Nifty ends above 8650, RBI policy eyed; pharma, realty lead

03:30pm Market Closing: The market saw major buying interest in last couple of hours of trade today. The Sensex rallied 244.32 points or 0.86 percent to 28504.46 and the Nifty climbed 73.65 points or 0.86 percent to 8659.90.

The broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices surging more than 1 percent. About 1818 shares have advanced, 917 shares declined, and 169 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

Pharma, realty, FMCG and capital goods stocks led the rally while private banking & financials trimmed losses.

03:10pm BHEL Results: State-run power equipment maker Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) disappointed street with its provisional numbers for the financial year 2014-15. According to its tentative financial results (flash results) net profit fell 62 percent to Rs 1,314 crore during the year compared to Rs 3,461 crore in previous year.

Profit before tax too dropped 62 percent to Rs 1,906 crore during the same period. Total turnover for FY15 stood at Rs 30,806 crore, down 23.6 percent compared to Rs 40,338 crore in FY14.

Flash order inflow during the year was Rs 30,814 crore, a growth of 10 percent compared to Rs 28,007 crore in previous year.

02:50pm Market Update: The Sensex climbed 210.88 points to 28471.02 and the Nifty surged 66.45 points to 8652.70. About 1710 shares have advanced, 925 shares declined, and 164 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

02:45pm L&T in News: Larsen & Toubro (L&T) said its construction arm has bagged orders worth Rs 5,492 crore across various segments in March.

In the building and factories segment, L&T Construction has won projects, including a major order for construction of a mix use development complex in Mumbai, it said. "The scope involves civil, structural, architectural, finishes, mechanical, electrical and plumbing works," it said.

In the power transmission and distribution business it has bagged orders in both the domestic and international markets, including add-ons, it said.

"New orders and variations have been won from various reputed customers in the Middle East which includes engineering, procurement, and construction of 200 kv and 132 kv substations and power up-gradation works at certain facilities," the company said.

02:30pm RBI Policy expectations: JP Morgan economist Sajjid Z Chinoy expects the Reserve Bank of India to keep benchmark interest rates unchanged at Tuesday's monetary policy review.

''We expect RBI to stay on hold at upcoming policy review as CPI inflation rises and core-core inflation momentum accelerates,'' says the JP Morgan note to clients.

Chinoy does expect the RBI to cut the cash reserve ratio (CRR) either but sees the central bank continuing with its relaxation of statutory liquidity ratio norms.

''We expect more easing later in the year, anticipating inflation will remain benign. Collapse of the current account deficit, and strong capital inflows allow RBI to focus on domestic dynamics,'' says the JP Morgan note.

02:00pm Market Check
The market gained strength in afternoon trade with the Sensex rising more than 150 points led by pharma, FMCG, capital goods and recovery in select banks stocks.

The Sensex jumped 158.86 points to 28419 and the Nifty climbed 47.10 points to 8633.35. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 0.9 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.

About 1669 shares have advanced, 937 shares declined, and 173 shares are unchanged on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Sun Pharma extended rally, up 6 percent on the day of ex-date for merger of Ranbaxy with the company and on settlement of litigation for generic Angiomax with The Medicines Company, US.

Shares of ITC, Tata Motors, ONGC, Dr Reddy's Labs, Mahindra & Mahindra, HUL, Cipla, NTPC, GAIL and Hindalco rallied 2-3 percent.

01:40pm Market Expert: Fourth quarter earnings is likely to fall short of market expectations, feels Sanjeev Prasad, Senior Executive Director & Co Head (Strategy), Kotak Institutional Equities.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Prasad sees risks to earning s estimates in the auto, metal, banking, energy and capital good sectors.

He expects aggregate March quarter net profits of Sensex companies to grow 6.3 percent year-on-year. Kotak Securities has already trimmed estimates for companies in the metals and mining sectors, says Prasad.

Prasad says a pick up in investment cycle is still 3-4 quarters away, and making matters difficult for investors is that quality stocks are extremely expensive at current prices.

01:25pm NTPC in Focus: State-run NTPC is looking at bringing its coal import bill to 'zero' in the next five years and will rely on the fossil fuel made available by Coal India and the company's own mines. The power major is one of the country's largest consumers of coal.

"Our aim is to have zero import of coal, and manage with the coal from Coal India sources or our own mines," NTPC CMD Arup Roy Choudhury told PTI.

When asked about the timeframe in which the PSU plans to have nil coal imports, Choudhury said, "You can say in the next five years."

NTPC ventured into coal mining as part of its backward integration process for fuel security. The company has been allotted 10 coal blocks including Chatti-Bariatu, Chatti-Bariatu (South) and Kerandari in Jharkhand, Dulanga in Odisha and Talaipalli in Chhattisgarh.

Its another block -- Pakri-Barwadih -- in Jharkhand is likely to commence coal production by the end of this calender year and the remaining mines subsequently.

01:00pm Market Check
The market remained rangebound in afternoon trade with the Nifty hovering around 8600 level. Healthcare and FMCG stocks gained strength while banking & financials stocks continued to see selling pressure.

The Sensex climbed 72.67 points to 28332.81 and the Nifty rose 20.65 points to 8606.90. About 1553 shares have advanced, 933 shares declined, and 169 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

Geometric shares rallied 4 percent as sources told CNBC-TV18 that private equity player General Atlantic is looking to pick up the Godrej Group's 38.4 percent controlling interest in the IT company.

Sun TV lost over 9 10 percent amid heavy volumes after the Enforcement Directorate issued an order to attach properties and assets worth Rs 742 crore belonging to Kalanithi and Dayanidhi Maran.

12:50pm Debt markets for foreign investors: India needs to proceed cautiously in fully opening up its debt markets to foreign investors, given the need to first tackle issues such as the large government borrowing and capital controls, executive director G Padmanabhan said in a speech last week.

Padmanabhan also raised concerns over the unhedged foreign currency exposure by Indian borrowers in offshore debt, saying it raised "systemic concerns".

The executive director, whose last day at the RBI is at the end of May, spoke at an Indian foreign exchange dealers' association meeting on Friday. The speech was uploaded on Monday.

Padmanabhan cited "structural frictions" in India's bond and currency markets, including large government borrowings, as reasons that justified proceeding "in a non-disruptive manner" on removing debt limits for foreign investors.

Foreign investors can now buy up to USD 30 billion of government bonds and USD 50 billion of corporate bonds.

12:30pm FII View: FY16 will be a tough year for the Indian market as valuations have moved ahead of the country's growth reality, said Bhanu Baweja, Head - Research & EM strategy, UBS.

He, however, does not see Indian market collapsing as it is ''largely driven by foreign institutional investors (FIIs)'', which places it relatively in a better position than other emerging markets.

Baweja expects fund flows to continue to shift from emerging markets and feels the EMs may underperform developing markets in the coming months. He also expects India to get impacted when US Fed hikes rates.

12:00pm Market Check
The market is directionless in noon trade. The Nifty traded above the 8550 mark led by pharma, auto and FMCG stocks while banking & financials and technology stocks remained under pressure.

The Sensex slipped 11.18 points to 28248.96 and the Nifty declined 2.50 points to 8583.75. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices outperformed benchmarks, up 0.6-0.8 percent.

About 1484 shares have advanced, 888 shares declined, and 169 shares are unchanged on the BSE.
 
Auto sales numbers for March especially for 2-wheelers were subdued. Bajaj Auto lost a percent after posting a decline of 18 percent in total sales with exports down 16 percent. Rajiv Bajaj told CNBC-TV18 that March was a difficult month for exports with Egypt being a big challenge. TVS Motor too lost 7 percent as sales came in below expectations.

NTPC traded with modest gains of 0.7 percent. Arup Roy Choudhury of NTPC told CNBC-TV18 that they have received a "huge response" for its inorganic growth plans and are looking to deploy over Rs 5,000 crore towards acquiring power plants.

Sun TV tanked more than 10 percent amid heavy volumes after the Enforcement Directorate issued an order to attach properties and assets worth Rs 742 crore belonging to Kalanithi and Dayanidhi Maran.

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan is unlikley to cut repo rates or CRR, says an exclusive CNBC-TV18 poll. Experts say governor Rajan is more likely to cut the SLR. The market will, however, watch for his inflation expectations.

11:55am KEC bags orders: KEC International bagged orders worth Rs 1,565 crore in its transmission & distribution and cables businesses.

In transmission & distribution businesses, the infrastructure EPC major has secured orders worth Rs 1,185 crore in India, said the company in its filing to the exchange.

It also secured orders worth Rs 251 crore for construction of transmission lines and supply of transmission towers in Bangladesh, Oman and Malaysia while its US subsidiary SAE Towers bagged Rs 22 crore order for supply of lattice towers, monopoles and hardware from the US and Brazil.

In the cable business, the company has received orders of Rs 107 crore for the supply of power and telecom cables.

"With these orders, our year-end order book has strengthened considerably especially in the transmission & distribution business," said Vimal Kejriwal, MD & CEO.

11:25am PMI eases: Growth in India's pivotal services industry lost some momentum in March as input prices rose at the fastest pace in nearly a year, a business survey showed on Monday.

The HSBC Services Purchasing Managers' Index eased to 53.0 in March from February's eight-month high of 53.9. A reading above 50 indicates growth, and March was the 11th straight month of expansion.

"India's service sector ended the first three months of 2015 with a strong performance, providing signals that much of the weakness seen in 2014 has been left behind," said Pollyanna De Lima, economist at Markit.

"Despite softening slightly since the prior month, growth of activity and new business in the country's dominant sector was robust," she said.

The input prices sub-index jumped to a nine-month high of 54.3 from February's 51.2 but as firms absorbed most of the added cost burden, they built up a bigger backlog of outstanding work.

11:00am: Market Expert
The market remained lacklustre but the broader markets continued their strong performance. The Sensex rose 18.67 points to 28278.81 and the Nifty advanced 3.10 points to 8589.35.

The BSE Midcap index gained 0.7 percent and Smallcap rallied over a percent. More than two shares advanced for every share declining on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The market scenario is likely to turn more benign over the next few months, said Sandip Sabharwal of asksandipsabharwal.com. ''Three months ago we were looking at several global concerns like the possibility of an early rate hike by the US Federal Reserve, Greek Crisis which would become uncontrollable and several others. However, last week we saw some positive developments, which would play out over the next few months,'' he said.

He feels the Iran situation is very positive from India's perspective - both in terms of keeping crude prices down and opening up of the export market for India. For the immediate short term, Sabharwal sees the RBI policy slated Tuesday to play an important role.

10:20am Adlabs lists: Adlabs Entertainment has opened lower by 10 percent at Rs 162.20 against issue price of Rs 180 apiece today, but immediately it showed some recovery from day's low of Rs 155.20.

The stock lost 5 percent to Rs 171 on the National Stock Exchange at 10:20 hours IST and it traded with volumes of 13,84,808 shares.

The public issue of Adlabs Entertainment, which subscribed 1.1 times, opened for subscription during March 10-17. The company raised nearly Rs 376 crore including Rs 60 crore anchor investment.

Adlabs, promoted by Manmohan Shetty (the former promoter of Adlabs Films) and Thrill Park, will utilise the net proceeds (fresh issue money) for partial repayment or pre-payment of the consortium loan and general corporate purposes. Consortium loan stood at Rs 1,100 crore and the company will use Rs 330 crore for repayment of this loan.

10:00am Market Check
Equity benchmarks continued to consolidate in morning trade after seeing strong uptrend last week. Banking & financials and technology stocks saw profit booking while pharma, auto and FMCG stocks gained.

The Sensex fell 21.52 points to 28238.62 and the Nifty declined 7.25 points to 8579. However, the broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.5 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively.

About 1175 shares have advanced, 610 shares declined, and 125 shares are unchanged on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

HDFC topped the selling list, down 2 percent followed by HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, SBI and Tata Steel with 0.5-1 percent. Technology stocks like TCS and Infosys declined 0.2 percent ahead of fourth quarter earnings next week.

Wipro shed 1.3 percent after its chief business officer Satishchandra Doreswamy quit. Tata Power and BHEL too were down more than a percent.

However, Sun Pharma rallied 3.2 percent as it settled litigation for generic Angiomax with The Medicines Company, US. Tata Motors also gained 1.8 percent as the stock went ex-rights today. Shares of Mahindra & Mahindra, ONGC, Dr Reddy's Labs, Bharti Airtel, Cipla and Hindalco climbed 1-2 percent.

09:40am Tax Notice: In the biggest-ever tax demand slapped on them, nearly 100 foreign funds have been asked to cough up an estimated USD 5-6 billion for 'untaxed gains' made by them in the Indian markets over the past years.

The number of affected investors can rise substantially as assessments are still in progress and notices could be served in many more cases, taking the overall tax demand from them to well over USD 10 billion, sources said.

Spooked by these "retrospective" notices and assessment orders, the foreign investors have begun lobbying intensely with the policy makers and regulators, while stating that the move goes against the government's stated position of providing a 'non-adversarial and stable tax regime'.

The FIIs have, however, decided to challenge the tax demands, stating that MAT cannot be levied on FIIs or FPIs as they do not earn any 'business income' in India and their income is defined as 'capital gains' under the I-T Act.

09:15am Market Check
After a long weekend, the market opened on a positive note on Monday. The Sensex rose 101.77 points to 28361.91 and the Nifty advanced 29.55 points to 8615.80. About 519 shares have advanced, 118 shares declined, and 93 shares are unchanged on the BSE.
 
Sun Pharma climbed 2 percent as it settled litigation for generic Angiomax with The Medicines Company, US. Tata Motors also rallied 2 percent as the stock went ex-rights today.

ONGC, Dr Reddy's Labs, Cipla and NTPC were other prominent gainers, up over 1 percent whereas banking & financials and technology stocks were under pressure on profit booking.

The Indian rupee gained by 40 paise in the early trade on Monday. It has opened at 62.10 per dollar against 62.50 Tuesday.

Agam Gupta of Standard Chartered said, "''We expect demand from the local government banks to come in at 62/dollar and see a range of 61.90-62.40/dollar for the day.''

''Uptick towards 62.30/dollar will see exporter selling. The RBI monetary policy tomorrow will be keenly awaited and will give further direction to the markets," he added.

The dollar dropped, after a dismal US jobs report pushed up US treasury yields as investors pared bets the Federal Reserve would hike interest rates anytime soon.