Sensex gains 102 points; Infosys falls 1%, Bharti loses 4%

03:55 pm Opinion on rupee
Claudio Piron, Head of Emerging Asia Foreign Exchange and Fixed Income Strategy at Bank of America said rupee is his favourite global currency right now. ''Our forecast in terms of the next couple of months is 57/50 on USD-INR,'' he said.

He added, "We do expect euro-dollar to continue to move lower to 1.30 to 1.33 levels in particular our verdict on the European Central Bank meeting last week was that it was dovish in the sense that it switched to no longer sterilising Securities Market Programme (SMP) and in addition to that indicated an expansion of 400 billion euros potentially in terms of targeted long-term recoopearation. Again I think that favours downside to euro-dollar and we are witnessing this as we speak."

03:45 pm Oil market
Brent crude jumped more than USD 2 to over USD 112 a barrel on worries that escalating violence in Iraq could disrupt oil supplies from the major OPEC exporter.

The Brent futures contract - an international benchmark sensitive to geopolitical turmoil - climbed USD 2.24 to USD 112.19 a barrel by 1013 GMT, its highest since early March. US oil gained USD 1.83 to USD 106.23 a barrel.

An initially muted market response to news that Sunni rebels had overrun Iraq's second-largest city and moved in on its largest refinery at Baiji has given way to growing alarm as the al Qaeda splinter group appeared to make rapid advances toward the Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad.

03:35 pm Market closing
After a choppy day, the market ended marginally higher. The Sensex was up 102.32 points at 25576.21 and the Nifty was up 23.05 points at 7649.90. About 1749 shares advanced, 1361 shares declined and 81 shares were unchanged.

Bharti lost 4 percent while Infosys was down 1 percent at close. Axis Bank, Coal India, Bhel are other major losers in the Sensex. Among the gainers are Hindalco, Sun Pharma, HDFC twins and Maruti are major gainers in the Sensex.

03:20 pm Houseview
Maruti Suzuki India is best placed to benefit from an improvement in India's economy as it attracts first-time car buyers, Morgan Sze, founder and chief investment officer of hedge fund Azentus Capital Management.

Sze, a former Goldman Sachs top trader and now one of the best known Asian hedge fund managers, said the Indian economy is stabilising and last month's election results have helped improve chances of an acceleration in growth.

India auto industry is also "currently poised for a cyclical upturn", Sze told hedge fund managers at the Sohn/Karen Leung Foundation Conference Hong Kong. He did not say whether the fund was invested in Martui Suzuki.

03:10 pm World markets
European shares held steady near 6-1/2-month highs, with gains limited by concerns over the pace of global growth, while oil prices hit a three-month peak on escalating violence in Iraq.

A cut in the World Bank's global growth forecast prompted investors to book profits from recent gains which propelled European, U.S. and Asian shares to multi-year and record peaks.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was flat at 1,392.07 points, hamstrung by a dip in miners Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton. The index was still within sight of the 1,398.65 peak hit earlier this week.

"After such a good rally, it's not the time to buy right now, it's better just to sit on your gains. The market is quite vulnerable to negative news at the moment," said Philippe de Vandiere, analyst at Altedia Investment Consulting, in Paris.

2:55pm UltraTech Cement in focus
UltraTech Cement says the scheme between Jaypee Cement Corporation (JCCL) and the company and its respective shareholders and creditors, for the acquisition of the cement unit of JCCL in Gujarat, comprising of an integrated cement unit at Sewagram and grinding unit at Wanakbori has been approved by the Hon'ble High Court at Bombay and the Hon'ble High Court of Allahabad.

The scheme has also been approved by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

2:45pm CPI inflation and IIP data to be announced today
The Consumer Price Index data for May and the Index of Industrial Production data for April will release post market hours today. According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, the CPI data is expected to be around 8.36 percent against 8.59 percent month-on-month and the IIP data is seen around 1.6 percent versus -0.5 percent (MoM) respectively.

Indranil Pan, Kotak Mahindra Bank told CNBC-TV18 that he does not see any softening in the CPI data for May and expect the headline CPI data to be around 8.6 percent.

Pan, however, is slightly bullish on the IIP data due to strong core data from electricity last month. He expects IIP data to be around 1.9 percent.

Pan believes the improvement in data may indicate that the Reserve Bank of India can cut rates over the next few policies, as indicated by Governor Raghuram Rajan in the second bi-monthly policy on June 3. 

2:35pm Orient Abrasives in news
Media report suggested that multi-mineral solutions provider Ashapura Minechem is set to acquire Orient Abrasives for Rs 400 crore. The stock rallied as much as 18 percent intraday to hit 52-week high of Rs 27.50 while Ashapura Minechem also touched a 52-week high of Rs 91.30, up 6 percent intraday.

"Bombay Minerals, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ashapura Minechem, has agreed to buy the 25.52 percent promoters' stake in Orient Abrasive. The deal is likely to be signed by the end of June," the report says quoting unnamed sources.

Bombay Minerals held 18 percent stake in Orient Abrasives as of March 2014.

2:25pm Jubilant Life hikes product prices
Jubilant Life Sciences, a significant player in the Nutrition market and ranked amongst the largest manufacturers of Vitamin B3 (Niacin & Niacinamide) in the world today announced a price-increase of 9 percent for Niacinamide, with immediate effect, for non-contract customers and wherever existing contracts permit.

2:15pm Monsoon woes
Monsoon rains were nearly half below average level in the week to June 11, data from the weather office showed on Thursday, reflecting the late onset of the annual rains over the southern Kerala coast.

During the initial days of the June-September season, summer crops such as rice, corn, soybean and cotton are not greatly affected by the quantity of rains, as distribution of rainfall in mid-July, after the monsoon covers the entire landmass, is more important for their growth.

India's farm sector accounts for 14 percent of its nearly USD 2 trillion economy.

2:00pm Equity benchmarks continued to be in positive terrain supported by HDFC twins and auto stocks. The Sensex rose 67.47 points to 25541.36 and the Nifty gained 10.10 points at 7636.95.

The broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.4 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively. About 1700 shares have advanced, 1327 shares declined, and 95 shares are unchanged.

Hindalco Industries extended gains to 3.7 percent followed by HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma, HDFC, TCS and Jindal Steel with 1-3 percent while Bharti Airtel, Coal India, Axis Bank, BHEL, Tata Power and Bank of Baroda lost 1-3 percent.

Infosys remained under pressure on profit booking as it already priced in appointment of Vishal Sikka as CEO and MD of the company. Today intraday it gained 4 percent, in addition to 3.7 percent upmove in previous session.

2:00 pm Buzzing: Shares of Jubilant Life Sciences, the manufacturer of vitamin B3 (Niacin and Niacinamide), rallied nearly 7 percent to touch a 52-week high of Rs 219.60 after the company has announced a price increase of 9 percent for Niacinamide with immediate effect.

The price increase is applicable for non-contract customers and wherever existing contracts permit, says the company in its filing.

The company's nutrition business is backward integrated up to the initial raw material stage with global scale of operations.

1:50 pm FII limit: India is not considering raising the foreign investment limit in government bonds immediately, Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor HR Khan said.

"Right now there is no such discussion," Khan said, in response to a question on raising the foreign institutional investment (FII) limit in government debt, on the sidelines of a banking seminar.

India allows FIIs of up to USD 30 billion in government bond, including USD 20 billion for all and USD 10 billion for specific investors like foreign central banks, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and insurance funds.

1:40 pm FII view: Laurence Balanco, CLSA feels the Nifty is losing momentum near the resistance provided by the May 16 intraday high at 7,625. ''This combination of slowing upside momentum and chart resistance reinforces our base case for a period of ranging/consolidating price action remains intact,'' he adds.

According to him, the Nifty is likely to enter a consolidation/correct between 7,625 resistance and 6,661-6,902 support over the coming weeks. ''As such we would look to buy on weakness back to the 6,661-6,902 area of the coming weeks using a close below 6,347 as a stop-loss,'' says Balanco.

1:30 pm Interview: Parag Parikh, ED & CFO, Gammon Infra said the biggest disappointment for the sector so far has been the bureaucracy and slow decision-making process. The road projects got delayed due to delay in clearances. The delay in land clearances led to cost overruns. Even the policies on restarting stalled projects were inefficient, he feels.

He, however, is optimistic about the changes to come. Parikh feels the industry is encouraged by the initial signals on policy announcements and is hopeful that Gujarat Model can be replicated on pan-India basis. He said the recycling of projects is high on industry's wishlist.

The market is steady as the Sensex is up 81.58 points at 25555.47.  The Nifty is up 12.80 points at 7639.65. About 1661 shares have advanced, 1238 shares declined, and 86 shares are unchanged.

Hindalco, HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma and ONGC are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank, Coal India, ICICI Bank and BHEL.

India's overseas direct investment in April rose to USD 5.58 billion from USD 5.23 billion in March, according to Reserve Bank of India data. The overseas investments in April include USD 1.15 billion in equity, USD 268.16 million in loans and USD 4.16 billion from bank guarantees.

A year ago in April 2013, the total overseas direct investment from India was USD 15.24 billion.
Japan's Nikkei share average fell to a 1 1/2-week low after the World Bank's downward revision of its global growth forecast soured sentiment. The Nikkei ended 0.6 percent lower to 14,973.53, the lowest closing level since June 2.

The World Bank cut its global economic growth forecast for 2014 to 2.8 percent from 3.2 percent because of the harsh US winter and the impact of the Ukraine crisis.

01:00pm CPI and IIP data today
Key data points - Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and consumer price index (CPI) will be keenly watched, which will be announced today evening.

According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, April IIP is expected see a 1.6 percent growth versus a 0.5 percent contraction in March. Meanwhile, May CPI is expected to ease to 8.36 percent.

12:55pm RBI to launch payment bank soon
The Reserve Bank of India will come out with a payment bank soon, Deputy Governor HR Khan said.

A committee appointed by the RBI had proposed the formation of payment banks to widen the spread of payment services and deposit products to small businesses and poor households in a country where about half of the households are outside the banking system, reports Reuters.

12:50pm Infosys' press conference begins
Vishal Sikka has been appointed as CEO & MD of the company with effect from June 14 and will takeover from SD Shibulal on August 1.

UB Pravin Rao has been elevated as COO from June 14, 2014.

NR Narayana Murthy and S Gopalkrishnan will step down as executive chairman and executive vice chairman, respectively from June 14, however, will continue to be on board till October 10 as the non-executive chairman and non-executive vice chairman, respectively.

KV Kamath will become the non-exectuive chairman of the board on October 10.

Murthy will be desgnated as chairman Emeritus from October 11.

SD Shubulal will step down as CEO & MD from July 31.

Srinath Batni, whole time director will step down from the board on July 31.

Company has elevated 12 leaders to executive vice president with additional irresponsibility.

Rohan Murthy will leave the company on June 14.

12:45pm ADF Foods shot up 15% as sources told CNBC-TV18 that promoter has bought additional 4-4.5 percent stake in company within block deal of 6.35 percent at Rs 48 apiece.

Promoter held 45.51 percent stake in company as of March 2014.

12:40pm Wollongong Coal, the subsidiary of Jindal Steel, has terminated coal purchase agreement with Gujarat NRE Coke due to non-payment breach.

12:35pm KEC International bags new orders worth Rs 1,209 crore for cables and transmission & distribution business.

12:30pm Interview
Gold as a pure investment category seems to be losing sheen but that could be because money is moving from gold into financial markets says S Subramaniam, CFO, Titan. However, the business sentiment seems to be improving and there is  revival in demand for gold jewellery, he adds in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

According to him, any further easing on gold import norms would be a welcome move but do not see much impact on their margins because of import duty cuts.

On the watch business front, the company has seen sustained demand with reasonable growth, says Subramaniam.

12:20pm Nikkei update
Japan's Nikkei share average fell to a 1 1/2-week low after the World Bank's downward revision of its global growth forecast soured sentiment.

The Nikkei ended 0.6 percent lower to 14,973.53, the lowest closing level since June 2.

The World Bank cut its global economic growth forecast for 2014 to 2.8 percent from 3.2 percent because of the harsh US winter and the impact of the Ukraine crisis, reports Reuters.

12:10pm FII View
Laurence Balanco, CLSA feels the Nifty is losing momentum near the resistance provided by the May 16 intraday high at 7,625. ''This combination of slowing upside momentum and chart resistance reinforces our base case for a period of ranging/consolidating price action remains intact,'' he adds.

According to him, the Nifty is likely to enter a consolidation/correct between 7,625 resistance and 6,661-6,902 support over the coming weeks. ''As such we would look to buy on weakness back to the 6,661-6,902 area of the coming weeks using a close below 6,347 as a stop-loss,'' says Balanco.

12:00pm The market continued to be lacklustre with positive bias in noon trade but the broader markets outperformed benchmarks with marginal gains.

The Sensex rose 56.02 points to 25529.91 and the Nifty gained 5.85 points to 7632.70. Advancing shares beat declining ones by a ratio of 1540 to 1199 on the BSE.

Aluminium major Hindalco Industries topped the buying list, up 3 percent followed by HDFC, HDFC Bank, ONGC, Tata Steel and NMDC with 1-2 percent. However, Bharti Airtel plunged 2.54 percent as brokerage house Credit Suisse downgraded the stock to underperform.

Private sector lender Axis Bank declined 1.85 percent as it is quoting ex-dividend (Rs 20 per share). Coal India, ICICI Bank, HUL and Bank of Baroda rose 0.5-1.7 percent.

Infosys remained the most active stock on exchanges after the IT services exporter announced Vishal Sikka as its CEO and MD while chairman Narayana Murty (along with his son Rohan) and vice-chairman S Gopalakrishnan will be stepping down voluntarily.

United Spirits, SBI, Reliance Capital, Delta Corp, HDFC, ONGC and TCS are other most active shares.

11:50 am RBI norms: Reserve Bank of India will come out with a payment bank soon, Deputy Governor HR Khan said. A committee appointed by the RBI had proposed the formation of payment banks to widen the spread of payment services and deposit products to small businesses and poor households in a country where about half of the households are outside the banking system.

11:40 am Interview: Gold as a pure investment category seems to be losing sheen but that could be because money is moving from gold into financial markets says S Subramaniam, CFO, Titan. However, the business sentiment seems to be improving and there is  revival in demand for gold jewellery, he adds in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

According to him any further easing on gold import norms would be a welcome move but do not see much impact on their margins because of import duty cuts.

On the watch business front, the company has seen sustained demand with reasonable growth, says Subramaniam.

11:30 am Market outlook: Corporate earnings are set to grow 15 percent (compounded annually) over the next three years, said Anup Maheshwari of DSP BlackRock Investment Managers in an interview to CNBC-TV18's Latha Venkatesh and Sonia Chenoy. He is hopeful of the economy turning around soon and sees opportunities in the infrastructure space in particular.

Maheshwari is bullish on the banking sector, especially private banks. He said the appointment of Vishal Sikka of Infosys is a positive for the company.

11:20 am Buzzing: Shares of Jubilant Life Sciences, the manufacturer of vitamin B3 (Niacin and Niacinamide), rallied nearly 7 percent to touch a 52-week high of Rs 219.60 after the company has announced a price increase of 9 percent for Niacinamide with immediate effect.

The price increase is applicable for non-contract customers and wherever existing contracts permit, says the company in its filing.

The company's nutrition business is backward integrated up to the initial raw material stage with global scale of operations.

The market is holding its gains steadily. The Sensex is up 96.58 points at 25570.47 and the Nifty up 16.20 points at 7643.05. About 1460 shares have advanced, 1109 shares declined, and 67 shares are unchanged.

Hindalco, ONGC and HDFC are top Nifty gainers.

The market is keenly watching industry output and consumer inflation data. According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, April IIP is expected see a 1.6 percent growth versus a 0.5 percent contraction in March. Meanwhile, May CPI is expected to ease to 8.36 percent.

Rupee is marginally lower taking cues from weakness in most Asian currencies. Likely dollar demand from oil imports may weigh intraday. Government bond prices were down as the Securities and Exchange Board of India's (SEBI) auction of un-utilised FII gilt investment limit worth Rs 7152 crore yesterday failed to enthuse the market.

Asian markets are trading mostly lower. With Japan leading the region lower as a stronger yen weighed on sentiment.

Euro continues to hover at 4-month lows while the yen trades stronger against the dollar.

Crude prices hold steady on the back geopolitical concerns emerging from Iraq. Other commodities are in focus including palladium at more than a 13-year high with spot gold trading firm.

11:00am Arvind Remedies in focus
Arvind Remedies has signed an MoU with Adesh University, Punjab, to transfer the patent right to undertake exclusive  manufacturing, marketing and commercialisation of drugs for type-II diabetes, depression, irritable bowel syndrome and coronary heart disease.

These drugs will be manufactured in the form of tablets and will be launched in the end of 2017, first in the domestic market which will be followed by the global market, a company statement said.

10:55am Sanghvi Forging rises 5%
Sanghvi Forging and Engineering has bagged orders worth Rs 15 crore. Majority of orders are from the ship building and power sectors and around 20 percent comprises of exports orders.

10:50am Jubilant Life up 4.5%
Jubilant Life Sciences, the manufacturer of Vitamin B3 (Niacin & Niacinamide), has announced a price-increase of 9 percent for Niacinamide, with immediate effect, for non-contract customers and wherever existing contracts permit.

10:40am Orient Abrasives in focus
Orient Abrasives rallied 7 percent and Ashapura Minechem jumped 5.5 percent. Media reports indicated that Ashapura Minechem will buy out Orient for Rs 400 crore.

10:30am Interview
Future Retail has announced fund raising plans of Rs 2,000 crore via a preferential allotment to promoters and investors.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Kishore Biyani, CEO, Future Group said the group would look at further divestments to pare more debt.

The current debt of the group stands at Rs 6000 crore and the debt-equity ratio stands at 1.6-1.7. Bigyani said they plan to use 75 percent of the amount raised to retire debt and rest towards growth plans.

The merger plans of Future Generali and L&T General Insurance has been dropped said Biyani because according to the board, the value of the insurance business has gone up significantly than it was earlier.

10:15am Bharti under pressure
Bharti Airtel tumbled 3.5 percent after brokerage house Credit Suisse has downgraded the stock to underperform. It also reiterated underperform ratings on Idea Cellular and Reliance Communications.

According to brokerage house, upcoming launch of telecom services by Reliance Jio is a major structural event for the sector and the magnitude & impact of it is not appreciated by current consensus expectations.

10:00am The market remained choppy. The Sensex is at 25590.56, up 117 points while the Nifty is at 7648, up 19 points.

Rush in Infosys has cooled off in the second hour of trade. Bharti Airtel is still down over 3 percent after Credit Suisse downgraded the stock to "underperform" from "neutral" and reduces the target price to Rs 265 from Rs 275, citing competition from rival Rel Jio's, a unit of Reliance Industries.

Asian shares slipped on Thursday after Wall Street shares stepped back from record levels while civil war in Iraq supported oil prices. Japan's Nikkei share average led the retreat, falling 0.9 percent while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.15 percent.

The S&P 500 lost 0.35 percent to 1,943.89, its first significant loss in about three weeks. As recently as Monday it hit a record closing high of 1,951.27. Some market players blamed a lower global growth forecast from the World Bank being used as grounds to sell while others said fighting in Iraq may have sapped investor appetite.

10:00 am Big slump: Shares of Bharti Airtel slumped 3.5 percent after Credit Suisse downgraded the stock to "underperform" from "neutral" and reduces the target price to Rs 265 from Rs 275, citing competition from rival Rel Jio's, a unit of Reliance Industries .

"Given its large spectrum holding and ongoing large-scale investments, we believe RJio's network at launch can add significant capacity to the sector 60-80 percent of Bharti's current installed capacity," Credit Suisse said in a report.

9:50 am Macro data poll: Investors will be looking for direction from some of the key data points to be released today. According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, April IIP is expected see a 1.6 percent growth versus a 0.5 percent contraction in March. Meanwhile, May CPI is expected to ease to 8.36 percent.

In addition, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promises to change the face of the nation in his first speech on the floor of the Lok Sabha with 24 hours electricity, home for all in 8 years, and a scam free India. He also promises a second green revolution by opting to use technology to improve harvest and tame inflation.

9:40 am Brokerage views on Infosys change of gaurd: JM Financials says with this announcement, the uncertainty at Infosys is over and the company will be on its path to recovery. In the near term, this is a positive trigger. However, a sustained recovery may take some time. For example Wipro took almost 2 years in the recovery process.

Citi also adds that this change should address the recent uncertainty at Infosys and should help employee morale as well. Sikka, in his leadership role at SAP, has worked closely with leaders of global companies

9:30 am FII view: Laurence Balanco, CLSA feels the Nifty is losing momentum near the resistance provided by the May 16 intraday high at 7,625. ''This combination of slowing upside momentum and chart resistance reinforces our base case for a period of ranging/consolidating price action remains intact,'' he adds.

According to him, the Nifty is likely to enter a consolidation/correct between 7,625 resistance and 6,661-6,902 support over the coming weeks. ''As such we would look to buy on weakness back to the 6,661-6,902 area of the coming weeks using a close below 6,347 as a stop-loss,'' says Balanco.

Indian equity benchmarks continued to consolidate for the third day on Thursday. The Sensex rose 37.94 points to 25511.83 while the Nifty fell 5.10 points to 7621.75.

About 780 shares have advanced, 810 shares declined, and 27 shares are unchanged.

Infosys erased early gains, up 1 percent after appointment of Vishal Sikka as new CEO and MD. ONGC, BPCL, Hindalco and Sun Pharma are top gainers in the Nifty. Losers include Bharti Airtel, Bank of Baroda and Axis Bank.

The Indian rupee has opened flat at 59.29 per dollar on Thursday as against previous day's closing value of 59.27 a dollar.

Mohan Shenoi of Kotak Mahindra Bank says the rupee is trading in a narrow range as FII flows are neutralised by oil and gold related demand for dollars and sterilisation by RBI to prevent appreciation of rupee.

"USD-INR is expected to trade today in a range of 59.15-59.35/dollar," he adds.

Asian stocks were lower amid concerns about global growth and escalating tensions in Iraq. Uncertainty broke Wall Street's record streak overnight, with the blue-chip Dow Jones stock index losing more than 100 points. Analysts cited many factors for the pullback, including House Majority leader Eric Cantor's shock defeat in the primaries, the World Bank lowering its global growth forecasts and concerns of a sooner-than-expected rate hike from the Federal Reserve.

In commodities, Brent crude prices moved higher owing to violence in Iraq. As anticipated, the organization of the petroleum exporting countries agreed to keep its 30 million barrels per day output ceiling unchanged for another six months.

From precious metals space, gold prices rose as palladium prices hovered near their highest level since early 2001, benefiting from a five-month strike in South Africa and strong demand from the auto sector.

In other news, the greatest carnival on earth kicks off in Brazil today. The hosts play against Croatia in the first match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup later tonight.