Nifty ends at 8252, Sensex down; Vedanta up 4%, SBI dips 2%

3:30 pm Market closing: The market has ended marginally lower. The Sensex was down 19.17 points at 27287.66 and the Nifty slipped 9.95 points at 8251.70. About 1327 shares advanced, 1382 shares declined, and 155 shares were unchanged.

Vedanta was up 4 percent while Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel and NTPC were top gainers. Among losers are Dr Reddy's Labs, SBI, Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank and GAIL.

3:00 pm Seize: The Maharashtra government seized 23,340 tonnes of pulses during 276 raids carried out in 16 districts yesterday, which pushed down retail prices of tur and urad dals by up to Rs 3 per kg in Mumbai on Wednesday.

"The state government has said 276 raids carried out to check hoarding of the commodity in 16 districts yesterday has resulted in a seizure of 23,340 tonnes of pulses," a senior Consumer Affairs Ministry official told PTI. Much of the seized pulses were unmilled, largely from Mumbai, Thane and Panvel.

Raids in other districts in the state are continuing, the official said. The official further added that the stringent action against hoarders and blackmarketeers will definitely improve availability of pulses and ease pressure on prices.

2:58 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks trimmed losses in last hour of trade. The Sensex fell 14.59 points to 27292.24 and the Nifty declined 13.35 points to 8248.30.

About 1244 shares have advanced, 1379 shares declined, and 163 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

2:45 pm Two ordinances cleared: The government today cleared two ordinances for speedy settlement of commercial disputes in the country, giving a fresh impetus to ease of doing business.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cleared ordinances to amend the Arbitration and Conciliation Act and bring into force the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Bill, 2015 pending before a Parliamentary standing committee, official sources said.

The Cabinet had in December last year given a nod to an ordinance to amend the Arbitration Act but it was never sent to the President for approval.

2:30 pm Interview: IT services provider Mphasis matched analysts' expectations on bottomline and topline front but September quarter operational performanc e was ahead of estimates. Consolidated net profit grew by 18.4 percent sequentially to Rs 185 crore, boosted by operational numbers despite lower other income.

The company is hopeful of USD 300 million deal wins for the year after wining around USD 166 million of total contract value (TCV) in the first half, said Ganesh Ayyar, CEO, Mphasis in an concall to CNBC-TV18's Reema Tendulkar.

The company also expects the direct international business to grow faster than the industry, said Ayyar.

According to him, margins in the second half are likely to be in the range of 13-15 percent up from the 12-14 percent reported in first half.

2:15 pm Europe Update: European equities opened flat but quickly turned lower as investors look ahead to a meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday and digest a slew of mixed earnings.

All major European indices were in negative territory.

A subject that is expected to come up at the ECB meeting, which is being held in Malta rather than Frankfurt this month, is whether the bank needs to increase its 1 trillion euro (USD 1.1 trillion) bond-buying program.

2:00 pm Market Check
The market remained under pressure following weakness in global peers. Banking & financials, healthcare and capital goods stocks dragged while FMCG, oil, metals and select technology stocks provided support.

The Sensex declined 72.85 points to 27233.98 and the Nifty fell 31.40 points to 8230.25. The broader markets also traded in line with benchmarks as the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices lost 0.3-0.6 percent.

The market breadth too was weak as about 1434 shares declined against 1118 advancing shares on the BSE.

ICICI Bank, L&T, SBI, Dr Reddy's Labs, Sun Pharma, M&M, GAIL and BHEL were down 1-3 percent. Infosys, Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel, NTPC, Tata Steel, Vedanta and Hindalco gained 1-3 percent.

1:55 pm Gold check: Gold prices rose by Rs 45 to Rs 27,363 per 10 grams in futures trading today as speculators enlarged positions amid a firming trend overseas.

Analysts said a firming trend in the global markets as investors awaited next week's meeting of Federal Reserve policy makers for clues on the timing of a US rate increase amid speculation that a rise may be likely only in 2016, supported the upside in gold prices at futures trade here. In Singapore, gold advanced 0.3 percent to USD 1,179.35 an ounce.

1:45 pm Parliament session: The government on Wednesday deferred a decision on convening the Winter session of Parliament till next week, amid indications that it could be summoned any day after November 19.

"The Winter session of Parliament is likely to be convened any day after November 19. But a final decision will be taken by the Cabinet Committee of Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA) on October 26," a government functionary said after a CCPA meeting on Wednesday.

The CCPA chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh also decided to take on board parties and presiding officers of the two Houses to celebrate the centenary of Dr BR Ambedkar.

1:30 pm Downgrade: Credit Suisse has downgraded L&T to neutral with a lowered target price of Rs 1775 per share. It has also cut earnings per share (EPS) of FY17/18 by 4 and 3 percent respectively. Shares of L&T fell almost 1 percent intraday on Wednesday. Substantial slowdown in the Middle East, real estate slowdown, delay in pick-up of metals/hydrocarbons and unsustainable power and roads FY16 ordering spike are key challenges for the company, says Credit Suisse. "Weaker-than-expected inflows in 1HFY16 are known, however challenges to absolute quantity and quality," it adds.

The Indian market is getting a Chinese rub-on effect but has recovered intraday. The Sensex is down 38.14 points at 27268.69 and the Nifty is down 21.90 points at 8239.75. About 1081 shares have advanced, 1409 shares declined, and 159 shares are unchanged.

China posted its worst one-day performance in five weeks after being hit by a sudden bout of selling in small-caps in the afternoon session.

On the other hand, the Nikkei index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange jumped nearly 2 percent to six-week highs, as weaker-than-expected trade data stoked expectations for further stimulus from the Bank of Japan (BOJ).

Bajaj Auto is up 3 percent after its July-September quarter results. Other gainers in the Sensex are Bharti Airtel, Vedanta, Tata Steel and NTPC. Among the losers are Dr Reddy's Labs, ICICI,  SBI, GAIL and Sun Pharma.

12:59 pm Market update: Equity benchmarks extended losses with the Sensex falling 93.53 points to 27213.30 and the Nifty declining 37.70 points to 8223.95.

About 1029 shares have advanced, 1419 shares declined, and 151 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

12:50 pm HDFC Bank results: HDFC Bank, the country's second largest private sector lender, matched analysts' expectations on Wednesday with September quarter profit rising 20.5 percent to 2,869.5 crore compared to year-ago period. Profit growth was driven by other income, NII and operating profit despite higher provisions and tax expenses.

Net interest income increased 21.2 percent to Rs 6,681 crore in quarter ended September 2015 compared to Rs 5,511 crore in corresponding quarter of last fiscal with net interest margin of 4.2 percent (declined sequentially compared to 4.3 percent).

12:40 pm Europe opens: European equities opened roughly flat today as investors look ahead to a meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday.

All major European indices were in positive territory.

A subject that is expected to come up at the ECB meeting, which is being held in Malta rather than Frankfurt this month, is whether the bank needs to increase its 1 trillion euro (USD 1.1 trillion) bond-buying program.

12:30 pm Earnings: Mortgage player Indiabulls Housing Finance today reported 23.93 percent jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 555.53 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2015-16. The company had reported net profit of Rs 448.24 crore in the July-September quarter of last fiscal, 2014-15.

Its total income for the quarter under review rose to Rs 1,985 crore, up 31.08 percent, from Rs 1,514.31 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago, the company said in a BSE filing.

Indiabulls Housing Finance reported net interest income (NII) of Rs 884.6 crore, compared with Rs 657.1 crore a year ago, an increase of 34.62 percent.

12:15 pm Credit Suisse on L&T: Credit Suisse has downgraded L&T to neutral with a lowered target price of Rs 1775 per share. It has also cut earnings per share (EPS) of FY17/18 by 4 and 3 percent respectively.

Substantial slowdown in the Middle East, real estate slowdown, delay in pick-up of metals/hydrocarbons and unsustainable power and roads FY16 ordering spike are key challenges for the company, says Credit Suisse. "Weaker-than-expected inflows in 1HFY16 are known, however challenges to absolute quantity and quality," it adds.

The market erased early gains following sharp fall in Asian peer - China. The Sensex fell 14.99 points to 27291.84 and the Nifty declined 12.25 points to 8249.40. China's Shanghai Composite plunged 4.5 percent in choppy trade while Nikkei rose 1.9 percent.

The market breadth also was in favour of declines as about 1202 shares declined for 1191 advancing shares on the BSE.

Dr Reddy's Labs extended sell-off, losing more than 3 percent followed by ICICI Bank, L&T, SBI and Sun Pharma with 1 percent loss each.

Infosys, Bharti Airtel, NTPC, Tata Steel, Hindalco Industries and Vedanta topped buying list on Sensex, up 1-1.6 percent.

11:50 am Market outlook: Vibhav Kapoor of IL&FS is of the view that Indian equity market is likely to remain in a range of 8000-8400 unless we get some good news to propel the market on the upside. The 9-10 percent rally seen in our market was due to a risk-on trade in emerging markets led by the status-quo decision of the US Federal Reserve, says Vibhav Kapoor of ILandFS in an interview to CNBC-TV18's Latha Venkatesh and Sonia Shenoy. According to him downside for the market to the levels of 7500 is also unlikely because Fed may not hike in the near-term.

11:40 am Buzzing: Credit Suisse has downgraded L&T to neutral with a lowered target price of Rs 1775 per share. It has also cut earnings per share (EPS) of FY17/18 by 4 and 3 percent respectively. Shares of L&T fell almost 1 percent intraday on Wednesday.

Substantial slowdown in the Middle East, real estate slowdown, delay in pick-up of metals/hydrocarbons and unsustainable power and roads FY16 ordering spike are key challenges for the company, says Credit Suisse. "Weaker-than-expected inflows in 1HFY16 are known, however challenges to absolute quantity and quality," it adds.

11:30 am Result poll: HDFC Bank, the country's second largest private sector lender, is likely to report 20 percent year-on-year growth each in profit, net interest income and loan book in July-September quarter. According to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18, profit is seen rising to Rs 2,875 crore from Rs 2,381.5 crore and net interest income may increase to Rs 6,598 crore from Rs 5,511 crore. Profit growth has been between 20-30 percent for past nine quarters, before that it was above 30 percent.

The Sensex is up 110.10 points or 0.4 percent at 27416.93 and the Nifty gains 23.45 points or 0.3 percent at 8285.10. About 1313 shares have advanced, 808 shares declined, and 125 shares are unchanged.

Bharti Airtel, Vedanta, Hindalco, Reliance and ONGC are top gainers while Dr Reddy's Labs, Sun Pharma, L&T, Maruti and GAIL.

Oil prices fell after data from an industry group showed a larger-than-expected build in US crude inventories last week, fanning worries over global oversupply, even as a slightly weaker dollar provided some support.

Industry data showed US commercial crude stocks climbed by a larger-than-expected 7.1 million barrels to 473 million barrels in the week to Oct. 16, the American Petroleum Institute said on Tuesday. Analysts had expected a 3.9 million barrels increase.

The US Energy Information Administration is due to release official inventory data later on Wednesday, which is expected to show a build in crude stocks for a fourth straight week.

10:58 am Market holds gains: Equity benchmarks gained strength after a consolidation. The Sensex rose 114.60 points to 27421.43 and the Nifty advanced 26.85 points to 8288.50.

About 1301 shares have advanced, 795 shares declined, and 106 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

10:45 am Oil Update: Oil prices dipped in Asia today as traders anticipated an increase in US crude inventories when weekly data from the Energy Information Agency (EIA) is released later in the day.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in December eased 23 cents to USD 46.06 per barrel. Brent North Sea crude for December was 11 cents lower at USD 48.60.

10:30 am Reliance Capital acquisition: In its first ever acquisition, Reliance Capital Asset Management (RCAM) today announced takeover of global giant Goldman Sachs' mutual fund business in India for Rs 243 crore in an all-cash deal as yet another foreign player exits the Rs 13 lakh crore Indian MF market.

The deal, under which RCAM will acquire all 12 onshore mutual fund schemes of Goldman Sachs Asset Management India with total asset under management of Rs 7132 crore, would also make Reliance MF the exclusive fund manager for the government's ambitious Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE) Exchange Traded Fund.

GSAM India currently manages 12 mutual fund schemes, including 10 ETF schemes, and is the largest ETF provider in India. It has a total AUM of Rs 7,132 crore (USD 1.1 billion) as of September 30, 2015 which includes Rs 2,172 crore (USD 334 million) of AUM in the CPSE ETF for which GSAM India is currently the exclusive fund manager.

10:15 am Market Expert: Vibhav Kapoor of IL&FS is of the view that Indian equity market is likely to remain in a range of 8000-8400 unless we get some good news to propel the market on the upside.

The 9-10 percent rally seen in our market was due to a risk-on trade in emerging markets led by the status-quo decision of the US Federal Reserve, says Vibhav Kapoor of ILandFS in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

According to him, downside for the market to levels of 7500 is also unlikely because Fed may not hike in the near-term.

However, the macro picture hasn't yet improved as per expectations, says Kapoor. The earnings growth has not yet picked up and for the first half it is likely to be only around 3 percent.

10:00 am Market Check: The market recouped previous day's losses to trade marginally higher. Oil, technology and banks stocks provided support to market while pharma and capital goods dragged.

The Sensex rose 100.98 points to 27407.81 and the Nifty climbed 22.30 points to 8283.95. The broader markets traded in-line with benchmarks, rising 0.3 percent. The market breadth remained positive as about 1159 shares advanced against 626 shares declining on BSE.

IT services provider Mphasis' September quarter consolidated net profit grew by 18.4 percent sequentially to Rs 185 crore, boosted by operational numbers.

Dr Reddy's Labs topped selling list on Sensex, down 2 percent followed by Sun Pharma, Lupin, HDFC, L&T, Maruti and BHEL with marginal losses.

Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel and Vedanta rallied 1-1.8 percent. Infosys, HDFC Bank (ahead of earnings), Axis Bank, TCS, ITC and ONGC gained 0.3-0.9 percent.

9:50 am Market check: The market is rising bit by bit. The Sensex is up 72.69 points or 0.3 percent at 27379.52 and the Nifty gains 15.75 points or 0.2 percent at 8277.40. About 1087 shares have advanced, 545 shares declined, and 65 shares are unchanged.
 
Bharti Airtel, Reliance, Axis Bank, Hero MotoCorp and Vedanta are top gainers while Dr Reddy's Labs, Sun Pharma, GAIL, HDFC and M&M are among losers in the Sensex.

9:45 am Warning: The financial performance of Vedanta Resources is expected to remain weak for the next 12 to 18 months as low commodity prices and weak prospects in the oil & gas sector have adversely impacted its cash flows, Standard & Poor's (S&P) Ratings Services said.

The agency said lowering of oil price projections have also hurt the Anil Agarwal-led firm's cash flows.

"We downgraded Vedanta Resources because we expect the company's financial performance to remain weak for the next 12-18 months," S&P's Credit Analyst Mehul Sukkawala said in a statement.

9:30 am Result poll: After unimpressive numbers in first quarter of FY16, analysts expect another muted quarter (Q2FY16) for Bajaj Auto especially to due to no volume growth. The company will announce its earnings on October 21.

Revenue may increase 0.5 percent year-on-year to Rs 5,995 crore and profit after tax may jump 51 percent to Rs 896.2 crore in September quarter, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

Profit growth was led by low base in year-ago period. In Q2FY15, profit was hit by one time penalty of Rs 340.2 crore from Uttarkhand government on account of National calamity contingent duty case.

The market has opened flat but the Nifty has managed to hold 8250 mark. The 50-share index is down 3.25 points at 8258.40. The Sensex is up 7.12 points or 0.03% at 27313.95. About 370 shares have advanced, 141 shares declined, and 31 shares are unchanged.

Hero is up 2 percent after its better-than-expected September quarter results. HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, Wipro and Hindalco are top gainers. On the losing side are Vedanta, Dr Reddy's LAbs, Tata Motors and Maruti.

The Indian rupee opened marginally lower at 65.09 per dollar against previous close of 65.06.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity said, "We expect the rupee to depreciate today as Asian markets have already opened on a weak note which will force local equities to trade lower. We see the range for the rupee between 64.75-65.40/dollar."

The dollar declined against a basket of currencies to 94.88, down 0.05 percent.

The euro rose against the dollar on after falling for three straight sessions, bolstered by solid regional economic data and comments from European Central Bank officials suggesting further monetary easing may not be imminent.

Asian stocks are in another mixed trading session early Wednesday, following a lackluster lead from Wall Street.

Major US averages slipped overnight, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average snapping a three-day winning streak, amid a decline in healthcare and biotech names. The blue-chip Dow and S&P 500 shed 0.1 percent each, while the Nasdaq Composite closed down 0.5 percent.