Sensex slips for 3rd day, Nifty ends at 7731; Midcap falls too

3:30 pm Market Closing: Equity benchmarks fell for third consecutive session today, dragged by technology, oil, infra and select banking & financials stocks.

The Sensex declined 71.54 points to 25230.36 and the Nifty fell 18.65 points to 7731.05. The market breadth was negative as about 1501 shares declined against 1077 advancing shares on BSE.

The broader markets were also under pressure with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices falling 0.3-0.4 percent.

3:20 pm Earnings: Direct to home television operator Dish TV's March quarter consolidated profit registered a 14-fold rise at Rs 482.8 crore, driven by tax write-back of Rs 402.9 crore (against tax paid Rs 1.37 crore) and other income.

Total income from operations increased 9.5 percent to Rs 799.3 crore compared to year-ago period while other income surged 36 percent to Rs 21.80 crore in same period.

Earnings matched analysts' expectations on revenue and profit (excluding tax reversal) front but operating profit margin missed analysts' expectations. According to analysts polled by CNBC-TV18, profit was estimated at Rs 80 crore on revenue of Rs 797.4 crore for the quarter.

Operating profit (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) grew by 17.6 percent to Rs 261 crore and margin expanded 320 basis points to 32.6 percent compared to year-ago period, which were expected at Rs 275.3 crore and 34.5 percent, respectively.

3:06 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks erased gains again amid volatility. The Sensex declined 76.56 points to 25225.34 and the Nifty fell 21.30 points to 7728.40.

The market breadth was negative as about 1500 shares declined against 1060 advancing shares on BSE.

2:30 pm CLSA on Economy: Investor sentiment towards the Indian economy is improving but markets are now looking at the passage of key reform bills like the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to act as "new catalysts", says a Citigroup report.

Expectations on structural reforms however remain low and "could be a positive catalyst if GST gets passed", it said.

According to the global financial services major, both equity and fixed income (FI) investors are portraying a constructive outlook for India, but are waiting for the next 'catalyst' for fresh inflows.

"Positioning on India still remains heavy and relative valuations do not appear to be cheap. This is possibly leading to a lack of substantial fresh inflows as the markets await new catalysts," Citigroup said in a research note.

2:15 pm Interview: Mithun Chand, Executive Director of Kaveri Seeds  told CNBC-TV18 that he expects consolidation in the seeds industry going ahead.

Currently, Kaveri Seeds has a volume of 5.7 million packets for cotton seeds and is targeting a 20 percent growth at about 6.5-7 million packets in FY17.

2:00 pm Market Check
Equity benchmarks gained further with the Sensex rising 109.37 points to 25411.27 and the Nifty climbing 41.30 points to 7791. The broader markets underperformed benchmarks, rising over 0.2 percent.

ITC shares rallied 5.5 percent on further buying interest as brokerages raised target price on the stock after fourth quarter earnings, citing revival in cigarette business.

ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Adani Ports, Tata Motors and HUL gained 0.5-1.5 percent while HDFC, TCS, ONGC, Sun Pharma and Asian Paints were losers.

Asia markets closed mixed, with Japan's shares dropping amid renewed strength in yen as fresh data showed the country's exports continued to fall.

The Nikkei 225 closed down 81.75 points, or 0.49 percent, at 16,654.60, retracing earlier losses of more than 1.5 percent, while the dollar-yen pair retreated to levels under 110. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index gave up morning gains to trade down 0.38 percent in the afternoon. Chinese mainland markets closed up, with the Shanghai composite adding 18.53 points, or 0.66 percent, to 2,844.01.

1:50 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks gained strength in afternoon trade. The Sensex gained 67.95 points at 25369.85 and the Nifty rose 29.05 points to 7778.75.

1:45 pm Earnings: City Union Bank's fourth quarter profit grew by 13.2 percent to Rs 112.2 crore compared to year-ago period, supported by net interest income and operational performance. In Q4FY15, the private sector lender had an exceptional gain of Rs 10.9 crore.

Net interest income jumped 29.2 percent to Rs 264.4 crore and other income increased marginally to Rs 107.25 crore compared to Rs 105.5 crore in same period last fiscal.

Operating profit surged 25.3 percent to Rs 224 crore against Rs 178.8 crore in year-ago period.

Provisions for bad loans increased 21.9 percent year-on-year and 9.3 percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 70.8 crore.

Asset quality slightly weakened with gross non-performing assets (NPA) and net NPA rising 4 basis points each sequentially to 2.41 percent and 1.53 percent, respectively.

1:30 pm Market Expert: Anup Bagchi, Managing Director and Chief Executive of ICICI Securities, expects good monsoons to help Bank Nifty touch the 9000-mark in the coming quarters. He told CNBC-TV18 that if the monsoons are good there's a good chance that the Bank Nifty could touch last year's highs.

ICICI Securities expects the Bank Nifty to be at the 9,000 mark by December 2016.

If banks' balance sheets get better in the coming quarters there's only one way for Bank Nifty - up, he said.

1:00 pm Market Check: The market lost shine in afternoon trade with the Nifty breaching 7750 level, weighed down by technology, oil, infra and select banking & financials stocks. Weak European opening also dampened sentiment.

The Sensex declined 22.87 points to 25279.03 and the Nifty was up 0.10 points at 7749.80. The market breadth also turned negative as about 1321 shares declined against 1067 advancing shares on BSE.

European stocks opened slightly lower after weak Japanese export data, a dip in oil prices, and the potential for a US interest rate hike in June, weighed on investor sentiment. FTSE, CAC and DAX were down 0.5-1 percent.

HDFC, ONGC, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Auto and Tata Steel were down 1-2 percent while ITC remained top gainer, up 4 percent after brokerages raised target price on revival in cigarette business. Adani Ports and HUL gained over 1 percent.

12:25 pm Interview: Peter Kerkar, Director, Cox and Kings, said that the company had sold two businesses last year as a result of which the revenues were suppressed.

On the plus side, he said the international business grew by 16 percent over the last year, driven by strong UK, US and UAE markets.

Hotels were shut down for several weeks owing to the Brussels terrorist attacks last year, he said. ''We are committing to a Rs 300 crore debt reduction over this year,'' he said.

"We can achieve this from the existing operations. Mining and education in India are throwing out cash."

12:00 pm Market Check
Equity benchmarks as well as broader markets were volatile in afternoon trade. The Sensex gained 31.50 points at 25333.40 and the Nifty rose 16.25 points to 7765.95 while the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices advanced 0.3 percent each.

ITC, Just Dial, SpiceJet, Britannia Industries, Lupin, Reliance Industries and Tata Motors were the most active shares on exchanges.

Asia markets traded mixed, with Japan's shares dropping amid renewed strength in yen as fresh data showed the country's exports continued to fall.

The Nikkei 225 was off 0.6 percent, retracing earlier losses of more than 1.5 percent, while the dollar-yen pair retreated to levels under 110 by mid-morning trade.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was up 0.08 percent. Chinese mainland markets traded up, with the Shanghai composite adding 0.3 percent.

11:35 am Market Expert: Factoring in Donald Trump's march in the US presidential race, BSE member Ramesh Damani said that he has been proven wrong on his views. He said he had always believed that a Trump victory is one event that could never happen in the US and that he is stunned at Trump being elected as the Republican candidate. He said global economic order will be affected if Trump becomes US president.

Back in India, Damani said the monsoon will be a key market-moving event and a good monsoon is being priced into market activity.

He said that he is impressed by the steps taken by the Modi government in the past two years in order to tackle corruption and other initiatives like Make in India.

"Foundation is being laid for a vigorous bull market," Damani said.

11:20 am Buzzing: Shares of Suven Life Sciences rose 3.4 percent intraday has secured four product patents to their new chemical entities (NCE's).

The company has secured product patents in Australia, Eurasia, Israel and USA to their NCE's for CNS therapy through mechanism of action – H3 Inverse agonist and these patents are valid until 2032, 2030, 2031 and 2032 respectively.

"The granted claims of the patent include the class of selective H3 ligands discovered by Suven and are being developed as therapeutic agents and are useful in the treatment of cognitive impairment associated with neurodegenerative disorders," as per company release.

With these new patents, the company has a total of 24 granted patents from Australia, 17 from Eurasia, 9 from Israel and 24 from USA.

11:00 am Market Check
Equity benchmarks were marginally higher, supported by FMCG and private banks stocks. The broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap index rising 0.4 percent.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 70.17 points to 25372.07 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 26.35 points to 7776.05. The market breadth remained positive as about 1092 shares advanced against 920 declining shares on Bombay Stock Exchange.

Oil prices slipped in Asian trade today, hit by a strong dollar and signs that global crude supply is holding up even as unplanned outages rise to at least a five-year high. In a further sign of abundant supply the number of rigs operated by U.S. drillers was steady last week for the first time this year.

Brent futures were down 0.5 percent to USD 48.48 a barrel and US crude futures fell 0.6 percent to USD 48.10 a barrel.

10:35 am Interview: Local search engine Just Dial reported 25.08 percent decline in net-profit at Rs 35.33 crore for the quarter ended March 31. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Ramkumar Krishnamachari, CFO of the company, said he expects FY17 revenue growth to be better than FY16. He believes steps taken by the company recently will boost growth in FY18.

The company's focus is on the execution of JD Omni, Krishnamachari said, adding, Omni's customer run rate in the last one and half months was at 2,000-2,500. There has been a lot of synergy between its Search and Search Plus engine, he added.
 
He believes Just Dial's margin may be under pressure in the near-term due to investments that will have to be made in FY17. Further, he said one-time ad spends will start in June and will be spread over the coming quarters.

10:20 am Earnings Estimates: Tata Power's fourth quarter consolidated profit is likely to increase 75 percent to Rs 280 crore and revenue may rise 15 percent to Rs 9,078 crore compared to year-ago period.

Operating profit (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) is seen rising 25 percent to Rs 2,046 crore and margin may remain flat at 20.6 percent compared to corresponding period of last fiscal.

Analysts expect losses at Mundra to contract and lower profits from BUMI coal mines in Indonesia.

Mumbai business performance is expected to improve led by increase in volumes. Finance cost is likely to be lower as the company refinanced its debt for Mundra in December 2015.

10:00 am Market Check
Equity benchmarks erased early gains due to further selling in technology, infra and pharma stocks. FMCG and select private banks continued to support.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 31.18 points to 25333.08 and the 50-share NSE Nifty advanced 14.10 points to 7763.80. The market breadth was positive as about 1012 shares advanced against 756 declining shares on Bombay Stock Exchange.

Infosys, HDFC and Sun Pharma fell more than 1 percent while ITC continued to be top gainer with 4 percent rally. ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, HUL, Bharti Airtel and Adani Ports gained over a percent.

With key events like Brexit (in June) and expected (June/July) Fed rate hike, the Indian equity market is likely to get more volatility and may remain in a tight trading range, said Andrew Holland, CEO, Ambit Investment Advisors.

9.50 am Buzzing: Share prices of Ujaas Energy rose 16 percent intraday Monday on the back of strong fourth quarter numbers declared by the company.

The company's Q4 net profit was up 76.9 percent at Rs 13.8 crore versus Rs 7.8 crore, in the same quarter last fiscal.

The total income of the company has increased by 234 percent at Rs 167 crore versus Rs 50 crore.

The EBITDA was up at Rs 30 crore versus Rs 15.9 crore, while EBITDA margin was down 1380 bps at 18 percent versus 31.8 percent.

The company has approved the fund raising through FPO/ADR/GDR/QIP in its meeting held on May 21, 2016.

9:35 am CLSA on GST: Mahesh Nandurkar of CLSA says biennial elections for the Rajya Sabha will conclude in July, i.e. before the next session of parliament.

According to him, despite reshuffle, parties explicitly opposed to the goods & services tax (GST) enabling bill still add up to more than one-third of the house strength. Thus, unless either the Congress, or the AIADMK or the Left parties decide to help the Government, the constitutional amendment bill enabling GST cannot pass.

He feels if this bill does not pass in the next session, GST implementation will get pushed out to April 2018 or later i.e. too close to the next general election for the BJP's comfort.

"We reiterate that even after the next biennial Rajya Sabha elections in 2018, the ruling coalition will hold only 34% of the RS seats and hence legislative progress will continue to be slow," Nandurkar says.

Equity benchmarks rebounded sharply on Monday morning with the Sensex rising 180.90 points to 25482.80. The Nifty reclaimed 7800 level, up 64.25 points or 0.83 percent at 7813.95.

ITC topped buying list on Sensex, up more than 6 percent after brokerages turned upbeat on the stock post quarterly earnings. Citi has upgraded the stock to buy from neutral and raised target price to Rs 390 from Rs 335.

Tata Power gained 1.5 percent ahead of March quarter earnings. Adani Ports, ICICI Bank, HUL, SBI, Hindalco and Aurobindo Pharma were other early gainers while HDFC, Lupin, NTPC and GAIL were losers.

The Indian rupee gained in the early trade today. It has opened higher by 14 paise at 67.30 per dollar against 67.44 Friday.

Himanshu Arora of Religare said, "The USD-INR pair is likely to weaken further on concerns over P-notes and Fed rate hike."

"The rupee may weaken towards 67.80/dollar. However, on the upside, 67/dollar may act as a strong resistance for the Indian rupee," he added.

The US dollar hit its highest level against the yen in more than three weeks on expectations of a potential summer Federal Reserve interest rate hike, while the dollar was little changed against the euro after profit-taking.

Most Asian markets were higher in trade today with the Shanghai and Hang Seng rising 0.3-0.5 percent while only the Japanese benchmark index Nikkei falling 1 percent. This was on the back of a slew of recent comments from the US Federal Reserve about a possible interest rate hike in June.

The Dow Jones, in the US, failed to recover gains for the week after stocks fell amid renewed concerns of a rate hike sooner rather than later.