Sensex ends 80 points lower, Nifty fails to hold 11,600; ONGC gains 4%

The Sensex was down 80.30 points at 38564.88, while Nifty was down 18.50 points at 11576. About 1132 shares advanced, 1380 shares declined, and 147 shares were unchanged. 

Maruti Suzuki, Yes Bank, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank and Hero Motocorp were top losers on the Nifty, while gainers included ONGC, Zee Entertainment, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Finance and Reliance Industries.

Among sectors, energy, FMCG and pharma witnessed some buying, while auto, bank, metal and infra ended in red.

Crude Update: Oil prices hit 2019 highs on Tuesday after Washington announced all Iran sanction waivers would end by May, pressuring importers to stop buying from Tehran.

Market Update: Benchmark indices erased all its gains with Nifty slipped below 11,600 level.

At 14:46 hrs IST, the Sensex is down 6.97 points at 38638.21, while Nifty is up 3 points at 11597.50. About 1105 shares have advanced, 1243 shares declined, and 142 shares are unchanged. 

Buzzing: Jiya Eco Products shares gained more than 2 percent on April 23 after Khambatta Securities initiated coverage with buy call on the stock.

The brokerage expects healthy topline growth to be driven by capacity expansion, faster growth in retail sales and installation of more burners. "Easy raw material availability and operating leverage will enable expansion of EBITDA margins."

Gold Update: Gold edged lower on Tuesday as strong equities provided a risk-conducive backdrop for investors, countering support from Washington's move to end waivers on Iranian oil sanctions. 

IMD Working at Faster Pace to Issue Block-Level Weather Forecast by Next Year

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) Tuesday said it is working at a brisk pace to issue localised weather forecasting to all 6,500 blocks across 660 districts in the country by 2020 and help as many as 9.5 crore farmers deal with the vagaries of weather.

However, the most challenging task would be to enhance the accuracy of weather forecasts and to make agromet advisory services (AAS) more useful and user friendliness, it added.

At present, IMD issues district level advisories. In 2018, it tied up with Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to extend weather forecast and AAS at the block level. (Source: PTI)

Lupin Gains 4% after Morgan Stanley upgrade

Pharma major Lupin rallied 4.4 percent in morning after Morgan Stanley upgraded its rating on the stock to overweight from equalweight earlier and also increased price target by 40 percent, citing reasonable valuations.

After a sharp fall in earnings and stock price over the past four years, Lupin now appears well positioned for recovery, the global brokerage said, adding niche products should drive an earnings revival in F20-21, and visibility is improving all the way to F23.

Hence, it increased price target to Rs 1,094 from Rs 783 earlier.

Zee Entertainment rallies 6%

Zee Entertainment Enterprises shares gained 6 percent in morning after global research firm Macquarie expects a whopping 36 percent upside in stock amid stake sale buzz.

While maintaining outperform call with a price target at Rs 540 apiece, Macquarie said announcement on the stake sale promoters is imminent.

According to the chairman, the stake sale deal is likely in next 1-2 weeks, the brokerage said. 

Market Update: Benchmark indices are witnessing volatile trade with Nifty hovering around 11,600 level.

At 10:26 hrs IST, the Sensex is up 68.27 points at 38713.45, while Nifty is up 18 points at 11612.50. About 908 shares have advanced, 860 shares declined, and 81 shares are unchanged.  

Gail slips 3%: Shares of GAIL fell 3 percent on April 23 after the natural gas company emerged as the top bidder for wind power plants of Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS).

Macquarie on Zee Entertainment

Outperform call, target at Rs 540 per share

Announcement on the stake sale by promoters is imminent

Morgan Stanley on AU Small Finance Bank

Equal-weight call, target at Rs 560 per share

Asset quality remains strong 

Cost-to-income ratio at 58% vs 61% last quarter

Nomura on AU Small Finance Bank 

Maintain neutral call, target at Rs 590 per share

RoA expansion & cost-income ratio improvement will be more gradual

Current valuation of 27x FY21F EPS leaving little room for disappointment

Nomura on Cummins

Maintain neutral call, target at Rs 765 per share

Cost headwinds to impact margin

Slowing infra orders may result in weaker domestic growth in FY20

Citi on IndiGo

Domestic passenger market share in March was strong at 47%

Gained from reduction in Jet’s fleet & reduced operational fleet of SpiceJet 

Could find difficult to gain significant market share from current levels

Tejas Networks jumps 10% on strong Q4 numbers

Share price of Tejas Networks jumped 10.5 percent intraday Tuesday after company reported strong numbers for the quarter ended March 2019.

The company posted 23 percent increase in consolidated net profit for January-March 2019 quarter at Rs 35.89 crore.

Buzzing: Shares of Essel Propack added 2.4 percent in the early trade on Tuesday after Private equity player Blackstone announced the acquisition of  majority stake in company.

Market opens: Indian indices opened higher on Tuesday with Nifty above 11,600 mark.

At 09:17 hrs IST, the Sensex is up 38.43 points at 38683.61, while Nifty up 20 points or 0.17% at 11614.50. About 386 shares have advanced, 294 shares declined, and 31 shares are unchanged. 

IndusInd Bank, ITC, Cipla, Lupin, Zee Entertainment, Tata Steel, are among major gainers on the indices, while losers are Gail, BPCL, IOC, HPCL, Yes Bank, PC Jewellers, Reliance Infra, Reliance Communications and Indiabulls Housing. 

Among sectors, except energy and IT all other indices are trading in green.

Market at pre-open: Benchmark indices are trading higher in the pre-opening session with Nifty above 11,600.

At 09:02 hrs IST, the Sensex is up 109.97 points or 0.28% at 38755.15, and the Nifty up 27.20 points or 0.23% at 11621.70.

Wall Street ends mixed: US stocks ended a low-volume trading session little changed on Monday, with the biggest gains in the energy sector as investors otherwise stayed on the sidelines ahead of quarterly earnings.

Asian markets trade mixed: Asian shares were little changed on Tuesday, hovering not far from nine-month peaks hit last week, with concerns China may slow the pace of policy easing curbing the market's enthusiasm.

SGX Nifty: Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a flat opening for the broader index in India, a gain of 9.50 points or 0.08 percent. Nifty futures were trading around 11,626.50-level on the Singaporean Exchange.