Sensex rises 184 points, Nifty ends July series at 8666; ITC leads

3:30 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks rallied sharply in late trade with the Sensex rising 184.29 points to 28208.62 and the Nifty climbing 50.50 points to 8666.30.

About 1489 shares advanced against 1160 declining shares on the BSE.

Asian Paints, Maruti Suzuki, ITC, Sun Pharma, TCS, Bharti Infratel and Eicher Motors surged 1-6 percent while Tata Steel, Adani Ports, L&T, Lupin, Tech Mahindra and Aurobindo Pharma fell 1-4 percent.

3:20 pm Earnings: Direct to home television operator Dish TV's first quarter consolidated earnings missed analysts expectations but subscriber addition was far ahead of estimates on Thursday. Profit declined 24.5 percent year-on-year to Rs 40.9 crore during the quarter, dented by tax expenses and lower other income.

Revenue in June quarter increased 5.7 percent to Rs 778.6 crore compared with year-ago period, supported by subscription revenue that grew by 6.7 percent to Rs 728.2 crore.

Net subscriber addition for the quarter stood at 4.02 lakh against analysts' expectations 3.6 lakh.

3:10 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks extended rally in late trade with the Sensex rising 199.84 points to 28224.17 and the Nifty climbing 52.15 points to 8667.95.

About 1424 shares advanced against 1174 declining shares on the BSE.

2:45 pm Earnings: Public sector lender Syndicate Bank's first quarter (April-June) profit plunged 73.8 percent to Rs 79 crore, impacted by higher provisions and lower operating profit. Sharp fall in tax cost helped the bank report profits for the quarter.

Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest expended, increased 4.7 percent to Rs 1,479 crore on yearly basis.

Asset quality weakened further during the quarter as gross non-performing assets (NPA) as a percentage of gross advances stood at 7.53 percent against 6.7 percent and net NPA at 5.04 percent against 4.48 percent on sequential basis.

2:30 pm Poll: Royal Enfield maker Eicher Motors ' first quarter (April-June) consolidated profit is likely to surge 56.4 percent year-on-year to Rs 347.7 crore, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18. Revenue is seen rising 35.4 percent to Rs 3,950 crore during the quarter compared with Rs 2,917 crore in corresponding period of last fiscal, driven by strong sales volume growth. Consolidated earnings include both Royal Enfield and commercial vehicle business. In Q1FY17, Royal Enfield volumes grew by 38.3 percent YoY to 1.48 lakh unit and commercial vehicle sales increased 32.5 percent at 16,071 units. Net realisation for Royal Enfield may increase 1 percent QoQ and 2.3 percent YoY due to rising share of exports.

The market continues to rise with support from FMCG, pharma and auto stocks. The Sensex is up 103.72 points or 0.4 percent at 28128.05, and the Nifty up 25.60 points or 0.3 percent at 8641.40. About 1440 shares have advanced, 1075 shares declined, and 203 shares are unchanged.

Asian Paints, Maruti, Sun Pharma, ITC and Coal India are top gainers while Tata Steel, L&T, Tata Motors, Axis Bank and Bharti Airtel are losers in the Sensex.

Crude oil rose by Rs 10 to Rs 2,841 per barrel in futures market today as speculators indulged in creating speculative positions, taking positive cues from Asian markets.

At the Multi Commodity Exchange, crude oil for delivery in August was trading higher by Rs 10, to Rs 2,841 per barrel, in a business turnover of 5,023 lots.

Likewise, the oil for delivery in far-month September gained Rs 6, to Rs 2,903 per barrel in 173 lots.

Analysts said speculative positions created by traders as oil prices edged up in Asia today after slumping for five-straight sessions to a three-month low after a surprise jump in US stockpiles built on increasing worries about a global supply glut, influenced crude futures.

1:25 pm Earnings: Public sector lender Punjab National Bank's (PNB) first quarter profit plunged by 57.5 percent to Rs 306.4 crore on yearly basis but the fall was much less compared to analysts' expectations. Higher other income and lower tax cost supported profits

Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest expended, declined 9.8 percent to Rs 3,699 crore compared with year-ago period, impacted slow loan growth.

Advances increased 2.8 percent year-on-year to Rs 3.9 lakh crore while deposits grew by 7 percent to Rs 5.5 lakh crore at the end of June 2016, aided by 14.1 percent growth in CASA deposits.

Asset quality deteriorated further during the quarter due to slightly higher-than-expected fresh slippages. Gross non-performing assets (NPA) increased 85 basis points to 13.75 percent and net NPAs were up 55 basis points at 9.16 percent on a QoQ basis.

1:00 pm Market Check
Equity benchmarks remained in a positive terrain with the Sensex rising 119.67 points to 28144 and the Nifty climbing 34.80 points to 8650.60.

The broader markets also maintained uptrend as the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 0.8 percent each. About 1502 shares advanced against 997 declining shares on the exchange.

Pramod Gubbi, Director Institutional Sales, Ambit Singapore Pte. Ltd said abundant liquidity can take global markets to new highs, as major central banks are persisting with their easy money policies.

However, Gubbi cautions against buying shares at current levels as he feels the market has run ahead of fundamentals. The risks are more on the downside, he feels.

Asian Paints remained top gainer, up more than 6 percent post Q1 earnings. Maruti Suzuki surged over 4 percent as the country's largest car maker will start selling its first Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) under the Super Carry brand priced up to Rs 4.11 lakh from the end of next month, marking its foray into the segment in the domestic market.

Bharti Infratel surged 7.13 percent followed by Sun Pharma, Coal India, SBI, Eicher Motors and Power Grid Corp gained 1.6-3 percent while Tata Steel, L&T, Tata Motors, Axis Bank, Tech Mahindra and Tata Motors (DVR) fell 1-2 percent.

12:58 pm Earnings: Public sector lender Punjab National Bank's (PNB) first quarter profit plunged by 57.5 percent to Rs 306.4 crore on yearly basis but the fall was much less compared to analysts' expectations. Higher other income and lower tax cost supported profits

Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest expended, declined 9.8 percent to Rs 3,699 crore compared with year-ago period, impacted slow loan growth.

Advances increased 2.8 percent year-on-year to Rs 3.9 lakh crore while deposits grew by 7 percent to Rs 5.5 lakh crore at the end of June 2016.

12:40 pm Europe opens: European stocks opened slightly lower as markets digest the latest monetary policy decision from the US Federal Reserve, a raft of earnings and look ahead to the latest decision from the Bank of Japan.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.18 percent.

Earnings are in focus for European investors today. Credit Suisse reported a surprise profit for the second quarter of 2016 ahead of market open while French bank BNP Paribas posted better-than-expected second-quarter profit, even as its retail bank struggled.

12:20 pm Interview:  ADF Foods  has approved buyback of shares worth Rs 18 crore. Bimal Thakkar, Managing Director of ADF Foods told CNBC-TV18 that the promoters holding will rise by 4 percent after the buyback.

"We are very optimistic about company's business; things are looking good," Thakkar told CNBC-TV18.

"We continue to expand our presence in domestic business and we will see it growing this year", he said.

On the company's US business, Thakkar said that it was turning around and all efforts were being taken to grow the revenues.

Thakkar expects the US business to break-even by this year-end.

12:00 pm Market Check
The market maintained its morning gains ahead of expiry of July futures and options contracts. Banks, select FMCG and auto stocks supported benchmarks while the fall in Infosys, L&T and Tata Motors limited upside.

The Sensex was up 100.31 points at 28124.64 and the Nifty gained 32.20 points at 8648 while the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices continued to outperform, up nearly 1 percent each.

About 1500 shares advanced against 877 declining shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

11:50 am Buzzing: Shares of  Sun Pharmaceutical Industries rose 2 percent intraday as it has signed a licensing agreement with Spanish company Almirall for development and commercialization of tildrakizumab for psoriasis in Europe.

Tildrakizumab is an investigational IL-23p19 inhibitor currently being evaluated in patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis.

Under terms of the license agreement, Almirall will pay to company an initial upfront payment of USD 50 million.

"The company will be eligible to receive development and regulatory milestone payments and, additionally, sales milestone payments and royalties on net sales, the terms of which are confidential," as per BSE release.

11:25 am Moody's on Green bonds: Companies globally are likely to raise about USD 75 billion through issuance of green bonds in 2016, up from USD 42.4 billion mopped up last year, Moody's Investors Service has said.

It added that global green bond issuance in April-June quarter of 2016 reached a new quarterly high of USD 20.3 billion -- well above the USD 16.9 billion recorded in Q1.

With this, the total green bond issuance in the first six months of the year stood at USD 37.2 billion, up 89 percent from USD 19.7 billion for the first half of 2015.

"The global green bond market is now poised to reach USD 75 billion in total volume for 2016 and so set a new record for the fifth consecutive year, given the strong issuance already observable in the first two weeks of third quarter," Moody's Senior VP Henry Shilling said.

A green bond is like any other bond where a debt instrument is issued by an entity for raising funds from investors.

11:00 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks remained higher in trade with the Sensex rising more than 100 points and the Nifty trading near 8650 level, though there is volatility ahead of F&O expiry.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 111.58 points at 28135.91 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 32.45 points at 8648.25.

The market breadth remained strong as about two shares advanced for every share falling on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The broader markets continued to trade strong as the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 0.7 percent and 1 percent, respectively.

Bajaj Finance surged 5 percent, crossing the Rs 10,000 mark to trade at Rs 10,285. Its June quarter earnings were strong as profit grew by 54 percent on yearly basis. Even the company approved bonus issue and sub division of shares.

10:48 am Stake sale: State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp  (HPCL) may sell a part of their stake in Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals  (MRPL) to comply with regulations on minimum public holding.

Public shareholding in the Mangalore-based refiner is currently just 11.42 percent, not even half of the mandatory 25 percent public float required by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for listed companies.

PSUs have been asked by SEBI to comply with the public shareholding requirement by August next year.

The Board of MRPL will meet on August 1 for approval options to raise public shareholding up to 25 percent as per SEBI directive, a senior official said.

10:25 am FII View: After a build of expectations because of good monsoon and government reforms, this quarter has been disappointing in terms of corporate earnings, says Pramod Gubbi, Director Institutional Sales, Ambit Singapore Pte. Ltd.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Gubbi said abundant liquidity can take global markets to new highs, as major central banks are persisting with their easy money policies.

 However, Gubbi cautions against buying shares at current levels as he feels the market has run ahead of fundamentals. The risks are more on the downside, Gubbi says.

10:00 am Market Check
Equity benchmarks continued to trade higher amid consolidation with the Nifty holding 8600 level ahead of expiry of July derivative contracts.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 77.26 points at 28101.59 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 15 points to 8630.80. The broader markets outperformed benchmarks.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 0.7-0.8 percent as about two shares advanced for every share declining on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Asian Paints shares rallied 7 percent after its first quarter (April-June) earnings surpassed analysts' expectations with consolidated profit growing 18.7 percent year-on-year to Rs 553 crore, boosted by operational performance.

"The decorative business segment in India registered double digit growth during the quarter and international business performed well aided by good growth in markets like Nepal, UAE and Fiji," KBS Anand, MD and CEO said.

9:55 am Buzzing: Indian Hume Pipe shares are locked at 20 percent upper circuit after strong set of earnings in Q1.

Net profit jumped multi-fold to Rs 26 crore from Rs 6.3 crore crore and revenue more than doubled to Rs 447.6 crore from Rs 212.3 crore on yearly basis.

Operating profit shot up to Rs 52.6 crore from Rs 23.2 crore and margin expanded by 90 basis points at 11.8 percent in Q1.

9:37 am Hero Group restructuring: Sunil Kant Munjal will step down from Hero MotoCorp's board to pursue new business interests.

His tenure as joint managing director will end on August 16.

The company said realignment of group will not impact overall promoter shareholding.

9:30 am FII View: The Federal Reserve's decision overnight to hold interest rates will be a positive for Indian equities, says Geoffrey Dennis of UBS, adding that he does not see a correction in the Indian equity market anytime soon.

"India has historically done well when the Fed stays on hold," he told CNBC-TV18, after the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) overnight kept overnight interest rate target in the 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent range.

He added that he expects the US Fed to raise rates only in December.

According to Dennis, global markets are finding significant liquidity support thanks to central bank policies because of the surprising referendum result in the UK. He is of the opinion that Bank of Japan (BoJ) may unleash further monetary stimulus from hereon.

There is a lot of global investor interest seen in the emerging markets (EMs), he maintained.

9:15 am Market Check
Equity benchmarks started off Thursday's trade with marginal gains as the Sensex gained 80.69 points at 28105.02 and the Nifty rose 21 points to 8636.80.

Bharti Airtel topped the buying list among Sensex 30 stocks, up over 2 percent after better-than-expected consolidated earnings in Q1. Profit increased nearly 11 percent on sequential basis.

Asian Paints also reacted positively to better-than-expected earnings in June quarter, up nearly 2 percent.

ICICI Bank, Maruti Suzuki and Adani Ports gained 1 percent each while Infosys, NTPC were losers.

The Indian rupee opened higher by 8 paise at 67.06 per dollar versus 67.14 Wednesday.

Mohan Shenoi of Kotak Mahindra Bank said, "The FOMC statement was neutral with no specific hints of a rate hike in the near future. After a 28 trillion yen fiscal stimulus, market is expecting monetary measures from BoJ today."

"The USD lost ground marginally against most currencies. Passage of GST in this session will be a positive for the rupee," he said. He expects the USD-INR pair to trade in a range of 66.85-67.15/dollar today.

Major Asian markets traded lower today, ahead of another earnings-heavy day and the start of the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) two-day policy meeting. Japan's Nikkei, China's Shanghai and Hong Kong's Hang Seng were down 0.4-1 percent.

Wall Street ended lower on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged but opened the door to a possible rate increase later this year.

The US central bank indicated less worry about possible shocks that could push the US economy off course and noted that inflation expectations were little changed in recent months.

In a volatile session, the Dow Jones industrial average finished down a marginal 0.01 percent at 18,472.17 points and the S&P 500 ended down 0.12 percent at 2,166.58. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.58 percent to 5,139.81.