Nifty ends tad below 8300, Sensex firm; ITC & banks support

3:30 pm Market closing: The market has ended with gains, though it cooled off intraday from its inital gains. The Sensex was up 183.15 points or 0.7 percent at 27470.81, and the Nifty up 43.75 points or 0.5 percent at 8295.45. About 1289 shares have advanced, 1425 shares declined, and 154 shares are unchanged.

Axis Bank, ITC, HDFC, NTPC and GAIL are top gainers while Bharti Airtel, L&T, Vedanta, Maruti and Suzuki are among losers in the Sensex.

3:10 pm Gold check: Gold prices fell Rs 135 to Rs 27,200 per 10 grams at the bullion market today owing to slack demand from jewellers and retailers at prevailing levels even as the metal firmed up in global markets.

However, silver recovered by Rs 385 to Rs 37,285 per kg on increased offtake by industrial units and coin makers.

Traders said easing demand from jewellers and retailers following the end of the auspicious Navratra festival mainly led to the decline in gold prices, but a firm trend overseas capped the fall.

Globally, gold edged higher 0.3 percent to USD 1,169.40 an ounce in Singapore. Besides, an appreciating rupee against the dollar making the imports cheaper influenced gold prices.

2:55 pm Glenmark in News: Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Europe today announced that it has entered into a strategic development & licensing agreement with Celon Pharma SA to develop and market a generic version of GlaxoSmithKline's Seretide Accuhaler product - Fluticasone / Salmeterol dry powder Inhaler in Europe upon commercialisation.

As per the terms of the agreement; Glenmark has obtained semi-exclusive marketing & distribution rights of the product across 15 European countries including Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, Norway and Romania among others.

Celon on the other hand, shall receive an upfront payment; followed by certain milestone payments during various stages of the product's development from Glenmark; including royalties on sales. The distribution agreement was concluded for a period of 10 years, with an option of a two-year extension.

2:45 pm Market cools off slightly: The Sensex rose 149.73 points to 27437.39 and the Nifty climbed 38.60 points to 8290.30.

About 1232 shares have advanced, 1370 shares declined, and 163 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

2:40 pm Earnings: Mumbai-based largest industrial paint company Kansai Nerolac Paints said it has registered a 33.3 percent year-on-year growth in net profit at Rs 96.88 crore for July-September quarter. Bottomline growth was driven by strong operational performance and other income despite higher tax cost.

Revenue increased 5.2 percent to Rs 971.3 crore in quarter ended September 2015 compared to Rs 923.2 crore in same quarter last year.

Operating profit (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) climbed 27.8 percent year-on-year to Rs 153.9 crore and margin expanded by 280 basis points to 15.8 percent during the quarter, aided by lower raw material cost.

2:20 pm Boardroom: Arun Jain, Chairman and Managing Director of Intellect Design said the company is growing at a fast pace and aims to turn profitable in fourth quarter of FY16.

Intellect Design Arena Ltd, a Polaris Group company, has reported a net loss of Rs 7.94 crore for the three months period ending September 30.

Rakesh Radheshyam Jhunjhunwala has purchased 2.24 percent equity stake in the company during July-September quarter, in addition to 3.73 percent stake already held in his wife's name Rekha Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, as per latest shareholding data available on exchanges. He has also upped his stake in Polaris Consulting, a parent company of Intellect, to 4.99 percent from 4.74 percent during the quarter.

2:00 pm Market Check
Equity benchmarks continued to hold morning gains, led by banking & financials, FMCG and oil stocks. The broader markets underperformed benchmarks as the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were flat in afternoon trade.

The Sensex rose 229.74 points to 27517.40 and the Nifty advanced 58.35 points to 8310.05.

Pramod Gubbi of Ambit Capital says he will use the rally in Indian equities to book profits, because corporate earnings have not yet bottomed out, and there are no signs of any improvement in the economy at the ground level.

Bank Nifty was up 1.5 percent as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and SBI rallied 1.5-2 percent. Housing finance company HDFC rallied 1.6 percent. ITC, ONGC, NTPC and GAIL remained top gainers on Sensex, up 2-2.5 percent.

L&T, Maruti Suzuki, Wipro and Vedanta extended losses, down 1.5-2 percent. Bharti Airtel topped selling list on Sensex, down 2.5 percent.

1:55 pm Result poll: Godrej Consumer Products is expected to post net profit at Rs 287 crore in July-September quarter, up 22.6 percent from Rs 234 crore in corresponding quarter last fiscal. According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, the home and personal care company may see revenue growth of 11 percent at Rs 2289 crore against Rs 2060 crore.

EBITDA in Q2 is seen up 22 percent at Rs 416 crore from Rs 342 crore while EBITDA margins may come in at 18.2 percent versus 16.6 crore year-on-year. Higher gross margins owing to correction in material costs are seen to be partially offset by advertising & promotion spends, say analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

Volume is also likely to grow 10-11 percent with 4 percent growth in price mix while domestic consumer business may be buoyant with 12 percent growth. International business in Q2 may see mixed cues with muted 9 percent growth. Macros are likely to adversely impact Indonesia, African operations.

1:45 pm Interview: Hindustan Zinc Limited is on track to achieve volume guidance that it had outlined last year, which is 900-950 kiloton, CEO Sunil Duggal told CNBC-TV18. In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Duggal said the global zinc demand was seeing growth of 3 percent but added that zinc cost had come down by about 15 percent in US dollar terms. He expects prices to bounce back from early 2016. Hindustan Zinc had been spending about USD 200-250 million on capital expenditure every year, he added.

1:30 pm Result: Asia's largest luggage maker VIP Industries has reported solid performance in quarter ended September 2015. Profit has seen a four-fold jump to Rs 15.7 crore during the quarter compared to Rs Rs 3.8 crore in year-ago period, driven by operational performance and revenue despite sharp spike in tax expenses.

Revenue increased by 35 percent to Rs 295.5 crore in second quarter of FY16 compared to Rs 219 crore in corresponding quarter of last fiscal.

Operating profit (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) more than doubled to Rs 25 crore from Rs 11 crore and margin expanded by 340 basis points to 8.5 percent from 5.1 percent during same period.

The market has cooled off a bit as the Sensex is up 191.26 points or 0.7 percent at 27478.92. The Nifty is up 47.05 points or 0.6 percent at 8298.75.
About 1356 shares have advanced, 1121 shares declined, and 156 shares are unchanged.

ITC, NTPC, ONGC, GAIL and Axis Bank are top gainers while Bharti, Maruti, Wipro, L&T and Vedanta are among losers.

Gold rose Rs 21 to Rs 27,097 per 10 grams in futures trading today as speculators widened bets, tracking a firming trend overseas.

Market analysts said speculators enlarged their bets on the back of a firming global trend as investors eyed the upcoming Fed meeting for clues on timing of a US interest rate hike.

Globally, gold increased as much as 0.3 percent to USD 1,169.40 an ounce in Singapore.

12:58 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks remained strong. The Sensex rose 203.85 points or 0.75 percent to 27491.51 and the Nifty climbed 48.25 points or 0.58 percent to 8299.95.

About 1409 shares have advanced, 1018 shares declined, and 154 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

12:55 pm Symphony in Focus: Ahmedabad-based air cooler maker Symphony's July-September quarter profit jumped 33 percent to Rs 28.8 crore compared to year-ago period, supported by topline as well as operational performance. Weak monsoon lifted sales volume of the company that resulted strong revenue growth during the quarter.

Revenue grew by 24.4 percent to Rs 114.5 crore in quarter ended September 2015 compared to Rs 92 crore in corresponding period of last fiscal.

Operating profit increased by 42.6 percent year-on-year to Rs 34 crore and margin expanded by 380 basis points to 29.7 percent in the quarter gone by.

12:50 pm Earnings: Asia's largest luggage maker VIP Industries has reported solid performance in quarter ended September 2015. Profit has seen a four-fold jump to Rs 15.7 crore during the quarter compared to Rs Rs 3.8 crore in year-ago period, driven by operational performance and revenue.

Revenue increased by 35 percent to Rs 295.5 crore in second quarter of FY16 compared to Rs 219 crore in corresponding quarter of last fiscal.

Operating profit more than doubled to Rs 25 crore from Rs 11 crore and margin expanded by 340 basis points to 8.5 percent from 5.1 percent during same period.

12:40 pm Europe opens: European stocks opened higher after the European Central Bank (ECB) signaled on Thursday its willingness to extend its bond-buying program.

All major European indices were in positive territory.

Following the central bank's meeting in Malta, the bank left its key interest rates unchanged at 0.05 percent on Thursday before attention turned to the bank's customary press conference.

ECB President Mario Draghi said the bank's 1 trillion euro bond-buying program policy would need to be "re-examined" in December. He added that the governing council would be ready to use all its available instruments within its mandate. This suggests that the quantitative easing program could be extended beyond September 2016 and even into 2017, some analysts believe.

12:20 pm ECB chief on euro zone: European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said monetary policy alone cannot solve the euro zone's economic problems and called on member countries to take additional actions alongside.

"Monetary policy should not be the only game in town," he told a news conference in Malta. "All countries should strive for growth-friendly fiscal policies."

Annual growth in the euro zone is running at only around 1.2 percent, although there is a large gap between countries.

Draghi said much of this gap could be put down to the efforts countries had made to make their economies flexible, and particularly at getting debt down. "It is quite clear that a big stock of debt (hurts) growth," he said.

12:00 pm Market Check
The market remained strong in noon trade, aided by rally in Asian peers on hopes of stimulus package from European Central Bank. The Sensex surged 222.46 points to 27510.12 and the Nifty jumped 56.50 points to 8308.20.

ITC, ONGC, NTPC and GAIL topped buying list on Sensex, up 2-2.5 percent followed by HDFC, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, SBI and HUL with 1-1.7 percent.

Bharti Airtel fell nearly 3 percent. Maruti Suzuki and Wipro lost 1.5 percent each.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 48.33 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional data. Overseas, Asia was sharply higher, tracking offshore gains following hints of fresh stimulus from the European Central Bank (ECB). US stocks ended sharply higher yesterday, rallying on economic data, better-than-expected earnings and dovish comments from ECB President Mario Draghi.

11:55 am Deal: Talwalkars has bought 49 percent stake in Sri Lanka's Power World Gym, CFO Anant Gawande told CNBC-TV18. Power World Gym, the largest in the island country, operates about 12 gyms, which will go up to 50 gyms in the next 24 months. While he did not elaborate on the consideration for the deal, Gawande said the gym enjoys EBITDA margins of 39-41 percent, similar to Talwalkars's own margins. "They have 850-900 customers per gym, which is also similar to Talwalkars at 920-940," he said. "These are nicely done up gyms. So there is not much existing capex [on the existing gyms]."

11:45 am Market outlook: Stating that the ongoing market rally has more to it than a mere gush of liquidity, Motilal Oswal Asset Management's Taher Badshah said a number of fundamental factors have also been behind the recent bounceback in the Nifty. "There have been rate cuts and more may be expected ahead. The earnings season has been decent so far. We expect earnings to continue to pick up further in the quarters ahead," he told CNBC-TV18. "The market is taking cognizance of that." Badshah, who manages Motilal Oswal Focus 30 fund, said he was bullish on NBFCs such as Repco Homes and Bajaj Finance and some IT companies such as KPIT and Mindtree.

11:30 am Buzzing: Shares of Idea Cellular slumped 6 percent after its September quarter results. The telecom service provider's volumes and average revenue per user (ARPU) in Q2 declined on sequential basis while both voice and data realisations were under pressure.

Idea Cellular's net profit slipped 13.1 percent to Rs 809.3 crore in September quarter from Rs 930.8 crore quarter-on-quarter. During the period, its revenue slipped 1.2 percent to Rs 8689 crore against Rs 8798.3 crore in quarter-ago period.

Analysts are disappointed after its September quarter was hit by seasonality more-than-expected.

The market is surging ahead with support from banks, oil & gas and FMCG stocks. The Sensex is up 223.70 points or 0.8 percent at 27511.36, and the Nifty gains 57.70 points or 0.7 percent at 8309.40. About 1428 shares have advanced, 729 shares declined, and 107 shares are unchanged.

ONGC, NTPC, GAIL, ITC and ICICI Bank are top gainers while Bharti, Maruti, Wipro, L&T and Vedanta.

Oil prices extended gains into a second day in Asian trade, finding support from brighter economic data and a global stock market rally after the European Central Bank signaled its willingness to launch more stimulus measures.

The gains followed a slew of upbeat economic data, while ECB president Mario Draghi said new Eurozone pump priming initiatives could be unveiled as soon as December.

10:59 am Market Update: The Sensex rose 223.57 points or 0.82 percent to 27511.23 and the Nifty climbed 56.60 points to 8308.30.

About 1405 shares have advanced, 730 shares declined, and 109 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

10:50 am Earnings: Telecom tower infrastructure services provider Bharti Infratel matched analysts' expectations on bottomline front only while revenue and operational performance were below estimates for quarter ended September 2015. Net profit increased 0.61 percent sequentially to Rs 579.2 crore, impacted by slow growth in revenue and operating profit.

Revenue rose by 0.7 percent to Rs 3,037.8 crore in July-September quarter compared to Rs 3,016 crore in June quarter.

Profit was estimated at Rs 581 crore on revenue of Rs 3,082 crore for the quarter, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

Operating profit rose by half a percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 1,308 crore but margin declined 11 basis points to 43.05 percent in second quarter of FY16, which were estimated at Rs 1,343 crore and 43.6 percent, respectively.

10:40 am Boardroom: KPIT Technologies  reported a strong set of numbers which was the result of the company's focus on profitabilty, says Kishor Patil, Co founder, CEO & MD. In the quarter gone by, KPIT Tech witnessed margin expansion despite a wage hike exercise. The chief reason for margin expansion were improvement in utilization, employee pyramid and growth rate.

Speaking about the December quarter, Patil says 2-3 percent loss in revenue can be expected due to lesser working days on account of festival holidays.

"So Q3 is expected to be flattish." But after FY16, the company is well on its track to get back to the industry growth rate, Patil said adding manufacturing pipeline remains strong in Asia and Europe. There is is headroom to improve margins by 300-400 bps in 12-18 months.

10:20 am RComm in news: Telecom operator Reliance Communications is planning to roll out a 3G ICR-like roaming agreement to continue 2G service in Bihar, West Bengal and Assam after its right to use 2G spectrum expires in December.

"RCom already has existing and valid intra-circle roaming (ICR) agreements with other telecom operators, predominantly Tata Teleservices and Aircel, to offer 2G GSM services to its customers in these three circles," a source privy to the development said.

Under 3G ICR, telecom operators that don't have 3G spectrum in a circle use their partner's network to sell and operate 3G services.

10:00 am Market Check
The market has touched three-month high with the Sensex rising 212.81 points to 27500.47 and the Nifty climbing 55.45 points to 8307.15. The broader markets underperformed benchmarks; the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rose 0.5 percent each.

The market breadth was positive as about 1307 shares have advanced against 564 declining shares on the BSE.

Software services provider KPIT Technologies surged 13 percent as it has reported excellent performance in July-September quarter with profit rising 69 percent sequentially to Rs 75.08 crore on strong improvement in operating profit performance.

Cairn India rose 3 percent after beating analysts' expectations on bottomline front. Profit declined 19.4 percent sequentially to Rs 672.7 crore in July-September quarter against forecast of Rs 575 crore.

ITC, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, HDFC, SBI, Tata Motors, Lupin, ONGC and Axis Bank gained 1-2 percent while Bharti Airtel and Wipro lost 1.5-2 percent. Wipro missed expectations on guidance front. It expects Q3FY16 IT services dollar revenue in range of USD 1,841-1,878 million, a growth of 0.5-2.5% over Q2.

9:55 am Market outlook: The ongoing rally in global markets is being largely driven by the European Central Bank's dovish comments, and hopes of liquidity injection through quantitative easing, says Pramod Gubbi of Ambit Capital.

However, investors are beginning to realise the limitations of money printing by central banks, and may not be enthused beyond a point, he says.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Gubbi says he will use the rally in Indian equities to book profits, because corporate earnings have not yet bottomed out, and there are no signs of any improvement in the economy at the ground level.

9:45 am Good news: Forecasting that India will clock the highest growth rate of 7-7.5 percent among G20 economies in 2015 and 2016, Moody's Investors Service today said the country is less exposed to external shocks, and the positive rating outlook reflects resilient growth and reforms momentum. "India is less exposed to global risks because of its more resilient economic growth and the impact of positive policy reforms momentum," the rating agency said. Emerging market sovereigns have diverging shock-absorption capabilities to withstand the risks that will continue to impact global credit quality in 2015-16, says Moody's in a report published today.

9:30 am Stake sale: Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has initiated talks with public sector banks to sell the 35 percent stake held by its Japanese partner Nomura in its mutual fund arm, sources at the insurance behemoth said. More clarity on the issue is likely to come after the LIC board meeting scheduled for October 28, they said, adding the Corporation does not want to increase its stake in the MF joint venture, LIC Nomura AMC , any further. The market is abuzz with talks that Nomura India is unlikely to renew its five-year contract with LIC and is planning to completely exit its mutual fund business here.

A day after Dusshera, the market has opened with zeal riding on strong global cues. The Sensex is up 245.31 points or 0.9 percent at 27532.97 and the Nifty gains 68.45 points or 0.8 percent at 8320.15. About 669 shares have advanced, 112 shares declined, and 29 shares are unchanged.

Reliance, Hindalco, Vedanta, Lupin and Tata Motors are top gainers in the Sensex. Idea is down after its Q2 results.

Asian share markets were sharply higher, tracking offshore gains following hints of new stimulus from the European Central Bank (ECB). Japan's Nikkei 225 index zoomed up to 18,848 points - its highest level since August 31.

ECB President Mario Draghi signaled on Thursday that the central bank is prepared to undertake another large stimulus package to tackle the lackluster growth seen in the euro zone.

The euro skidded to two-month lows against the dollar after the European Central Bank opened the door to more stimulus as early as December, leaving the single currency shaken a day after it had posted one of the biggest falls in recent years.

The euro fell to as low as USD 1.1072 in early Asian trade, breaking below the USD 1.11 mark, which has been a major support for the currency in the last several weeks.

The S&P 500 closed at its highest in two months on Thursday as stronger-than-expected earnings from several top companies, including McDonald's, relieved investors' concerns about the profit outlook.

The Indian rupee gained in the early trade. It has opened higher by 32 paise at 64.80 per dollar versus 65.12 Wednesday.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity said, "Looking at positive global cues, we expect the rupee to appreciate though the strength in dollar may put some pressure. We see the range for today between 64.75-65.60/dollar."