Nifty ends below 8500, Sensex up 185 points; Lupin gains 7%

3:30 pm Market closing: The market has ended with minor gains but the Nifty was below 8500. The 50-share index was up 63.30 points or 0.7 percent at 8497.05 and the Sensex was up 184.84 points or 0.7 percent at 27458.99. About 1993 shares have advanced, 881 shares declined, and 134 shares are unchanged.

Lupin, SBI, ICICI Bank, BHEL and ITC were top gainers while TCS, L&T, Tata Motors, HUL and HDFC were losers in the Sensex.

3:00 pm Gold: The sharp fall in the gold imports may lead to a cut in the import duty on the yellow metal, reports CNBC-TV18, qouting a government official.

The imports of the metal was down 65 percent in the first half of this fiscal year.  A sharp decline in the customs revenue by 81 percent was also seen during the period under question. Value of imports has also fallen dramatically.

Currently, the import duty on gold is at 10 percent and there is a probability for a cut.

The decision to bring down the import duty on gold may be taken at the time of the Budget.

2:45 pm Buzzing: Shares of Crompton Greaves added 9 percent intraday as it has received a binding offer for acquisition of its B2B Automation business from Alfanar.

Alfanar is going to acquire ZIV Aplicaciones y Technologia, SL (Spain), its subsidiaries along with the related automation business in UK, Ireland, France and India at an enterprise value of Euro 120 million.

The said acquisition will get completed by Alfanar by January 31, 2017.

The objective behind above sale proceed is to reduce the company's debt and focus on company's core operation in India which provide significant growth opportunity.

Alfanar has its headquarter at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and company operates construction and manufacturing businesses, design and development centers and number of facilities in the Middle East, Asia and Europe.

2:30 pm Earnings: United Bank of India said profit during July-September quarter declined 29.6 percent to Rs 43.5 crore from Rs 61.8 crore in year-ago period. It was impacted by higher provisions for bad loans and lower net interest income but other income and operating profit restricted the fall in profit.

Net interest income in Q2 fell 41.1 percent year-on-year to Rs 376.4 crore while other income or non-interest income jumped 76.7 percent to Rs 661.2 crore and operating profit grew by 54 percent to Rs 436.6 crore.

"Rs 200 crore of interest reversal in Q2 led to lower topline and net interest margin declined due to strategic debt restructuring accounts," Pawan Kumar Bajaj, Managing Director of the bank said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

Asset quality deteriorated further in July-September quarter but Bajaj said recoveries have shown improvement with Q2 at Rs 400 crore. He expects recoveries of Rs 650-700 crore in Q3.

According to him, provisions can be high in next two quarters.

2:15 pm Expert on US elections: If Donald Trump is elected President, the local market is going to see a huge sell-off. However, a Hillary Clinton win is only going to see a limited upside, says Manish Singh, CIO, Crossbrige Capital LLP.

Singh says the election outcome is uncertain as of now, but Hillary has the upper hand.

Since the upside from a Hillary win is capped, he suggests avoiding any risks. He feels it is best to wait till the outcome.

If Trump does win, there could be a medium term upside for markets due to some of his policies. But in the short-term, market is going to see a 5-10 percent correction.

2:00 pm Market Check: Equity benchmarks maintained uptrend in afternoon trade with the Nifty holding 8500 level, aided by strong global recovery and short covering after seeing correction in last week.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 234.12 points at 27508.27 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 81.80 points at 8515.55. The broader markets retained outperformance with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 1.2-1.6 percent.

About three shares advanced for every share declining on the BSE.

European bourses were higher as confidence grew over a Hillary Clinton victory in the US presidential elections. France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE were up 1.4 percent each.

Lupin was the biggest gainer, up nearly 8 percent on clearance to Goa facility from US Food and Drug Administration. Aurobindo Pharma and Hindalco Industries were other leading gainers, rising 5 percent each.

1:50 pm Macro economy: The Reserve Bank is expected to maintain a status quo in the upcoming December meet and will go for a 25 bps rate cut each in its February and April policy review meeting, says a Bank of America Merrill Lynch report. According to the global financial services major, the accommodative policy stance of the central bank would be largely driven by weak global growth and the fact that inflation is expected to be on track to its March-2017 target of 5 percent. "We expect the RBI MPC to pause in December and cut 25 bps each in February and April," Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in a research note.

1:30 pm FII view: Midcap index has been up 23 percent since start of the financial year and there continues to be opportunities there, says Dipen Sheth of HDFC Securities. ''Different themes are playing out for different midcaps,'' he adds. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Sheth says that the pharmaceutical sector has gone nowhere since the dream rally in 2014. There, however, exists potential. He is positive on Lupin and is expecting a 20 percent compounded annual growth (CAGR) over next 2-3 years on back of strong US pipeline and strong management.

The market continues to gain as the Sensex is up 261.75 points or 0.9 percent at 27535.90. The Nifty is up 89.50 points or 1 percent at 8523.25. About 2036 shares have advanced, 674 shares declined, and 93 shares are unchanged.

Lupin, ITC, ICICI Bank, SBI and BHEL are top gainers while TCS, HUL, L&T, GAIL and Reliance are losers in the Sensex.

Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) today reported 11 per cent increase in October retail sales of 46,325 units.

The month's performance has been driven by strong sales of the Land Rover Discovery Sport, Range Rover Evoque, Jaguar XF and the introduction of the Jaguar F-PACE, as well as strong year-on-year sales growth in China and Europe, JLR said in a statement.

12:59 pm Market remains strong: The Sensex gained 239.80 points at 27513.95 and the Nifty rose 83.35 points to 8517.10. About 2006 shares advanced against 672 declining shares on the BSE.

12:46 pm Oil Update: Oil futures rose, with traders citing opportunistic buying following sharp declines in the previous week that brought prices to their lowest since early August because of ongoing weak fundamentals.

International Brent crude oil futures were trading at USD 46.26 per barrel, up 1.49  percent, from their previous close. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 1.61 percent, at USD 44.78 a barrel.

12:38 pm Earnings: Home and personal care company Godrej Consumer Products' second quarter consolidated profit increased a whopping 43.7 percent year-on-year to Rs 318.1 crore, partly driven by low base. In Q2FY16, profit was impacted by exceptional item of Rs 77.51 crore.

Revenue on consolidated basis grew by 11 percent to Rs 2,439.3 crore in the quarter ended September 2016 from Rs 2,197.3 crore in same period last fiscal.

India business reported a volume growth at 9 percent with household insecticides segment (which contributed 50 percent to domestic business) showing a 18 percent growth but soaps segment disappointed, registering a 10 percent degrowth. Hair colours business reported a flat growth.

EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) rose 13.7 percent year-on-year to Rs 465.8 crore and margin expanded by 50 basis points to 19.1 percent in July-September quarter.

12:15 pm Buzzing: Heritage Foods shares gained more than 7 percent after sources told CNBC-TV18 that Future Group may announce acquisition of retail outlets from the company today.

12:00 pm Market Check
Equity benchmarks continued to remain higher in noon trade with the Nifty holding 8500 level, supported by ITC, Lupin, ICICI Bank and SBI.

The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 209.14 points at 27483.29 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 76 points to 8509.75 while the BSE Midcap and Smallcap continued to outperform benchmarks, rising over a percent on strong market breadth.

Lupin retained its top position in the buying list, up more than 7 percent after getting clean chit from the USFDA for Goa facility. Sun Pharma and Dr Reddy's Labs rebounded 1.7 percent each after Friday's sell-off.

ICICI Bank rose 1.8 percent ahead of quarterly earnings later today. A CNBC-TV18 poll expects profit in Q2 to fall 18 percent on yearly basis and net interest margin to grow 0.4 percent.

ITC, SBI, Infosys, BHEL, Tata Steel and Axis Bank gained 1-3 percent while TCS and HUL fell over a percent.

11:55 am Upcoming issue: PepsiCo India's largest franchise bottling partner Varun Beverages is set to debut on the stock market on Tuesday, November 8. It has fixed issue price at Rs 445, the higher end of price band. The issue has not seen a great response from investors as high valuations and debt might have resisted investors to rethink at the time of listing. The issue, which opened for subscription during October 26-28, was oversubscribed 1.89 times on final day. It was largely supported by qualified institutional buyers, whose reserved portion oversubscribed 4.94 times whereas response from retail and high networth individuals was tepid.

11:45 am Boardroom: Country's second largest public sector lender Punjab National Bank (PNB) has reported a 11.5 percent degrowth in second quarter profit at Rs 549.4 crore, impacted by higher provisions and lower NII but it was ahead of estimates due to treasury income. Asset quality also improved during the quarter but credit growth was muted. The bank said advances (loan) during the quarter grew by 3.35 percent to Rs 3.93 lakh crore and deposits increased 6.5 percent to Rs 5.74 lakh crore compared with corresponding quarter of last fiscal.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18 Usha Ananthasubramanian, MD & CEO, PNB said that the way forward is to reduce slippages.

She mentioned that the NPA watchlist is dynamic as it keeps changing. The majority of the NPAs have come from one or two shipping accounts which have got classified.

11:30 am Market outlook: Midcap index has been up 23 percent since start of the financial year and there continues to be opportunities there, says Dipen Sheth of HDFC Securities. ''Different themes are playing out for different midcaps,'' he adds. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Sheth says that the pharmaceutical sector has gone nowhere since the dream rally in 2014. There, however, exists potential. He is positive on Lupin and is expecting a 20 percent compounded annual growth (CAGR) over next 2-3 years on back of strong US pipeline and strong management.

The market has managed to continue its uptrend momentum supported by index heavyweights. The Sensex is up 225.64 points or 0.8 percent at 27499.79 and the Nifty is up 81.60 points or 0.9 percent at 8515.35. About 1942 shares have advanced, 456 shares declined, and 83 shares are unchanged.

Lupin, BHEL, ITC, SBI and Dr Reddy's Labs are top gainers while TCS, HUL, HDFC, Wipro and L&T are losers in the Sensex.

Gold retreated as the US dollar and stocks strengthened after the FBI said it stood by its earlier finding that no criminal charges were warranted against Democrat Hillary Clinton just two days ahead of the US election.

Gold prices in India swung to a discount in the week to Nov. 4 as a rally in prices dampened retail demand and prompted jewellers to reduce purchases, while demand in leading consumer China went up on safe-haven buying on worries over the US presidential election.

10:59 am Market Update: Benchmark indices remained higher with the Sensex rising 227.55 points or 0.83 percent to 27501.70 and the Nifty up 80.95 points or 0.96 percent at 8514.70.

About four shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE.

10:45 am Poll: ICICI Bank is likely to see net profit falling 18.3 percent to Rs 2476.9 crore in July-September quarter from Rs 3030.1 crore in corresponding quarter last fiscal. Earnings are expected to remain under pressure due to high provisions.

According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, the largest private lender's net interest income may be up marginally by 0.4 percent at Rs 5273.9 crore compared to Rs 5251.5 crore in year-ago period.

Slippage in Q2 from watchlist will be seen closely. Provisions may remain elevated in Q2 despite stake sale in ICICI Prudential life. Q1 provision was at Rs 2514.5 crore while ICICI had created contingent provision in Q4FY16 of which Rs 2734.6 crore is available with them after Q1.

10:30 am Buzzing: Lupin shares gained 8 percent intraday after the US health regulator has cleared company's Goa facility.

The pharma major on Monday announced that it has received an establishment inspection report (EIR) from the US Food and Drug Administration for its Goa facility, leading to the closure of all outstanding USFDA inspections of this facility.

The USFDA had carried out an inspection of Goa facility in March 2016.

"We are committed to ensuring that all systems and processes followed by Lupin are compliant with current good manufacturing practice," Vinita Gupta, Chief Executive Officer and Nilesh Gupta, Managing Director said.

10:15 am Revenue expectations: Realty firm Godrej Properties is expecting a sales revenue of about Rs 3,000 crore over the next 6-7 years from a new township in Greater Noida where the company sold properties worth over Rs 300 crore on the first day of launch.

Godrej Properties, the real estate arm of Godrej Group, will launch more projects during this fiscal and announce new tie-ups for future development, its Managing Director and CEO Pirojsha Godrej told PTI.

The Mumbai-based developer had last month forayed into Noida-Greater Noida property market with the launch of 100 acre township in partnership with local builder Ace Group.

"We sold over 6 lakh sq ft of villas in a single day at the launch of our township with booking value in excess of Rs 300 crore. It was very important for us. This is our first project in Noida-Greater Noida, which is a big real estate market in the country," Godrej said.

10:00 am Market Check
Equity benchmarks continued to hold early gains with the Nifty trading above 8500 level, led by short covering and positive Asian cues. It is a relief rally after losing more than 2 percent in last week on account of uncertainty over US presidential elections.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 210.49 points at 27484.64 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 72.15 points at 8505.90 while the broader markets outperformed benchmarks.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rose 1.3 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively. About five shares advanced for every share falling on the exchange.

PNB Housing Finance has made stock market debut at Rs 860, up 11 percent from its issue price of Rs 775. The stock touched an intraday high of Rs 902.80, up 16.5 percent.

Lupin topped the buying list on Sensex, up nearly 6 percent. Aurobindo Pharma, ITC, BPCL, BHEL and PNB gained 2-4 percent while HDFC, TCS, HUL, L&T and Bajaj Auto were losers.

Asian markets were mostly higher, after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) again cleared presidential candidate Hillary Clinton of potential criminal charges in its private email server probe.

9:55 am New kid in the block: Shares of PNB Housing Finance will make stock market debut in a bit now. Issue price of Punjab National Bank's subsidiary was fixed at Rs 750-755 per share.

The issue, which was open for subscription during October 25-27, received an overwhelming response from investors as it was oversubscribed by 29.55 times. The reserved portion of qualified institutional buyers was oversubscribed 37.33 times, non-institutional investors 86.17 times and retail investors 1.35 times.

PNB Housing Finance has raised Rs 3,000 crore through this issue, including Rs 894 crore raised from anchor investors.

9:45 am Result poll: ICICI Bank is likely to see net profit falling 18.3 percent to Rs 2476.9 crore in July-September quarter from Rs 3030.1 crore in corresponding quarter last fiscal. Earnings expected to remain under pressure due to high provisions.

According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, the largest private lender's net interest income may be up marginally by 0.4 percent at Rs 5273.9 crore compared to Rs 5251.5 crore in year-ago period.

Slippage in Q2 from watchlist will be seen closely. Provisions may remain elevated in Q2 despite stake sale in ICICI Prudential life. Q1 provision was at Rs 2514.5 crore while ICICI had created contingent provision in Q4FY16 of which Rs 2734.6 crore is available with them after Q1.

9:30 am Market outlook: Mahesh Nandurkar of CLSA says among the 64 companies under the coverage which have reported thus far, the brokerage has raised FY17 earnings estimates for 39 percent of them and downgraded for 41 percent.

Consumer staples and print media disappointed but autos, select private banks and commodities beat expectations.

He says during results season, FY17 consensus Nifty earnings estimates were lowered by 1 percent, a much improved trend compared to last year. Festive season demand has been robust, especially for autos and jewellery.

If this trend continues, H2FY17 will be far better for corporate earnings which will also have a low base to help, he feels.

The market has opened with strong gains supported by firm global cues as FBI cleared presidential candidate Hillary Clinton of potential criminal charges in its private email server probe.

The Sensex is up 280.29 points or 1 percent at 27554.44, and the Nifty up 99.75 points or 1.2 percent at 8533.50. About 639 shares have advanced, 96 shares declined, and 41 shares are unchanged.

Lupin is up 7 percent while Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, SBI and Adani Ports are gainers. Tata Motors is in red. Boosted by strong Q2 results, PNB is up 5 percent.

The Indian rupee opened marginally lower by 4 paise at 66.74 per dollar versus 66.70 Friday.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity says, "Weak US economic data and dollar index will help rupee gain today. The rupee is likely to head towards 66.50/dollar levels and the trading range for the day is likely to be between 66.50-66.80/dollar."

The US dollar slipped against the safe-haven Swiss Franc on Friday on nervousness ahead of US presidential election, despite a solid US jobs report that supported expectations for a Federal Reserve rate hike next month.

Stock markets in Asia opened up with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan advancing 0.3 percent. Australian shares were up 0.7 percent and Japanese shares rose 1.2 percent.

The biggest winner was the Mexican peso, which has acted as something of a bellwether of sentiment as Republican Donald Trump's proposed policies are considered to be deeply negative for the country. It rose to a 1-1/2 week high earlier.

Investors had been unnerved by signs of a tightening presidential race between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Trump, whose stance on foreign policy, trade and immigration has rippled through financial markets.

Crude oil logged its biggest weekly percentage declines since January of just under 10 percent as signs of tensions resurfaced between Saudi Arabia and Iran that could scupper a key supply cut pact.

Gold steadied on Friday, heading for its biggest weekly rise since mid-September as jitters over next week's US election offset a solid payrolls report that shored up expectations for a US interest rate hike next month.