Sensex up 222 points, Nifty ends above 7500; SBI, BHEL soar 4%

03:35 pm Market closing: The market ended the choppy session on a higher note. The Sensex is up 221.67 points or 1 percent at 25228.65, and the Nifty is up 72.50 points or 1 percent at 7526.65. About 1843 shares have advanced, 1084 shares declined, and 104 shares are unchanged.

Ban Nifty surged 3 percent. Both SBI and BHEL were up 4 percent each. ICICI Bank, Tata Steel and Axis Bank gained 3 percent each.

Only IT and FMCG index ended in red. Dr Reddy's Labs, Hero Motocorp, NTPC, TCS and Sesa Sterlite were major laggards in the Sensex. Both midcap and smallcaps saw strong buying interest once again .

3:25pm Federal Bank Q1 earnings on Wednesday: According to CNBC-TV18 poll estimates, analysts expect strong recovery in profit after tax at Rs 195.3 crore as against Rs 106 crore in Q1FY14. The PAT in year-ago quarter fell 44 percent due to a 290 percent spike in provisions to Rs 245 crore.

Net interest income may grow 15 percent year-on-year to Rs 587 crore in April-June quarter. Analysts expect credit growth to pick up on account of retail and SME lending while there may not be negative surprise on large corporate accounts.

3:20 pm Sunil Hitech Engineers up 5%: SHEL has completed land acquisition of 5 MW solar project in Maharashtra bagged under Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission phase II on international bidding basis from Solar Energy Corporation of India for 375 MW solar PV projects in open category. The company is in final stages of financial closure and the project is expected to complete by April, 2015.

3:15 pm Interview: The Indian Meteorological Department has issued a statement saying sowing of summer crops to get a leg-up with improved rains this week.

Assessing the impact of the delayed monsoon, Kohinoor Foods' Joint-MD Gurnam Arora says that Basmati rice matures via an ageing process and postponed rains can affect agricultural output specially for rice.

However, 70 percent of rice sowing is complete in Punjab and Haryana while an additional 30 percent sowing can be witnessed this year, he says in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

Seeing total long-grain production for FY15 at 95m kg, Arora is confident of meeting export obligations for this fiscal.

3:10 pm Global cues are supportive today with the Nikkei, Seoul Composite and Hang Seng indices closing with 0.5 percent gains. However European markets are mixed.

Aall eyes are on US Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellens testimoney before Congress today. Expectations are that she could take a less accomodative stance on interest rates.

3:00 pm Reliance Power announced that boiler light up has been achieved for its fifth 660 MW unit at the 3960 MW Sasan ultra mega power plant. "First four 660 MW units of the same project are already operating well, fifth unit boiler lighted up and the last unit is in advanced stages of construction," says the company in its filing.

The Sasan ultra mega power project is the largest integrated power plant and coal mining project in the world.

2:50 pm Skymet, which provides weather forecasts and weather graphics to media, says it sees marginal revival in monsoon. "We will confirm drought after seeing rains in coming week. Gujarat and Rajasthan are unlikely to see good rainfall," it adds.

Skymet further says it may see post monsoon rains in October due to northeast monsoon, adding there is high probability of 41 percent rainfall deficit pan-India.

2:40 pm Market gathers steam: The market has picked up pace once again in last hour of trading boosted by banks. The Sensex is up 157.70 points at 25164.68, and the Nifty is up 50.25 points at 7504.40. About 1662 shares have advanced, 1133 shares declined, and 93 shares are unchanged.

Bank Nifty is up 2 percent supported by SBI and ICICI Bank both up 3 percent each. ONGC, BHEL and M&M are other top gainers in the Sensex.

2:30 pm Results: Software services provider NIIT Technologies disappointed street on every parameter with the first quarter (April-June) consolidated profit after tax falling 30.2 percent sequentially to Rs 43.2 crore due to higher tax rate.

According to CNBC-TV18 poll estimates, analysts had expected the company to report net profit of Rs 52.3 crore on revenue of Rs 583.5 crore for the quarter.

Revenue declined 1.8 percent to Rs 577.6 crore in June quarter as against Rs 588.5 crore in previous quarter. Operating profit slipped nearly 13 percent to Rs 77.5 crore and margin dropped 171 basis points quarter-on-quarter to 13.4 percent in the quarter gone by. Analysts had estimated margin at 14.6 percent.

2:20 pm Limited edition car from Maruti's stable: The country's largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India, has launched limited edition variants of the multi-purpose van Ertiga, which will be priced up to Rs8.05 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

MSI, which is launching the limited edition Ertiga to mark the milestone of 150,000 unit sales in the Indian market, said it would be shortly available in petrol, CNG and diesel variants.

The petrol variant would be priced at Rs 6.76 lakh, CNG would be at Rs 7.34 lakh and diesel would be at Rs 8.05 lakh. The models would be available in new pearl blaze blue colour with several factory-fitted high end features. It would also be available in superior white and silky silver metallic colours.

2:10 pm Market check: The Sensex is up 61.52 points at 25068.50, and the Nifty is up 23.75 points at 7477.90. About 1596 shares have advanced, 1160 shares declined, and 96 shares are unchanged.

2:00 pm New car launch in India: German carmaker Volkswagen plans to spend  Rs 1500 crore (USD250 million) in India over the next five to six years, a senior company executive told reporters on Tuesday.

Mahesh Kodumudi, president and managing director of Volkswagen India Pvt. Ltd., also said the company could increase its India plant capacity to 200,000 cars a year from 130,000.

Volkswagen is evaluating manufacturing engines in India, Kodumudi said.

1:50 pm MF woes post Budget: Concerned that some Budget proposals may hit mutual funds hard and result in outflows worth over Rs 1.5 lakh crore, industry body AMFI has asked regulator Sebi to take up the matter with the government for necessary intervention.

In a letter written to Sebi, the Association for Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) has also sought immediate measures to ensure that none of the tax proposals made in the Union Budget are brought in force with retrospective effect and asked the regulator to ensure deferring of long-term capital gains tax on debt-oriented MF schemes to the next financial year.

The fund houses have also appealed for restricting the new rules to close-ended debt schemes as against all non equity MF schemes as proposed, as per the AMFI letter addressed to Sebi Chairman U K Sinha.

1:40 pm Rates cut: State Bank of India today slashed the interest rate on short-term fixed deposits up to 179 days by 0.5 percent, a move expected to be followed by other lenders.

Interest rate on fixed deposits between 7-179 days has been reduced to 7 percent from 7.5 percent, SBI said in a statement.

The new rate would be effective from July 18, it said. In case of bulk deposits above Rs 1 crore, the downward revision has been effected in two maturity buckets.

1:30 pm Results: Kitchen appliances manufacturer TTK Prestige reported net profit at Rs 25.81 crore in April-June quarter, unchanged compared to Rs 25.79 crore in same quarter last year, dented by higher expenses despite lower tax and finance cost.

Total income of the company increased 10 percent on yearly basis to Rs 336.4 crore from Rs 306.3 crore during the same period while total expenses jumped to Rs 301 crore from Rs 267.36 crore lead by higher raw material cost, employee and depreciation.

Other income slipped to Rs 1.22 crore from 1.73 crore year-on-year while finance cost declined to Rs 59 lakh in June quarter from Rs 3.07 crore in year-ago period and tax expenses dropped to Rs 9.37 crore from Rs 11.04 crore.

1:20 pm Market check: The Sensex is up 87.93 points  at 25094.91 and the Nifty is up 28.30 points at 7482.45. About 1603 shares have advanced, 1101 shares declined, and 81 shares are unchanged.

Sesa, Dr Reddy's Labs, NTPC, Hindalco and Hero are down 2 percent each.

1:10 pm Will you check in Taj? Shares of Indian Hotels jumped 3 percent intraday. JP Morgan is positive on the sector stating that hospitality industry is rebounding from a 5-year slowdown. According to the brokerage, Indian Hotels will be a prime beneficiary of this recovery.

Continuing its optimistic tone, JP Morgan says that tourist volume and asset divestments are aiding the sector to rise from the slowdown. ''Tourist arrivals have gone up by 10 percent year-on-year in April-June quarter. Local operators are also getting valuations to divest assets,'' it said in a report.

The brokerage feels that Indian Hotels' capex has likely peaked out now and incremental expansion will be driven by management contracts. It is positive on Indian Hotels' deleveraging efforts.

01:00pm Ahluwalia Contracts India: It has secured new orders aggregating to Rs 614.85 crore for construction of institutional/commercial building.

12:55 pm Titan Company shareholding: Ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and his wife sold 19.3 lakh equity shares of the company during April-June quarter.

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala's stake in watch and jewellery maker fell to 6.81 percent at the end of June quarter from 6.94 percent stake as of March 2014 while his wife Rekha's holding dropped to 1.97 percent from 2.05 percent during the same period.

12:50 pm Kotak Mahindra Bank to be in focus on Wednesday: Annual general meeting of the bank will be held tomorrow at 11:30 am and it will also announce its first quarter (April-June) earnings.

The bank had proposed to increase FII investment limit to 40 percent versus 37 percent earlier.

12:45 pm ONGC stake sake: The government will decide next month whether to sell a 5 percent stake in state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), a senior oil ministry official said, in a deal that would be worth USD 2.9 billion at current market prices.

If completed, the sale would raise nearly a third of the target for privatisation revenues announced last week in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first budget, which seeks to curb the fiscal deficit and nurse the weak economy back to health.

"The department of divestment has floated a note seeking our comments for a 5 percent stake sale in ONGC," the official, who had direct knowledge of the matter, told Reuters on Tuesday. He added that a decision would be taken in August.

12:40 pm FII View: Ridham Desai, Morgan Stanley says based on the recent changes in institutional ownership, sell-side ratings, monthly delta in ratings, earnings revisions, trailing performance, change in relative valuations and trading volumes, it appears that Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, IndusInd Bank, Maruti Suzuki, and UltraTech Cement are the stocks where the consensus is most bullish and Reliance Industries, United Spirits, Hindustan Unilever, Infosys and Bajaj Auto are the stocks where the consensus is most bearish.

''Of the top 10 stocks on which the consensus is most bearish, Reliance Industries, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, HDFC and TCS are rated overweight by the covering MS analyst,'' he adds.

12:30 pm Sequent Scientific in focus:  The company on July 11, 2014 has allotted 30,00,000 warrants at a price of Rs 236 per warrant convertible into 30,00,000 equity shares of Rs 10 to the promoter group entities.

12:25 pm Sadbhav Engineering bags order: "The Joint Venture led by the company has been awarded the project/work worth Rs 550 crore by South West Mining (employer), Barmer, Rajasthan," says the company in its filing, adding it will lead the joint venture with 75 percent participation share.

The contract period is seven years with effect from September 12, 2014. The project work includes hiring heavy earth moving equipments, with operators, maintenance staff and facilities for excavation work at Pit B of Jalipa Lignite Mines," it adds.

12:20 pm Gainers: Buying continued in top lenders - State Bank of India and ICICI Bank surged over 2 percent followed by L&T, ONGC, Tata Motors, M&M, Bajaj Auto, Gail, Tata Steel and BHEL with 1-1.6 percent.

12:10 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks halved gains in noon trade with the Sensex rising 96.20 points to 25103.18 and the Nifty increasing 30.35 points to 7484.50.

About 1583 shares have advanced, 925 shares declined, and 80 shares are unchanged.

Cigarette major ITC extended losses to 0.9 percent. Shares of NTPC and Dr Reddy's Labs dropped around 2.5 percent followed by Sesa Sterlite, Hero Motocorp, Hindalco Industries and Tata Power with over 1 percent.

12:00 pm Reaction to inflation price: Care Ratings sees risk to food prices on account of the prevailing weak monsoons. Also, there could be added pressure on crude oil prices owing to geo-political tensions, which could weigh on domestic price levels in coming months.

India Ratings believes that this could be a temporary blip as the delayed monsoon and spurt in vegetables prices may aggravate inflation in a pattern similar to that of last year. In 2013 inflation had dipped to 4.6 percent in May and later gradually increased and peaked at 7.5 percent in November.

Sustained high food inflation is a mix of both structural and seasonal factors. Seasonal factors could swing headline inflation in either direction. India Ratings sees

11:50 am Market outlook: Dipan Mehta, member BSE and NSE is not convinced that the market correction is over despite the sharp sell-off seen in the last two trading sessions post the Union Budget and the positive momentum seen in the trade today. According to him, market will be keenly watching out the progress of the monsoons going ahead. Also, the details of the Budget suggest that it had nothing exciting and was a sort of disappointment, he adds.

Given the pickup in the earnings season is still two weeks away and in the absence of any positive news flow, technical correction could deepen, Mehta says in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

He, however, is positive on the long-term trend of the market.

11:40 am Deal: Telecom major Bharti Airtel sold majority stake in its telecom manufacturing and distribution arm Beetel Teletech to US-based global distribution firm Brightstar for an undisclosed sum.

Sunil Bharti Mittal-led Bharti group ventured into telecom business in 1985 with introduction of Beetel and later diversified services. Both the companies, Airtel and Brightstar, did not disclose actual stake transacted in Beetel.

"The new mobile business and related technologies that Brightstar is bringing to Beetel will help drive significant growth by leveraging our deep distribution strength," Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Vice Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, said in a statement.

11:30 am Results impact: Shares of Tata Sponge surged 12 percent intraday as it outperformed in April-June quarter on capacity utilisation and lower international coal prices.

The company's net profit jumped 146 percent to Rs 44.3  crore in Q1 from Rs18.04 crore on a year-on-year basis. During the period, its total income increased 24 percent 24 percent to Rs.203.1 crore vs Rs.164.4 crore Y-o-Y.

The Tata Group company had seen capacity utilisation at 95 percent in Q1FY15 while lower international coal prices have aided reduction in costs. Iron ore scarcity for part of Q1 also helped to improve margins in the quarter. In June quarter, its EBITDA margin was at 28.6 percent compared to 14.5 percent in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.

11:20 pm Gainer: Shares in Hindustan Zinc gained more than 2 percent as zinc prices are near a three-year high, traders said.

Three month zinc on the London Metal Exchange edged up 0.2 percent to USD 2,303 a tonne on Tuesday, having struck the highest since August 2011 at USD 2,325.50 on Monday.

11:10 pm Market check: The market is surging ahead. The Sensex is up 194.61 points at 25201.59 and the Nifty is up 58.55 points at 7512.70. About 1558 shares have advanced, 701 shares declined, and 64 shares are unchanged.

ICICI Bank, SBI, BHEL, GAIL & L&T are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Dr Reddy's Labs, NTPC, Hero Moto, Sesa Sterlite and ITC.

10:58 am Mphasis in focus: Tech Mahindra is eyeing Hewlett Packard's 60.49 percent stake in Mphasis, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting unnamed sources. Mahindra and Mahindra group company has initiated exploratory talks with respect to HP's Mphasis stake, say sources.

It is learnt that PE Player Carlyle is also a likely contender for Mphasis. Tech Mahindra, HP and Mphasis declined to comment on the issue.

10:50 am City Union Bank QIP: Shares of City Union Bank gained 2 percent intraday on strong response to its share sale to raise up to Rs 350 crore.

City Union Bank on Monday evening launched a share sale for institutional investors to raise Rs 250-350 crore, term sheet showed.

Floor price for the share sale had been fixed at Rs 75.05 a share, the lender said in a statement. The bank's share sale has been oversubscribed by nearly 2.5 times, people involved in the process said, reports Reuters.

10:40 am DLF on buyers' radar: DLF will raise Rs 3,000-3,500 crore via commercial mortgage-backed securities, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting unnamed sources. It hired Credit Suisse for the same, say sources.

It is learnt that the realty major will issue mortgage securities against its IT SEZ portfolio of 12 million square feet.

DLF recently raised Rs 900 crore via similar route from two malls. It will use proceeds to improve balance sheet and access cheaper debt, say sources.

10:30 am Sujana Towers in News: Sujana Towers says its board of directors approved the resolution to issue 1,09,26,052 equity shares of Rs 10 each at an issue price of Rs 27.50 per share to promoters, in compliance with the terms and conditions of CDR package. This is subject to the approval of the members of the company.

The board members also approved draft notice of the postal ballot to obtain approval from the members of the company in respect of resolution for further issue of shares to promoters.

10:20 am Glenmark gets final ANDA approval: Glenmark Generics Inc, USA, the subsidiary of Glenmark Generics, has been granted final approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) for its abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) for Fluocinonide Cream USP 0.1 percent, the generic version of Vanos Cream by Medicis.

Fluocinonide Cream is indicated for the relief of the inflammatory and pruritic manifestations of corticosteroid responsive dermatoses. According to IMS Health sales data for the 12 month period ending March 2014, Fluocinonide Cream garnered annual
sales of approximately USD 103 million.

10:10 am TVS Motor's rally continues: In the annual general meeting on Monday, the management said it's the first time in last two years company saw uptick in market share rising to 12.6 percent in Q1FY15.

While it would aim towards third position in the two wheeler market, it hopes to boost overall market share to 14 percent by the end of this fiscal from 12 percent in FY14, aided by new launches.

"Despite a challenging economic environment, TVS Motor sold 19.9 lakh two wheelers in 2013-2014. It will launch a new product every three-four months," Venu Srinivasan, Chairman and MD, TVS Motor said. The stock surged 4.6 percent on top of 7.4 percent rally in previous session.

10:00 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks extended rally with the Sensex rising 213.71 points to 25220.69 and the Nifty gaining 64.25 points to 7518.40. The broader markets surged too, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 1.7 percent each.

About 1332 shares have advanced, 488 shares declined, and 59 shares are unchanged.

Top private sector lender ICICI Bank spiked 2.7 percent followed by L&T, BHEL, ONGC, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank, SBI, Tata Steel and Coal India with 1.5-2.3 percent.

However, shares of TCS, ITC, Sesa Sterlite, Dr Reddy's Labs, Wipro and Cipla are only losers in the Sensex, falling 0.2-0.9 percent.

9:55 am Big gainer: Shares of Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals gained as much as 7 percent in early trade as promoters will increase stake in the company by 13 percent to 45 percent through preferential issue that is a part of corporate debt recast.

"The board of directors of the company at its meeting on July 14, has approved the issue of shares to promoters on a preferential basis pursuant to the conditions of CDR package sanctioned to the company by Corporate Debt Restructuring Cell," says the company in its filing.

The company is seeking shareholders' approval for the same through postal ballot for which the notice will be sent shortly, it adds. Promoters hold 32.28 percent stake in the company as of March 2014.

9:45 am Market outlook: With events like elections and Budget out of the way, it is time to go in for tactful selling, says Mehraboon Irani of Nirmal Bang Securities.

He does not think the government is likely to take any harsh measures anytime soon with atleast four state elections coming up. He believes there are a whole lot of stocks that can protect the market from downfall, but almost none that can take it higher. He advises investors to start preparing themselves for the next leg of the bull market.

He is bullish on HDFC Bank , Kotak Mahindra Bank , Firstsource and Polaris , among others. Sector-wise, Irani believes the next big story will be in textiles. He is bullish on companies like Lakshmi Machine Works , Raymond , Arvind in the textile space.

9:35 am Buzzing: Shares of Abbott India jumped 5.5 percent intraday as generic drugmaker Mylan is planning to acquire its parent company's branded specialty and generics business in developed markets outside the United States for USD 5.3 billion.

The deal gives Mylan a wide array of Abbott Industries brands that have annual sales of almost USD 2 billion in those markets, including gastroenterology drug Creon, pain drug Brufen and influenza vaccine Influvac.

Abbott will continue to sell its branded generics, however, in emerging markets, where strong sales growth is expected because of rising numbers of middle-class patients.

9:25 am FII view: The Indian equity market has seen a substantial rally year-to-date (YTD) and 7400 remains a very important level for Nifty, says Adrian Mowat, chief- Asian and Emerging Equity Strategist, JP Morgan. However, if this level were to be breached on the downside, it could provide a lot of buying opportunity to institutional investors, he further adds.

''The monsoon in India hasn't picked up the way it is expected. We need to temper our enthusiasm as investors will judge inflation towards the end of the season and not that of the month gone by,'' he highlights. On sectoral picks, Mowat says he likes IT companies and deep cyclical companies like infra.

The market has opened on a higher note. the Sensex is up 166.96 points or 0.67 percent at 25173.94 and the Nifty is up 52.35 points or 0.70 percent at 7506.50. About 698 shares have advanced, 200 shares declined, and 25 shares are unchanged.

Coal India, BHEL, L&T, GAIL and Tata Steel are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Sesa Sterlite, Dr Reddy's Labs, TCS, Sun Pharma and Cipla.

The Indian rupee opened lower by 6 paise at 60.13 per dollar as against previous day's closing value of 60.07 a dollar.The dollar remains steady as investors await Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's congressional testimony tonight for signals to when US interest rates might head higher. Meanwhile, the Bank Of Japan, is expected to maintain its stimulus program at its meet today.

Ashutosh Raina of HDFC Bank says, "The recent good IIP number has been followed by a better than expected inflation number both WPI and CPI inflation. This should act as a trigger to return of positive sentiment."

He expects USD / INR pair to continue trading in 59.50-60.50/dollar range for now.

US stocks climbed yesterday, with the Dow industrials back above 17,000 and posting an intraday record, as investors welcomed better-than-projected earnings from Citi Group and a bout of corporate takeovers. The markets will likely watch for comments from Janet Yellen when the Federal Reserve Chair appears before congress for two days of testimony that starts today.

Asian stocks are higher for a second session running as investors awaited a central bank decision in Japan. The Bank of Japan will announce its monetary policy decision following a two-day meeting though no major change is expected. Kospi gains after exports rose 2.5 percent in June.

European shares closed higher, with earnings news from the u-s and merger and acquisition activity helping bourses post healthy gains

Meanwhile industrial production figures for the euro zone posted a disappointing slump for May. EU statistics showed output fell 1.1 percent which was the largest month on month drop since September 2012.

In commodities, Brent crude continues to trade below USD 107 per barrel. Last week Brent closed at its lowest in three months.

From precious metals space, gold prices slid more than 2 percent yesterday as concerns over the euro zone periphery faded.