Nifty ends above 7700, Sensex in red; GAIL, BHEL, SBI gainers

3:30 pm Market closing: After a volatile day, the market has ended down 33.71 points at 25228.50 and the Nifty slipped 2.05 points at 7733.45. About 1127 shares advanced, 1388 shares declined, and 183 shares were unchanged.

GAIL, BHEL, SBI, Hindalco and Tata Motors were top gainers while Adani Ports, Dr Reddy's, Wipro, ONGC and HDFC Bank.

2:45 pm MCA: The Corporate Affairs Ministry has completed public consultation for rules pertaining to revival and rehabilitation of sick firms under the companies law, Parliament was informed today.

"The rules related to revival and rehabilitation of sick companies have been examined in the ministry and public consultations has also been completed," Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

He further said: "Notification of these rules is dependent on establishment of National Company Law Tribunal), & NCLAT (National Company Law Appellate Tribunal) and commencement of the sick industrial (Special Provision) Repeal Act, 2003." NCLT, proposed under the Companies Act, 2013, would replace the Company Law Board.

2:30 pm Oil woes: The central banks of India and Iran have reached an arrangement to use European banks to process pending oil payments to Tehran, India's Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told Reuters, unlocking USD 6.4 billion in stalled funds.

Buyers of Iranian oil were prevented from using global banking channels to clear their transactions after sanctions were imposed on Iran in 2011 over its nuclear programme. With the end of those sanctions in January, after an agreement to curb the programme, Iran is finally gaining needed access to the funds.

Iran hopes the money will revive its moribund economy and raise Iranian living standards as well as help to integrate the country into the global economic system.

The market is volatile with the Sensex down 44.24 points or 0.2 percent at 25217.97, and the Nifty slips 6.85 points at 7728.65. About 1086 shares have advanced, 1306 shares declined, and 159 shares are unchanged.

GAIL, SBI, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel and Hindalco are top gainers while Dr Reddy's Labs, Adani Ports, Wipro, Tata Steel and ONGC are major losers in the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Gold was set to post its biggest weekly decline in six weeks as the US dollar firmed ahead of the U.S. non-farm payrolls report that could provide clues about the Federal Reserve's monetary policy.

A strong payrolls number could prompt the Fed to raise rates sooner than later, hurting non-interest paying gold. The metal has rallied nearly 21 percent this year on expectations that the Fed will slow the pace of rate hikes.

For the week, gold was set for a 1.2 percent decline, its biggest weekly drop since the week ended March 25.

1:50 pm Gold: Gold demand may not pick up until November in India, one of the world's largest consumers. Blame the Hindu calendar.

May is usually the wedding season in India as auspicious wedding dates tend to fall in the month.

Typically, this drives gold imports up and the India rupee down, wrote ANZ' s FX strategists, Khoon Goh and Rini Sen in a note on Friday. his year however, there is a lack of auspicious wedding days, also known as Vivah Shubh Muhurat, in May.

"In fact, there are no such dates from May to October, which point to some pent-up demand in November and December," the analysts note.

1:30 pm Exclusive: India's largest private ship-builder ABG Shipyard is under fire from its lenders and CNBC-TV18's Ritu Singh has learned that the promoters of the debt-laden ship-maker may have to give up control of the company after they failed to bring in an investor, yet again. Ritu Singh had reported on March 1 that ABG Shipyard was in talks with Vietnam-based Masan Group for a strategic stake sale. However, it is now understood from the sources that Masan Group has withdrawn interests in acquiring strategic stake in ABG Shipyard. Sources have also said that the ABG's lenders are considering strategic debt restructuring (SDR) to recover debt.

The market has recovered from day's low with the Nifty above 7700. The 50-share index is down 10.45 points at 7725.05. The Sensex is down 45.16 points at 25217.05. About 1064 shares have advanced, 1241 shares declined, and 148 shares are unchanged.

GAIL, ICICI Bank, SBI, Bharti Airtel and NTPC are gainers in the Sensex while Dr Reddy's Labs, Adani Ports, Wipro, Tata Steel and ONGC are losers in the Sensex.

Most Asian markets lost ground, as investors await closely watched April US non-farm payroll numbers, but Australian shares retraced earlier losses after the central bank lowered its inflation forecast.

China shares extended early losses after a Dow Jones report that there were market rumors that the local regulators may want to delay mainland listings of US-listed China companies.

12:30 pm Upcoming IPO: After witnessing high growth in past few years, the management of Parag Milk Foods is confident of upping the ante further. CNBC-TV18 spoke to Parag's Founder and Chairman Devendra Shah and Chief Financial Officer Bharat Kedia on the last day of the company's Rs 760-crore initial public offering (IPO). Shah said the company will continue to look at launching innovative dairy products such as different kinds of cheese and whey products, going forward. The maker of Go and Go and Gowardhan brands of dairy products plans to use the proceeds of the IPO will be to clear debt, diversify its milk beverages products and expand.

The market remains in bear grip as the Nifty is still struggling around 7700. The Sensex is down 127.68 points or 0.5 percent at 25134.53, and the Nifty is down 34.90 points or 0.4 percent at 7700.60. About 988 shares have advanced, 1209 shares declined, and 131 shares are unchanged.

GAIL, SBI, Bharti Airtel, Hindalco and ICICI Bank are top gainers while Adani Ports, Dr Reddy's Labs, Wipro, Lupin and ONGC are losers in the Sensex.

Market, which has been sulking in last few days, needs liquidity triggers to move forward, says Ajay Srivastava, CEO of Dimensions Consulting. The market rally seen in last few months was largely due to global cues.

Investors now need to figure pockets to invest in, he says.

Bankruptcy Code that was passed by the Parliament on Thursday is a great positive for the banking sector, Srivastava says. However, to resolve the non-performing assets woes, not a code, but proper ecosystem is needed.

Bankruptcy is ideally the last stage of cleansing process. Implementation and kick starting the process is the main issue, he adds.

11:45 am Interview: Infosys will certainly achieve its 2020 annual revenue guidance of USD 20 billion with steady margins, says CEO and MD Vishal Sikka. Infosys reported revenue of USD 9.5 billion in FY16. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Sikka says innovation and automation will be crucial factors to achieve this guidance. He acknowledges the industry faces pricing pressure but says the company will lower people per project and increase automation to achieve the margin guidance. The company will work on renewal of existing business through the platform named "Mana" which shifts focus from people only model to people plus software model, he points out.

11:30 am Exclusive: India's largest private ship-builder ABG Shipyard is under fire from its lenders and CNBC-TV18's Ritu Singh has learned that the promoters of the debt-laden ship-maker may have to give up control of the company after they failed to bring in an investor, yet again.

Ritu Singh had reported on March 1 that ABG Shipyard was in talks with Vietnam-based Masan Group for a strategic stake sale. However, it is now understood from the sources that Masan Group has withdrawn interests in acquiring strategic stake in ABG Shipyard.

Sources have also said that the ABG's lenders are considering strategic debt restructuring (SDR) to recover debt.

Selling pressure continues on the market dragged by capital goods, pharma and IT stocks. The Sensex is down 130.97 points or 0.5 percent at 25131.24, and the Nifty is down 33.75 points or 0.4 perecnt at 7701.75. About 937 shares have advanced, 1070 shares declined, and 117 shares are unchanged.

SBI, GAIL, Bharti Airtel, Hindalco and ICICI Bank are top gainers while Adani Ports, Dr Reddy's Labs, Lupin, Wipro and HDFC are losers in the Sensex.

Crude prices dipped as traders await a closely watched US jobs report that could provide clues on the health of the world's biggest economy and the direction of interest rates.

The non-farm payroll report due for release later in the day could determine when the Fed lifts borrowing costs, which would affect the dollar and, in turn, demand for oil.

Speculation that US central bank could raise rates at its June meeting was sparked this week after two Federal Reserve regional heads expressed support for such a move.

10:45 am Result poll: Titan is expected to report net profit at Rs 209 crore in January-March quarter, falling 3 percent from Rs 215 crore in corresponding quarter last fiscal. According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, the watch and jewellery company is likely to see revenue up 12.5 percent at Rs 2811 crore in Q4FY16 against Rs 2496 crore in year-ago period.

During the period, EBITDA is seen up 5.5 percent at Rs 285 crore compared to Rs 270 crore while EBITDA margins may stand at 10.1 percent versus 10.8 percent year-on-year.

Analysts polled by CNBC-TV18 are divided over jewellers strike impact in the numbers. While some believe there will be little adverse impact, some others say impact could be more severe.

10:30 am Boardroom: Giving an outlook for the company, Prabodh Agarwal, Group CFO of IIFL said that there has been a slowdown in the mutual fund distribution business but the company has coped well with changes in mutual fund fee structure.

Speaking on IIFL's deal with General Atlantic, he said that Rs 904 crore has been received from it as of now and the benefits from it will reflect in FY17.

NBFC, wealth business will see steady growth going forward, he added.

The market is still struggling as the Sensex is down 139.95 points or 0.5 percent at 25122.26. The Nifty down 39.00 points or 0.5 percent at 7696.50. About 703 shares have advanced, 993 shares declined, and 92 shares are unchanged.

Bharti, SBI, ICICI and Axis Bank are top gainers while Adani Ports, Dr Reddy's Labs, ONGC, BHEL and Tata Steel are losers in the Sensex.

Oil prices dipped, dragged down by a surging dollar that at least temporarily outweighed supply disruptions in North America, where a massive wildfire was threatening Canada's huge oil sands operations.

The dollar firmed against the euro and yen ahead of the April US nonfarm payrolls due later in the day that could support the greenback.

9:55 am Buzzing: Shares of Bharti Airtel rose 2.5 percent intraday as the company has decided to divest 950 towers across Republic of Congo to Helios Towers.

The company's subsidiary Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV and Helios Towers Africa announced an agreement for the divestment of approximately 950 telecoms towers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from Airtel to Helios Towers.

The divestment also includes towers currently under construction in the DRC.

9:45 am IPO: ICICI Prudential Life Insurance is set to hire Bank of America Merrill Lynch and ICICI Securities for its planned USD 600 million to USD 700 million initial public offering (IPO), IFR reported on Friday citing two sources close to the plans.

Other banks are likely to join the syndicate for the IPO that is expected in the current financial year ending March 31, IFR, a Thomson Reuters publication, reported.

ICICI Bank, India's biggest private-sector lender by assets, owns the majority of the insurer, while Britain's Prudential PLC owns 26 percent.

9:30 am Opinion: The Reserve Bank of India has sought views on its draft guidelines for 'on tap' licensing of universal banks in the private sector. It has sought comments on its draft guidelines from banks, non-banking financial institutions, industrial houses, other institutions and the public at large. The last date for suggestions to be sent is June 30. Based on the experience of licensing two universal banks in 2014 and that of granting in-principle approvals for Small Finance Banks and Payments Banks, the Reserve Bank of India has now worked out a new framework for granting licences for universal banks on a continuous basis.

Dragged by weak global cues, the market has opened weak on Friday. The Sensex is down 160.06 points or 0.6 percent at 25102.15, and the Nifty is down 38.55 points or 0.5 percent at 7696.95. About 243 shares have advanced, 435 shares declined, and 35 shares are unchanged.

ITC tanks over 3 percent while Dr Reddy's Labs, TCS, Hero MotoCorp and Tata Steel are losers while HDFC, Bharti Airtel and Wipro are gainers in the Sensex.

The Indian rupee opened marginally lower at 66.57 per dollar on Friday against previous close of 66.55.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity said, "Positive global markets and cooling crude prices will support the rupee." The dollar rose against a basket of major currencies ahead of the key non-farm payrolls data.

Asian shares opened lower after Wall Street ended mixed, as investors await closely watched April US non-farm payroll numbers.

US stocks gave up early gains to end flat on Thursday as consumer discretionary shares fell and investors showed caution ahead of the April jobs report. The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 9.45 points, or 0.05 percent, to 17,660.71, while the S&P 500 lost 0.49 point, or 0.02 percent, to 2,050.63, its third straight session of losses.