Sensex gains 113 points, Nifty ends above 10,500; Tata Motors dips 5%

Cipla, Grasim Industries and UPL rallied up to 5 percent.

Tata Motors was down nearly 5 percent. Infosys ended with a loss of 3 percent after lowering EBIT margin guidance for FY19.

Wipro, SBI, Tech Mahindra and Bharti Airtel were under pressure.

Nifty Midcap gained 158 points.

DCB Bank, Jain Irrigation, JSPL, Dish TV and Indiabulls Real Estate rallied up to 6 percent while Mishra Dhatu Nigam surged 20 percent.

2:50 pm Buzzing: Private sector lender DCB Bank share price rallied more than 5 percent after reporting good earnings growth and improvement in asset quality performance.

Net profit for the March quarter grew by 21.5 percent to Rs 64.2 crore and net interest income grew by 19.7 percent to Rs 263.7 crore compared to year-ago.

Operating profit increased 23 percent to Rs 142 crore from Rs 115 crore on year-on-year basis.

Gross non-performing assets improved to 1.79 percent in Q4FY18 from 1.89 percent in Q3FY18 and net NPA also improved to 0.72 percent from 0.87 percent on sequential basis.

2:36 pm Market Update: The market extended gains, with the Sensex rising over 100 points and the Nifty trading above 10,500 levels.

Index heavyweights HDFC, HDFC Bank and ITC rallied further in the last hour of trade, trading higher by around 1.5 percent.

Infosys (down 3.5 percent), Tata Motors (4.87 percent) and Reliance Industries (0.55 percent), however, continued to see selling pressure.

2:30 pm Results Reaction: Share price of Gruh Finance, the subsidiary of HDFC Limited, rallied more than 6 percent after reporting good March quarter earnings due to fall in provisions.

Standalone net profit for the quarter ended March 2018 stood at Rs 130.5 crore, which grew by 18 percent over a year-ago.

Revenue from operations on standalone basis grew by 16 percent year-on-year to Rs 484.3 crore in January-March quarter 2018.

Provisions for bad loans dropped 94 percent to Rs 1.4 crore on sequential basis.

2:15 pm Buzzing: Bhansali Engineering Polymers share fell as much as 8.5 percent despite good March quarter earnings performance.

On standalone basis, its net profit grew by 82 percent year-on-year to Rs 28.6 crore and revenue from operations increased 56.5 percent to Rs 301.8 crore for quarter ended March 2018.

EBITDA (Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) shot up 94 percent to Rs 43.8 crore in March quarter from Rs 22.6 crore in year-ago period.

Margin during the quarter expanded to 14.5 percent from 11.7 percent in same quarter last year.

2:04 pm Kotak Mahindra Bank in focus: Kotak Mahindra Bank entered into a list of top 10 stocks that have maximum market capitalisation.

Kotak Mahindra Bank toppled country's largest lender SBI in market cap, became the 10th most valued listed stock after TCS, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, ITC, HDFC, HUL, Maruti Suzuki, Infosys and ONGC.

1:50 pm Suzlon in Focus: Renewable solution provider Suzlon said that it has commissioned 626 MW of wind power projects in 2017-18 (FY18), the highest installations by any player during this fiscal.

With this, Suzlon has gained a market share of 35 percent despite an extremely challenging year for the sector and several hurdles due to the transition from feed-in-tariff (FiT) to bidding regime, a Suzlon statement said.

As as result (of introduction of bidding regime), the overall wind industry installations plummeted to 1,766 MW in FY'18 (32 percent of FY17 installations) due to stagnant volumes, uncertainty on power purchase agreements (PPAs) and policy environment, it added.

1:40 pm Market Update: Benchmark indices recouped all the losses, with the Nifty reclaiming 10,500 levels backed by HDFC group stocks and ITC.

The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 60.27 points at 34,252.92 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 25.30 points to 10,505.90.

1:31 pm Buzzing: ICICI Securities share price rallied more than 3 percent after the broking subsidiary of ICICI Bank reported solid performance for quarter ended March 2018.

This is the first time the company has declared its results since making a stock market debut earlier this month.

During the January-March quarter, ICICI Securities reported revenues of Rs 515 crore, which were up 35 percent from Rs 381 crore reported in the year ago period.

Net profit expanded by 91 percent to Rs 159 crore, against Rs 83 crore in Q4FY17.

EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) shot up 86 percent year-on-year to Rs 260 crore in Q4.

1:22 pm Alok Industries in focus: Debt-ridden Alok Industries said the Committee of Creditors (CoC) has not approved resolution plans for the company within 270 days mandated under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

"The corporate insolvency process for the company expired on April 14, 2018 and the resolution professional has not received the approval of the CoC for resolution plans within the time period prescribed under the IBC, 2016," it said in a BSE filing.

Yesterday, Reliance Industries, which had submitted a resolution plan along with JM Financial Asset Reconstruction Company for Alok Industries, had informed that its bid has been rejected by the CoC.

As per the IBC, the resolution process should be completed within 180 days. This could be further extended for another 90 days with the approval of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

1:10 pm Appointment: Mining mogul Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Resources plc announced the appointment of Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan as the new chief executive of the company, replacing interim CEO Kuldip Kaura.

Venkatakrishnan, or Venkat as he is known, is currently the CEO of Johannesburg-based AngloGold Ashanti Ltd, the world's largest emerging market gold producer.

Venkat, 53, will assume the new role effective August 31, the company said in a statement.

Vedanta had in August last year appointed an interim chief executive, Kaura, to replace Tom Albanese.

12:58 pm Technical Outlook: Rajesh Agarwal of AUM Capital Markets said the on weekly time frame, Index has formed 'Three White Soldiers' that predicts the reversal of a downtrend. It is likely to retest 10,650-10,670 levels on upside i.e. Inner Trendline which might work as immediate hurdle zone. On shorter time frame, the levels 10,550 levels may act as near term hurdle i.e. 50 percent Retracement level.

12:46 pm Market Update: The market continued to trade mildly lower amid volatility.

Infosys, Tata Motors, Reliance Industries and select banks continued to put pressure on the market, but buying in HDFC twins, ITC capped losses.

12:20 pm Buzzing: Shares of Tata Motors fell more than 4 percent after Jaguar Land Rover said it is planning to cut jobs to scale back production at some of its UK sites.

Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) on April 13 said it is planning to cut jobs as it scales back production at some of its UK sites amid what it termed as "headwinds" impacting the automotive industry.

12:10 pm Order Win: SPML Infra Limited with its joint venture partner OM Metals Infraprojects has secured an international order from Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Republic of Ghana for the work related to rehabilitation and completion of Kpong left bank irrigation project in Ghana, Africa for USD 32 million (approximately Rs 205 crore).

12:06 pm Inflation: Wholesale price index inflation for March eased to 2.47 percent from 2.48 percent in previous month.

Vegetable inflation contracted 2.7 percent in March against a rise of 15.26 percent in February 2018.

12:05 pm Market Outlook: Anita Gandhi, Whole Time Director at Arihant Capital Markets said March quarter earnings are expected to provide support to the market going ahead.

On the macro front, WPI inflation and Trade balance data for March will be announced on April 16. CPI data for rural and farm labourers for March will be announced on April 20. Crude, refinery output and Mobile subscribers’ data for March will be announced on April 20-27.

US Retail Sales and US Core Retail Sales data will be announced on Monday, April 16. China GDP, Chinese Industrial Production, Chinese Retail Sales, Japanese Industrial Production, UK Unemployment Rate, US Building Permits, US Housing Starts and US Industrial Production data will be announced on Tuesday, April 17. Japanese Trade Balance, UK CPI, UK PPI, European CPI and US Crude Oil Inventories data will be announced on Wednesday, April 18. European Current Account, UK Retail Sales, US Philly Fed Manufacturing Index and US Unemployment Claims data will be announced on Thursday, April 19. IMF Meetings and European Consumer Confidence data will be announced on Friday, April 20.

Major companies which will announce Jan-Mar quarter earnings this week include CRISIL, Muthoot Capital, Tata Sponge, ACC, HDFC Life, Mindtree, IndusInd Bank, TCS, CDSL, HDFC Bank".

11:55 am Order Win: Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) has secured an order for the renovation and modernisation (R&M) of electrostatic precipitators (ESP) at Ramagundam Super Thermal Power Station (STPS).

Valued at Rs 137 crore, the turnkey order envisages carrying out R&M of ESPs of three units of 200 MW each at Ramagundam STPS, Stage-I (3x200 MW) of NTPC, the company said.

BHEL's scope of work in the contract includes design, engineering,

manufacture, supply, dismantling, erection, testing and commissioning of the ESPs to bring down the SPM emission within the stipulated levels.

11:40 am IHH on Fortis Offer: Malaysia's IHH Healthcare Bhd said India's Fortis Healthcare declined to engage with the company regarding a takeover offer, citing binding agreements with other parties.

IHH, one of Asia's largest healthcare operators, offered to buy Fortis last week at a price that values the hospitals chain at about USD 1.3 billion -- higher than the roughly USD 1.2 billion valuation an offer from Indian rival Manipal Health Enterprises Pvt Ltd gave it.

Some of Fortis's minority shareholders are dissatisfied with the Manipal offer, and it is unclear if the IHH price appeals to them, reports Reuters.

Shares of Fortis fell about 2 percent after the announcement by IHH.

11:30 am Market Update: Benchmark indices remained under pressure, with the Sensex falling 81.64 points to 34,111.01 and the Nifty declining 16.30 points to 10,464.30.

About 1,403 shares declined against 904 advancing shares on the BSE.

11:15 am Crude Oil Update: Oil fell 1 percent as markets opened following western air strikes in Syria over the weekend, while a rise in US drilling for new production also dragged on prices.

The United States, France and Britain launched 105 missiles on Saturday, targeting what they said were three chemical weapons facilities in Syria in retaliation for a suspected poison gas attack in Douma on April 7.

Brent crude oil futures were at USD 71.83 per barrel, down 1.03 percent, from their last close.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 0.88 percent, at USD 66.80 a barrel, reports Reuters.

11:05 am Infosys Under Pressure: Shares of Infosys fell as much as 6 percent intraday after the company reported less-than-expected margin guidance for fiscal year 2018-19.

Global brokerage Nomura in a research note said "growth weakness in developed markets, BFSI and retail is a negative. We expect the stock to react negative to the margin guidance cut".

The report further noted that "guidance for FY19 growth is in line with consensus, though a cut in EBIT margin guidance to 22-24 percent (as against 23-25 per cent earlier) was a disappointment".

For 2018-19, Infosys expects its revenue to grow in the range of 6-8 percent in constant currency terms and 7-9 percent in the US dollar terms. For financial year 2018-19 Infosys expects operating margin range at 22 percent to 24 percent.

10:50 am Buzzing: Shares of UCO Bank plunged nearly 18 percent intraday after the CBI booked Arun Kaul, former chairman-cum-managing director of the lender, and others in connection with an alleged Rs 621-crore loan fraud.

On April 14, the CBI booked Kaul and others in connection with an alleged Rs 621-crore loan fraud which has caused a loss of over Rs 737 crore to the bank.

Besides Kaul, the CBI booked Era Engineering Infra India Ltd. (EEIL), its CMD Hem Singh Bharana, two chartered accountants -- Pankaj Jain and Vandna Sharda -- and Pawan Bansal of Altius Finserve Pvt. Ltd. among others, they said.

It is alleged that the accused persons in pursuance of a criminal conspiracy defrauded the UCO Bank to the tune of about Rs 621 crore by diversion and siphoning of the bank loans.

Kaul, who was the CMD of a Kolkata-based bank between 2010 and 2015, allegedly facilitated the accused company in obtaining the loan.

10:40 am Order Win: Steel Strips Wheels bagged yet another big exports order for supply of steel wheels for EU Caravan market.

Order comprises of approximately 41,000 steel wheels to be shipped from SSWL's Chennai plant from next month onwards.

The company is expected to close some more export orders with another European customers in recent future.

10:25 am Market Update: Benchmark indices were mildly lower, with the Sensex falling 57.90 points to 34,134.75 and the Nifty declining 13.90 points to 10,466.70.

Infosys, Tata Motors and Reliance Industries pulled the market lower while ITC, HDFC Bank and HDFC helped the market recover from opening lows.

The market breadth is in favour of declines. About 1,134 shares declined against 909 advancing shares on the BSE.

10:15 am Market Outlook: Gaurav Jain, Director, Hem Securities said global clues, earnings and macroeconomic data will dictate market trend this week. Apart from on-going geopolitical concerns and on-going earnings seasons, markets will now keep an eye on upcoming Karnataka State elections. Any new developments on that front will affect market swings.

The results season would take center stage once again as some of the index-heavyweight companies are scheduled to release their quarterly this week. HDFC Bank, TCS and IndusInd Bank are among the big names releasing their quarterly numbers this week.

On macro front, the government will announce inflation data based on wholesale price index (WPI) for March today . Wholesale prices rose by 2.48 percent year-on-year in February 2018, after a 2.84 percent increase in the prior month.

On the global front, China will announce Q1 GDP annual growth rate on Tuesday. Japanese industrial production data for February will be declared on Tuesday. Japanese inflation data for March will be announced on Friday.While the US industrial production data for March will be unveiled on Tuesday, 17 April 2018.

10:05 am Market Outlook: Dinesh Rohira of 5nance.com said based on a Fibonacci retracement, a support for the Nifty50 placed at 10,417 levels and resistance at 10561 levels.

With positive set of macro data, and better-expected earnings result, the index is likely to build uptrend momentum in coming session as it decisively indicated in the last week trade.

However, a geopolitical tension is expected to keep index volatile on a rangebound move although we maintain an upwards bias at 10,630 levels on weekly basis and at 10,390 on the downside.

9:55 am Rupee Update: The rupee fell 20 paise to 65.40 against the US dollar on global trade war concerns, dip in India's exports in March and a sharp drop in domestic equities.

Geopolitical tensions over Syria and trade war concerns weighed on the domestic unit. But, a weak dollar against major global currencies capped some losses, forex dealers said.

India's exports dipped by 0.66 percent to USD 29.11 billion in March, even as they increased by 9.78 percent for the full 2017-18 fiscal.

The rupee closed higher by 6 paise at 65.20 in the previous session on Friday on the back of positive macroeconomic data and firm local equities.

9:45 am Market Update: The market is off its opening lows, with the Sensex falling 100 points due to selling pressure in technology, oil exploration and select banks stocks.

Infosys was the biggest loser among Nifty50 stocks, down 4 percent after the company lowered its full year margin guidance.

Bhansali Engineering was down 3 percent while ICICI Securities, DCB Bank, Gruh Finance gained up to 6 percent after March quarter earnings.

9:31 am Buzzing: Rane Brake Linings share price lost 12 percent intraday Monday after disappointing performance on operational front in March quarter.

Revenue from operations in March quarter grew by 13 percent to Rs 142 crore and net profit increased 50 percent to Rs 6 crore compared to year-ago quarter.

EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation), however, fell 22.7 percent year-on-year to Rs 17 crore and margin contracted by 550 basis points to 12 percent for the quarter ended March 2018.

9:21 am Market Update: Benchmark indices recouped half of opening losses, supported by ITC and HDFC Bank.

Infosys, Tata Motors and Reliance Industries continued to trade lower, putting pressure on the market.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 96.96 points at 34,095.69 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 26.40 points to 10,454.20.

About two shares declined for every share rising on the BSE.

9:18 am Market Outlook: Rahul Sharma, Senior Research Analyst at Equity99 said rising crude oil prices and geopolitical risk from the global markets would be important factors that could impact the sentiment going forward.

On Friday, President Donald Trump had ordered strikes on Syrian targets, seeking to punish President Bashar Assad for a suspected chemical attack near Damascus.

Any new development on this front will affect global sentiments, including Indian markets.

9:15 am Market Update: Equity benchmarks opened lower, with the Sensex falling below 34,000 levels following negative lead from SGX Nifty futures and global stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 229.59 points at 33,963.06 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 66.20 points to 10,414.40.

Infosys was down 4 percent after lowering of full year EBIT margin guidance.

Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Tata Motors, Axis Bank, IOC, Hindalco, Vedanta and ICICI Bank were under pressure in early trade.

Hero Motocorp, Bajaj Auto, M&M, Cipla, ITC and Bajaj Finserv gained.

The Nifty Midcap index was down 126 points.

UCO Bank, Rane Brake, Bhansali Engineering and NIIT Technologies slipped up to 13 percent.

Mishra Dhatu, DCB Bank, Gruh Finance and ICICI Securities gained up to 4 percent.

9:12 am Pre-Opening Settlement: Benchmark indices settled sharply lower in pre-opening, with the Sensex falling 247.92 points to 33,944.73 and the Nifty declining 82.30 points to 10,398.30.

9:08 am Technical Recommendations: We spoke to 5nance.com and here’s what they have to recommend:

Indiabulls Venture Ltd: BUY | Target Rs349 | Stop-loss Rs306 | Return 10%

Vakrangee Ltd: SELL | Target Rs123 | Stop-loss Rs145 | Return 7%

Deepak Fertilisers Ltd: BUY | Target Rs392 | Stop-loss Rs360 | Return 5%

9:06 am Stocks in news: Infosys which reported over 28% QoQ fall will be on investors’ radar. The IT major Q4 results met the Street's estimates, but its outlook for FY19 has unsettled investors.

Most brokerage firms remain mixed on the outlook but see Infosys climbing 1300 levels in next 12 months

Aurobindo Pharma: Company gets US FDA nod for allergy drug, Loratadine Tablet (10 mg)

Strides Shasun: Company gets US FDA nod for Cyproheptadine Hydrochloride tablets

ICICI Bank: The BSE has sought clarification from the bank on a probe by SEBI with regard to corporate governance issues.

9:03 am Market Check: Benchmark indices were subdued in pre-opening on Monday, following negative lead from global stocks and SGX Nifty futures.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 85.69 points at 34,106.96 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 66.10 points to 10,414.50.

Trends on SGX Nifty indicated a negative opening for the broader index in India, a fall of 60 points or 0.57 percent. Nifty futures were trading around 10,443-level on the Singapore Stock Exchange.

Financial stocks led a drop on Wall Street on Friday as results from big banks failed to enthuse and fear of broader conflict in Syria further unnerved investors.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 122.91 points, or 0.5 percent, to 24,360.14, the S&P 500 lost 7.69 points, or 0.29 percent, to 2,656.3 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 33.60 points, or 0.47 percent, to 7,106.65, Reuters reported.

Share markets started firmer in Asia on Monday amid relief U.S.-led strikes on Syria looked like being a one-off event that avoided a direct confrontation with Russia, weighing on oil prices and safe-haven Treasuries. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.1 percent. Japan's Nikkei added 0.3 percent, Reuters reported.