Sensex ends on a positive note, Nifty above 9650; Hero Moto, Cipla gain

3:30 pm Market at Close: Equity benchmark indices ended the session and the week on a positive note, with the Nifty closing firmly above 9650.

The Sensex ended up 135.70 points at 31273.29, while the Nifty closed higher by 37.40 points at 9653.50. The market breadth was narrow as 1,450 shares advanced against a decline of 1,243 shares, while 162 shares were unchanged.

Hero MotoCorp and Cipla gained the most on both indices, while GAIL, Tata Steel, and BPCL were the top losers.

Midcaps and pharma had a field day and gained for the fourth consecutive session.

3:05 pm Buyback: Bayer CropScience shares rallied nearly 11 percent intraday to hit fresh all-time high of Rs 5,050 ahead of board meeting to consider buyback of shares.

The company informed exchanges that a meeting of the board of directors will be held on June 6 to consider a proposal for buy back of the company's equity shares.

The board will also consider constitution of buyback committee, and appointment of intermediaries in accordance with all applicable provisions of laws, it said.

2:45 pm Oil price falls: Oil prices dropped amid worries that US President Donald Trump's decision to abandon a global climate pact could spark more crude drilling in the United States, stoking a persistent glut in global supply.

Global benchmark Brent crude futures were down 2.67 percent, at USD 49.28 a barrel.

US West Texas Intermediate crude futures dropped 2.73 percent, to USD 47.04 per barrel.

2:30 pm Buzzing: Hero Motocorp stock price touched fresh record high of Rs 3,849, up 3 percent intraday on better sales growth in May.

The world's largest two-wheeler manufacturer sold 6.33 lakh units in May 2017, registering a growth of 8.7 percent compared with 5.83 lakh units dispatched in corresponding month last year.

"Having lined up a slew of new launches across various segments, the company is confident of maintaining growth trajectory in coming months," Hero said in its filing.

Hero Motocorp also commenced commercial production in manufacturing facility at its subsidiary HMCL Niloy Bangladesh. This plant has an installed capacity of 1.5 lakh vehicles per annum.

2:15 pm Market Check: Benchmark indices continued to be trading strong in the afternoon session, with the Nifty still hovering around 9650.

The Sensex was up 135.12 points at 31272.71, while the Nifty was up 40.80 points at 9656.90. The market breadth was narrow as 1,485 shares advanced against a decline of 1,065 shares, while 173 shares were unchanged.

Hero MotoCorp and Cipla were the top gainers, while GAIL, HUL and Vedanta lost the most.

1:45 pm Online registration: To improve ease of doing business, markets regulator SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) has launched an online registration mechanism for mutual funds with effect from June 1.

This move will help in making it easier for existing and new fund houses to complete their registration with SEBI much faster and in a cost-effective way.

In a circular, the regulator said it has decided to operationalise 'Sebi Intermediary Portal' for the entities to submit the mutual funds registration applications online. Applicants can log in to (https://siportal.sebi.gov.in) for online registration.

1:30 pm Expert Speak: UR Bhat, Director at Dalton Capital Advisors said that the current rally is not supported by fundamentals. Currently, liquidty was boosting the market, but in the long term, fundamentals and earnings will have to improve to justify the high valuations, he added.

In fact, going forward, there could be disruptions - both domestic and global - that could have an impact on the economy and markets.

Bhat highlighted that small businesses would be hit on the back of goods and services tax (GST) roll out. ''There would be disruption in terms of supply to big businesses…this could impact GDP for a few quarters,'' he told CNBC-TV18. Internationally too, situation in North Korea, policies from US President Donald Trump, steep rate hike by the US Fed could have a negative impact.

1:15 pm Market Check: Benchmark indices traded steady in the afternoon session, with the Nifty trading around 9650.

The Sensex was up 134.71 points at 31272.30, while the Nifty up 35.75 points at 9651.85. The market breadth was narrow as 1,472 shares advanced against a decline of 1,030 shares, while 141 shares were unchanged.

Cipla and Hero MotoCorp gained the most on both indices, while Tata Steel, GAIL and BPCL lost the most.

12:58 pm GMR posts loss: GMR Infrastructure today reported widening of its standalone net loss to Rs 2,478.7 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2017.

The company had posted standalone net loss of Rs 1,787 crore in the corresponding quarter of FY16, GMR Infrastructure said in a filing to BSE.

The company's standalone total revenue declined to Rs 272.47 crore compared to Rs 395.25 crore in the year-ago period.

Reflecting GMR's turnaround efforts and improvement of financial health of the group, the gross debt reduced to Rs 19,856 crore from Rs 37,480 crore, it said.

12:45 pm Europe opening: Markets in Europe open higher as investors focus on data and as the world digests news that the US is withdrawing from the Paris climate change deal.

12:30 pm Interview: Consumer durables stocks have been rallying but reports indicate that the white goods sales may not be looking good despite the scorching heat. The question on investors' mind now is will June be a washout ahead of goods and services tax (GST) implementation?

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, B Thiagarajan, Joint MD of Blue Star said the slowdown in demand is more than anticipated.

On GST front, he said the real calculations reveal that prices will not be going up due to GST. It may go up due to commodity prices or something like that.

Blue Star expects 15 percent growth in June.

12:15 pm Buzzing: Tata Motors shares price added 2 percent intraday after reporting stellar performance by Jaguar, Tiago, Tigor and Hexa brands in May.

Luxury car maker Jaguar Land Rover during the month sold 8,106 units in the US, higher by 13.9 percent compared with 7,114 units sold in same month last year.

The growth was largely driven by Jaguar sales that showed a solid 43.9 percent growth at 3,113 units but Land Rover's US sales growth was subdued at 0.9 percent YoY.

12:00 pm Market Check: Equity benchmarks continued to trade nearly record highs hit in opening trade today.

Index heavyweights like HDFC (up 1.5 percent), HDFC Bank (up 0.8 percent) & ITC (up 0.9 percent), auto and pharma stocks continued to support the market. However, the selling pressure in ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries and Infosys limited gains.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 132.64 points at 31,270.23 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 36.90 points to 9,653 while the BSE Midcap index gained 0.7 percent and Smallcap up 0.4 percent on positive breadth.

About 1400 shares advanced against 966 declining shares on the exchange.

Bharti Airtel rallied 3 percent on approval from SEBI and stocks exchanges for merger with Telenor India while Hero Motocorp gained 3 percent post May sales data.

11:30 am Credit score linked to employment? If you thought your credit history and credit score was only useful for getting a bank loan, you will be mistaken. For senior positions especially involving hires for sales, accounting and finance roles, companies have sought information on credit history of prospective hires.

Rahul Belwalkar, CEO, SecUR Credentials which is a background verification company explained that since credit bureaus have started to share information with entities like them, they can verify as to how good a person's credit score is.

''For positions like that of chief financial officer, it is imperative to know the credit score of the individual. Because, if he or she has been defaulting on their payments, they may not be the right fit for the company,'' he explained.

11:05 am Market Check: Benchmark indices regained some momentum after trading off the high points of the day.

The Sensex was up 122.68 points at 31260.27, while the Nifty was up 29.65 points at 9645.75. The market breadth was narrow as 1,340 shares advanced against a decline of 895 shares, while 140 shares were unchanged.

Bharti Airtel and Cipla were the top gainers, while Tata Steel, HUL and Indiabulls Housing Finance lost the most on both indices.

Pharma stocks continued to gain for the fourth consecutive session, while midcaps gained about half a percent.

Gold fell Rs 103 to Rs 28,840 per 10 grams in futures trade today as participants reduced their positions, largely in line with a weak trend overseas. Profit-booking at existing levels also weighed on the yellow metal.

10:40 am Buzzing: GMR Infrastructure shares gained nearly 11 percent intraday after significant reduction in debt and turning profitable in the financial year 2016-17.

Company's gross debt fell significantly to Rs 19,856 crore in FY17 from Rs 37,480 crore in FY16 and net debt to EBITDA ratio for the year improved to 4.3 from 10.2 in FY16.

"With significant reduction of gross & net debt and the improvement of Debt-to-EBITDA improving more than 100 percent, GMR has substantially brought down its leverage," the Delhi-based infrastructure conglomerate said in its filing.

10.18 am Market check: Equity benchmarks were off day's high in morning trade after hitting record highs in opening.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 96.97 points at 31,234.56 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 28.15 points to 9,644.25.

The broader markets also came off day's high, up 0.4 percent on positive breadth. About two shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE.

Bharti Airtel was biggest gainer among Sensex stocks, up 3 percent after the telecom operator received approval from SEBI & stock exchanges for merger with Telenor India. The company filed application with National Company Law Tribunal for nod to scheme of merger.

Tata Motors, HDFC, Adani Ports, ITC and TCS were other top contributors to Sensex' gains whereas ICICI Bank remained under pressure, down nearly a percent.

9:56 am BoJ balance sheet: The Bank of Japan hit a new milestone as its balance sheet topped 500 trillion yen (USD 4.48 trillion), roughly the same size as that of the Federal Reserve, having more than tripled since it started aggressive stimulus in 2013.

But while the central bank reached a major milestone in money printing, it is nowhere near achieving the ultimate goal of its policy, to lift inflation to 2 percent, highlighting the difficulty the BOJ is facing as the pace of its bond buying appears unsustainable.

Data from the BOJ showed its total assets rose to 500.8 trillion yen at the end of May, compared to 425.7 trillion yen a year earlier. It was 164.8 trillion yen when Governor Haruhiko Kuroda took the helm in March 2013.

9:40 am Auto sales: Bajaj Auto disappointed the Street on Friday by reporting a 10 percent decline in total sales at 3.14 lakh units for May 2017 against 3.48 lakh units in same month last year, impacted by overall performance.

Domestic sales during the month fell 15 percent year-on-year to 1.74 lakh units and exports dropped 3 percent to 1.4 lakh units.

Numbers were far lower than Nomura expectation of 3.45 lakh units for the month.

Bajaj Auto said 2-wheeler sales slipped 10 percent to 2.77 lakh units while 2-wheeler exports declined 5 percent to 1.21 lakh units YoY.

Total commercial vehicle sales were down 9 percent at 36,641 units, with domestic commercial vehicle sales down 28 percent at 17,524 units compared with same month last year.

9:25 am Buzzing: Cadila Healthcare shares gained more than 4 percent after its group company Zydus has received approval from the US health regulator for Levofloxacin injection.

Levofloxacin is the first approval from company's Moraiya plant that received clearance from USFDA in February.

9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks started off Friday's session on a strong note after four-day consolidation, with the Nifty hitting fresh record high.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 132.12 points at 31,269.71 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 40.05 points to 9,656.15. About 433 shares advanced against 80 declining shares on the BSE.

Hero Motocorp, Adani Ports, Lupin, TCS, Bharti Airtel, Aurobindo Pharma and Eicher Motors were early gainers while Bajaj Auto lost 1.5 percent.

The Indian rupee has opened at 64.35 against the US dollar.

Ashutosh Raina of HDFC Bank said the USD-INR pair continued to trade strong tracking global dollar weakness and in sync with other emerging markets currencies.

However, the gains are being capped by strong intervention, he added.

Raina expects the currency pair to trade in the 64.20-64.60 a dollar range today.

Positive global cues also supported the market. Asian markets were mostly in the green, after the release of strong private payrolls stateside and as President Donald Trump announced the US would be withdrawing from the Paris climate accord.