Nifty ends above 8800, Sensex flat; TCS, ICICI, Adani gainers

3:30 pm Market closing: The market ended with minor gains but the Nifty managed to close above 8800. The 50-share index was up 28.55 points or 0.3 percent at 8808.40 and the Sensex was up 35.47 points or 0.1 percent at 28634.50. About 1485 shares have advanced, 1255 shares declined, and 230 shares are unchanged.

TCS, ICICI Bank, Adani Ports, ONGC and Asian Paints top gainers in the Sensex while Maruti, Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank are losers in the Sensex.

3:10 pm Rating: State-owned Indian Oil Corporation's (IOC) Rs 1.8 lakh-crore capital investment plan over the next six years will not affect the company's credit profile, Fitch Ratings said today.

"The large investment plans announced by IOC are in line with the agency's expectations that are incorporated in the assessment of its standalone credit profile of 'BB+'. Fitch equalises IOC's rating with that of its largest shareholder, the state of India, due to their strong operational and strategic linkages," it said in a statement here.

IOC, on September 15, had said its capex would be Rs 1.7-1.8 lakh crore over the next six years, including around Rs 15,000 crore in the current fiscal and around Rs 25,000 crore each in 2017-18 and 2018-19.

2:58 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks remained marginally higher amid volatility. The Sensex was up 68.94 points at 28667.97 and the Nifty up 38.90 points at 8818.75.

About 1483 shares advanced against 1200 declining shares on the BSE.

2:40 pm Acquisition: Heritage Foods is in discussions with Future Group for a possible sale of its retail business, reports CNBC-TV18. While Heritage has confirmed they are in talks with Future for a possible business collaboration, it has said all discussions are currently exploratory in nature.

Heritage Foods has an array of businesses like dairy, retail and renewable energy. Under its retail business, the company operates nearly 110 grocery stores majorly in Southern India.

Although the retail business contributes roughly 25-30 percent to total revenue of Heritage, it has been loss-making at the earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) level. Hiving off this business will, therefore, prove beneficial for the company.

2:20 pm Stake sale: State-owned term lender IFCI will sell its entire stake in Assets Care and Reconstruction Enterprise Limited (ACRE) to Axis Bank for Rs 22.72 crore.

"IFCI has signed a share purchase agreement with Axis Bank for divesting its entire stake in ACRE (13.67 per cent)...resulting in total cash consideration of Rs 22.72 crore," the company said in a BSE filing.

In January this year, IFCI had informed about its decision for disinvestment of entire stake of the company in ACRE.

ACRE helps banks and financial institutions clean up their books through acquisition of non-performing financial assets.

2:00 pm Market Check
Equity benchmarks continued to consolidate with the Nifty trading in a 25-point range despite global rally on rising oil prices.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 44.26 points at 28643.29 and the Nifty up 28.65 points at 8808.50 while the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices continued to gain 0.6 percent each.

About 1415 shares advanced against 1209 declining shares on the BSE.

European stocks were higher as investors cheered a rally in oil markets and awaited the start of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting this week. France's CAC and Britain's FTSE climbed over a percent.

Oil prices rose over 1 percent, after Venezuela said OPEC and non-OPEC producers were close to reaching an output stabilising deal and as clashes in Libya raised concerns that efforts to restart crude exports could be disrupted. Brent crude futures were at USD 46.40 per barrel, up 1.3 percent, from their previous settlement. US crude was up 1.63 percent, at USD 43.73 a barrel.

3:30 pm Market closing: The market ended with minor gains but the Nifty managed to close above 8800. The 50-share index was up 28.55 points or 0.3 percent at 8808.40 and the Sensex was up 35.47 points or 0.1 percent at 28634.50. About 1485 shares have advanced, 1255 shares declined, and 230 shares are unchanged.

TCS, ICICI Bank, Adani Ports, ONGC and Asian Paints top gainers in the Sensex while Maruti, Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank are losers in the Sensex.

3:10 pm Rating: State-owned Indian Oil Corporation's (IOC) Rs 1.8 lakh-crore capital investment plan over the next six years will not affect the company's credit profile, Fitch Ratings said today.

"The large investment plans announced by IOC are in line with the agency's expectations that are incorporated in the assessment of its standalone credit profile of 'BB+'. Fitch equalises IOC's rating with that of its largest

shareholder, the state of India, due to their strong operational and strategic linkages," it said in a statement here.

IOC, on September 15, had said its capex would be Rs 1.7-1.8 lakh crore over the next six years, including around Rs 15,000 crore in the current fiscal and around Rs 25,000 crore each in 2017-18 and 2018-19.

2:58 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks remained marginally higher amid volatility. The Sensex was up 68.94 points at 28667.97 and the Nifty up 38.90 points at 8818.75.

About 1483 shares advanced against 1200 declining shares on the BSE.

2:40 pm Acquisition: Heritage Foods is in discussions with Future Group for a possible sale of its retail business, reports CNBC-TV18. While Heritage has confirmed they are in talks with Future for a possible business collaboration, it has said all discussions are currently exploratory in nature.

Heritage Foods has an array of businesses like dairy, retail and renewable energy. Under its retail business, the company operates nearly 110 grocery stores majorly in Southern India.

Although the retail business contributes roughly 25-30 percent to total revenue of Heritage, it has been loss-making at the earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) level. Hiving off this business will, therefore, prove beneficial for the company.

2:20 pm Stake sale: State-owned term lender IFCI will sell its entire stake in Assets Care and Reconstruction Enterprise Limited (ACRE) to Axis Bank for Rs 22.72 crore.

"IFCI has signed a share purchase agreement with Axis Bank for divesting its entire stake in ACRE (13.67 per cent)...resulting in total cash consideration of Rs 22.72 crore," the company said in a BSE filing.

In January this year, IFCI had informed about its decision for disinvestment of entire stake of the company in ACRE.

ACRE helps banks and financial institutions clean up their books through acquisition of non-performing financial assets.

2:00 pm Market Check
Equity benchmarks continued to consolidate with the Nifty trading in a 25-point range despite global rally on rising oil prices.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 44.26 points at 28643.29 and the Nifty up 28.65 points at 8808.50 while the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices continued to gain 0.6 percent each.

About 1415 shares advanced against 1209 declining shares on the BSE.

European stocks were higher as investors cheered a rally in oil markets and awaited the start of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting this week. France's CAC and Britain's FTSE climbed over a percent.

Oil prices rose over 1 percent, after Venezuela said OPEC and non-OPEC producers were close to reaching an output stabilising deal and as clashes in Libya raised concerns that efforts to restart crude exports could be

disrupted. Brent crude futures were at USD 46.40 per barrel, up 1.3 percent, from their previous settlement. US crude was up 1.63 percent, at USD 43.73 a barrel.

1:50 pm Deal: State-owned term lender IFCI will sell its entire stake in Assets Care and Reconstruction Enterprise Limited (ACRE) to Axis Bank for Rs 22.72 crore.

"IFCI has signed a share purchase agreement with Axis Bank for divesting its entire stake in ACRE (13.67 per cent)...resulting in total cash consideration of Rs 22.72 crore," the company said in a BSE filing.

In January this year, IFCI had informed about its decision for disinvestment of entire stake of the company in ACRE.

1:30 pm Merger contours: Max Life-HDFC Life Merger involves a non-compete fee of Rs 850 crore which accoding to a caveat will be paid to Max Group promoters by the merged entity. The minority shareholders of the company

are expected to vote on this transaction. Promoters of Max Life and Max Financial Services led are negotiating a 'non-compete fee' from HDFC Life as a condition for the proposed merger between the two sides. Max Life promoters will hold 6.5 percent stake in the merged entity. Proxy advisory firm Institutional Investor Advisory Services (IiAS) is recommending public shareholders of Max Financial Services to vote against the proposal.

The market is still holding gains as the Sensex is up 67.44 points or 0.2 percent at 28666.47. The Nifty up 31.50 points or 0.4 percent at 8811.35. About 1419 shares have advanced, 1158 shares declined, and 196 shares are unchanged.

TCS, ONGC, ICICI Bank, ONGC, Adani Ports and Asian Paints are top gainers while Maruti, Bajaj Auto, ITC and HDFC Bank are losers in the Sensex.

The rupee advanced further from initial gains and was trading higher by 10 paise at 66.87 against the American currency in late morning deals on sustained bouts of dollar selling from banks and exporters amidst firm domestic equities.

Oil prices edged up as OPEC member Venezuela indicated a deal to limit output is close while fighting in Libya stopped it kickstarting exports, but gains were limited by ongoing worries about a supply glut.

12:55 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks continued to trade higher with the Sensex rising 70.16 points to 28669.19 and the Nifty up 29.35 points at 8809.20.

About 1416 shares advanced against 1112 declining shares on the BSE.

12:40 pm Europe opens: European stocks opened higher as global markets await the start of tomorrow's meeting of the Federal Reserve's policymaking committee.

The US Federal Reserve starts a two-day meeting on Tuesday but the chances of a rate hike at this meeting are slim following a deluge of disappointing US data.

Markets in Asia traded mostly higher, with sentiment likely driven by a boost in oil prices while traders were also keeping an eye on crucial monetary policy decisions due from the US and Japan this week (the Bank of Japan also starts a two-day meeting on Tuesday).

12:20 pm Downgrade: Credit Suisse has downgraded Cadila Healthcare to neutral as the stock is already factoring in clearance of the Moraiya facility and any delay could impact high recovery assumed in FY18. It has cut multiple for the US generic business as it expects further impact to generics from more channel consolidation.

Ex-US business for Cadila has been weak for the past three years (sub 10 percent sales CAGR) and therefore, the burden of growth rests heavily on Moraiya clearance, the brokerage house says. However, the target price remained unchanged at Rs 405 per share.

12:00 pm Market Check
Equity benchmarks remained marginally higher in noon trade with the Nifty holding 8800 level, supported by technology, oil and select financials.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 86.94 points at 28685.97 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 35.75 points at 8815.60.

The broader markets continued to outperform with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising more than half a percent as about 1427 shares advanced against 1021 declining shares on the exchange.

TCS and Infosys rebounded after initial fall. TCS was the top gainer with 2 percent upside while Infosys gained 0.5 percent despite sources told CNBC-TV18 that there is a high possibility of Infosys cutting FY17 revenue growth guidance.

ICICI Bank continued to gain 1 percent after its subsidiary ICICI Prudential IPO opened for subscription while SBI rose 1 percent as sources said chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya may get extension for 1 year.

Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, HDFC, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Hero Motocorp and Sun Pharma were losers.

11:55 am Interview: Good monsoon this year has boosted confidence of everyone. Rajesh Jejurikar, Chief Executive- Tractor and Farm Mechanisation at Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) is confident that industry will grow at 15 percent in FY17 versus 10 percent projected earlier.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18's Sonia Shenoy, he said, "When we gave the first guidance and that time we were talking about 10 percent, we didn't know what exactly was going to happen with the rains. As we have seen the monsoon set in and do well with a good spread across the country, we have confidence that the industry should grow at 15 percent right now".

Jejurikar also expects M&M to do better than the industry, "We definitely won't grow at a rate lesser than the industry growth. Let us hope that we do better than the industry", he further mentioned.

11:45 am Exclusive: Sponge iron prices have increased by nearly 8 percent in the last one week. The prices have risen to Rs 13,000 per tonne from Rs 11,350 per tonne at the same time last quarter.

CNBC-TV18 reports that some lack of rake availability could have also moved up the prices.

The steel prices, too, have risen, but only by 2-3 percent.

The companies using sponge iron steel will not only benefit from this rise in realisation, but also from using thermal coal. The alternative to thermal coal is cocaine coal, prices of which have doubled quarter-on-quarter.

11:30 am FII view: With inflation fairly under control Sanjay Dutt, Director of Quantum Securities, believes the Reserve Bank of India would consider a rate cut of 25 basis points as early as October to boost growth. The Indian banking landscape has changed a lot but the public banking space still remains a good bet, Dutt says in an interview to CNBC-TV18, adding, while he is positive on SBI, there are some other stocks which have better earnings

trajectory and faster clean-up in balance sheets. Dutt has a positive view on Infosys and believes most of the negatives are priced in. He prefers companies like Escorts which have some exposure towards construction equipment.

The market is gradually picking strenght with pharma, IT, oil and gas stocks lending support. The Sensex is up 109.23 points or 0.4 percent at 28708.26 and the Nifty is up 40.20 points or 0.5 percent at 8820.05. About 1363 shares have advanced, 870 shares declined, and 144 shares are unchanged.

TCS, Adani Ports, ICICI Bank, M&M and Asian Paints are top gainers while Maruti, Bajaj Auto, HDFC, Axis Bank and Hero are losers in the Sensex.

Oil prices edged up in today as OPEC member Venezuela indicated a deal to limit output is close while fighting in Libya stopped it kickstarting exports, but gains were limited by ongoing worries about a supply glut.

Key crude states are due to meet in Algeria next week to discuss the global supply crisis and overproduction that has hammered prices for two years.

10:45 am Expectations on BoJ: The Bank of Japan could shift negative interest rates to the primary focus of its monetary policy on Wednesday, heightening market disquiet over what any move away from quantitative easing reveals about the waning firepower of global central banks.

With three years of massive money printing failing to push up inflation, the BOJ is expected to move away from shock therapy and towards a protracted battle against deflation, say sources familiar with its thinking.

The BOJ's "quantitative and qualitative easing" (QQE) has been a signature policy of Governor Haruhiko Kuroda since 2013 that aimed to shock the economy out of stagnation and change households' deflationary mindsets.

While the central bank is unlikely to ditch QQE completely, altering its emphasis would herald an end to the "shock and awe" approach that made Kuroda's policies unique compared with the gradualist approach preferred by his predecessors.

10:35 am Stake sale: Max Financial Services shares declined over 3 percent intraday after a media report indicated that Goldman Sachs is looking to sell its stake in the company.

"A private equity fund managed by Goldman Sachs is looking to sell its 15 percent stake in Max Financial in a Rs 2,400 crore deal expected through secondary market trades, generating a nearly threefold return in dollar terms on

a seven-year-old investment for the Wall Street bank," a media report said quoting unnamed sources.

As of June 2016, Goldman Sachs held 15.46 percent stake in the company through two entities - subsidiary Xenok (9.02 percent) and Mauritius based GS Mace Holdings (6.44 percent).

Other major foreign shareholders are Moneyline Portfolio Investments (9.95 percent stake) and International Finance Corporation (3.09 percent).

10:20 am Buzzing: Share price of Brigade Enterprises advanced 3.3 percent intraday as its subsidiary forms joint venture with Cornerstone Bay East Developers to develop 47 acres in Bangalore.

The company's wholly owned subsidiary Mysore Projects has entered in to a joint development agreement with Cornerstone Bay East Developers to develop 47 acres at Varthur and Gunjur, Off Whitefield region, Bangalore which will have a developable area of around 5 million square feet.

10:00 am Market Check
Equity benchmarks were marginally higher with the Nifty holding 8800 level while the broader markets outperformed, tracking positive Asian cues.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 58.31 points at 28657.34 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 27.65 points to 8807.50. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices climbed over half a percent on positive market breadth.

About two shares advanced for every share declining on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Adrian Mowat of JP Morgan says he is bullish on emerging markets (EMs) with an 2016-end MSCI EM target of 1050.

He is neutral on India within EM and Asia Pacific ex-Japan portfolios. Assuming India performs in-line with EMs, the Nifty target is 10,000, he says.

ICICI Bank, Asian Paints, TCS, HUL, M&M and ONGC gained a percent each while HDFC, Infosys, Maruti, Axis Bank, ITC and HDFC Bank were under pressure.

9:55 am Guidance: Infosys may slash its revenue guidance for the second time this fiscal, stung by "risks" like challenges in the banking and financial services sector and cancellation of projects.

However, in the short term, the Bengaluru-based company remains confident of a "better" second quarter compared to the April-June, 2016 period. "We see that our Q2 growth is going to be higher than Q1 growth. But we do see risks that would get us toward territory of downward revision of guidance because the atmosphere during the course of Q2 has worsened compared to what we saw in the beginning of Q2, you see the example of RBS," Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka said at the JP Morgan India Investor Summit.

9:45 am Buzzing: ICICI Bank shares gained a percent intraday Monday as the Rs 6,057-crore IPO of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance opened for subscription with a price band of Rs 300-334 per share today.

The country's largest private sector lender held 67.52 percent stake and Prudential Corporation Holdings 25.83 percent stake in the insurance company. Azim Premji also has 4 percent stake and Temasek owns 2 percent in the company.

It is an offer for sale by ICICI Bank. Hence, its shareholding in the insurance company may reduce to around 55 percent from current after the issue.

9:30 am FII view: Mixo Das of Nomura says all eyes are on the September 21 Federal Reserve/Bank of Japan meetings.

He thinks chances of a 2016 Fed rate hike have fallen below 50 percent. With many risk events ahead and market valuations still close to 5-year highs, he says he is not keen to be dip buyers here.

Das maintains a neutral stance on Asian equities. Within that, he switched China position to overweight and Malaysia to neutral.

The market has opened flat with banks doing well. The Sensex is up 54.51 points or 0.2 percent at 28653.54, and the Nifty up 24.20 points or 0.3 percent at 8804.05.

About 765 shares have advanced, 228 shares declined, and 47 shares are unchanged.

Infosys is down on guidance downgrade scare. Maruti, Lupin, TCS and Bharti are losers.

ICICI Bank, SBI, Tata Motors, GAIL and Bajaj Auto are top gainers in the Sensex.

The Indian rupee opened marginally higher by 3 paise at 66.95 per dollar on Monday versus 66.98 Friday.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity said, "A weak dollar versus peers and positive cues from global equity market will help the rupee appreciate today. The trading range for the day is seen between 66.80-67/dollar."

The US dollar hit a more than two-week high against a basket of major currencies on Friday after US inflation data boosted bets on a faster pace of Federal Reserve interest rate hikes, while uncertainty ahead of a Bank of Japan meeting limited the dollar's gains against the yen.

Caution gripped Asian shares ahead of central bank meetings in the United States and Japan this week, while oil prices bounced on talk of an OPEC deal on output and reports of fighting around Libyan oil ports.

Investors are counting down to the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee meeting September 20-21, with chair Janet Yellen holding a news conference on Wednesday.