Sensex ends up 147 points, Nifty at 8485; HDFC twins lead

03:30 pm Market closing: The market has ended on higher note. The Sensex was up 146.99 points or 0.5 percent at 28092.79 and the Nifty ended up 40.00 points or 0.5 percent at 8484.90. About 1528 shares have advanced, 1448 shares declined, and 204 shares are unchanged.

HDFC twins, Hero, Lupin and NTPC were top gainers in the Sensex while Vedanta, Coal India, Tata Steel, Wipro and Tata Steel were major laggards.

03:10 pm Buzzing: Shares of Canara Bank advanced 1 percent Friday after the country's largest insurance company Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) raised its stake in the public sector bank.

LIC upped its stake in the bank by 7.2 percent to 14.49% in April-June quarter from 7.29 percent in January-March quarter.

02:58 pm Market Update: The Sensex rose 116.42 points to 28062.22 and the Nifty gained 30.90 points at 8475.80. About 1531 shares have advanced, 1378 shares declined, and 223 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

02:45 pm Bharat Forge under pressure: Shares of Bharat Forge slipped 3.6 percent on consistent fall in order inflows from North America region.

"Order inflows for class 8 trucks in North America (preliminary data as per Freight Transportation Research) declined 25 percent year-on-year to 19,625 units in June 2015. This is the fourth consecutive month of decline – order inflows fell by 9-23 percent Y-o-Y over the March-May 2015 period," said Nomura in its note.

After strong growth over the past two years, the slowdown in order inflows has been quite steep over the past couple of months, it added.

Order inflow is a lead demand indicator and impacts production with a lag of two to three quarters. Therefore, while the current order book remains quite strong (around 6 times production levels), slowdown in order inflows could pose a risk to industry production levels in 2016F, it feels.

Bharat Forge derives around 15 percent of its revenues from the North American heavy trucks segment. The brokerage currently estimates 15 percent volume growth in commercial vehicles (CVs) in North America in FY16F and 5 percent growth in FY17F. "If the current trend continues, there could be downside risks to our FY17F estimates," it said.

Nomura is reviewing target price on the stock but it maintained reduce rating as it does not feel comfortable with multiples above 20x P/E due to cyclicality of its earnings.

"Although BHFC has done well over the last few years by diversifying into non-auto businesses, note that its overall cyclical exposure still remains quite high. The company still derives 45 percent of its revenue from CVs and 10 percent from oil & gas," it explained.

02:25 pm Interview: With the government seeking to up its e-governance push -- including with its ongoing Digital India Week -- a key player that has played a major role in such projects in the past is eyeing a sizeable growth opportunity.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Santosh Dash, CEO of Vakrangee Software, said his company was hoping to increase its profits by an annualized 30-35 percent over the next three-four years.

The company has in the past worked with the government on a slew of services such as financial inclusion, Aadhaar, direct benefit transfer, voter IDs, passport application and tax collection among others.

A bulk of its revenues stem from its banking business where it caters to India's unbanked through its 18,000 business correspondents and thousands of Vakrangee Kendras "where banking is one aspect and we keep on adding pipelines like insurance and other e-commerce activities," Dash told CNBC-TV18. "This is taking care of almost 50 percent of our topline."

02:00 pm Market Check
Equity benchmarks maintained uptrend in afternoon trade despite weakness in Asia and flat trade in European markets ahead of Sunday's Greek referendum. The Sensex gained 108.05 points at 28053.85 and Nifty rose 28.15 points to 8473.05.

The broader markets underperformed benchmarks after rallying in previous three sessions. About 1599 shares have advanced, 1266 shares declined, and 213 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

Be it a yes or no from Greeks this Sunday, global markets will continue to remain volatile for the near-term, said Nick Parsons of National Australia Bank. A yes-vote does not mean Greece will get a new bailout package immediately and a no-vote does not necessarily mean Greece will exit eurozone, he added.

Housing finance company HDFC topped the buying list and is also the biggest contributor to Sensex's gains, up 2.2 percent. HDFC Bank, Dr Reddy's Labs, Hero Motocorp, BHEL, Cipl and NTPC climbed 1-1.8 percent.

Lupin rose nearly 2 percent on entering the Russian pharma market by acquiring 100 percent stake in Biocom. Barclays expects this deal to be of strategic importance.

However, Coal India, Vedanta and Tata Steel fell more than 1 percent followed by Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, Wipro and GAIL.

In the broader space, Elder Pharma, HOV Services, Smartlink, AXISCADES, Bartronics India, Kemrock, Bliss GVS Pharma, Intrasoft Technologies, United Breweries and Shilpi Cable rallied 8-20 percent.

1:50 pm Market outlook: Motilal Oswal, Chairman and Managing Director Motilal Oswal Financial Services says June quarter earnings growth will be tepid. But the results of government policies in the last few months will start bearing results over the next couple of quarters and reflect in companies' earnings.

"We are too much dependent upon the foreign investors because the domestic saving is not being channelised. For the first time, we are seeing in last four to five months that domestic investors are putting in huge amount of money, average Rs 9,000-10,000 crore a month. So, that is a good sign and we feel that in the next couple of quarters the economy is going to really become better or improve from here," he said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

1:30 pm Buzzing: Shares of Britannia jumped over 1 percent intraday. UBS has raised target to Rs 3000 per share while maintaining buy rating on potential to improve its profitability in the medium term.

The brokerage estimates Britannia's three-year EPS CAGR at 18.5 percent and feels its higher-than-sector earnings growth justifies its premium valuation. UBS believes that commodity costs (partly) and savings from the reduction in excess grammage per pack will continue into H1FY16 and, incrementally, a new mass market launch could yield rationalisation of sourcing and scale benefits should continue into FY16. These two factors were key drivers for Britannia's 70 basis points gross margin expansion in FY15.

Indian market is still holding up gains even though Asia is bleeding. Stock markets in China extended their dramatic selloff. The Shanghai Composite index plunged 7 percent intra-day, on the back of news that securities regulators are investigating suspected market manipulation.

The Sensex is up 149.01 points or 0.5 percent at 28094.81, and the Nifty is up 35.45 points or 0.4 percent at 8480.35. About 1668 shares have advanced, 1159 shares declined, and 225 shares are unchanged.

HDFC twins, BHEL, Lupin and Hero are top gainers in the Sensex. Among losers are Vedanta, Tata Steel, Coal India, Tata Motors and GAIL are among laggards.

All eyes are on Greece now. Greeks on July 5 are expected to vote on whether to say "yes" to reforms and a future in the euro zone, or "no" and a potential exit from the eurozone.

Be it a yes or no from Greeks this Sunday global markets will continue to remain volatile for the near-term is the word coming in from Nick Parsons of National Australia Bank. A yes-vote does not mean Greece will get a new bailout package immediately and a no-vote does not necessarily mean Greece will exit eurozone, says Parsons.

12:40 pm China & Europe: China's Shanghai Composite Index closed at 3,686.92, down 5.8 percent. The index lost 12.1 percent for the week and 29 percent from the recent peak.

Meanwhile, European equities opened flat as investors look ahead to Sunday, when a Greek referendum on the country's future in Europe takes place. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index opened 0.04 percent higher.

All eyes are on the Greek vote this weekend, at which Greeks are expected to vote on whether to say "yes" to reforms and, effectively, more austerity but a future in the euro zone, or "no" and a potential exit from the single currency zone.

12:25 pm Market Expert: Macros are changing and the emerging big picture makes it clear that economy and market will have a postive impact, says Samir Arora in an exclusive interview to CNBC-Awaaz.

Predicting an average return of 15-20 percent from the equity market, Arora says the government's pro-reform steps are bound to give result. He advises investors to avoid realty at the moment and lauds the government for being serious in retrieving black money stashed abroad.

Arora is aware that all eyes are on July 5 referendum but strongly believes Greece outcome will not impact Indian market on Monday. Greece has failed to repay the IMF debt and remains largest defaulter in history. July 5 is the date set for Greece referendum.

Besides Greece referendum, July is also crucial for investors waiting for corporate results.

12:00 pm Market Check
The market continued to see buying interest in noon trade with the benchmark indices rising more than half a percent, led by HDFC twins, capital goods and healthcare stocks. The broader markets gained for the fourth consecutive session today, though indices underperformed benchmarks.

The Sensex rose 156.45 points to 28102.25 and the Nifty gained 41.45 points at 8486.35. About 1466 shares have advanced, 953 shares declined, and 161 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

The rupee continued to strengthen against the dollar, rising to a 2-month high following the positive sentiment in equities.

Globally, Asian markets are mixed ahead of Sunday's Greek referendum. China market trimmed losses in volatile trade. In commodities, Brent crude slipped below USD 62 a barrel.

11:55 am Real Estate bill: The Parliamentary Select Committee for the Real Estate Bill 2013 is likely to push for more stringent clauses that may lead to imprisonment of builders if they do not fulfil their obligations to home-buyers.

Reports suggest that the parliamentary panel is mulling the changes after public consultations across the country.

In the current version of the bill, punitive action for various offences is mostly restricted to financial penalties, and not imprisonment. The final report of the Parliamentary panel will be tabled before the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament.

11:45 am Interview: According to Centre For Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) there is a reduction of number of stalled projects in the infrastructure space, which is a good sign says Vinayak Chatterjee, Chairman, Feedback

Infra but government needs to improve the pace of public spending in the sector because there yet no signs of pick up in new investment proposals. There is anecdotal evidence that the stock of stalled projects is declining but there is no hard data on the quantum of decline and the government needs be transparent on that, says Chatterjee in an interview.

11:30 am FII view: The Indian economic supertanker slowly but surely seems to be shifting direction and one can see insipient signs of recovery in metrics such as orders in the past few months, says Anup Maheshwari, Executive

Vice President and Head Equities, DSP BlackRock AMC. "It's a matter of time," he told in an interview. "We will end the year better than we started." He, however, added that he wouldn't necessarily consider economic recovery as having a one-to-one correlation with stock prices.

The market is still holding up its early gains as the Sensex is up 138.90 points or 0.5 percent at 28084.70. The Nifty trades comfortably above the 8,450 level as banking and financial stocks lead. The Nifty is up 37.05 points or 0.4 percent at 8481.95. About 1452 shares have advanced, 757 shares declined, and 148 shares are unchanged.

HDFC twins, Lupin, BHEL and Cipla are top gainers in the Sensex while Hindalco, Tata Motors, Coal India, Wipro and Maruti are among losers.

Rupee hits a 2-month high against the dollar following the positive sentiment in equities. Experts say 63.25 would be a support for the dollar.

Globally, Asian markets are mixed while all eyes on the Greek referendum on Sunday. Shanghai markets see extreme volatility.

10:58 am Market Update: The Sensex rose 138.90 points to 28084.70 and the Nifty rallied 36.15 points to 8481.05. About 1446 shares have advanced, 761 shares declined, and 147 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

10:45 am Services PMI at 15-month low: India's dominant services industry contracted for a second month in June as new business again declined, suggesting Asia's third-largest economy is struggling to maintain growth, a survey showed.

Any weakness in the economy, alongside subdued inflation, will likely add to expectations the Reserve Bank of India will ease monetary policy sooner rather than later.

The Nikkei Services Purchasing Managers' Index, compiled by Markit, dropped to a 15-month low of 47.7 in June from May's 49.6, well below the 50-level that separates growth from contraction.

Five out of the six industries monitored reported falling activity and the new orders index sank to 47.3, its lowest level since December 2013. Weak demand also curtailed factory growth, a sister survey showed on Wednesday.

"June's Indian service sector data disappointed," said Pollyanna De Lima, an economist at Markit.

10:25 am Crude Update: Oil prices eased in Asia ahead of a weekend bailout reform referendum in Greece that could determine its future in the eurozone.

West Texas Intermediate for August delivery was down 21 cents at USD 56.72 while Brent North Sea crude was three cents lower at USD 62.04.

Greek voters will be asked to vote either "Yes" to a bailout package offered by creditors in exchange for tougher austerity measures, or "No" in support of the leftist government's bid to gain better terms.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called the poll on Saturday after breaking off debt reform talks with its creditors - leading it to default on a loan repayment on Tuesday.

European leaders have warned that vote is effectively now an in-out vote on Greece's future in the eurozone.

10:10 am Market Expert: The market currently is offering lot of opportunity to enter for the long-term believes Deven Choksey of KR Choksey Shares & Securities. It is the right time to build a portfolio for two years and above, he says.

According to him, one should look at buying frontline stocks that are available at good valuations. If the market corrects going forward due to global or local newsflow then it should be utilised to accumulate them in once portfolio, says Choksey.

With the government rolling out its digital and agri plans, Choksey sees lot of opportunities in good quality midcap spaces like media and agriculture.

10:00 am Market check
The market extended its uptrend, rising more than half a percent led by banking & financials, capital goods, pharma and FMCG stocks. The Sensex rose 174.56 points at 28120.36 and the Nifty advanced 47.45 points to 8492.35.

The broader markets continued to see buying interest. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices climbed over half a percent. About 1294 shares have advanced against 487 shares declined on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Drug maker Lupin rallied more than 2 percent after the company acquired Russian pharma company Biocom. Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Labs and Cipla gained 1-1.6 pecent.

Shares of HDFC, HDFC Bank, L&T, BHEL, Bajaj Auto, Hero Motocorp and NTPC advanced 1-2 percent while Tata Motors, Wipro and Coal India declined.

The rupee also gained further in morning trade, up 16 paise to 63.35 a dollar following rally in equity markets.

9:55 am Market check: The market somersaulted into green with some smart gains. The Sensex is up 159.14 points or 0.6 percent at 28104.94 and the Nifty is up 45.10 points or 0.5 percent at 8490.00. About 1289 shares have advanced, 472 shares declined, and 100 shares are unchanged.

Lupin, BHEL, Cipla, HDFC and Bajaj Auto are top gainers while Wipro, Tata Motors, coal India and Hindalco are major losers in the Sensex.

9:40 am Market outlook: The market currently is offering lot of opportunity to enter for the long-term believes Deven Choksey of KR Choksey Shares & Securities. It is the right time to build a portfolio for two years and above, he says.

According to him one should look at buying frontline stocks that are available at good valuations. If the market corrects going forward due to global or local newsflow then it should be utilised to accumulate them in once portfolio, says Choksey.

With the government rolling out its digital and agri plans, Choksey sees lot of opportunities in good quality midcap spaces like media and agriculture.

He is still bullish on the two top IT companies. According to him these companies are showing a good amount of courage in building new business models which could last for two decades and one should buy them into the portfolio even though they may miss one-two quarters. 

9:30 am Big buzzing: Shares of Jubilant Foodworks jumped 2 percent, hitting record high at Rs 1917 per share. Bank of America Merrill Lynch has increased target on Jubilant Foodworks to Rs 2100 per share while reiterating buy rating on the stock. The brokerage expects samestore sales growth (SSSG) and margins healthy growth in April-June quarter stating that Quick Service Restaurants (QSR) industry is close to a cyclical resurgence and the Domino's franchise owner will be a key beneficiary.

BoA ML expects 6-7 percent SSSG in Q1FY16 while revenue and profit-after tax to grow at 25 percent and 30 percent (year-on-year) respectively. While gross margins are likely to be stable, EBITDA margins can improve YoY led by operating leverage, it adds.

The market has opened flat as the Sensex is up 37.59 points at 27983.39 and the Nifty is down 4.80 points at 8440.10. About 372 shares have advanced, 141 shares declined, and 75 shares are unchanged.

ONGC, Lupin, HDFC, Tata Steel and BHEL are top gainers in the Sensex while Dr Reddy's, NTPC, TCS, Axis Bank and HUL are among major losers.

The rupee extended its upmove in early trade Friday. The currency has opened at 63.43 a dollar, up 8 paise compared to 63.51 per dollar in previous session. It gained 10 paise yesterday.

Pramit Brahmbhatt, Veracity said any upper movement in dollar will keep rupee under pressure. The concern raised over Greece debt issue will continue to hover the markets which may force local equities to open weak, he adds.

He expects the rupee to be ranged between 63.20-63.80/USD.

Dollar slipped marginally against a basket of major currencies after US jobs data came in below expectations, pushing out bets for a Federal Reserve rate hike to 2016, while caution ahead of this weekend's Greek referendum limited losses. The dollar index is above the 96 mark.

In Asia, equities trade lower following their US peers. US stocks closed flat as investors eyed a soft jobs report and were on edge ahead of Greece's Sunday referendum. Trade volume was light ahead of the Independence Day holiday today.

On the economic data front US non-farm payrolls showed a creation of 223,000 jobs and an unemployment rate of 5.3 percent, both slightly lower than expectations. Weekly jobless claims came in at 281,000, while factory orders for May showed a 1 percent decline.

European equities closed mostly lower on Thursday, as investors awaited a high-profile referendum in Greece over the weekend.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned in the preliminary draft of its latest debt sustainability report. It said that Greece would need an extension of its European Union loans and a large debt write-off if it grows more slowly than expected and economic reforms are not implemented.

Crude prices remain steady after US oil drilling this week increased for the first time after 29 weeks of decline.

Gold rebounds slightly from a three and a half month low