Nifty ends at 7900, Sensex surges; M&M, Axis, HUL losers

3:30 pm Market closing: The market ended with gains as the Sensex was up 193.20 points or 0.7 percent at 25790.22, and the Nifty ended up 51.55 points or 0.7 percent at 7900.40. About 1567 shares have advanced, 1004 shares declined, and 179 shares are unchanged.

ICICI Bank, Dr Reddy's Labs, Asian Paints, SBI and TCS were gainers while M&M, Axis Bank, HUL, Maruti and L&T were losers in the Sensex.

3:00 pm Rate cut: Public sector Indian Bank has reduced the interest rates on home and vehicle loans by up to 0.20 percent with immediate effect.

As per the revised rate of interest, home loans for up to Rs 75 lakh, the interest rates has been revised from 9.65 percent to 9.55 percent while for loans above Rs 75 lakh it has been reduced to 9.75 percent from 9.90 percent.

For loans towards purchase of new cars, the interest rates were cut to 9.95 percent from 10.15 percent, the Chennai-based bank said in a statement.

2:45 Self regulation: A day after the Supreme Court stuck down Trai's regulation to compensate consumers for call drops, Bharti Airtel announced to voluntary implement a more stringent benchmark of 1.5 percent for call drops.

The country's top operator will contribute towards rural education Rs 1 lakh for every 0.01 percent increase in call drop rate beyond 1.5 percent every month in each circle of operation, subject to a maximum of Rs 100 crore per annum.

Airtel said it will implement 25 percent more stringent mobile call drop benchmark of 1.5 percent versus 2 percent prescribed by the regulator Trai.

2:30 pm Interview: As banks stocks surged on the back of the passage of Insolvency Bill, SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya welcomed the law pertaining to bankruptcy proceedings. She, however, cautioned about the challenges involved in implementation of the law. "Bankruptcy law is new to India and challenges of execution and implementation remain. If it is implemented well, FY17 will be a better year, maybe not in the first two quarters, but certainly going ahead,"she said. Lauding the law's framework, she said that it needs setting up of right infrastructure, sufficient people and the right technology. The law will boost ease of doing business in India and economic growth, she added.

The market is still firm in green but the Nifty is below the 7900 mark. The Sensex is up 123.90 points or 0.5 percent at 25720.92 and the Nifty is up 34.15 points or 0.4 percent at 7883. About 1439 shares have advanced, 994 shares declined, and 157 shares are unchanged.

Dr Reddy's Labs, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Asian Paints and SBI are top gainers while HUL, M&M, Axis bank, Maruti Suzuki and HDFC are major losers in the Sensex.

Dr Reddy's Lab fourth quarter earnings were hurt by one-time Venezuela write-off. The drug major's net profit fell 86 percent at Rs 74.6 crore in January-March quarter from Rs 518.9 crore. Its total income also slipped to Rs 3756.2 crore against Rs 3870.4 crore in year-ago period. According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, net profit of Dr Reddy's Lab was expected to jump 5.7 percent at Rs 548.6 crore in Q4FY16 and a revenue growth at 0.7 percent to Rs 3896 crore year-on-year.

1:50 pm RBI views: In a strong disapproval of sector- specific sops, Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan has said "encouraging" any industry may be the surest way of killing it and policymakers should refrain from dictating the course of a business.

He also disagreed with the frequent demand made by industry bodies to the authorities to "do something", such as lowering the value of rupee to boost merchandise exports and said the currency valuation might not be necessarily slowing down India's trade volumes.

Rajan, known for being vocal on various macroeconomic issues, further said in a Project Syndicate article that advanced economies have been imposing risks on emerging market countries like India by pursuing aggressive monetary policies to stimulate demand.

1:30 pm Result: Dr Reddy's Lab fourth quarter earnings were hurt by one-time Venezuela write-off. The drug major's net profit fell 86 percent at Rs 74.6 crore in January-March quarter from Rs 518.9 crore. Its total income also slipped to Rs 3756.2 crore against Rs 3870.4 crore in year-ago period.

According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, net profit of Dr Reddy's Lab was expected to jump 5.7 percent at Rs 548.6 crore in Q4FY16 and a revenue growth at 0.7 percent to Rs 3896 crore year-on-year.

The Sensex is up 96.05 points or 0.4 percent at 25693.07, and the Nifty is up 25.50 points or 0.3 percent at 7874.35. About 1438 shares have advanced, 916 shares declined, and 137 shares are unchanged.

ICICI Bank, Asian Paints, Tata Motors, TCS and Dr Reddy's Labs are top gainers while HUL, Maruti, Tata Steel, ITC and L&T are losers in the Sensex.

Amid a weakening global trend, gold futures fell Rs 53 to Rs 29,882 per ten grams today as participants trimmed their positions.

Marketmen said the fall in gold futures was mostly in tune with a weak trend overseas and profit-booking by speculators at current levels.

Meanwhile, gold prices in global market retreated as much as 0.41 percent to USD 1,271.50 an ounce in Singapore today.

12:45 pm Mining and energy group Vedanta Resources Plc said its full-year core profit fell 37.5 percent, weighed by the slump in the prices of commodities.

The company said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell to USD 2.34 billion for the year ended March 31 from USD 3.74 billion a year earlier.

Vedanta, which produces iron ore, copper, aluminium, zinc and oil, said revenue fell 16.6 percent to USD 10.74 billion.

12:30 pm Result poll: Nestle India is expected to post net profit at Rs 260 crore in January-March quarter, down 18.8 percent from Rs 320 crore in corresponding quarter last fiscal. According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, the FMCG major may see revenue slipping 13.8 percent at Rs 2167 crore against Rs 2516 crore in year-ago period. Net profit may be impacted by costs related to restart Maggi Noodles. The company follows calendar year. Sales decline may moderate in Q1CY16 due to few more Maggi variants released in the quarter. During the period, EBITDA may slip 27 percent at Rs 445 crore compared to Rs 610 crore while EBITDA margin is seen at 20.5 percent versus 24.2 percent year-on-year. EBITDA margin will be impacted by start-up costs of noodles.

The market continues to see buying interest as the Sensex is up 146.94 points or 0.6 percent at 25743.96. The Nifty is up 44.55 points or 0.6 percent at 7893.40. About 1503 shares have advanced, 787 shares declined, and 131 shares are unchanged.

ICICI Bank, Asian Paints, Adani Ports, Tata Motors and TCS are gainers while HUL, Maruti, M&M, Coal India and ITC are losers in the Sensex.

Total jewellery demand in the first quarter of this year was down 41 per cent at 88.4 tonnes, compared to 150.8 tonnes in the same period last year, the report said. In value terms, demand witnessed a fall of 38.2 per cent at Rs 22,702 crore from Rs 36,761 crore in the same quarter of 2015, it said. Total investment demand was down 31 per cent at 28 tonnes, compared to 40.9 tonnes in the year-ago period, it said.

11:55 am Monsoon: In what could give some respite to Maharashtra battling drought, the Meteorological Department has said the state is likely to receive 27 percent more rainfall than the annual average this monsoon.

Met department regional deputy director Krishnanand Hosalikar gave the information at a high-level Disaster Management Prepardness meeting here at Thane districtheadquarters yesterday.

The official also apprised that the Konkan region is likely to get about 27.50 percent more than the annual average rainfall this rainy season, a press release issued by district Informational Department said.

11:30 am Woes: Lenders and promoters of debt-stricken Alok Industries, which was taken over earlier this year under the strategic debt restructuring (SDR) route, have failed to bring in buyers and have revised talks with foreign pension funds to pump in equity in a last-ditch effort to save the day.

Sources have told CNBC-TV18, that KKR, SSG and Vardhaman Textiles, all of whom were interested in picking up stake in Alok, have backed out of the deal due to valuation mismatch.

An ongoing case with HSBC filed in the Bombay High Court has been the major hindrance to the deal, in which the HC has barred Alok from selling stake of or infusing equity into the company till a winding-up petition filed by the lender is settled.

The market is off day's high but still in green. The Sensex is up 138.04 points or 0.5 percent at 25735.06, and the Nifty is up 41.65 points or 0.5 percent at 7890.50. About 1399 shares have advanced, 649 shares declined, and 111 shares are unchanged.

ICICI Bank, Asain Paints, TCS and Tata Motors are top gainers while HUL, Maruti, Tata Steel and Hero are losers in the Sensex.

Oil prices dipped in Asia today as investors locked in profits after the previous day's surge to six-month highs that was fuelled by a surprise decline in US stockpiles.

The Department of Energy said that inventories slid 3.4 million barrels last week, confounding analysts' expectations for a rise and signalling strong demand in the world's top oil-consuming nation.

The report also said US oil production fell, providing hope to a market burdened by a stubborn global supply glut.

10:55 am Gold demand: Demand for gold soared by 21 percent to 1,290 tonnes during the first quarter for this year mainly due to huge inflows into exchange traded funds (ETFs) and an uncertain financial landscape, says a report.

"Gold demand reached 1,290 tonnes in the first quarter of 2016, a 21 percent increase, compared to 1,070 tonnes in the same quarter of 2015.

"This increase was driven by huge inflows into exchange traded funds fuelled by investor concerns regarding economic fragility and uncertain economic conditions," said the World Gold Council's 'Gold Demand Trends' report.

10:30 am Inflation poll: Retail inflation, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI) for April is estimated at 5.05 percent compared to 4.83 percent in March, as per a poll conducted by CNBC-TV18, while the industrial output, measured by index of industrial production (IIP) for March, is expected at 2.52 percent versus 2 percent in February. The core inflation estimates is around 4.8 percent. CPI as of March was at 6-month low and eased for the second consecutive month. This month, however, economists expect some hardening due to month-on-month (MoM) rise in food inflation to 6.1 percent from 5.27 percent and increase in miscellaneous inflation led by hardening in petrol and diesel prices to 4.3 percent from 4.2 percent.

The market is seeing active buyers with the Nifty holding above 7900. The 50-share index is up 58.95 points or 0.7 percent at 7907.80. The Sensex is up 192.23 points or 0.7 percent at 25789.25. About 1294 shares have advanced, 414 shares declined, and 80 shares are unchanged.

ICICI, Asian Paints, GAIL, TCS and Adani Ports are top gainers while HUL is down 1 percent. Bank, IT and Auto indices are up.

Mixo Das of Nomura feels that FY16 may have been the last year of capex declines. Potentially favourable monsoons this year and additional spend in the economy by way of pay commission awards may add to the recovery later this year.

"We remain near-term cautious on Asian equities and continue to recommend a defensive stance in the current market consolidation. However, we continue to see relative safety in Korea and India, with both markets showing some endogenous positives to largely offset exogenous negatives," Das said.

9:55 am Telecom woes: Telecom operators owe the government Rs 54,828.25 crore in licence fee, spectrum charges and arrears, of which Rs 44,380.91 crore is under litigation, Parliament was informed.
 
The outstanding dues also include electro magnetic radiation penalty, CAF fine and MNP testing fee arrears.

"Out of the total outstanding of Rs 54,828.25 crore, the amount under litigation is Rs 44,380.91 crore pertaining to major telecom service providers," Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

He added that cases pending in various courts are closely monitored and suitable actions are being taken in consultations with senior law officers from time to time.

9:45 am Result: Asian Paints reported a 19.87 percent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 408.75 crore for the March quarter. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 340.97 crore in the corresponding period last year.

Its consolidated sales during the fourth quarter rose 12.28 percent to Rs 3,919.23 crore as against Rs 3,490.39 crore in the year-ago period, Asian Paints said in a BSE filing.

"The decorative business segment in India registered double digit volume growth in the fourth quarter. Lower row material prices aided gross margins... The international business registered good performance in the fourth quarter on the back of growth in key markets of the Middle East and Bangladesh," MD and CEO of Asian Paints KBS Anand said.

9:35 am Market gains: The Sensex is up 201.91 points or 0.8 percent at 25798.93, and the Nifty gains 59.60 points or 0.8 percent at 7908.45. About 1123 shares have advanced, 280 shares declined, and 46 shares are unchanged. ICICI Bank, Asian Paints, Axis Bank, TCS and Cipla are top gainers while HUL and HDFC Bank are losers.

The market has opened on positive note Thursday as the Sensex is up 103.90 points at 25700.92, and the Nifty is up 25.05 points at 7873.90. About 487 shares have advanced, 129 shares declined, and 32 shares are unchanged.

ICICI Bank, L&T, BHEL, Cipla Dr Reddy's Lab are the top gainers while HDFC Bank, HUL anf Infosys are the top losers.

Asian markets trading lower on Thursday, after US stocks dropped in reaction to disappointing earnings reports from key consumer discretionary and retail names.

US stocks dropped on Wednesday and the Dow Jones industrial average suffered its worst day since February as feeble quarterly reports from Walt Disney, Macy's and Fossil undermined confidence across the consumer sector.

The Indian rupee opened marginally weak at 66.63 per dollar on Thursday against previous close of 66.56.

Mohan Shenoi of Kotak Mahindra Bank said, "The currency markets have settled in a range after US Payroll data was marginally weaker than expected."

"We expect the USD-INR pair to trade in a range of 66.40-66.70/dollar today," he added.

The dollar fell against a currency basket for the first time in seven days, as investors consolidated gains and booked profits on a day with no major US economic data and weak global cues.