BSE Sensex, Nifty end flat; Sesa, L&T, BHEL laggards

3:40 pm Market closing: Sensex closes higher for first time in 2014 by snapping five-day losing streak. The Sensex ended up 36.14 points at 20729.38, and the Nifty ended at 6174.60, up 12.35 points. About 1493 shares have advanced, 1050 shares declined, and 432 shares are unchanged.

3:30 pm Earnings expectation: Aggregate net profit for the 30 constituents of the benchmark BSE Sensex is expected to grow by 13 percent and revenue by 12.5 percent for the October-December quarter, according to a median estimate of 10 brokerages, reports Reuters.

Financial results for the third quarter begin this week with Infosys reporting earnings on January 10. Analysts expect the strongest earnings growth for exporters like IT and pharmaceutical companies, telecom and auto.

Real estate, cement and capital goods companies are expected to see the biggest fall in earnings.

3:20 pm Market outlook: Nirmal Bang Institutional Equities was betting on the Nifty touching 7000 by March 2014. This view is now under review, though the call hasn't been changed yet. Chief executive officer Rahul Arora says 6150 has become an important level. Political scenario too has changed. In the last quarter of the last calendar year there was a lot of noise about the BJP winning the elections, which has now receded, he said.

He continues to be bullish on IT and pharmaceuticals, but agrees with the view that a little bit of frothiness has come into these sectors. However, he think other sectors such as commodity, capital goods engineering, auto have not got the confidence on growth back yet. He advises investors to go in for companies, which enjoy high return on equities (RoEs), high return on capitals (RoCs) and reasonably good corporate governance.

The Nifty is trading positive but is caught in tight range. The Sensex is up 35.06 points at 20728.30, and the Nifty is up 11.25 points at 6173.50. About 1419 shares have advanced, 1002 shares declined, and 431 shares are unchanged.

Coal India , NMDC and GAIL rally on expectations of a special dividend to fill government coffers. IOC is under pressure as oil minister is opposed to stake sale.

Cipla , Tata Power and Dr Reddy's are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Sesa Strelite, L&T, Axis Bank,  BHEL and ONGC .

The government says FDI in brownfield pharma will require FIPB nod. Non-compete clauses not allowed unless specifically approved by government.

Rupee is trading higher against the dollar taking cues from Asian currencies and domestic equities. Dollar demand by importers cap gains while bonds trade in a thin range.

02:57pm Omax Autos on buyers' radar
Shares of Omax Autos rallied 17.4 percent to Rs 46.55 as a meeting of the board of directors of the company will be held on January 16, to consider the merger of four subsidiaries with self.

OM Autocomp Private Limited, Century Autotech Private Limited, Auto Vision India Private Limited and Magnum Plus Auto Component Private Limited are four subsidiaries of the company.

02:47pm Nikkei closes above 16000
Japan's Nikkei soared on Wednesday after strong trade data in the United States boosted risk appetite, with traders seeing buying from foreign pension funds, while Nintendo Company jumped after China temporarily lifted a ban on selling game consoles.

The Nikkei ended 1.9 percent higher at 16,121.45, nearing a six-year high of 16,320.22 reached on December 30.

The broader Topix index jumped 1.8 percent to 1,306.23, a level not seen since July 2008, in active trade, with 3 billion shares changing hands, the highest volume since December 13, reports Reuters.

Traders said overseas pension funds and other foreign investors were among buyers of financials such as Nomura Holdings and Mizuho Financial Group , up 4.6 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively. Nomura was the most traded stock on the main board, while Mizuho was the fourth.

02:37pm FII View
Foreign fund inflows into emerging markets in general, India included, has slowed down of late and the trend could persist for some time, says Markus Rosgen, Asia-Pacific Equity Strategist, Citi.

According to Citi data, funds investing in emerging markets have seen net outflows for 10 weeks. Worst hit has been the Global Emerging Markets (GEM) category of funds. In all, Citi estimates that investors have net pulled out USD 873 million from Emerging Market (EM) funds in this period.

Speaking to CNBC-TV 18, Rosgen said investors prefer developing markets over EMs, at this point. Among EMs, India still remains among the preferred markets, he says. But he cautioned that inflows into India will be slower as it has received a higher share of foreign money in recent times. In other words, many foreign money managers already have a sizeable exposure to India. Rosgen sees policy execution as key to FII perception about India.

Rosgen is not bullish on gold at this stage.

02:27pm Cadila Healthcare in focus
Shares of Cadila Healthcare gained 4.7 percent after Bank of America-Merrill Lynch upgrades the stock to "buy" from "underperform" and raises its target to Rs 1,000 from Rs 705, saying the worst is behind and earnings will accelerate from fiscal 2015.

The investment bank says it expects Cadila to get 20 or more drug approvals from the US Food and Drug Administration, and that it expects domestic sales to recover in fiscal 2015, reports Reuters.

02:17pm November Industrial output on Friday
Indian industrial output probably returned to modest growth in November after shrinking for the first time in four months in October, helped by better overseas demand, a Reuters poll showed.

Industrial production (IIP) in November was expected to grow 1.0 percent from a year earlier, after shrinking 1.8 percent in October, according to the median consensus of 20 economists.

The production data, due on Friday, will not ease concerns as policymakers in Asia's third-largest economy grapple with slowing growth while also battling rampant inflation, reports Reuters.

02:07pm The market is heading to snap five-day losing streak on Wednesday. The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 75.14 points to 20,768.38, and the 50-share NSE Nifty climbed 23.05 points to 6,185.30. About 1376 shares have advanced, 952 shares declined, and 441 shares are unchanged.

Nirmal Bang Institutional Equities was betting on the Nifty touching 7000 by March 2014. This view is now under review, though the call hasn't been changed yet. Chief executive officer Rahul Arora says a couple of things have changed.

"6150 has become an important level, there has been FII selling around this level and the political scenario too has changed. In the last quarter of the last calendar year there was a lot of noise about the BJP winning the elections, which has now receded," Arora reasoned.

Shares of Coal India rallied 5 percent on hopes of interim dividend in the forthcoming board meet.

"A meeting of the board of directors of the company will be held on January 14, 2014, to consider payment of interim dividend, if any, for the year 2013-14," the company said in its filing to the exchange.

2:00 pm Macro outlook: Encouraged by spurt in investment activities in the later half of the fiscal, Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram has said 2013-14 is likely to end with an economic growth of about 5 per cent.

"There are some of the number we are looking at the moment ... new investment projects have risen to 4.9 per cent of GDP in October-December quarter from 3.6 per cent in the previous quarter, which means investments are now beginning to take place," he said in an interview.

1:50 am Stock in news: Shares of Coal India rallied as much as 5.9 percent in intraday trade on hopes of interim dividend in the forthcoming board meet.

"A meeting of the board of directors of the company will be held on January 14, 2014, to consider payment of interim dividend, if any, for the year 2013-14," the company said in its filing to the exchange.

The company has fixed January 20 as the record date for the purpose of payment of interim divided, if declared by the board.

Meanwhile, there have been reports that the company may announce special dividend by end of FY14.

1:40 pm Exclusive: Diageo tells CNBC-TV18 that the purchase of United Spirits shares' from United Breweries Holdings is genuine and bona fide and the price of Rs 1,440 per share is fair and reasonable. The company intends to appeal against Karnataka High Court's order and will consider options to defend their position.

1:30 pm Poll: Indian industrial output probably returned to modest growth in November after shrinking for the first time in four months in October, helped by better overseas demand, a Reuters poll showed.

Industrial production (IIP) in November was expected to grow 1.0 percent from a year earlier, after shrinking 1.8 percent in October, according to the median consensus of 20 economists. "November industrial production is unlikely to deviate from the recent stabilisation in activity, albeit still at weak levels," said Radhika Rao, an economist at DBS in Singapore.

The market is volatile with a positive bias. Capital goods and realty stocks are under pressure. The Sensex is up 49.96 points at 20743.20, and the Nifty adds 15.60 points at 6177.85. About 1378 shares have advanced, 941 shares declined, and 438 shares are unchanged.

Coal India is up 5 percent while other gainers are GAIL , Tata Power , Cipla and Sun Pharma . Among the losers are L&T, Axis Bank , BHEL , Sesa Sterlite and Infosys .

IDBI Bank is in focus on news that Maharashtra state government's distribution companies have failed to pay around Rs 1000 crore to Dabhol and hence loans to the project may become bad debt. IDBI Bank has an exposure of nearly Rs 2,000 crore while banks as a whole have an exposure of around Rs 8,500 to the project.

Traders are also keenly watching out Financial Technologies ahead of Bombay High Court hearing on FMC order tomorrow. Financial Tech has sought for capital structure to be kept intact till hearing.

12:55pm Market Update
The market lost some gains in afternoon trade. The Sensex rose 29.98 points to 20723.22, and the Nifty advanced 10.95 points to 6173.20, but the broader markets continued to outperform benchmarks.

The BSE Midcap Index climbed 0.8 percent and Smallcap gained 0.5 percent. Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of 1342 to 857 on the BSE.

Apollo Tyres gained more than 4 percent after 48.7 lakh equity shares exchanged at Rs 107/share via block deals. MCX India maintained its upmove, rising 0.9 percent in addition to 3.6 percent gains in previous session after Blackstone raised its stake in the company from 2 percent to 4.79 percent.

12:50pm Nomura expects reboust Q3 earnings from pharma space

Brokerage house Nomura expects its pharmaceutical coverage universe (ex-hospitals) stocks to record a consolidated revenue growth of 20.7 percent and EBITDA growth of 36 percent year-on-year in 3QFY14.

According to the report, the currency environment remained favourable with reduced volatility during the quarter. Therefore, Nomura expects very limited marked-to-market (MTM) gains/losses during the quarter.

"Adjusted for large MTM losses of Ranbaxy and licensing income of Glenmark , we expect our pharmaceutical coverage universe to record net profit growth of 47.5 percent year-on-year and 8.4 percent quarter-on-quarter," Nomura in its report said.

12:40pm Maruti Suzuki hits record high
Shares of Maruti Suzuki touched a record high of Rs 1,859.75 on source-based reports that Suzuki officials met LIC on Maruti share open offer.

CNBC-TV18 learned from sources that Suzuki, the promoter of top Indian car maker Maruti, is considering open offer for Maruti shares.

Sources say Suzuki has sought nearly 1.5 crore shares from LIC that held 2.48 crore shares in Maruti as on September 30.

Earlier CNBC-TV18 reported that the promoter may hike stake in Maruti to 75 percent. As of September 30, 2013, Suzuki Motor Corporation holds 56.21 percent stake in Maruti.

12:30pm Mastek in bull grip
Shares of Mastek touched highest level since November 10, 2010 as the board of directors will meet today to consider a proposal of buyback of equity shares. The stock gained as much as 13.57 percent intraday to Rs 207.90 apiece today.

As of September 2013, the company has cash of Rs 250.7 crore on its books. Market capitalisation of the company currently stands at Rs 497.45 crore.

Meanwhile, it had done multiple buybacks in the past. Last one it concluded was in February 2013, where the company had bought back 9 percent equity by spending Rs 35 crore at an average price of Rs 150/share.

12:20pm FII View on Q3 Earnings
Ridham Desai of Morgan Stanley feels Q3FY14 earnings season is likely to be another quarter of single-digit earnings growth. "EBITDA margins are likely to expand for the fifth quarter running, albeit marginally," he adds.

"Our macro corporate profitability proxy suggests broad market (ex-oil PSUs) earnings growth in the range of (-)10 percent to 10 percent, with a likely print of 1 percent for the quarter compared to (-)4 percent in the previous quarter and 6 percent a year ago," Ridham in its report says.

12:10pm Prestige Estates in focus
Shares of Prestige Estates Projects are on buyers' radar after the company announced sales performance for the quarter ended December 2013. The stock gained as much as 7.4 percent intraday on Wednesday.

The Bangalore-based real estate developer reported strong performance during October-December quarter (Q3) despite slowdown in the economy.

The company sold 904 units (area of 1.55 million square feet) worth Rs 940.2 crore in the quarter gone by, a growth of 24.69 percent compared to a year ago period. In December quarter of 2012, it has sold 682 units aggregating 1.44 million square feet.

Collections during the same period jumped 16.69 percent year-on-year to Rs 592.3 crore from Rs 507.6 crore.

12:00pm Equity benchmarks maintained marginal upmove in noon trade today supported by oil & gas, banks and healthcare stocks.

The Sensex rose 61.38 points to 20,754.62, and the Nifty soared 20.60 points to 6,182.85. About 1374 shares have advanced, 692 shares declined, and 439 shares are unchanged.

MCX India, Apollo Tyres, Bajaj Auto , Financial Technologies , Aban Offshore , ICICI Bank , Infosys and Axis Bank are the most active shares on exchanges.

Cipla , Sun Pharma , Cairn India , GAIL and NMDC rallied 2 percent each.

Major largecaps like Reliance Industries , TCS , Tata Motors , HDFC , State Bank of India and ICICI Bank gained between 0.4-0.9 percent.

However, shares of Larsen and Toubro , BHEL and Axis Bank lost a percent each. Infosys, ITC , Maruti Suzuki, Sesa Sterlite, Wipro and Hindustan Unilever are other losers.

12:00 pm PM's views: India's economic growth in the current fiscal year will likely remain flat at 5 percent, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said.

Singh's forecast is more optimistic than those of several private economists, who are predicting growth in the year to March 2014 to slip below 5 percent.

Pace of economic expansion in Asia's third largest economy hit a decade-low of 5 percent in the last fiscal year.

11:50 am Stock in news: Shares of Prestige Estates Projects are on buyers' radar after the company announced sales performance for the quarter ended December 2013. The stock gained as much as 7.4 percent intraday.

The Bangalore-based real estate developer reported strong performance during October-December quarter (Q3) despite slowdown in the economy.

The company sold 904 units (area of 1.55 million square feet) worth Rs 940.2 crore in the quarter gone by, a growth of 24.69 percent compared to a year ago period. In December quarter of 2012, it has sold 682 units aggregating 1.44 million square feet.

11:40 am Market outlook: Sandeep Bhatia, executive director and head of sales at Kotak Securities expects to see further improvement in the macroeconomic conditions of the country, but sees growth to pick up only in FY16. "The FIIs expect the Indian market to improve in 2014," he told CNBC-TV18.

He says the third quarter earnings season will be on similar lines as the second quarter and the process of fiscal repair will take at least 12-18 months. He expects interest rates to remain stable going forward. ''We do not think food inflation can be tackled by higher interest, policy rates,'' he says. Giving his stock/sector specific views, Bhatia says he is positive on Coal India and NMDC due to special dividend expectations. Meanwhile, oil and gas remains his top sector pick. In autos, he prefers Tata Motors due to big export boost. Among midcaps, he is bullish on Glenmark and Container Corp .

11:30 am Buzzing: Shares of Mastek touched highest level since November 10, 2010 as the board of directors will meet today to consider a proposal of buyback of equity shares. The stock gained as much as 13.57 percent intraday to Rs 207.90 apiece.

As of September 2013, the company has cash of Rs 250.7 crore on its books. Market capitalisation of the company currently stands at Rs 497.45 crore.

The market manages to hold gains as the Nifty is up 23.40 points at 6185.65. The Sensex is up 79.90 points at 20773.14. About 1407 shares have advanced, 632 shares declined, and 441 shares are unchanged.

Sun Pharma, Cipla, Tata Power , GAIL and Reliance are top gainers in the Sensex. BHEL , Axis Bank , Sesa Sterlite, Wipro and Infosys are other losers.

The rupee is higher tracking strength in Asian units and domestic equities. Dollar sales by custodian banks also helps rupee rise. Meanwhile, bonds are a tad lower on profit sales ahead of Friday's Rs 15,000 crore rupee auction.

The dollar strengthened hovering around a one month high rebounding post better trade deficit data from the US. 

Asian markets trade higher following a positive lead from global equities overnight on the back of upbeat economic data.

10:59am Market Update
The market is marginally positive. The Sensex rose 62.05 points to 20,755.29, and the Nifty added 21.10 points to 6,183.35.

Apollo Tyres , MCX India, Bajaj Auto , Aban Offshore , Mastek , ICICI Bank , Infosys and Axis Bank are the most active shares on exchanges.

Among midcaps, KSK Energy Ventures , Tube Investment , Apollo Tyres, Syndicate Bank and Gujarat Mineral Development gained 4-9 percent while Oberoi Realty , Birla Corp , Apollo Hospital , India Tourism and Ramco Cements fell 2-3 percent.

In the smallcap space, Gravita India , Gujarat Natural, HCL Infosystem, Mastek and Financial Technologies surged 10-13 percent. However, Manaksia , Zodiac Clothing , Sagar Cement , Ahlcon Parent and MBL Infra dropped 3-6 percent.

10:50am FIIs sellers for third day
Foreign institutional investors have been sold more than Rs 800 crore worth of shares in previous three consecutive sessions.

On Tuesday, they offloaded Rs 567 crore worth of shares, highest selling since September 3, 2013.

10:40am Market Expert
Sandeep Bhatia, executive director and head of sales at Kotak Securities expects to see further improvement in the macroeconomic conditions of the country, but sees growth to pick up only in FY16.

"The FIIs expect the Indian market to improve in 2014," he told CNBC-TV18.

He says the third quarter earnings season will be on similar lines as the second quarter and the process of fiscal repair will take at least 12-18 months. He expects interest rates to remain stable going forward. ''We do not think food inflation can be tackled by higher interest, policy rates,'' he says.

10:30am Sobha Developers talks to CNBC-TV18
Shares in Sobha Developers have been under pressure in the past few days after the company released a sales update indicating it would miss its FY14 sales guidance.

The company had said it intended to sell 4.2 million square feet for sales of Rs 2,600 crore in FY14 but in the first nine months of FY14, it has only managed to sell 2.66 million square foot.

Most brokerages continue to remain overweight on the stock.

The company's Vice Chairman and Managing Director JC Sharma admitted in a CNBC-TV18 interview that third-quarter sales had been a disappointment. He attributed the slowdown to weakness to below-average performance seen in the NCR region and some delays in Bangalore property launches.

While admitting FY14 sales guidance looked difficult to achieve, Sharma said he did not expect the weakness to continue into next year.

10:20am SpiceJet flies
Shares of SpiceJet jumped 2.5 percent intraday on reports that the budget airline has agreed to buy around 40 Boeing 737 passenger jets worth over USD 4 billion at list price.

"SpiceJet has placed a firm order for as many as 42 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft that offer fuel savings compared to its existing fleet of current-generation 737s," reports Reuters quoting sources.

The loss-making carrier, which is looking for new investors, has also negotiated options to buy as many as 42 more jets depending on its future growth, the industry sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

10:09am The market continued to consolidate today with a positive bias. The Sensex rose 49.64 points to 20,742.88, and the Nifty climbed 17.25 points to 6,179.50, but the broader markets outperformed benchmarks.

The BSE Midcap Index gained 0.5 percent and Smallcap rose 0.65 percent. More than two shares advanced for every share declining on the BSE.

Rakesh Arora of Macquarie believes the market has had a lot to absorb and look jittery at the moment. On this backdrop the earnings season will play the lead role in determining the direction of the market along with inflation data and RBI policy on January 28, he added.

As a prudent strategy, he asked investors to focus on export plays, quality beta in industrials and private banks, and stick to positive earnings momentum.

Sun Pharma and Cipla topped the buying list, rising 2 percent each. Shares of TCS , Tata Motors and Tata Power gained more than a percent.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries climbed 0.77 percent to Rs 848.65 apiece. Barclays has equalweight rating on the stock and raised target to Rs 1,040 from Rs 900.

Among banks, country's largest lenders State Bank of India and ICICI Bank advanced marginally whereas rival Axis Bank fell over a percent.

Capital goods majors BHEL , and Larsen and Toubro dropped 1.3 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively. Cigarette major ITC slipped 0.5 percent.

9:50 am Commodity check: Brent crude rose towards USD 108 per barrel, supported by new worries over Libyan supplies and expectations of another drop in US crude inventories.

Although Libya may boost production to nearly 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) by later Wednesday, tensions in the North African country escalated after a heavily armed autonomy group invited foreign companies to buy oil from seized ports.

"The situation looks quite uncertain, and I don't think exports will resume smoothly," said Tetsu Emori, a commodities fund manager at Astmax Investments.

9:40 am Buzzing: Shares of SpiceJet jump 2.5 percent on reports that the budget airline has agreed to buy around 40 Boeing 737 passenger jets worth over USD4 billion at list price.

"SpiceJet has placed a firm order for as many as 42 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft that offer fuel savings compared to its existing fleet of current-generation 737s," reports Reuters quoting sources.

9:30 am FII view: Rakesh Arora of Macquarie says that earnings season will play the lead role in determining the direction of the market along with inflation data and RBI policy on January 28. As a prudent strategy, focus on export plays, quality beta in industrials and private banks, and stick to positive earnings momentum, he advises.

Ridham Desai of Morgan Stanley feels that Q3FY14 earnings season is likely to be another quarter of single-digit earnings growth. "EBITDA margins are likely to expand for the fifth quarter running, albeit marginally. Our macro corporate profitability proxy suggests broad market (ex-oil PSUs) earnings growth in the range of (-)10 percent to 10 percent, with a likely print of 1 percent for the quarter compared to (-)4 percent in the previous quarter and 6 percent a year ago," he adds.

The market opened in the positive terrain. The Sensex is up 73.75 points at 20766.99, and the Nifty up 15.80 points or 0.26% at 6178.05. About 331 shares have advanced, 65 shares declined, and 334 shares are unchanged.

Hindalco, Coal India, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Auto and ICICI Bank are early gainers in the Sensex. On the losing side are GAIL, Cipla, Dr Reddy's Labs, HUL and Maruti Suzuki are among the laggards.

The rupee gained in the early trade on Wednesday. It opened higher by 12 paise at 62.19 per dollar versus previous day's closing value of 62.31.

According to Himanshu Arora of Religare, dollar-rupee pair is expected to trade slightly higher in today's session amid dollar surging against a basket of currencies and plunging domestic equities.

"Moreover, Fed's recently instigated tapering is also underpinning dollar against the rupee. Range for the rupee is seen between 62.12-62.65/dollar," he added.

Meanwhile, the dollar hovers near a one-month high against a basket of major currencies early in Asia trade, having rebounded smartly overnight on the back of upbeat US trade data.

US stocks ended higher Monday, with the S&P snapping a three-day losing streak.

In macro news from the Eurozone, inflation data came in lower than expected, increasing the pressure on ECB to announce stimulus measures at its policy meeting this week. German unemployment fell in December on a seasonally adjusted basis, the first drop since July.

The PMI services sector data in Spain came out better than expected. Meanwhile, there is little clarity on the stance that the US Federal Reserve will adopt on its monthly bond purchases.