Sensex up 292 points, Nifty ends above 8900; banks, ITC lead

Bulls remained in power for the eighth consecutive session on Tuesday as the frontline indices ended at fresh record closing high. It was looked like a consolidation day in morning but in last hour of trade, the market gained huge strength supported mainly by banks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex hit an intraday high of 29618.59, before closing up 292.20 points or 1 percent at 29571.04. The 50-share NSE Nifty ended above the 8900-mark for the first time today, up 74.90 points or 0.85 percent at 8910.50.

In last eight sessions, the Sensex surged more than 2,200 points and Nifty added over 600 points.

Krishna Kumar Karwa of Emkay Global expects the market to deliver returns of 12-15 percent this year. He feels there is a possibility of the RBI again cutting interest rates at its policy review on February 3.

He sees the central bank cutting rates by 75-100 basis points over the next 12 months, and expects the capex cycle to pick up as a result. According to him, banking and financial services stocks will continue their outperformance streak.

The broader markets underperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.8 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley is confident of a turnaround in India, saying he committed to meeting the FY15 fiscal deficit target of 4.1 percent. He reiterates that the government is working towards investor-friendly tax administration.

US President, Barack Obama concluded his India visit today. While addressing an animated audience in New Delhi, he says he is committed to a new chapter for Indo-US ties, reiterating support for India as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.

Stocks in action
Banks topped the buying list with the Bank Nifty rising 2.4 percent to end at record closing high of 20,555.25 on hopes of rate cut next week, when the RBI announced its monetary policy.

Axis Bank was the biggest gainer on Sensex, up 4.8 percent as brokerages bullish on the stock. Morgan Stanley is overweight on the stock with an increased target of Rs 840 from Rs 700 per share. The brokerage feels that Axis Bank offers great risk-reward and expects 28 percent EPS CAGR over next 2 years.

India's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank gained 3.87 percent. HDFC Bank was up 2.4 percent while its rival State Bank of India climbed over a percent. Housing finance company HDFC gained 1.56 percent.

Cigarette major ITC and commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors spiked 3 percent each. Telecom operator Bharti Airtel gained 2 percent.

Car maker Maruti Suzuki saw a record high of Rs 3,704 today, before closing up 2.2 percent at Rs 3688 on the BSE. Profit in Q3 grew 18 percent year-on-year to Rs 802 crore, led by higher volumes, material cost reduction initiatives and favourable forex. Revenue increased 15.4 percent to Rs 12,576 crore and realisations climbed 3.7 percent to Rs 3.90 lakh per unit during the same period.

Defence stocks like BHEL, L&T, Pipavav Defense and Walchandnagar Industries gained 1-7 percent on optimism of US and India breaking a six-year logjam over operationalising the civil nuclear deal and separately deepening defence ties.

Cipla was up 4.5 percent after Teva received USFDA approval for Nexium (USD 1.8 billion heart burn drug). Cipla is expected to supply the drug to Teva.

However, Dr Reddy's Labs fell 4 percent as reports suggest that the street was expecting an approval for Nexium generic. Ranbaxy closed flat after trading lower for major part of the session as the company lost its chance to retain Nexium 180-day exclusivity.

Shares of Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra, HUL, Coal India, Bajaj Auto, Sun Pharma and Tata Steel were down 1-3.5 percent. Aluminium major Hindalco Industries was down 1.6 percent after CBI registered fresh case against company in coal scam with respect to allotment of Talabira-I coal block, Odisha.

In the broader space, Mumbai-based Godrej Properties was up 3 percent as third quarter consolidated net profit of the realty company jumped 26.2 percent year-on-year to Rs 47.2 crore, driven by strong revenue.

Max India gained 8.4 percent as the board of directors approved the demerger of company into three companies.

However, Union Bank of India lost 5 percent as its third quarter net profit declined 8.1 percent year-on-year to Rs 302.4 crore, impacted by higher provisions.

Globally, Asian markets closed mixed, largely discounting Grexit worries. Shanghai declined 0.9 percent while Nikkei surged 1.7 percent. Investors will also watch out for the US Federal Reserve meet that will kick off today. European markets were trading marginally lower (at the time of closing of Indian equities).

03:30 pm Market close
The market ended at record highs as banks boosted trade. The Nifty ended above 8900-level for first time. The 50-share index was up 74.90 points or 0.8 percent at 8910.50.
The Sensex closed up 292.20 points or 1 percent at 29571.04. About 1406 shares have advanced, 1523 shares declined, and 260 shares were unchanged.

Bank Nifty ended with a gain of over 2 percent led by Axis Bank and ICICI Bank (up 4-5 percent each). Other gainers in the Sensex were Cipla, Tata Motors and ITC. Among the losers were Dr Reddy's Lab, Infosys, M&M, Coal India and HUL.

03:20 pm De-merger
Max India board today approved a corporate restructuring plan to vertically split the company through a demerger into three separate listed companies to provide sharper focus on each business. The company's board also approved divestment of its clinical research business. "This structural reconfiguration readies us to capitalise on opportunities created by the anticipated all round growth acceleration and to henceforth look at the wider world of business opportunities," Max India Chairman Analjit Singh said.

The three separate business verticals would look into life insurance, health and allied businesses, and manufacturing industries. Further the promoter of the Max India Analjit Singh announced his intention to make voluntary open offer to buy up to an additional 34.5 per cent stake in Max Ventures and Industries which will be listed post the demerger of Max India.

03:00 pm Market check
The Nifty hit a record high at 8900-level. The 50-share index is up 75.80 points or 0.8 percent at 8911.40. The Sensex is up 266.19 points or 0.9 percent at 29545.03. About 1380 shares have advanced, 1466 shares declined, and 265 shares are unchanged.

Cipla is up 5 percent while Axis Bank gains 4 percent, followed by financials like ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank. ITC surges 3 percent.

02:45pm Market at life high
The market touched a record high today, supported by private banking & financials and capital goods stocks. Tata Motors and ITC also led the rally.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 175.20 points to 29454.04 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 47.75 points to 8883.35.

02:30pm Maruti in Focus
Maruti Suzuki missed street expectations with the third quarter net profit rising 18 percent year-on-year to Rs 802 crore, led by higher volumes, material cost reduction initiatives and favourable forex. According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, profit was expected at Rs 875 crore for the quarter.

Revenue increased 15.4 percent to Rs 12,576 crore during October-December quarter compared to Rs 10,894 crore in the year-ago period, which was slightly ahead of estimates of Rs 12,352 crore due to higher sales volume.

The India's largest car maker sold 3.23 lakh units during the quarter, up 12.4 percent compared to 2.88 lakh units sold in the same quarter last fiscal. Of this, exports were at 28,709 units, a growth of 43.8 percent compared to a year ago period, says the company in its filing.

Operating profit grew 17.6 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,593 crore and margin expanded 30 basis points to 12.7 percent as against expected growth of 19 percent and 60 basis points, respectively.

02:00pm Market Check
The market consolidated with a postive bias continuing its gains into the eighth consecutive session. The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 107.95 points to 29386.79 and the 50-share NSE Nifty climbed 24 points to 8859.60.

Krishna Kumar Karwa of Emkay Global told CNBC-TV18 that he has seen very strong global flows in last few weeks, to the tune of Rs 7,000-8,000 crore. He expects another rate cut by the RBI in the February policy and expects returns of 12-15 percent this year in equities.

ICICI Bank, ITC, Tata Motors, Axis Bank and Cipla topped the buying list, up 2-3 percent followed by L&T, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel and BHEL with 1-1.8 percent upside. However, Infosys, M&M, Dr Reddy's Labs, HUL, Sun Pharma, Coal India and Hindalco Industries lost 2-4 percent.

Globally, European markets opened largely flat. Markets look beyond Greece election outcome as ECB president Mario Draghi appealed to euro zone finance ministers to accelerate structural reforms to allow ECB asset purchase program to have lasting positive impact on economic growth.

Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley is confident of a turnaround in India, saying he committed to meeting the FY15 fiscal deficit target of 4.1 percent. He reiterates that the government is working towards investor-friendly tax administration.

US President, Barack Obama concluded his India visit. While addressing an animated audience in New Delhi, he says he is committed to a new chapter for Indo-US ties, reiterating support for India as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.

1:50 pm Boardroom: Anand Deshpande, CMD & CEO of Persistent Systems speaking about the company's third quarter performance said the company will try to maintain Profit before Tax (PBT) margins around 20 percent for FY15.

The third quarter margins were under pressure due to some employee related expenses - some one-off benefits and gratuity payments, he said.

Despite third quarter being a seasonally weak one from outsourcing point, the company reported better than expected performance on services front said Deshpande.

Mid-tier IT firm Persistent Systems declared its consolidated dollar revenues grew 4.2 percent sequentially to USD 79.5 million -- a growth of 13.7 percent year-on-year, filings to the exchanges showed today. The revenue number was in line with a CNBC-TV18 poll that had forecast USD 80 million.

1:30 pm Result: Maruti Suzuki missed street expectations with the third quarter net profit rising 18 percent year-on-year to Rs 802 crore.

Revenue increased 15.4 percent to Rs 12,576 crore during October-December quarter compared to Rs 10,894 crore in the year-ago period.

The India's largest car maker sold 3.23 lakh units during the quarter, up 12 percent compared to 2.88 lakh units sold in the same quarter last fiscal.

The market is still firm as the Sensex is up 79.21 points at 29358.05. The Nifty is up 12.40 points at 8848.00. About 1249 shares have advanced, 1433 shares declined, and 252 shares are unchanged.

Cipla, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Dr Reddy's Labs, Coal India, Infosys, M&M and Hindalco.

Gold prices fell sharply by Rs 264 to Rs 27,600 per tens in futures trade today amid a weak trend overseas and profit-booking by speculators. Analysts said besides profit-booking by speculators, a weak trend in the overseas markets before Federal Reserve policy makers meet, weighed on gold prices at futures trade here.

Globally, gold dropped 0.7 percent to USD 1,272.44 an ounce Singapore today, the lowest level since January 19.

12:30pm Union Bank under pressure
Union Bank of India has disappointed street with the third quarter net profit falling 8.1 percent year-on-year to Rs 302.4 crore, impacted by higher provisions. Other income, however, supported the bottomline but asset quality of the bank deteriorated during the quarter.

Net interest income grew 8 percent to Rs 2,121 crore in the quarter ended December 2014 from Rs 1,963 crore in the year-ago period, which was in line. According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, the profit was expected at Rs 489 crore and net interest income at Rs 2,176 crore for the quarter.

Other income (non-interest income) climbed 29 percent to Rs 877.2 crore from Rs 679.9 crore on yearly basis.

Provisions for bad loans spiked 39.7 percent year-on-year (up 8.5 percent sequentially) to Rs 852 crore in Q3FY15, with provision coverage ratio at 57.25 percent as on December 2014.

Asset quality worsened during the quarter with gross non-performing assets (NPA) rising 123 basis points Y-o-Y (up 39 bps Q-o-Q) to 5.08 percent. Net NPA jumped 69 bps on yearly basis (up 24 bps sequentially) to 2.95 percent in the quarter gone by.

12:00pm Market Check
The market remained volatile after showing more than 1900-point gain on the Sensex in past seven consecutive sessions. However, the broader markets marginally outperformed frontline indices.

The Sensex advanced 51.14 points to 29329.98 and the Nifty rose 5.90 points to 8841.50. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 0.5 percent each.

Asian markets traded mixed largely discounting Grexit worries. Shanghai declined while Nikkei surged. Investors also watch out for the US Federal Reserve meet that kicks off today.

Defence stocks like BHEL, L&T, Piavav Defense and Walchandnagar gained today on optimism of US and India breaking a six-year logjam over operationalising the civil nuclear deal and separately deepening defence ties.

Ranbaxy under pressure, falling nearly a percent as the company lost its 180-day exclusivity over the generic version of Nexium. The USFDA has approved Teva's generic version of Nexium. Meanwhile, Cipla gained 2 percent as it is expected to supply the drug to Teva.

Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley is confident of a turnaround in India, saying he committed to meeting the FY15 fiscal deficit target of 4.1 percent. He reiterates that the government is working towards investor-friendly tax administration.

11:50 am Big move: Shares of Bharat Electronics hit an all-time high of Rs 3,570 on Tuesday, up 11 percent after reporting strong set of numbers during October-December quarter.

A CNBC-TV18 poll had expected the profit at Rs 182 crore on revenue of Rs 1,396 crore for the quarter.

Operating profit shot up 56.5 percent Y-o-Y to Rs 278 crore and margin expanded 250 basis points to 17.3 percent in the quarter ended December 2014, which both were expected at Rs 173 crore and 12.4 percent, respectively.

Brokerages believe the company is major beneficiary of government's increased focus on defence. Bharat Electronics (BEL) is emerging out of a 4-year stagnation, says Jefferies, adding the real pick-up will begin in FY16-17e, when major defence equipment ordering activity begins to pick-up.

11:40 am Poll: Titan's third quarter reported profit is expected to surge 14.2 percent year-on-year to Rs 189 crore, according to the average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18. Adjusted profit may report 6.5 percent during the quarter. Analysts believe the bottomline may be boosted by lower interest cost while they expect muted topline growth from Titan in Q3. Total income is seen going up 4.7 percent to Rs 2,802 crore in October-December quarter compared to Rs 2,676 crore in the quarter gone by. Operating profit may increase 8.7 percent year-on-year to Rs 267 crore and margin may expand 30 basis points to 9.5 percent in the third quarter of current financial year 2014-15.

11:30 am Buzzing: Shares of Max India surged 11 percent, hitting record high at Rs 505 per share intraday as investors are eagerly waiting for its restructuring plans that will be decided in board meeting today. Media reports suggested that Max India may be heading for 3-way split.

However, in a clarification statement to BSE, the company said that it is in the process of finalising few options for corporate restructuring, which will be presented to Investment & Finance Committee (I&FC) for its consideration.

''Given the sensitivity around the proposal, we are contemplating to convene the meeting of I&FC and Board of Directors of the company on the same day, where management will propose the options to I&FC and it will recommend the preferred option to Board of Directors for their approval,'' it said.

The market continues their gains into the 8th consecutive session. Midcaps are marginally outperforming with a firm advance decline ratio. The Sensex is up 98.92 points at 29377.76. The Nifty up 13.00 points at 8848.60. About 1267 shares have advanced, 1028 shares declined, and 256 shares are unchanged.

Axis Bank, Cipla, Tata Motors, L&T and HDFC are top gainers while Dr Reddy's Labs, Coal Indi, M&M, Infosys and Hindalco.

The likes of BHEL, L&T, Pipavav Defense and Walchandnagar gain on optimism of US & India breaking a 6-year log jam over the civil nuclear deal and separately deepen defense ties.

Brokers said sentiments remained upbeat on sustained capital inflows amidst optimism over upcoming Budget and corporate earnings amidst Prime Minister Narendra Modi promising an open business environment and predictable tax regime in his meeting yesterday with US President Barack Obama.

Globally, Asian markets are a mixed bag. Chinese markets are down, while Japan has surged. Markets are watching for the US Fed meet that kicks off today.

10:55am Interview
The weakness in the euro will not have a major impact on the earnings of Motherson Sumi Systems, the auto ancillaries firm's chairman Vivek Chaand Sehgal told CNBC-TV18 in an interview.

He said the company was seeing strong demand for its products in the Europe, which accounts for around 42 percent of total sales. Sehgal said he remains bullish in his outlook on the European business.

Around 75 percent of Motherson's loans are in euros. Sehgal said the quantum of euro-denominated loans was around 750-800 million.

He expects the group's revenues to rise to 7 billion euros by the end of this calendar, adding that a fresh guidance would be given at the time of the annual numbers in this May.

Sehgal said group companies Samvardhana Motherson Reflectec and Samvardhana Motherson Peguform have won around 2 billion euros worth of orders.

10:30am FII View
Jonathan Garner, Morgan Stanley says main model changes this month are to upgrade India to overweight and downgrade Brazil back to underweight, taking us more overweight on Asia and underweight on EMEA and Latin America.

"In part, this change is due to our introduction of a new "thematic sensitivity" factor into our model designed to capture the impact of two major top-down themes - a lower oil price and the impact of a sharply rising US Dollar on external debt service payments," he adds.

"Frustratingly, our model process failed to generate alpha from India last year, as it spent the entire year equalweight. Two key factors where India scored poorly remain weak spots: relative valuations & positioning," Garner says.

10:00am Market Check
Equity benchmarks continued to see marginal gain in morning trade. The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 109.86 points to 29388.70 and the 50-share NSE Nifty climbed 19.35 points to 8854.95.

Krishna Kumar Karwa of Emkay Global Financial Services says global liquidity is expected to remain strong because of the ECB's monthly bond purchases going forward. And while there is good momentum globally, Indian shares could see some amount of volatility.

The broader markets outperformed equity benchmarks as the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 0.8 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively. About 1156 shares have advanced while 821 shares declined on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Maruti Suzuki rose over a percent ahead of third quarter earnings today. A CNBC-TV18 poll expects the car maker's profit to jump 29 percent year-on-year to Rs 875 crore and revenue to increase 13.4 percent to Rs 12,352 crore from Rs 10,893.8 crore year-on-year.

Idea Cellular also gained 1 percent as third quarter profit of the telecom operator may jump 3.8 percent sequentially to Rs 785 crore and revenue may increase 5.4 percent to Rs 7,981 crore.

9:50 am Market outlook: State-owned banks should deliver good returns froma  18-24 month time horizon, feels Krishna Kumar Karwa of Emkay Global Financial Services. In general, he expects banking and financial services stocks to continue their outperformance streak.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Karwa says globakl liquidity is expected to remain strong because of the ECB's  monthly bond purchases going forward. And while there is good momentum globally, Indian shares could see some amount of volatility.

Karwa expects the market to deliver returns of 12-15 percent this year, and says there is a possibility of the RBI again cutting interest rates at its policy review on February 3. He sees the central bank cutting rates by 75-100 basis points over the next 12 months, and expects the capex cycle to pick up as a result.

9:40 am Poll: Maruti's third quarter profit is expected to jump 29 percent year-on-year to Rs 875 crore, according to the average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18. Revenue is seen going up 13.4 percent to Rs 12,352 crore in the quarter ended December 2014 from Rs 10,893.8 crore in the year-ago period, driven by better volume growth. The India's largest car maker sold 3.23 lakh units during the quarter, up 12 percent compared to 2.88 lakh units sold in the same quarter last fiscal. Operating profit may climb 19 percent on yearly basis to Rs 1,615 crore and margin may expand 140 basis points to 13 percent in the quarter gone by.

9:34 am Market check: The market has picked up pace as the Sensex is up 107.47 points at 29386.31. The Nifty is up 13.75 points at 8849.35. About 1015 shares have advanced, 570 shares declined, and 201 shares are unchanged.

Tata Motors, BHEL, Cipla, L&T and Tata Power are top gainers while Dr Reddy's Labs, Hindalco, Infosys, Bajaj Auto and Coal India are laggards.

The market climbed more than 150 points on the Sensex but could not sustain gains for long. The Sensex rose 33.65 points to 29312.49 while the Nifty fell 6.55 points to 8829.05.

About 621 shares have advanced, 293 shares declined, and 187 shares are unchanged on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
 
BHEL, Cipla, Axis Bank, Tata Motors, Tata Power and ICICI Bank were top gainers in early trade, up 1-2 percent. Maruti Suzuki climbed 0.87 percent ahead of Q3 earnings.

However, Hindalco Industries lost 2.59 percent. Dr Reddy's Labs, Coal India, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Auto, Ambuja Cements, Sesa Sterlite and Kotak Mahindra Bank were marginally in red.

The Indian rupee opened at 61.50 a dollar, down 8 paise compared to Friday's closing value of 61.42 per dollar.

Ashutosh Raina, HDFC Bank says the USD-INR currency pair has been trading in 61-62/dollar range with appreciating bias, although the strong suspected RBI intervention has capped the gains so far.

US President Barack Obama's India trip will end today with him signing off with a town-hall meeting. Addressing the Indo-US CEO summit yesterday, Obama said the US-India economic relationship is defined by untapped potential. He announced USD 4 billion dollars in India- investment & lending deals.

Global cues are positive with the US markets ending with modest gains as investors braced for the FOMC meeting that will begin today.

European markets closed higher, despite opening the session lower, as investors digested news that anti-austerity party Syriza won a general election in Greece on Sunday.

Asian markets too are in the green, hitting fresh highs buoyed by a relatively inspiring handover from Wall Street overnight.

In other asset classes, the euro held onto modest gains, bouncing off an 11-year low as investors decided to take profits on extremely bearish positions. The rouble weakened as Standard & Poor's cut Russia's sovereign credit rating to junk status, bringing it below investment grade for the first time in a decade.

Nymex crude is steady above USD 45 per barrel after a three-session fall that dragged prices to near their lowest level in almost six years

And precious metal gold fell 1 percent on Monday to USD 1270 an ounce as traders cashed in gains that took the metal to five-month highs last week.