Nifty ends above 7700, Sensex gains 123 points; GAIL, Maruti up

3:30 pm Market closing: The market ended on a strong with the Nifty above 7700. The 50-share index was up 37.55 points or 0.5 percent at 7708.95. The Sensex was up 123.43 points or 0.5 percent at 25145.59. About 1509 shares have advanced, 1103 shares declined, and 120 shares are unchanged.

GAIL, Maruti, Tata Motors, Adani Ports and Hero MotoCorp were top gainers while Coal India, Tata Steel, ITC, Hindalco and HDFC Bank were losers in the Sensex.

2:40 pm Earnings: Goa Carbon has turned black in January-March quarter by reporting net profit of Rs 0.4 crore against loss of Rs 7.6 crore in year-ago period, on standalone basis.

Lower raw material cost and other expenses helped the company report operating profit (against operating loss) that resulted in profit despite higher interest cost and lower other income & forex gain. In Q4FY15, it had reported an exceptional loss of Rs 10.03 crore.

Revenue increased 17 percent to Rs 67.5 crore in quarter ended March 2016 against Rs 57.6 crore in corresponding quarter of last fiscal.

2:20 pm Banks' lower deposit growth rate: High real interest rate is leading to lower deposit growth rate of the banks -- a trend which has been prevalent since late 2014, a SBI report has said.

According to the bank's research report, despite a relatively high real interest rate, deposit rates of banks have not picked up.

"Deposits with All Scheduled Commercial Banks (ASCB) have remained sluggish with a meagre growth of 9.9 percent during fiscal 2015-16 (till March, 2016)," the report said.

"This has resulted in acute shortage of funds with banks for lending purposes," it said.

SBI economic research's chief economic adviser Soumya Kanti Ghosh, who has authored the report, said, "Contrary to popular perception, high real interest rate is actually leading to lower deposit growth rate." "The divergence between the two has been widespread since September 2014," Ghosh said.

2:00 pm Market Check
The market continued to trade higher in afternoon with the Sensex rising 94.82 points to 25116.98. The Nifty climbed 26.60 points to 7698 while the broader markets gained 0.7 percent each.

The market breadth remained positive as about 1380 shares advanced against 1056 declining shares on Bombay Stock Exchange.

ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Lupin, Hero Motocorp, Adani Ports, Dr Reddy's Labs and ONGC gained 1-3 percent while ITC, Tata Steel and Coal India declined 1-2 percent.

European stocks traded lower following a choppy session in Asia and caution ahead of the second quarter earnings season in the US. France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE were down 0.3-0.9 percent.

Asia markets were mixed in mid-morning trade after a lower finish in US equities overnight ahead of earnings season.

1:50 pm Banks woes:  High real interest rate is leading to lower deposit growth rate of the banks -- a trend which has been prevalent since late 2014, a SBI report has said.

According to the bank's research report, despite a relatively high real interest rate, deposit rates of banks have not picked up.

"Deposits with All Scheduled Commercial Banks (ASCB) have remained sluggish with a meagre growth of 9.9 per cent during fiscal 2015-16 (till March, 2016)," the report said.

"This has resulted in acute shortage of funds with banks for lending purposes," it said.

1:30 pm Macro outlook: India's economy has the potential to grow between eight to 10 percent if the country continues the pace of reforms, Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) Arvind Subramanian has said. "There is no doubt that India needs to grow very rapidly to be a leading power (of the world). My own view is that India's potential growth is somewhere between eight to 10 percent," Subramanian told a Washington audience. In Washington ahead of the US visit of the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to attend the annual spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Subramanian said, "It's worth noting that India has been growing at 6 to 6.5 percent for the last 35 years."

The market is still hond on to its gains as the Sensex is up 111.58 points or 0.4 percent at 25133.74. The Nifty up 34.40 points or 0.4 precent at 7705.80. About 1474 shares have advanced, 918 shares declined, and 101 shares are unchanged.

Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp, ICICI Bank and GAIL are top gainers in the Sensex while Coal India, Tata Steel, ITC, HDFC Bank and NTPC are losers.

Gold prices fell by Rs 32 to Rs 29,490 per 10 ten grams in futures trading today as participants indulged in profit-booking at prevailing levels amid a weak trend overseas.Analysts attributed the fall in gold futures to profit-booking by traders at existing levels and a weak trend in global market where it retreated from three week highs as investors look to the US data for further clues on how the Federal Reserve will proceed on monetary policy.

12:57 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks extended gains wtih the Sensex rising 147.21 points to 25169.37 and the Nifty climbing 44.65 points to 7716.05.

About 1483 shares advanced against 852 declining shares on Bombay Stock Exchange.

12:45 pm Buzzing: Coal India (CIL) shares declined more than 2 percent intraday after a media report suggested that the world's largest coal miner slashed prices of top-grade coal on stock pile and fall in global prices.

"CIL has cut prices of top grades of coal by up to 40 percent on the back of more than adequate coal production as well as about 58 million tonnes of stock pile," a media report said.

The cut in prices of high energy content coal produced mainly from Eastern Coalfields, South Eastern Coalfields and North Eastern Coalfields is applicable for power producers and non-power producers for the first time in three years, the report added.

In 2015-16, the Maharatna achieved a record coal production of 536 million tonnes, which was higher by 42 MT or 8.5 percent compared to previous fiscal. However, the record coal production was still below its target of 550 MT.

12:25 pm Expert on earnings growth: With a good credit policy and recognition of bad loans in the banking sector, earnings will pick up in the next few quarters, says Anup Maheshwari, Executive Vice-President, Head-Equities & Corporate Strategy of DSP BlackRock Investment. While he doesn't see earnings growth beyond 3-4 percent in FY16, he is hopeful of a 15 percent revival in FY17.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Maheshwari says this change in the earnings estimate has been largely led by lower earnings in banks, which is likely to drag in the short-term.

12:00 pm Market Check
Equity benchmarks remained higher with the Sensex holding 25000 level, supported by auto, oil, banks and infra stocks. The broader markets continued to outperform, rising nearly a percent.

The 30-share BSE Sensex advanced 96.59 points to 25118.75 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 29.10 points to 7700.50. About 1405 shares advanced against 816 declining shares on Bombay Stock Exchange.

Maruti Suzuki topped buying list on Sensex, up more than 3 percent followed by ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, Adani Ports, Lupin, Axis Bank, Hero Motocorp and Dr Reddy's Labs with 1-2 percent upside.

Coal India lost 2 percent after a media report indicated that the company has cut prices of top grades of coal by up to 40 percent on the back of more than adequate coal production as well as about 58 million tonnes of stock pile.

Tata Steel slipped 0.7 percent after the company signed an agreement to sell its long products Europe business to Greybull Capital for a nominal consideration. The street is disappointed as there would be no transfer of debt or pension liabilities.

BPCL gained nearly 2 percent as the board approved increasing FII stake in the company to 49 percent. If the shareholder approval comes before the cut-off date of MSCI review, then the weight of BPCL in the MSCI India Index can increase further.

11:50 am Interview: Talking on the agreement reached with KTM to enter the Indonesian market with a focus on high-end motorcycles, S Ravikumar, President-Business Development, Bajaj Auto , said it is with an aim to strengthen their collaboration with each other and cash in on the big potential of the two-wheeler market in Indonesia. So far Bajaj has look after the backend in terms of research and development (R&D), production, sourcing. The front has been the lookout of KTM for the products to be sold in Europe. However, now KTM is keen on Bajaj establishing its brand in Indonesia, said Ravikumar in an interview to CNBC-TV18. Bajaj-KTM will have an exclusive channel of 250 KTM stores and motorcycles. They will be distributed through a chain of KTM dealerships, to be managed by Bajaj Auto.

11:30 am Buzzing: Bharat Petroleum Corporation shares gained more than 2 percent intraday Tuesday after getting board approval for increasing stake by FII in the company and taking control over Petronet CCK. The state-run oil retailer said board of directors approved proposal to seek shareholders' consent by way of postal ballot for increasing the ceiling of investment by foreign institutional investors in the shareholding of the company from 24 percent to 49 percent in one or more tranches. The company has fixed cut off date as April 18 for determining voting rights/eligibility of shareholders to whom postal ballot notice will be sent.

The market is surging ahead of fourth quarter earnings season. The Sensex is up 112.37 points or 0.4 percent at 25134.53, and the Nifty is up 33.15 points or 0.4 percent at 7704.55. About 1345 shares have advanced, 717 shares declined, and 104 shares are unchanged.

Maruti, Hero MotoCorp, ICICI Bank, Dr Reddy's and ONGC are top gainers while Coal India, Tata Steel, ITC, NTPC and HDFC Bank are losers in the Sensex.

meanwhile, Crude prices dipped but held above USD 40 as traders looked forward to a summit of key oil producers next week to discuss freezing output and easing the supply glut.

Analysts said prices were expected to see-saw ahead of Sunday's meeting in the Qatari capital Doha that will gather both OPEC producers led by Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC members such as Russia.

A major subject for the meeting is a proposal to freeze output at January levels in a bid to ease the oversupply that helped send prices plunging by three quarters to near 13-year lows between August 2014 and February this year.

10:51 am Market Update: Benchmark indices crawled higher in the last half an hour of trade. The BSE Sensex rose 91 points to 25113 and the Nifty was up 24 points at 7696.

Hero Motocorp (1.9 percent), Maruti Suzuki (1.8 percent), ICICI Bank (1.8 percent) and Adani Ports (1.6 percent) were the top gainers in Nifty. Among the losers were TCS (-0.4 percent), Bharti Airtel (-0.2 percent) and GAIL (-0.1 percent).

In sectoral performance as reflected by the respective indices, consumer durables (1.8 percent), oil & gas (1.2 percent), auto (1.0 percent) and healthcare (0.9 percent) gained, while metals (-0.7 percent) and FMCG (-0.1 percent) were under pressure.

Key Asian markets were mostly higher. Japan's Nikkei 225 led gainers, trading 179 points or 1.1 percent higher at 15930. Korea's KOSPI was up 10 points at 1981, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 40 points at 20481 and Singapore's Straits Times was up 0 points at 2810. In laggards Taiwan's Taiwan Index was down 32 points at 8530, and China's Shanghai was down 19 points at 3014.

10:40 am Lanco in News: In yet another case of lenders grappling with huge debt, credit-banks are looking to reorganise Lanco Infratech with an aim to pare its massive debt of Rs 40,000 crore, reports CNBC-TV18.

The consortium of lenders led by ICICI Bank held a meeting in this regard and told the company they are looking to restructure it.

Currently, the company has over 50 subsidiaries. The lenders will look to carve out the power business into a single vertical and make room available for an external strategic investor.

Lanco Infratech needs at least Rs 1,800 crore equity to complete its three projects.

10:20 am Buzzing: Shares of Nestle India jumped over 5 percent intraday after its popular noodles brand cleared tests conducted by Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI). CFTRI has given a clean chit to Nestle's Maggi after tests under Supreme Court directive.

''CFTRI has submitted analysis reports on Maggi noodles to the Supreme Court. We have been provided with a copy of the reports. We are happy that all 29 samples tested by CFTRI are clear,'' Nestle India said in a statement.

The reports state that lead levels for all samples are within permissible limits, it added.

''All 29 samples of Maggi Noodles,( the initial 13 and subsequent 16 samples), were collected by the relevant authorities following due process and then directly submitted to CFTRI,'' Nestle India said.

10:00 am Market Check
The market continued to be marginally higher in morning trade with the Sensex rising 78.91 points to 25101.07 and the Nifty climbing 23.50 points to 7694.90. Pharma, banking & financials, auto and oil & gas stocks gained while metals stocks lost shine.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices outperformed, rising over 0.7 percent as more than two shares advanced for every share declining on Bombay Stock Exchange.

Abhay Laijawala of Deutsche Bank believes that the ongoing equity rally in India will continue in medium term driven by likelihood of normal monsoon rainfall, improvement in domestic indicators coupled with an accommodative RBI.

ICICI Bank, Lupin, Hero Motocorp, Dr Reddy's Labs and Maruti Suzuki gained 1-2 percent while Adani Ports, Bharti Airtel, Coal India and Tata Steel declined 1-1.5 percent.

9:50 am Market check: The Sensex is up 71.66 points or 0.3 percent at 25093.82, and the Nifty is up 21.75 points or 0.3 percent at 7693.15. The 50-share index briefly touched 7700. About 1110 shares have advanced, 480 shares declined, and 61 shares are unchanged. Hero MotoCorp, Dr Reddy's, ICICI Bank, Lupin and Maruti are gainers while Coal India, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, Adani Ports and NTPC are losers in the Sensex.

9:30 am Macro data poll: The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for March is expected to ease month-on-month to 5.05 percent from 5.18 percent, while the Index of Industrial production (IIP) for February is seen improving to 1.5 percent from negative 1.5 percent, estimates a CNBC-TV18 poll. For the CPI, the March estimates mean further decline from February's 4-month low of 5.18 percent. The CPI has risen consistently from 3.7 percent in July 2015 to 5.7 percent in January 2016. The softening is likely to be due to lower readings on housing, clothing, transport & communication etc. Economists are divided on food inflation. While some expect it to soften month-on-month to 5.1-5.2 percent due to lower vegetables and pulses, others expect it to see a slight jump.

The market has opened midly in the red. The Sensex is down 5.41 points at 25016.75 and the Nifty is down 0.90 points at 7670.50. About 339 shares have advanced, 112 shares declined, and 24 shares are unchanged.

Dr Reddy's Labs, Lupin, Tata Motors, HDFC and Adani Ports are gainers while Tata Steel, Hindalco, TCS, ITC and HDFC Bank are losers in the Sensex.

The Indian rupee has opened with marginal gain of 3 paise at 66.40 per dollar versus 66.43 in previous session. The dollar was steady against the yen but not too far from a 17-month low. The dollar index is hovering near an eight-month trough.

Ashutosh Raina of HDFC Bank said the US dollar continues to lose as markets remain sceptical on improvement in the global economy, adding USD-INR pair continues to trade in the 66-67/dollar range with intervention at lower levels capping the gains.

Asia markets were mixed in mid-morning trade after a lower finish in US equities overnight ahead of earnings season.

Overnight, oil prices advanced ahead of the April 17 meeting of oil producers in Doha, Qatar, aimed at freezing current output levels. Brent futures added 2.12 percent and US futures tacked on 1.6 percent.