Sensex surges 170 points; HDFC & Tata groups lead; IT supports

03:50 pm Market closing: After a volatile session, the market ended on higher level. The Sensex is up 173.47 points at 20366.82, and the Nifty is up 47.25 points at 6048.35.  About 1212 shares have advanced, 1341 shares declined, and 149 shares are unchanged.

03:40 pm Macro economy: With governments going for populist measures like energy price cuts and doles for agri produce, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan today said this would compound the troubles of the central bank.

"The consequences of inappropriate or inadequate price adjustments will be that the Reserve Bank will have to bear more of the burden in combating inflation," Rajan said.

From the medium-term perspective, it is in the best interest of the Reserve Bank that prices are linked to the market realties, he said.

3:30 pm Stock in news: Shares in Bajaj Auto fell on news that Egypt's government is proposing a ban on import of motorbikes and three-wheelers, traders said.

Egypt's cabinet gave authority to the finance ministry on Wednesday to temporarily ban the import of 'tuk-tuks', fully assembled motorbikes and their components.

The ban is not final yet but is a potential risk to Bajaj Auto's exports to Egypt, said Morgan Stanley in a note.

The brokerage downgraded the stock to "equal-weight" from "overweight" and cut the price target to Rs 1,983 from Rs 2,124.

3:20 pm Boardroom: John Flintham, Sr MD & CEO of Amtek Auto said acquisitions would be main growth driver and  growth rate would sustain going forward into FY15 and FY16 mainly on back of recent acquisitions.

Acquisition of Neumayer Tekfor and JMTAuto already contributed to growth in quarter gone by, and the acquisition of German Kuepper Group would add substantially to growth in next fiscal year, said Flintham

Although growth in domestic market was a bit subdued, exports were significantly higher to the tune of Rs 700-800 crore says Flintham in an interview to CNBC-TV18. However, now the company is again seeing an uptick in domestic orders, he said.

He is confident of maintaining margins at current levels because of improvements in process and productivity.

3:10 pm Results: Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), the flagship company of Mahindra group, reported 11.7 percent growth year-on-year during October-December quarter of financial year 2013-14, helped by tractor business.

Net profit increased to Rs 934 crore from Rs 836.2 crore but revenues fell 2 percent to Rs 10,555.7 crore compared to same quarter last year.

"The deceleration in the gross revenues is due to challenging times the Indian auto industry is currently passing through with volumes shrinking by 11.7 percent in Q3FY14," the company reasoned in its filing.

Topline was slightly better than analysts' expectations but profitability and operational performance were lower than forecast.

3:00 pm Vote on Account: Ajay Marwaha, Head Trading Treasury, HDFC Bank does not expect any big bang announcements in Monday's Vote on Account. Finance Minister P Chidambaram will be walking a tightrope when he presents an interim budget for the coming fiscal year, doling out more funds to woo voters and tax cuts to support industry while projecting a lower fiscal deficit before elections.

The economy is projected to grow by 4.9 percent for the current fiscal year ending in March, much lower than the more than 9 percent growth seen before the 2008 global financial crisis. Annual retail inflation remains uncomfortably near 9 percent.

2:50 pm Market outlook: Year 2014 has not started well for emerging markets resulting in lower inflows. Yesterday, Sensex fell 255 points, while the Nifty tanked 89 points. But Hiren Ved, Director & CIO, Alchemy Capital Management believes it is not because of FII selling as much as lack of buyers that led to the weakness in the markets.

He expects the interim Budget on Monday to be a non-event for the market. He says finance minister P Chidambaram might choose to cut plan/ non-plan expenditure to curb fiscal deficit. He believes the market already discounted Vote on Account.

2:40 pm Exclusive: Post the collapse of the USD 2.5 billion deal with Cooper, Apollo Tyres is now working on a new strategy. The strategy will see revenue from overseas markets grow to 50 percent over the next five years from around 30 percent currently.

As per the plan, Apollo Tyres has decided to revive its investment plans in two overseas facilities that were put on hold for over a year, reports CNBC-TV18. Now that the Cooper deal is history, it is perhaps a good time to revisit the presentation the company had made to investors and journalists a day after the USD 2.5 billion deal was announced.

The three key rationales the company had used to justify the overleveraged buyout was risk diversification with an idea to increase its overseas revenues with an eye on the Chinese market, where Apollo Tyres is not present. China alone accounted for over 25 percent of Cooper Tire's revenues.

2:30 pm Buzzing: Shares of Bharti Airtel jumped 5 percent while Idea Cellular soared 6 percent as Reliance Jio did not win the 900 mhz spectrum as feared. Barclays says lack of aggressive policy from Reliance-Jio is a positive for the existing incumbents.

"The higher spend towards spectrum auction could act as a near term headwind for Idea. We continue to prefer Bharti Airtel as our pick within the sector currently," it said.

However, brokerage have revised target price of Idea and Bharti as incumbents retained their spectrum in 900 MHz but paid a steep price. Blended 900 Mhz price was 84 percent higher and 1800 Mhz was 29 percent higher than reserve price. Religare is cautious on the sector as the street is overestimating the tariff increase and underestimating the data capex for the sector.

High spectrum renewal charges and more outlays for the current auction would further strain the balance sheets of telecom players. ''Net debt for Bharti and Idea would go up to Rs 627bn/Rs 199bn, implying a high gearing (net debt/EBITDA) of 2.3x for Idea, Religare said.

The market extended its northward journey in last hour of trade supported by technology, private banks and oil & gas stocks. Tata and HDFC group stocks too helped the Nifty climb to 6050 level.

The Sensex rose 171.73 points to 20,365.08 and the Nifty advanced 44.10 points to 6,045.20. About 1135 shares have advanced, 1350 shares declined, and 141 shares are unchanged.

Tata Motors topped the buying list, rising 3 percent on value buying after strong January sales numbers reported by Jaguar Land Rover.

Technology majors TCS and Infosys climbed over 1.5 percent while rival Wipro advanced over a percent.

Shares of HDFC, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank gained 0.7-1.2 percent whereas State Bank of India fell 1.8 percent after disappointing results during October-December quarter.

Net profit of the bank dropped 34.2 percent year-on-year to Rs 2,234.34 crore in the quarter ended December 2013, dented by higher provisions and expenses.

Index heavyweights Reliance Industries and ITC added 1.75 percent and 0.92 percent, respectively.

However, Bajaj Auto plunged over 3 percent after Egypt government imposed one year import ban on 2-wheelers and 3-wheelers. The company exports both 2-wheelers and 3-wheelers to Egypt.

Shares of Cipla, Hero Motocorp and BHEL declined 2 percent each. Sun Pharma slipped 0.7 percent on profit booking.

1:50 pm Buzzing: Shares of Bharti Airtel jumped 5 percent while Idea Cellular soared 6 percent as Reliance Jio did not win the 900 mhz spectrum as feared. Barclays says lack of aggressive policy from Reliance-Jio is a positive for the existing incumbents.

''The higher spend towards spectrum auction could act as a near term headwind for Idea. We continue to prefer Bharti Airtel as our pick within the sector currently,'' it said.

However, brokerage have revised target price of Idea and Bharti as incumbents retained their spectrum in 900 MHz but paid a steep price. Blended 900 Mhz price was 84 percent higher and 1800 Mhz was 29 percent higher than reserve price.

1:40 pm Boardroom: PK Goyal, Director-Finance, IOC says the company's loss can be attributed to lower under-recoveries. The company's refinery margins stood at USD 4.97/barrel, higher than last year's USD 3.11/barrel. He expects to maintain FY14 gross refinery margins, or GRMs, at USD 4-5/bbl. IOC has total under-recovery of Rs 8,800 crore. "If we get 100 percent compensation our profit would have been Rs 6,500 crore before tax," Goyal says.

IOC reported third quarter net loss at Rs 961.5 crore versus profit of Rs 3,332 crore year-on-year. However, the company posted an increase in revenue for the nine month period against the corresponding period, previous fiscal. Its revenue for the nine months stood at Rs 337,000 crore against Rs 318,852 crore in FY13.

1:30 pm Results: India's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) disappointed street with the net profit falling 34.2 percent year-on-year to Rs 2,234.34 crore in the quarter ended December 2013.

Fresh slippages during the quarter were Rs 11,438 crore as against Rs 8,365 crore in previous quarter while cash recovery stood at Rs 1,538 crore in the quarter gone by.

According to CNBC-TV18 poll, analysts expected profit after tax to fall 26 percent to Rs 2,500 crore and net interest income to decline 14 percent to Rs 12,669 crore compared to a year-ago period.

The market continues to be volatile. The Sensex is up 47.48 points at 20240.83, and the Nifty is up 10.75 points at 6011.85.

About 1089 shares have advanced, 1214 shares declined, and 134 shares are unchanged.

Bajaj Auto, BHEL, Hero MotoCorp, Cipla and Sesa Sterlite are major losers in the Sensex. Among the gainers are Tata Motors, TCS, NTPC, Infosys and Reliance.

WPI inflation eased to an eight-month low of 5.05 percent in January, helped by moderating food prices. Core inflation continues to inch higher and is at 3 percent vs 2.8 percent month-on-month.

Timothy Moe of Goldman Sachs expects Q4 to remain a weak quarter for earnings. "One strategy we recommend to investors for the current reporting season is to focus on large cap stocks with a track record of earnings beats. M&M features among our buy-rated names in India," he said.

12:58pm Bajaj Hindusthan slips nearly 3% post Q1 earnings
Bajaj Hindusthan's net loss in October-December quarter widened to Rs 389.07 crore from Rs 55.14 crore in a year-ago period but declined sequentially from Rs 509.49 crore.

Net sales increased to Rs 777.22 crore from Rs 626.76 crore year-on-year but slipped compared to Rs 1,327.47 crore in previous quarter.

Finance cost increased on yearly basis to Rs 152.7 crore from Rs 126.54 crore but dropped as against Rs 167.9 crore in September quarter.

12:50pm Spectrum auction ends on Thursday
Government has received bids worth over Rs 61,162 crore from "extremely successful" spectrum auction that ended today after 10 days, during which eight telecom companies slugged it out for radiowaves in 900 Mhz and 1800 Mhz bands, Communications Minister Kapil Sibal said.

It has ensured a minimum revenue of Rs 18,296.36 crore to the government in the current financial year ending March 31.

The government had put on the block about 385 MHz of radiowaves in the 1800 MHz band, and 46 MHz in the 900 MHz band. About 78 Mhz remained unsold in 1800 Mhz.

Telecom Secretary MF Farooqui said that bids worth Rs 37,572.60 crore have come in for radiowaves in 900 Mhz band, and Rs 23,589.62 crore for 1800 Mhz band.

Companies have the option to pay 33 percent upfront for 1800 Mhz band, and 25 per cent in case of 900 Mhz band, reports PTI.

12:40pm Suven Life Sciences surges 2%
Suven Life Sciences announces today that it has secured two product patents from New Zealand.

"The two patents corresponding to new chemical entities for the treatment of disorders associated with Neurodegenerative diseases and these Patents are valid through 2029 and 2030 respectively," the company said in its filing.

With these new patents, Suven has a total of 19 granted patents from New Zealand.

12:30pm SBI to declare quarterly earnings today
The street will watch out for profitability and asset quality of State Bank of India during Q3FY14, which both are expected to weaken during the quarter, analysts say.

It has one of the highest non-perfoming assets (NPAs) among large sized peers. Another factor to watch out for is its comments on QIP. The bank raised Rs 8,032 crore through qualified institutional placement in January.

According to CNBC-TV18 poll, analysts expect profit after tax to fall 26 percent to Rs 2,500 crore and net interest income to decline 14 percent to Rs 12,669 crore compared to a year-ago period.

The decline in PAT, which has been continued since Q4FY13, will be on account of higher wage and bad loan provisions. In September quarter, PAT was down 35 percent to Rs 2,375 crore with provisions spiking 66 percent to Rs 3,029 crore.

12:15pm Market Expert
Ahead of the Vote on Account on Monday, analysts believe that since it is just an interim Budget, there are unlikely to be any major changes on the policy front. Deven Choksey, MD, KR Choksey Shares & Securities believes that interim budget is a non-event and so, there are no expectations.

According to him, the government will just review the sum of accounts. People might feel a bit more happy at the end of the day from a fiscal deficit perspective because of the kind of money that government received through the telecom spectrum auction and the cross selling of the IOC shares.

''Government would probably have fiscal deficit which is much healthier, but I do not have any other view on Vote on Account as far as the market is concerned

12:00pm Equity benchmarks remained in positive terrain amid volatility. January WPI inflation eased to 8-month low of 5.05 percent compared to 6.16 percent in December but core inflation rose to 3 percent as against 2.8 percent M-o-M.

The Sensex rose 47.30 points to 20240.65 and the Nifty climbed 11.15 points to 6012.25. About 1101 shares have advanced, 1037 shares declined, and 115 shares are unchanged.

State Bank of India bounced back ahead of its October-December quarter earnings today, up 0.4 percent while its rivals ICICI Bank and Axis Bank fell over 0.5 percent.

Shares of TCS and Tata Motors are top gainers in the Sensex 30, rising over 2 percent followed by Infosys, Bharti Airtel, NTPC and GAIL with over a percent upmove.

Reliance Industries gained 0.9 percent. Its partner Niko Resources said KG-D6 gas prices are set to almost double from April 1. "We are working with Reliance to give Government of India bank guarantees for higher price and evaluating appraisal well drilled at MJ field in KG-D6," Niko said.

However, Bajaj Auto and BHEL fell over 2.5 percent. ITC, ICICI Bank and L&T declined 0.5 percent each.

11:50 am Vote on Account expectation: Finance Minister P Chidambaram will be walking a tightrope when he presents an interim budget for the coming fiscal year on Monday, doling out more funds to woo voters and tax cuts to support industry while projecting a lower fiscal deficit before elections.

Asia's third-largest economy is facing its worst economic slowdown in nearly a decade, with shrinking manufacturing, slower jobs growth and high inflation limiting the government's ability to offer sops to voters or companies to boost growth. Opinion polls predict defeat for the Congress-led ruling alliance in elections due by May amid widespread discontent with its mismanagement of the economy, high inflation and corruption scandals.

11:40 am Result poll: Bakery and confectionery product manufacturer Britannia Industries is set to declare its October-December quarter earnings today. According to CNBC-TV18 poll, analysts expect sales growth to be steady driven by mid-single digit volume growth.

They said favourable agri-input costs should lead to a gross margin expansion of 250 bps Y-o-Y and this should lead to a similar operating profit margin expansion.

Total income may go up 12.9 percent to Rs 1,657 crore versus Rs 1,468 crore. EBITDA is seen going up 54.2 percent to Rs 143 crore versus Rs 92.4 crore while net profit is likely to go up 67.7 percent to Rs 95.5 crore versus Rs 57.0 crore.

11:30 am Big deal: Japan-based software solutions and products major NEC is in preliminary talks with HP (erstwhile Hewlett Packard) to buy out its 60.49 percent in Indian software services major MphasiS , reports CNBC-TV18, quoting sources. Sources said NEC is open to paying a premium to buy out HP's Mphasis stake, which at current market price is worth around Rs 4800 crore. HP and NEC were not available for comment. HP had been looking to sell the Mphasis stake, but put its plan on hold in July last year because of global restructuring.

The market is flat with the Nifty just managing to hold on to 6000 levels. The Nifty is at 6009.95, up 8.85 points while the Sensex is up 35.43 points at 20228.78.

Tata Motors, TCS, Bharti Airtel, NTPC and Infosys are up in the Sensex. Among the losers are BHEL, Bajaj Auto, Sesa Sterite, Dr Reddy's Labs and Hindalco.

Rupee gains tracking broad weakness post disappointing US economic data. However, dollar purchases by a large state-owned bank possibly on behalf of oil importers weigh. Investors are eyeing January WPI inflation data.

Dollar was pinned at three week lows with the euro trading close to 1.37 levels and the yen strengthening as well

Gilts are a tad higher as traders take positions ahead of January inflation rate. Value buying by PSU banks also supports prices. Sentiment remains cautious ahead of the government's Vote on Account on Monday.

Gold hit a three-month high of above USD 1300 and set to post its biggest weekly gain since October. Brent crude slipped 6 cents to USD 108.7 per barrel.

Asian stocks trade mixed. China inflation comes in at 2.5 percent remaining at a seven-month low and while producer prices came in line with estimates.

10:50am FII View
Timothy Moe of Goldman Sachs said look for large caps with positive track record. He expects Q4 to remain a weak quarter for earnings.

One strategy he recommends to investors for the current reporting season is to focus on large cap stocks with a track record of earnings beats. "M&M features among our buy-rated names in India," he added.

10:40am Sun Pharma on buyers' radar
Shares of Sun Pharma rose 0.7 percent after  December quarter results . Driven by strong growth in US business and Taro's performance, the drug major's net profit surged 73.7 percent and revenue grew 50.5 percent (year-on-year) during October-December quarter.

The stock has been on buyers' radar after Taro announced strong third quarter performance with record margins. Sun Pharma currently holds 66 percent stake in the company.

Meanwhile, Sun Pharma has also received US FDA for its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) to market a generic version of Temodar, Temozolomide Capsules, 5 mg, 20 mg, 100 mg, 140 mg, 180 mg and 250 mg.

Temozolomide Capsules are indicated for treatment of adult patient with newly diagonesed glioblastoma multiforme concomitantly with radio therapy.

Credit Suisse sees an upside of 5 percent at Rs 716, with a rating of outperform. UBS maintains neutral rating on the stock. The brokerage feels management of Sun Pharma needs to continue to do M&A to meet high market expectations.

10:30am Market Expert
Nilesh Shah, MD & CEO, Axis Capital expects markets to remain volatile but does not see any substantial correction from the current levels, at least until the election results get announced. Shah feels the emerging markets (EMs) redemption could be a function of the Fed tapering or risk aversion prevailing in the global investors.

Shah says FII selling has accelerated over the last few weeks, mostly by long-only funds. However, he does not expect any massive redemption from FIIs. ''We think asset quality pressure is likely to remain on the higher side,'' he told CNBC-TV18.

Shah is long on private sector banks and underweight on PSU banks. For IT, he feels valuations are a bit high but not stretched.

For next week, he says the market will watch how the fiscal deficit target is met in Vote-on-Account.

10:20am SBI to announce Q3FY14 earnings
India's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) is set to announce its third quarter (October-December) earnings on Friday. The street will watch out for profitability and asset quality of the bank, which both are expected to weaken during the quarter, analysts say.

It has one of the highest non-perfoming assets (NPAs) among large sized peers. Another factor to watch out for is its comments on QIP. The bank raised Rs 8,032 crore through qualified institutional placement in January.

According to CNBC-TV18 poll, analysts expect profit after tax to fall 26 percent to Rs 2,500 crore and net interest income to decline 14 percent to Rs 12,669 crore compared to a year-ago period.

The decline in PAT, which has been continued since Q4FY13, will be on account of higher wage and bad loan provisions. In September quarter, PAT was down 35 percent to Rs 2,375 crore with provisions spiking 66 percent to Rs 3,029 crore.

10:10am IOC talks to CNBC-TV18
IOC reported third quarter net loss at Rs 961.5 crore versus profit of Rs 3,332 crore year-on-year.

PK Goyal, Director-Finance, IOC says the company's loss can be attributed to lower under-recoveries. The company's refinery margins stood at USD 4.97/barrel, higher than last year's USD 3.11/barrel. He expects to maintain FY14 gross refinery margins, or GRMs, at USD 4-5/bbl.

IOC has total under-recovery of Rs 8,800 crore. "If we get 100 percent compensation our profit would have been Rs 6,500 crore before tax," Goyal says.

10:00am The Nifty continued to hold the 6000 level amid consolidation supported by telecom and Tata group stocks. However, the fall continued in banking & financials, FMCG and capital goods stocks.

The Sensex rose 25.46 points to 20,218.81, and the Nifty climbed 3.30 points to 6,004.40. About 768 shares have advanced, 733 shares declined, and 73 shares are unchanged.

Tata Motors gained nearly 2 percent on value buying after strong January sales numbers by Jaguar Land Rover.

Telecom stocks like Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular rallied 3 percent each after Reliance Jio did not win 900 MHz spectrum.

Shares of Reliance Industries, TCS and Infosys advanced over 0.6 percent.

However, banking & financials continued to see selling pressure. HDFC, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and State Bank of India fell 0.2-1 percent.

BHEL lost 2.6 percent, in addition to 3.5 percent. The company has been under pressure due to its order book concerns.

Shares of ITC and HUL are marginally weak. Sesa Sterlite slipped 1.5 percent on profit booking.

9:50 am Vote-on-account expectation: Corporate lawyer HP Ranina expects Chidambaram to reduce gold import duty and rationalise service tax duty in the interim Budget. Nilesh Shah of Axis Direct and Nirmal Jain chairman, IIFL also see the FM tinkering gold import duty on Monday.

"Gold smuggling has increased and also Sonia Gandhi had made a statement that gold jewellers are hard-pressed and we need to cut down the duty, these can be only two reasons why I think something on gold import duty will be announced," Jain added. The import duty on gold currently stands at 10 percent.

9:40 am Market outlook: Nilesh Shah, MD & CEO, Axis Capital expects markets to remain volatile but does not see any substantial correction from the current levels, at least until the election results get announced. Shah feels the emerging markets (EMs) redemption could be a function of the Fed tapering or risk aversion prevailing in the global investors.

Shah says FII selling has accelerated over the last few weeks, mostly by long-only funds. However, he does not expect any massive redemption from FIIs. ''We think asset quality pressure is likely to remain on the higher side,'' he told CNBC-TV18's Latha Venkatesh and Sonia Shenoy. Shah is long on private sector banks and underweight on PSU banks. For IT, he feels valuations are a bit high but not stretched.

9:30 am Buzzing: Shares of Sun Pharma jumped 2 percent intraday on Friday post its December quarter results. Driven by strong growth in US business and Taro's performance, the drug major's net profit surged 73.7 percent and revenue grew 50.5 percent (year-on-year) during October-December quarter.

Meanwhile, Sun Pharma has also received US FDA for its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) to market a generic version of Temodar, Temozolomide Capsules, 5 mg, 20 mg, 100 mg, 140 mg, 180 mg and 250 mg.

After getting bruised in yesterday, the market opened higher on Friday. The Sensex is up 108.23 points at 20301.58, and the Nifty is up 22.65 points at 6023.75. About 231 shares have advanced, 73 shares declined, and 5 shares are unchanged.

Sun Pharma, Tata Motors, Infosys, ICICI Bank and Bharti Airtel are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the top losers are  ITC, HDFC and Hero.

The rupee climbed 17 paise in early trade on Friday. It opened at 62.25 per dollar as against previous day's closing of 62.42 a dollar.

The US dollar was pinned at three-week lows against a basket of major currencies early on Friday after disappointingly soft US data dealt a blow to the already struggling greenback.
Pramit Brahmbhatt of Alpari India said, "Rupee is again seeing a bit of stress owing to a weak equity and strong dollar demand by OMC and other importers. Moreover, some selling pressure by the FII community is adding to the pressure."

"However, weak dollar internationally and RBI intervention above 62.70/USD levels might provide some respite. Range for the day is seen between 62.11-62.83/USD," he added.
The Indian market is likely to make a soft opening today tracking mixed global cues.

The US stocks closed higher on Thursday, with the Nasdaq rising for a sixth straight day, as investors looked past disappointing data on consumer spending, chalking the weakness up to weather instead of weaker fundamentals.

Among commodities, Brent is currently trading at USD 108.59 per barrel and gold at Rs 29, 184 per 10 gram.