Bank, IDFC Bank, SBI and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

10:59 am Rupee Trade: The rupee was trading up by 11 paise at 64.90 in late morning trade against the US dollar on persistent selling of the greenback by banks and exporters in view of weak dollar overseas.

The rupee opened higher by 4 paise at 64.98 per dollar as against yesterday's closing level of 65.02 per dollar at the Interbank Forex Market (FOREX).

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, down 0.12 percent at 93.74.

10:49 am Buzzing: Indiabulls Housing Finance gained nearly 2 percent intraday after its consolidated net profit in Q2 increased sharply to Rs 861 crore versus Rs 684 crore on year-on-year basis.

Consolidated revenue during the quarter jumped to Rs 3,067 crore compared with Rs 2,510 crore in corresponding quarter last fiscal.

10:37 am Stake Buy: S Chand and Company share price rallied 7.1 percent intraday after the leading mutual fund house picked up nearly a percent stake in the company.

HDFC Mutual Fund through HDFC India Prudence Fund has bought 2,96,300 equity shares (representing 0.85 percent of total paid-up equity) at Rs 455 per share through block deals on the National Stock Exchange on Monday.

The block deal was worth Rs 13.48 crore.

10:25 am Buzzing: Hindustan Zinc gained half a percent as brokerages houses remained positive on the stock post earnings.

Macquarie has maintained its outperform rating on the stock with increased target price at Rs 329 from (Rs 296 per share) as strong volume & prices drove Q2FY18 earnings.

It feels the production is on track to achieve FY18 guidance.

Macquarie has raised FY18, FY19 & FY20 EPS estimates by 4 percent, 7 percent & 13 percent, respectively.

10:19 am Market Update: Equity benchmarks continued to trade higher in morning, with the Nifty holding 10,200 level, backed by banks, metals and auto stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 136.01 points at 32,642.73 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 43.90 points to 10,228.80.

The market breadth was strong as about two shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE.

10:05 am Air India divestment: The government yesterday received bids from six consulting companies and investment banks for the mandate of advising it on the divestment of its stake in Air India, an official with one of the bidders told Moneycontrol.

The candidates in the fray are KPMG, EY, Rothschild & Co, BNP Paribas, ICICI Securities and Edelweiss Financial Services. October 23 was the last date for submitting the bids and the government will select two out of the six for the advisory process.

The fact that only six firms are in contention for the mandate, which is a prestigious one, may leave the government a little puzzled as the September 25 pre-bid meeting had seen the presence of ten companies. Another official, not involved with the process but whose bank is among the bidders, was not surprised.

9:55 am Results today: Infosys, HDFC Bank, Asian Paints, Ambuja Cements, ABB India, Zee Entertainment, Artson Engineering, Ashirwad Steel, Asian Paints, Bengal & Assam, Can Fin Homes, Chambal Fertilisers, GKW, Gujarat Heavy Chemicals, HBL Power, ICICI Prudential Life, Indian Metals, International Paper APPM, Jenson Nicholson, JK Agri Genetic, L&T Finance Holdings, Mahindra CIE, Phillips Carbon, Radico Khaitan, Rallis India, Raymond, Saregama India, TTK Prestige, Vertex Securities, Visa Steel

9:45 am Rupee, Bond Outlook: Bhaskar Panda of HDFC Bank said the focus has now turned on the new incumbent at US Federal Reserve.

US President had mentioned that, he is very close to finding the new Federal chair, Panda added.

The USD-INR seems to be in a territory of calm. Today could be a repeat of the same sentiment as the pair is expected to trade within a range of 64.95-65.10 a dollar, according to him.

Meanwhile, Panda said the 10-year benchmark bond yield has moved up after Monetary Policy Committee minutes.

He expects the benchmark yield to remain within a range of 6.78-6.82 percent today.

9:35 am FII View: "While corporate transformations are usually bullish for stock markets in the longer term, our conclusion is that the current slow pace of these transformations does not give us enough reason for us to be revisiting Indian equities," Herald van der Linde of HSBC said.

Earnings expectations are too high, economic growth is slowing, and valuations are still stretched, according to him. Markets now reflect this reality, he feels.

"We have seen a notable decline in (foreign) mutual funds' exposure to Indian equities, but we believe it is too early for us to change our stance. Thus, we remain underweight on the market in a regional context," Herald said.

9:27 am Earnings Poll: Infosys, the country's second largest software services provider, will announce its July-September quarter earnings today after market hours. Outlook will be key thing to watch out for, especially after co-founder Nandan Nilekani joined as non-executive chairman in August.

Profit for the quarter is expected to be flat at Rs 3,496 crore against Rs 3,483 crore in previous quarter, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

Analysts expect revenue to increase 3.2 percent sequentially to Rs 17,630 crore and dollar revenue to grow 3.3 percent to USD 2,738 million in the quarter ended September 2017.

Constant currency revenue growth is expected to be at 2.2 percent for the quarter against 2.7 percent in Q1.

9:20 am Nod for merger: The Department of Telecom (DoT) has cleared the merger of Sistema Shyam Teleservices with Reliance Communications, a deal that will reduce the number of mobile operators in the country to ten.

"Reliance Communications Limited (RCOM) has received the Department of Telecommunication's (DoT) approval for the demerger of the wireless business of Sistema Shyam Teleservices Limited (SSTL) into RCom," the Anil-Ambani led telecom firm said in a statement.

According to a source, the deal was cleared by the DoT on October 20.

Under the deal, all wireless business assets of SSTL will come under RCom. However, brand MTS will continue to operate.

SSTL will get 10 per cent stake in RCom as per the terms of the deal.

9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks extended previous day's gains in opening on Tuesday, backed by positive Asian cues. Metals, technology, cement and select banks stocks gained strength.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 131.99 points at 32,638.71 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 22.00 points to 10,206.90.

Indiabulls Housing Finance, Ambuja Cements, BPCL, Zee Entertainment, Tata Steel and UltraTech Cement were early gainers.

Ahead of earnings later today, Infosys was up 0.6 percent while HDFC Bank was flat.

Bharti Infratel, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Finance, HCL Technologies and Mahindra & Mahindra were losers in early trade.

Nifty Midcap was up 0.2 percent.

Zuari Agro Chemicals, S Chand, Rico Auto, Saregama India, Jaiprakash Associates, NIIT Technologies, NIIT, Sobha, Puravankara, Godrej Properties and Brigade Enterprises gained 1-6 percent.

The Indian rupee continued hovering around 65 against the US dollar. It has opened higher by 4 paise at 64.97 a dollar on Tuesday.

Disclosure: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.