Sensex up 212 points, Nifty below 8000 ahead of Mahurat trade

03:30 pm Market closing
The market ended pre-Diwali trading session on a strong note. Howevr, the Nifty could not scale the 8000-level even once. The 50-share index closed up 68.15 points or 0.9 percent at 7995.9 while the Sensex was up 211.58 points at 26787.23, and the Nifty. About 1796 shares advanced, 1030 shares declined, and 106 shares were unchanged.

Cipla, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are ONGC, ITC, NTPC, ICICI Bank and Bhart Airtel.

02:55pm Interview
In an interview to CNBC-TV18 Prem Hinduja, MD, Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri (TBZ) shared about the latest happenings in the company in the wake of ongoing festive season and the way ahead.

He said that consumer sentiment has improved and the company has seen double-digit sales growth on last two auspicious occasions of Dusshera and Dhanteras. ''We have seen an improvement in walk- ins and pent up demand is also helping,'' he added.

TBZ aims to boost sales and is likely to focus on discounts and special offers going ahead, he said. However, margins are likely to remain under pressure on account of this.

02:30pm Kotak on buyers' radar
Kotak Mahindra Bank shares rallied 4.5 percent as the private sector lender's second quarter standalone profit after tax beat street expectations, rising 26 percent year-on-year to Rs 444.5 crore led by strong other income and lower provisions. Profit in the year-ago period was Rs 352.54 crore.

Standalone (includes only banking operations) net interest income rose by 12.4 percent, in-line, to Rs 1,039 crore in the quarter ended September 2014 compared to Rs 924.11 crore in same quarter last year.

According to the average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18, profit was estimated at Rs 406 crore and net interest income at Rs 1,034 crore for the quarter.

Other income of the bank jumped 57 percent to Rs 466.5 crore from Rs 297 crore during the same period. Net interest margin climbed 10 basis points to 5 percent from 4.9 percent on sequential basis.

Asset quality was stable during the quarter with the standalone gross non-performing assets (NPA) at 1.89 percent as against 1.88 percent in previous quarter and 1.97 percent in the year-ago period. Net NPA stood at 1 percent compared to 0.98 percent Q-o-Q and 0.96 percent Y-o-Y.

02:00pm Market Check
Equity benchmarks remained on strong footing in afternoon trade. The Sensex climbed 173.55 points to 26749.20 and the Nifty rose 59.25 points to 7987 while the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 1 percent each.

Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of 1620 to 1050 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

According to Ramesh Damani, Member of BSE, the markets are currently in a firm 'bull grip' and he is optimistic on the trend to continue for the next few Diwalis.

Samir Arora, Founder & Fund Manager of Helios Capital too thinks the rally is big and in for a longer duration. However, he does not want to compartmentalize the expected gains on the index to 20 percent or 30 percent.

Commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors and two-wheeler maker Hero Motocorp topped the buying list, up over 3.5 percent on hopes of strong sales numbers in October. Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto and Mahindra and Mahindra gained nearly 3 percent.

Reliance Industries, L&T, Dr Reddy's Labs, Cipla, Sun Pharma, Wipro and BHEL climbed 1-2 percent. However, ONGC topped the selling list, falling over 2 percent followed by ITC, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI, Coal India and NTPC with marginal loss.

Global markets were mixed today. Asian markets like Japan gained more than 2.5 percent while most of European markets were trading with losses.

1:50 pm Results: Private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank's second quarter standalone profit after tax beat street expectations, rising 26 percent year-on-year to Rs 444.5 crore led by strong other income and lower provisions. Profit in the year-ago period was Rs 352.54 crore.

Standalone (includes only banking operations) net interest income rose by 12.4 percent, in-line, to Rs 1,039 crore in the quarter ended September 2014 compared to Rs 924.11 crore in same quarter last year.

Asset quality was stable during the quarter with the standalone gross non-performing assets (NPA) at 1.89 percent as against 1.88 percent in previous quarter and 1.97 percent in the year-ago period. Net NPA stood at 1 percent compared to 0.98 percent Q-o-Q and 0.96 percent Y-o-Y.

In absolute term, gross NPA increased 8 percent sequentially (up 16 percent Y-o-Y) to Rs 1,165 crore and net NPA rose by 9.3 percent quarter-on-quarter (up 25.5 percent on yearly basis) to Rs 611.5 crore in the quarter gone by.

1:30 pm Buzzing: Shares of DLF lost 4.5 percent intraday. The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) heard DLF's appeal against the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) order that barred the company and six top executives from accessing capital market for three years.

The realty giant appealed for interim relief from a three-year ban from accessing capital markets by the regulator. DLF lodged its appeal with the SAT, which will conduct its next hearing on October 30.

In its harshest ever punishment, the Sebi had barred DLF from capital markets, penalising it for failing to disclose key information at the time of its record-breaking 2007 market listing. The order had been passed for "active and deliberate suppression" of material information at the time of its IPO over seven years ago.

It's a day of steady gains on Dalal Street, in-line with strong global cues. The Nifty hovers near the 7980 mark led higher by strong gains in auto and pharma stocks.

The 50-share is up 51.10 points at 7978.85 and the Sensex is up 156.42 points at 26732.07. About 1532 shares have advanced, 981 shares declined, and 89 shares are unchanged.

Hero, Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors,, Maruti Suzuki and L&T are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are ONGC, Hindalco, NTPC, Coal India and ICICI Bank.

Gold was trading near its highest level since early September, supported by concerns over slower economic growth in China, although expectations Asian physical demand may slacken kept gains in check. Worries over the fate of the global economy heightened this week after China said third-quarter growth was the slowest since 2009, lifting appetite for safe-haven assets such as gold.

12:40pm Interview
The sales in the run-up to this Diwali has been the highest in the last few years, says Shantanu Dasgupta, Vice President, Corporate Affairs & Strategy, Whirlpool. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Dasgupta said Onam sales were marginally below expectations, but that has been more than offset by the current rush of buyers.

He said large towns and large format stores accounted for bulk of the growth, adding that proportion of first time buyers continued to be small. On the issue of stiff competition from e-tailers, Dasgupta said 95 percent of white goods sales were still happening through traditional brick and mortar stores.

Speaking in the same discussion, Pradeep Bakshi of Voltas said the momentum in sales seen during the June quarter has continued in the September quarter as well. In the air conditioners segment, Voltas has grown by over 20 percent, Bakshi said.

12:30pm DLF in News
DLF, India's biggest listed property company, appealed for interim relief from a three-year ban from accessing capital markets by the regulator.

DLF lodged its appeal with the Securities Appellate Tribunal, which will conduct its next hearing on October 30.

In its harshest ever punishment, the Securities and Exchange Board of India barred DLF from capital markets, penalising it for failing to disclose key information at the time of its record-breaking 2007 market listing.

12:00pm Market Check
Equity benchmarks maintained strong momentum with the Sensex rising 195.86 points to 26771.51 and the Nifty gaining 63.50 points at 7991.25.

About two shares advanced for every share declining on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Sunil Garg of JPMorgan feels Indian market provides the cleanest and clearest opportunity to buy right now as it is ''cyclically and structurally'' strong. He expects it to outperform all other emerging markets for the next 6-12 months.

Kotak Mahindra Bank jumped nearly 5 percent on strong profitability and stable asset quality performance in Q2. Private sector lender's second quarter standalone profit after tax rose 26 percent year-on-year to Rs 444.5 crore led by strong other income and lower provisions.

Hero Motocorp surged 3.46 percent on hopes of strong October sales numbers. Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors, Cairn India, Reliance Industries and Maruti Suzuki gained 2-3 percent.

However, ONGC, Hindalco Industries, NTPC, Coal India and NMDC lost 0.7-2 percent. DLF fell 3.38 percent.

11:50 am Earnings poll: Housing finance company HDFC, which will announce its second quarter earnings on Wednesday, is expected to report a 8.1 percent growth in profit after tax at Rs 1,368 crore compared to Rs 1,266 crore in the year-ago period, according the average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

Lower non-interest income and higher tax rate may impact profitability of the company. In Q1FY15, company's provision for DTL (deferred tax liability) on special reserve was Rs 74.4 crore. Profit before adjusting for DTL on special reserve was up by 21 percent Y-o-Y to Rs 1,419 crore from Rs 1,173 crore.

11:30 am Gold & silver sales: Jewellery and coin sales sparkled on Dhanteras today with sales rising by an estimated 30 percent from last year as customers went on a buying spree lured by lower gold and silver prices. Gold prices are ruling at Rs 27,925 per 10 grams in the national capital, about 11 percent lower than Rs 31,300 per 10 grams on Dhanteras day in 2013. Similarly, silver today traded at Rs 39,000 per kg as compared to Rs 49,100 a kg last year, a drop of 20.6 percent.

Jewellers said the buying activity remained robust in the first half of the day in most places. But more sales are expected in later part of the day with office-goers in bit cities coming for buying late in the evening.

It's the fourth consecutive session in the green for the market as the Nifty is around 8000 ahead of Diwali.The Sensex is up 178.01 points at 26753.66 and the Nifty is up 54.90 points at 7982.65. About 1478 shares have advanced, 643 shares declined, and 90 shares are unchanged.

Hero, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, BHEL and Cipla are top gainers while ONGC, Coal India, Tata Power, SBI and ITC are laggards.

In result reactions Cairn is higher despite Q2 numbers missing estimates. Barclays says it was an in line quarter retaining their overweight stance but prefers ONGC, BPCL and Reliance.

Globally Asia gains on reports of bond purchases by the European central bank. Nikkei also reacts to September trade deficit data that indicated exports hit a 7-month high. The rupee maintains its rising trend for the fourth straight day.

10:59am Wipro earnings today
Software services exporter  Wipro is expected to report a 2.45 percent growth in second quarter dollar revenue at USD 1,783 million (on Wednesday) compared to USD 1,740.2 million in previous quarter (which is within the company's guidance of 1.7-4 percent), according to the average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

IT services revenue in rupee terms may jump 3.08 percent sequentially to Rs 10,832 crore in the quarter ended September 2014 from Rs 10,508.3 crore in June quarter.

Earnings before interest and tax are likely to increase marginally to Rs 2,428.5 crore from Rs 2,400.3 crore but margin may decline 44 basis points to 22.4 percent from 22.84 percent during the same period.

The fall in margin may be due to impact of wage hikes for two months (wage hike effective June 2014) that may partially offset by productivity gains and rupee depreciation (versus USD). Even Q1 margin was down by 170 basis points from 24.5% to 22.8 percent Q-o-Q.

According to the poll, Wipro may expect its October-December quarter dollar revenue to grow in 2-4 percent range led by ramp-up in recent deal wins and better seasonality.

10:30am Interview
After having posted a decent set of Q2 numbers, Kishor Patil, managing director and chief executive officer, KPIT Technologies says the company is poised to better it in Q3.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Patil says the company's automotive segment has picked up smartly as has its SAP business.

Hence, despite it being a relatively short quarter, Patil is confident of posting better margins in Q3.

The company has reported a net profit of Rs 70.6 crore in Q2, marking a rise of 5.7 percent year on year.

10:00am Market check
Equity benchmarks continued to see buying interest led by capital goods, auto, healthcare and technology stocks. The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 184.49 points to 26760.14 and the 50-share NSE Nifty jumped 55.75 points to 7983.50.

The broader markets gained too with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 1 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively. About 1343 shares have advanced, 545 shares declined, and 62 shares are unchanged on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
 
Hero Motocorp topped the buying list, up over 3 percent as the two-wheeler maker expects to clock close to 1.5 lakh in retail sales on October 21. "Dhanteras sales of 1.5 lakh will be 40-50 percent growth (YoY)," it said.

Tata Motors, Cipla, BHEL, Dr Reddy's Labs and Jindal Steel gained 2 percent each. Kotak Mahindra Bank rose over 2 percent ahead of second quarter earnings today. The CNBC-TV18 poll expects standalone profit after tax to grow 15.2 percent and net interest income to rise 12 percent year-on-year.

However, ONGC, Tata Power, Coal India, PNB, NMDC and DLF were only losers.

Risa International, KPIT Technologies, Dewan Housing, Den Networks and Tube Investment rallied 5-17 percent while BASF India, Jagran Prakashan, TVS Motor, Biocon and Sobha Developer were down 2-4 percent.

9:50 am Poll: Software services exporter Wipro is expected to report a 2.45 percent growth in second quarter dollar revenue at USD 1,783 million (on Wednesday) compared to USD 1,740.2 million in previous quarter (which is within the company's guidance of 1.7-4 percent), according to the average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18. IT services revenue in rupee terms may jump 3.08 percent sequentially to Rs 10,832 crore in the quarter ended September 2014 from Rs 10,508.3 crore in June quarter.

9:35 am Who is going to win? Takeover battle for MCFL is set to be further intensified as Deepak Fertilisers has raised its stake by about 6 per cent through an open offer to about 32 percent and inched closer towards the rival Zuari-UB group's combined stake.

Deepak Fertilisers has acquired about 6 per cent stake, including 2.66 percent stake from Morgan Stanley and Karnataka State Cooperative Marketing Federation, in the open offer closed yesterday at a price of Rs 93.60 that, sources said. Rival Zuari-UB group combine, which had offered the counter bid at Rs 81.60 per share, could only acquire 48,000 shares, sources added.

Zuari-UB group holds 38.4 percent in MCFL. "We are in very comfortable position. Zuari and UB group still have edge over Deepak Fertilisers, but takeover battle for MCFL is not over," a top Zuari Group official told PTI.

The market is celebrating Diwali with some sparkling gains.

The Sensex is up 233.40 points or 0.9 percent at 26809.05, and the Nifty is  up 70.05 points or 0.9 percent at 7997.80. About 453 shares have advanced, 81 shares declined, and 6 shares are unchanged.

Wipro, Hindalco, Tata Motors, TCS and Sesa Sterlite are top gainers in the Sensex.

The Indian rupee has opened at 61.15 a dollar, up 16 paise compared to previous day's closing value of 61.31 per dollar on hopes of strong trade in equity market.

Pramit Brahmbhatt, Veracity says, ''Indian markets are expected to trade strong, though we may see some profit booking at higher levels.''He expects the rupee to gain as indices in Asian markets have already started the day on a strong note. ''The USD-INR pair is expected to trade in the range of 60.80-61.80 a dollar,'' he adds.

Meanwhile, the euro fell against the dollar on reports that the European Central Bank was looking at buying corporate bonds as soon as December in its efforts to revive the stagnating euro zone economy.

Global cues, meanwhile, are positive with the Wall Street rally continuing with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite extending the gains into the fourth day.
European markets too saw significant gains as well on European Central Bank stimulus hopes Asian markets too are trading in the green.

Crude prices, meanwhile rose marginally aided by data showing stronger-than-expected China demand and some technical price recovery after weeks of almost uninterrupted selling.

Gold hits a one-month high as the dollar edged down slightly on worries over a slowdown in the global economy.