Nifty ends above 8330; HUL & Infosys up, Coal India dips 4%

03:35 pm Market close
The market has ended with smart gains. The Sensex is up 126.89 points at 27585.27 and the Nifty is up 38.50 points at 8323.00. About 1651 shares have advanced, 1258 shares declined, and 373 shares are unchanged.

HUL gained 4 percent, followed by  L&T, Infosys, HDFC and BHEL. Coal India lost 4 percent while Hindalco, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp.

03:00 pm Gold price
Riding on wedding season demand from jewellers and a firming global trend, gold regained its sheen with prices rising by Rs 230 to Rs 27,480 per ten gram at the bullion market today. Silver also rebounded by Rs 400 to Rs 37,250 per kg on increased offtake by industrial units and coin makers. Bullion merchants said increased buying by jewellers and retailers to meet wedding season demand and a firming trend overseas where gold surged to one-month high, mainly boosted the sentiment.

Globally, gold rose by 0.7 per cent to USD 1,231.29 an ounce in Singapore, the highest price since December 11, on speculation that the US Fed will go slow in raising interest rates, weakening the dollar and boosting demand for the precious metal. Silver also rose 0.7 percent to USD 16.61 an ounce. In the national capital, gold of 99.9 and 99.5 per cent purity flared up by Rs 230 each to Rs 27,480 and Rs 27,280 per ten grams respectively.

Sovereign, however, remained flat at Rs 23,800 per piece of eight grams in limited deals. In line with a general firm trend, silver ready recovered by Rs 400 to Rs 37,250 per kg and weekly-based delivery by Rs 415 to Rs 37,245 per kg. On the other hand, silver coins continued to be traded at last level of Rs 61,000 for buying and Rs 62,000 for selling of 100 pieces.

02:40pm Market Update
The market gained strength in last hour of trade with the Nifty reclaiming 8300 level. The Sensex rose 87.10 points to 27545.48 and the Nifty jumped 27.20 points to 8311.70 ahead of November industrial output and December CPI data.

About 1635 shares have advanced, 1167 shares declined, and 371 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

Infosys, ICICI Bank, L&T, SBI, Axis Bank, Dr Reddy's Labs and BHEL rallied 1-2 percent. HUL gained nearly 4 percent.

02:15pm Can Fin in News
Can Fin Homes' board of directors has approved issue price of Rs 450 apiece for its rights issue in the ratio of 3 shares for every 10 shares held.

The company will issue 61.45 lakh shares via rights issue.

The scrip of Can Fin fell 2.8 percent to Rs 639 on the BSE, after hitting a 52-week high of Rs 695 intraday.

02:00pm Market Check
The market remained lacklustre in afternoon trade. The Sensex fell 22.06 points to 27436.32 and the Nifty declined 1.50 points to 8283 while the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 0.6 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively.

The market breadth was positive as about 1586 shares have advanced against 1159 shares declined on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Oil & gas, metals and auto stocks were under pressure while FMCG, capital goods and healthcare stocks gained strength.

Coal India topped the selling list on Sensex, down 5 percent on disinvestment buzz. Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, Hero Motocorp, Bajaj Auto and Hindalco Industries declined 2-2.5 percent while HUL was the biggest gainer, up 3.6 percent followed by Infosys, Axis Bank, L&T, SBI and Dr Reddy's Labs with 0.9-1.5 percent.

Globally, European markets were marginally in green in early trade while Asian markets closed mixed with the Shanghai falling 1.7 percent. Brent crude slipped below the 49-mark, down 2.8 percent to USD 48.71 a barrel while US crude was down 2.38 percent to USD 47.21 a barrel.

1:50 pm FM at Vibrant Gujarat Summit: Reiterating the government's pledge to make the tax regime more business friendly, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said foreign investors have been assured of the retrospective tax issue being rectified soon. He was addressing companies and investors at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit on Monday. Jaitley said the adversarial tax regime in India had scared investors away and none of the past issues had fetched any revenues for the country either. He said the government was creating mechanisms in revenue department to simplify tax administration.

1:30 pm Buzzing: Shares of Bharat Forge jumped 5 percent intraday on Monday after CLSA has initiated coverage on it with a buy rating. It has set a target price of Rs 1140 per share indicating a 23 percent upside.

The brokerage says that valuations are rich but will stay elevated given robust growth outlook, strong franchise and diversified business mix.  ''The company will not only be a key beneficiary of the investment cycle recovery in India but also has huge headroom to grow its industrial exports to US and Europe. Entry into new verticals, such as aerospace, will provide further boost. We see its industrial business revenues rising at 29 percent CAGR over FY14-17 driven by strong growth in India as well as exports,'' it said in a note.

The market is listless as the Sensex is down 70.65 points at 27387.73. The Nifty is down 14.15 points at 8270.35. About 1501 shares have advanced, 1141 shares declined, and 370 shares are unchanged.

HUL, Infosys, Dr Reddy's Labs, Axis Bank and SBI are top gainers while Coal India, Reliance, Bajaj Auto and Hero are major laggards.

Crude oil futures fell by 0.70 per cent to Rs 2962 per barrel as speculators trimmed positions amid a weak trend in Asian markets. The trading sentiment remained weak in futures trade following fall in crude oil prices with lower demand and a supply glut putting relentless pressure on prices already at their lowest in five and a half year, analysts said.

12:30pm GST implementation to start next year?
India is expected to implement a common goods and services tax (GST) across the country in the course of next year, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Monday.

Jaitley presented the GST bill to parliament in December, which needs the support of two-thirds of its members as well as ratification by state legislatures.

Investors and manufacturers have long coveted the GST as a game-changer that would simplify taxes while broadening the tax base, adding as much as 2 percentage points to the size of Asia's third-largest economy, reports Reuters.

12:00pm Market Check
The market recovered amid consolidation in noon trade but the broader markets continued to outperform benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.7 percent each.

The Sensex fell 10.54 points to 27447.84 and the Nifty rose 3 points to 8287.50. About 1495 shares have advanced, 991 shares declined, and 381 shares are unchanged on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

In the market opinion, Deutsche Bank sees Sensex rising 23 percent by year end. The company has set a Sensex target of 33,000 by December 2015 on the back of improving macros, stable government and fall in commodity prices.

In a discussion on CNBC-TV18, Pratik Gupta, Head - Equities, Deutsche Bank (India) said the outlook for India remains highly positive and though there is an increase in the outflows, Indian market will outperform on the back of flows by the domestic investors.

Cairn India, Hindustan Zinc and Sesa Sterlite were in focus today, down 1-3 percent. Reports indicated that Vedanta Resources is exploring a merger of the two companies (Cairn India and Hindustan Zinc) with Sesa Sterlite. This move, however, could help reduce Sesa's net debt of nearly Rs 32,500 crore.

United Spirits gained close to 7 percent. Minority shareholders gave their nod to enter into licensing and cost sharing agreement with Diageo Plc. This is the final step of USL's integration with Diageo and is expected to add Rs 700 crore revenue in the first full year.

Globally, Asia markets were mixed with Shanghai falling at one week low. Brent crude traded sub USD 50 a barrel while gold climbed to one month highs.

11:55 am Buzzing: Shares of Adani Enterprises gained more than 3 percent intraday  on signing memorandum of understandings (MoU) with Australian and US companies in a Gujarat Vibrant Summit. The first MoU was signed with Woodside Energy, the Australia's largest independent oil & gas company, for cooperating across the energy sector. Both companies will jointly seek opportunities on LNG, E&P, knowledge sharing and R&D.

Adani Enterprises is one of the leading players in city gas distribution in India. India's largest port owner and operator, and largest private power provider also signed MoU with NYSE-listed SunEdison, the solar technology manufacturer and provider of solar energy services.

11:30 am FII view: Deutsche Bank sees Sensex rising 23 percent by year end. The company has set a Sensex target of 33,000 by December 2015 on the back of improving macros, stable government and fall in commodity prices. Deutsche is confident of government meeting its fiscal deficit target of 4.1 percent this fiscal. CEO Ravneet Gill believes India looks differentiated amongst other emerging markets now and is unlikely to get impacted despite outflows seen in the EMs. The company is expecting the market to hit a record high in pre-Budget rally.

Pratik Gupta, Head - Equities, Deutsche Bank (India) said the outlook for India remains highly positive and though there is an increase in the outflows, Indian market will outperform on the back of flows by the domestic investors. Deutsche Bank continues to see pick up in domestic flows and a 15-16 percent earnings growth this year for India.

The market is choppy as the Sensex is down 21.13 points at 27437.25 and the Nifty is up 1.55 points at 8286.05. About 1394 shares have advanced, 877 shares declined, and 366 shares are unchanged.

HUL, BHEL, Axis Bank, Infosys and SBI are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Coal India, Bharti Airtel, Reliance, Hindalco and Tata Motors.

The US dollar took a dip as Asian investors caught up with a benign payrolls report and the subsequent slide in Treasury yields, while oil prices showed no sign of escaping their downward spiral.

Share markets were mostly lower following a soft finish on Wall Street though sentiment was supported by speculation the Federal Reserve would be patient in tightening policy given the weakness of wages apparent in the jobs numbers. Wages fell by the most since the series began in 2006 even as payrolls increased by a brisk 252,000. Treasury yields fell sharply on the news as the market pushed out the likely timing of the first rate hike, which in turn undercut the dollar. Brent is USD 50 while gold climbs to one month highs.

10:55am Interview
The boards of state-owned banks need to have more of professionals with domain expertise, feels Arundhati Bhattacharya, chairperson of State Bank of India.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, she said boards of PSU banks had a surfeit of chartered accounts. In addition to them, there also needed to be people with hands on experience in areas like HR, risk management and IT.

Bhattacharya said there was a need to professionalise the entire process of choosing the top management at state-owned banks.

She said the Debt Recovery Tribunal needed to speed up the process of resolving asset issues, and if they were being limited by traditional challenges, those had to be addressed through appropriate laws.

She said unless India had proper bankruptcy laws, it was difficult to have a speedy resolution in a manner fair to all stakeholders.

On willful defaulters, she said the laws had to be stricter than merely making it difficult for errant borrowers to get fresh loans. She said there has to be ''an element of fear'' as well to enforce discipline.

She said consolidation in the PSU banking space was imminent, but it was a question of timing.

She sees deposit rates coming down further with inflation cooling, and by extension lending rates as well.

10:25am Jaguar to enter luxury SUV segment
British car maker Jaguar, known for its sporty sedans, will launch the F-PACE offroader in 2016, entering the ultra popular segment of the luxury sports utility vehicle in a radical departure for the 80-year-old brand.

Luxury SUVs have long been built by parent company Jaguar Land Rover, which already owns the Range Rover brand, in what has become a popular segment among women and family buyers.

"The F-PACE is our family sports car," Ian Callum, Jaguar's director of design said.

The company is also launching two diesel powered Range Rover models in North America in 2016 with new engines promising fuel savings of up to 30 percent when compared with gasoline engine powered models, reports Reuters.

10:00am Market Check
The market was directionless in morning trade today after seeing rally in previous two sessions. It is eyeing for more third quarter earnings after getting strong start from the software services exporter Infosys on Friday. Also the December inflation and November IIP data will be closely watched, which will be declared this week.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 31.61 points to 27426.77 while the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 1.80 points to 8286.30. However, the broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising half a percent.

About 1212 shares have advanced, 703 shares declined, and 354 shares are unchanged on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Hindustan Unilever gained for the sixth consecutive session today, up 2.4 percent in addition to 14 percent rally in previous week.

Shares of Axis Bank, L&T, SBI, Infosys, ITC, Sun Pharma, BHEL and Maruti Suzuki were up 0.2-1.3 percent whereas Reliance Industries, TCS, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, ONGC, M&M, GAIL and Tata Steel fell 0.8-1.8 percent. Coal India tanked 4 percent on divestment buzz.

The Indian rupee advanced 19 paise to 62.13 a dollar while Brent crude fell 1.44 percent to USD 49.39 a barrel and US crude declined 1.47 percent to USD 47.65 a barrel.

9:55 am FII view:  Rakesh Arora, Macquarie says there's no significant pick-up in revenue growth as yet, reflecting that economic recovery is tepid. ''Several one-offs are also contributing to weakness in the current quarter,'' he adds.

''While expectations have moderated, there's still headroom to meet estimates for the full year. Stocks to position for the results on the positive side are Sun Pharma, Crompton Greaves, IRB Infra, HCL Technologies and Yes Bank. Stocks to position for the results on the negative side are Canara Bank, Bajaj Auto, SAIL and Indiabulls Real Estate,'' Arora says.

9:45 am Buzzing: Shares of Bajaj Corp, hit all time high at Rs 437.50 intraday, after iot posted stellar December quarter earnings. The FMCG firm reported 43.78 percent increase in standalone net profit at Rs 41.84 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2014. It had reported net profit of Rs 29.10 crore in the October-December quarter of 2013-14 fiscal, the company said in a BSE filing. Bajaj Corp's net sales in third quarter of 2014-15 stood at Rs 205.40 crore, up 29.83 per cent as against Rs 158.20 crore in the year-ago period.

9:30 am Vibrant Gujarat: Large conglomerates from India and abroad today announced huge investment and job creation plans at the two-day Vibrant Gujarat Summit, which kicked off this morning in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leaders from across the world.

Kumar Mangalam Birla of Aditya Birla Group announced investment plans for Rs 20,000 crore in the state. Among foreign companies, Australian mining giant Rio Tinto's CEO Sam Walsh said the group would add 30,000 jobs in diamond cutting industry in Gujarat, adding that Australia is looking forward to the state as a promising business destination. Vibrant Gujarat Summit (VGS) is a biennial global business summit, being held since 2003, when Modi was Chief Minister of the state, and has always seen huge investment commitments running into billions of dollars being announced by business leaders from India and abroad.

The market has opened flat on Monday. The Sensex is up 13.73 points at 27472.11 and the Nifty is up 6.85 points at 8291.35. About 394 shares have advanced, 130 shares declined, and 313 shares are unchanged.

NTPC, Infosys, M&M, Tata Power and Hindalco are top gainers in the Sensex.

The Indian rupee gained in the opening trade. It has rose by 17 paise at 62.15 per dollar against 62.32 Friday.

The dollar nurses losses, having suffered a setback after an unexpected fall in US wages, while yen gains. Agam Gupta of Standard Chartered said, "We expect USD-INR to see a range of 61.95-62.25/dollar today. Exporters and FIIs will be looking to sell USD on any upticks. The India CPI data after market will be keenly watched for further cues."

In key macro data to watch today, December CPI is seen slightly higher at 5.2 percent due to base effect. However, core CPI is seen around 5.3 percent. November IIP is expected to grow 2.2 percent due to pick in manufacturing and higher working days.

US stocks dropped on Friday, pulling benchmarks back into the red as the December jobs report topped expectations but hourly earnings declined.

In commodities, oil prices remain under pressure having hit their lowest since April 2009. Brent crude currently trades below USD 50 per barrel while Nymex slips to USD 47 per barrel. From precious metals space, gold inches higher to USD 1220 an ounce as dollar declines and as uncertainty in Greece boosted demand for assets seen as safe.