Nifty ends above 7850, Sensex gains 164 points; SBI falls, ITC up 3%

3:30 pm Market closing: After a tumultuous ride throughout the day, benchmark indices ended with gains on late buying. The Sensex ended up 163.66 points or 0.6 percent at 25653.23, and the Nifty was up 45.85 points or 0.6 percent at 7860.75. About 1296 shares have advanced, 1264 shares declined, and 176 shares are unchanged.

ITC, Dr Reddy's Labs, HUL, HDFC twins were top gainers while SBI, Cipla, Adani Ports, ONGC and BHEL were losers in the Sensex.

3:20 pm Monsoon: The Met department unveiled its first monsoon forecast for 2016, saying that the onset of monsoon over Kerala is likely to be delayed by six days beyond its scheduled date of June 1. DS Pai, Director, India Met Department, in an interview to CNBC-TV18, said although they expect the monsoon to set in Kerala on June 7, the rainfall will be normal over central and northwest India. However, till then the temperatures in those regions could increase in the next few weeks. According to him, over the next one month the EL Nino is likely to reach neutral conditions. Further, the department sticks to its earlier forecast of 106 percent of LPA for this monsoon season.

3:00 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks extended rally in last hour of trade. The Sensex surged 179.84 points to 25669.41 and the Nifty jumped 54.05 points to 7868.95, driven by index heavyweights.

ITC rallied 3 percent. HDFC and HDFC Bank gained 1.8 percent each. Infosys, TCS, HUL and Tata Motors rose 1-2 percent.

2:45 pm Buzzing: Zee Learn shares rallied 20 percent intraday after strong set of earnings in January-March quarter.

Essel Group Company said standalone profit grew by 104 percent year-on-year to Rs 7.76 crore and revenue rose by 20 percent to Rs 50.2 crore in January-March quarter, adding other income fell 18 percent.

Profit was largely supported by strong operational performance.

"Improved performance is a result of sustained growth in the business through various measures taken for driving efficiencies in running pre-school and K-12 school operations, run under the brand name of Kidzee and Mount Litera Zee School, respectively," Umesh Pradhan, CFO said.

2:35 pm Market rebounds: Equity benchmarks bounced back with the Sensex rising 111.46 points to 25601.03 and the Nifty climbing 30.95 points to 7845.85.

2:20 pm Earnings: Piramal Enterprises today reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 180.24 crore for the March quarter.

The company had posted a net profit after taxes, minority interest and share of profit of associates of Rs 95.40 crore for the January-March period of 2014-15, Piramal Enterprises said in a BSE filing.

Consolidated total income from operations rose to Rs 1,733.51 crore as against Rs 1,297.50 crore a year ago.

For the full fiscal, the company posted a net profit of Rs 950.60 crore compared with Rs 2,849.95 crore in 2014-15. Consolidated total income stood at Rs 6,609.89 crore for the 2015-16 fiscal as against Rs 5,122.61 last year.

2:00 pm Market Check: Equity benchmarks continued to be choppy in afternoon trade, tracking mixed global cues. Asian markets closed higher while European markets were trading lower after soggy China data.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 20.51 points to 25469.06 and the 50-share NSE Nifty slipped 9.35 points to 7805.55. The market breadth remained weak as about 1243 shares declined against 1165 advancing shares on Bombay Stock Exchange.

SBI plunged 4.5 percent after disappointing set of earnings by Bank of Baroda. Rising WPI inflation in April indicated that RBI may hold rates in forthcoming policy meet.

ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, L&T, Bharti Airtel, Adani Ports, Hero Motocorp and ONGC were down 1-3 percent while ITC, Infosys, TCS, Dr Reddy's Labs and Asian Paints gained 1-3 percent.

1:55 pm FII view: India has stood out in the context of global performance in the last two years, believes Atul Suri, Trader, Rare Enterprises. This includes market performance in the mutual funds space and returns portfolio management services, he said, adding, "While the market performance falls short of expectations, we're still outperformers." In the emerging market space, while MSCI EM was down 22 percent, India was the third best performing market, after China and Japan, he told CNBC-TV18. Further, he assures domestic flows will continue into the Indian markets. Suri is of the view that India is a sector and stock-specific market. His top sectoral picks include consumer space and pharma, which has gained almost 50 percent.

1:30 pm Interview: Coal supplies were cut in April following slowing demand, but going forward, the key raw material will come back into the scheme of things, said Coal Secretary Anil Swarup, speaking to CNBC-TV18. Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) will pick up and demand will come from power sector, he said. Under the UDAY scheme, the states can pick up 75 percent of the power distributors' debt. Swarup is hopeful that there will be demand for coal from steel and aluminium sectors as well. Steel sector is on a strong wicket, as the imposition of minimum import price and safeguard duty on imports has boosted local supplies.

Volatility continues on Dalal Street as bank and capital goods are under pressure. The Sensex is down 48.73 points or 0.2 percent at 25440.84, and the Nifty down 16.90 points or 0.2 percent at 7798. About 1104 shares have advanced, 1263 shares declined, and 144 shares are unchanged.

Dr Reddy's, Asian Paints, TCS, ITC and HDFC Bank are top gainers while SBI, ICICI, Axis and Bharti are losers.

Oil rose to fresh 2016 highs in Asia today as a slowdown in US drilling and increase in Chinese crude refinery processing bolstered hopes a supply glut would ease sooner than expected.

US oilfield services firm Baker Hughes said the number of US drilling rigs fell to its lowest level since October 2009, which is good news for prices as US production is a key contributor to the oversupply.

Chinese crude refineries also processed crude at record rates in April while production dipped to a 14-month low, media reported citing government data released at the weekend.

12:55 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks remained under pressure with the Sensex falling more than 100 points, led by weakness in banks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 124 points to 25365 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 38 points to 7776.

Bank of Baroda (-9 percent), SBI (-5 percent), ICICI Bank (-3 percent) and Axis Bank (-2 percent) were the big losers in the Nifty. Other laggards in the index were Tata Power (-1 percent), BPCL (-1 percent), Power Grid Corp (-1 percent) and Bajaj Auto (-1 percent).

Gainers included Dr Reddy's Labs (3 percent), Tech Mahindra (2 percent), Bosch (1 percent) and Bharti Infratel (1 percent).

12:40 pm Interview: The EBITDA margins for Thirumalai Chemicals trebled to 16.9 percent in the fourth quarter of FY16.

R Parthasarathy, the managing director of the company, said that Indian markets did well owing to uncertainty in other Asian economies like China, Taiwan and South Korea.

However, he maintained that such high EBITDA margins may not be sustainable in FY17, but he expects a moderate figure between 10 and 12 percent.

Measures taken by the company like paying off debt, reducing energy costs and working costs, have also helped the commodities, as a result of which the fine chemicals company posted strong numbers in Q4.

He expects volume growth to be around 20 percent and revenue to grow by 15 percent in FY17.

12:20 pm Market Expert: The Indian Meteorological Department in its first monsoon forecast for 2016 said, the onset of monsoon over Kerala is likely to be delayed by six days beyond its scheduled date of June 1.

Reacting to the news, market expert Ambareesh Baliga said a one-week delay in monsoon may not be so much of a negative factor for the market but the Mauritius issue could weigh more and the trend would be a range-bound market.

However, when the monsoons do hit our coasts, the market would possibly go to 8000-plus also, said Baliga.

12:00 pm Market Check
Equity benchmarks continued to see selling pressure in noon trade with the Sensex falling 89.10 points to 25400.47 and the Nifty declining 28.45 points to 7786.45.

The market breadth was also weak as about 1210 shares declined against 1035 advancing shares on Bombay Stock Exchange.

WPI inflation in April came in positive territory for the first time in last 18 months, rising to 0.34 percent compared to negative 0.85 percent in preceding month.

ICICI Bank, SBI and Axis Bank extended losses, falling 2-4 percent on fears that RBI may hold rates after rise in WPI inflation.

Bharti Airtel, HUL, ONGC, Adani Ports and Hero Motocorp were other losers with 1-2 percent losses while Dr Reddy's Labs continued to outperform with 3 percent rally.

11:45 am Cement: Brokerage house Goldman Sachs says it is ''structurally'' positive on the medium-term demand/supply outlook for cement. It expects a 9 percent compounded growth in demand, led by the government's focus on infrastructure and ''housing for all'' by 2022. ''A significantly higher allocation in the FY17 Budget towards rural spending should address the issue of weak rural housing demand, which has been a key overhang for the last 12 months, in our view,'' says the Goldman Sachs note, adding it expects limited capacity additions (2 percent compounded annually) as land acquisition remains a key bottleneck.

11:30 am Market outlook: India has stood out in the context of global performance in the last two years, believes Atul Suri, Trader, Rare Enterprises. This includes market performance in the mutual funds space and returns portfolio management services, he said, adding, "While the market performance falls short of expectations, we're still outperformers." In the emerging market space, while MSCI EM was down 22 percent, India was the third best performing market, after China and Japan, he told CNBC-TV18. Further, he assures domestic flows will continue into the Indian markets.

The market is succumbing to selling pressure as the Nifty sinks below 7800. The 50-share index is down 33.65 points or 0.4 percent at 7781.25 and the Sensex is down 117.37 points or 0.5 percent at 25372.20. About 989 shares have advanced, 1131 shares declined, and 120 shares are unchanged.

Dr Reddy's Labs, Asain Paints, Lupin, Infosys and Tata Motors are top gainers while SBI, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Auto and ONGC are losers in the Sensex.

Oil prices jumped over 1 percent after long-time bear Goldman Sachs said the market had ended almost two years of oversupply following global oil disruptions and flipped to a deficit. Supply disruptions from Nigeria, Venezuela, the United States and China triggered a U-turn in the oil outlook of Goldman Sachs, which long warned of overflowing storage and another looming crash in prices.

Venezuela's oil production has already fallen by at least 188,000 bpd since the start of the year as PDVSA struggles to make the investment needed to keep output steady.

10:55 am Market Update: Equity benchmarks extended losses with the Sensex falling 89.75 points to 25399.82 and the Nifty declining 23.40 points to 7791.50.

Bank of Baroda (-7 percent), SBI (-3 percent), Bharti Airtel (-3 percent) and GAIL (-2 percent) were the big losers in the Nifty. Other laggards in the index were Axis Bank (-1 percent),BPCL (-1 percent),Hero Motocorp (-1 percent) and Adani Ports (-1 percent).

Gainers included Dr Reddys Labs (3 percent), Tech Mahindra (2 percent), Bosch (1 percent) and Zee Entertain (1 percent).

Key Asian markets were mostly higher. Hong Kong's Hang Seng led gainers, trading 198 points or 1.0 percent higher at 19917. Taiwan's Taiwan Index was up 23 points at 8076, Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 26 points at 16438 and China's Shanghai was up 4 points at 2831. In laggards Singapore's Straits Times was down 1 points at 2733, and Korea's KOSPI was down 1 points at 1965.

10:49 am Earnings Poll: Petronet LNG 's fourth quarter profit is expected to increase 29.8 percent to Rs 231 crore compared to Rs 178 crore in preceding quarter, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

Total income is seen rising 22 percent to Rs 6,291 crore in January-March quarter compared to Rs 5,146 crore in previous quarter.

Operating profit is likely to jump 44.6 percent sequentially to Rs 457 crore and margin may expand 110 basis points to 7.1 percent in Q4.

The company is likely to benefit from resumption of RasGas long-term volumes.

10:30 am Buzzing: Share prices of Piramal Enterprises rose 2 percent intraday as company's consumer products division has acquired four brands of Pfizer .

"The company has entered into an agreement to acquire four brands which includes Ferradol, Neko, Sloan's and Waterbury's Compound from Pfizer for a consideration of Rs 110 crore," as per BSE release.

"Additionally, the agreement also includes the trademark rights for Ferradol and Waterbury's Compound in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka," it added.

These brands hold a rich legacy and have a high consumer pull and are available in India for the past more than 30 years. These products currently operate in a market which is currently estimated at Rs 7000 crore.

10:15 am FII View: Brokerage house HSBC India has upgraded its rating on the Indian market to 'neutral' from 'underweight', saying valuation premium to Asia has declined and is now approaching a 10-year average premium.

''The hype is almost gone,'' says the HSBC note, adding, ''High-frequency indicators suggests the earnings environment might improve, although earnings expectations remain too optimistic.''

10:00 am Market Check
The market erased early gains to trade marginally lower. Banking & financials and telecom stocks dragged while pharma, technology and select auto stocks supported the market.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 35.86 points to 25453.71 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 10.65 points to 7804.25. The market breadth was marginally positive as about 999 shares advanced against 756 declining shares on BSE.

Dr Reddy's Labs topped buying list on Sensex, up 3 percent followed by Asian Paints, Tata Motors, Infosys, TCS, Lupin and Maruti Suzuki with 0.3-1 percent upside.

SBI, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank fell 1-2 percent after Bank of Baroda posted a loss of Rs 3,230 crore in Q4.

9:55 am FII view: The Nifty is wavering below the major overhead resistance in the 7,900-8,000 area provided by the 200-day moving average, writes CLSA's technical analyst Laurence Balanco.

''Key short-term support is seen at 7,661-7,700 provided by the 50- day moving average. A break below this level would open the door for further weakness down to the 7,400 area,'' Balanco writes in his note to clients.

Balanco is also cautious on US equities.

''We have been anticipating a 2Q (second quarter) top to lead to a sell-off into 3Q (third quarter). The S&P500 futures have formed key support at last Friday's low of 2,026-2,030,'' says the note, adding that a break below this level would trigger the bearish implication.

9:45 am FII data: Foreign investors dumped shares worth Rs 178 crore in the first two weeks of May as worries over global economy and amended Indo-Mauritius tax treaty hurt the sentiment, reversing the last two months' bullish trend.

In March-April, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) had pumped in a net Rs 29,558 crore into equity markets.

The data sourced from the depositories showed that FPI withdrew a net amount of Rs 178 crore from Indian equities till May 13.

However, FPIs have invested Rs 595 crore in the debt markets during the period under review.

9:30 am Market check: The market has erased early gains. The Sensex is down 57.82 points or 0.2 percent at 25431.75, and the Nifty is down 13.60 points or 0.2 percent at 7801.30. About 780 shares have advanced, 529 shares declined, and 78 shares are unchanged.

Dr Reddy's Labs, Tata Motors, Asian Paints, BHEL and Coal India are top gainers while SBI, Bharti Airtel, HUL, ICICI Bank and GAIL are losers in the Sensex.

The market has opened in green on Monday. The Sensex is up 101.04 points or 0.4 percent at 25590.61 and the Nifty is up 26.55 points or 0.3 percent at 7841.45. About 542 shares have advanced, 166 shares declined, and 45 shares are unchanged.

Adani Ports, ITC, Dr Reddy's Labs, Tata Motors and Infosys are top gainers while Hero MotoCorp, HUL, SBI, Bharti Airtel and ICICI Bank are losers in the Sensex.

The Indian rupee opened lower by 13 paise at 66.90 per dollar versus 66.77 Friday.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity said, "The rupee is expected to depreciate for the day taking cues from flat to negative global equity markets."

There is "absolutely no reason" for the Indian government to borrow in dollars and the rest of the developing world must be careful not to become too reliant on foreign capital, Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan said on Friday.

Asian markets were mixed in early trade, as traders digested the slew of Chinese economic data released at the weekend.

Data released by China's National Bureau of Statistics showed investment, factory output and retail sales all grew more slowly than expected in April, with factory output cooling to 6 percent growth in April compared to market expectation for a 6.5 percent on-year rise, Reuters reported.