Nifty ends at 8132; ITC & CIL up 1-2%, Infosys falls 2%

3:30 pm Market close: The market ended a volatile day with losses. The Sensex was down 57.58 points or 0.2 percent at 26846.53. The Nifty slipped 11.90 points or 0.1 percent at 8131.70. About 1526 shares advanced, 1236 shares declined, and 106 shares were unchanged.

Coal India, Lupin, ITC, Bajaj Auto and BHEL were top gainers while ONGC, Hindalco, Vedanta, Tata Steel and Infosys were losers.

3:10 pm Coal: On the long standing issue of coal linkages, the government is finally going to seek Cabinet nod on the auction policy soon.

Coal linkage means that a coal consumer (power, cement, steel) is assured of the supply of coal.

Sources say that the Cabinet Secretary met the Coal Ministry officials last week to finalise the linkage guidelines. Advisor of SBI Caps has also submitted final report on coal linkages. This will stop the renewal of any coal linkage till the linkage auction policy is in place.

2:58 pm Market Update: Benchmark indices recouped half of losses. The Sensex declined 77.10 points to 26827.01 and the Nifty slipped 20.30 points to 8123.30.

About 1417 shares have advanced, 1262 shares declined, and 115 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

2:50 pm BoB's new MD: P S Jayakumar, the former chief executive of VBHC Value Homes, today took charge as the new MD and CEO of the state-owned Bank of Baroda for three years.

"Bank of Baroda has said P S Jayakumar has assumed the charge of the office of Managing Director and CEO, Bank of Baroda, on October 13, 2015," it said in a filing on BSE.

P S Jayakumar, 53, has taken over as the chief of BoB at a time when the bank is under the investigation glare for an alleged fraud and black money transactions worth over Rs 6,000 crore.

Last week, it was alleged that a whopping Rs 6,172 crore was remitted from Bank of Baroda to Hong Kong camouflaged as payments for non-existent imports like cashew, pulses and rice. The amount was allegedly deposited in 59 accounts in cash as advance for imports that never existed.

However, the bank's Executive director B B Joshi yesterday clarified that the amount being mentioned was "exaggerated" and the actual amount involved was only half of it.

2:45 pm Dr Reddy's in News: Helsinn Healthcare SA, a Switzerland-based pharma company, today said it has entered into a settlement agreement with Dr Reddy's Laboratories to resolve certain patent litigations relating to the former's drug Aloxi (palonosetron HCl injection) in the United States.

Aloxi injection is used in adults to help prevent the nausea and vomiting due to chemotherapy.

According to a statement issued by the Swiss drug maker, Aloxi is currently distributed by Helsinn Healthcare's marketing partner, Eisai Inc in the USA.

"As a result of the settlement, Dr Reddy's Laboratories Inc will be permitted to market a 505(j) generic version of Aloxi in the United States on September 30, 2018 or earlier under certain circumstances. The terms of the settlement agreement are otherwise confidential," the statement said.

Dr Reddy's and Helsinn are engaged in a legal battle on the patent related issues over Aloxi. Helsinn had earlier entered into similar agreement with Sandoz Inc.

2:40 pm Pfizer MD resigns: Drug major Pfizer informed that its Managing Director Aijaz Tobaccowalla has resigned from the post.

The day-to-day operations of the company will be managed by its Executive Director, Business Unit and Distribution Head S Sridhar till Tobaccowalla's successor is appointed. Tobaccowalla's resignation would be effective from October 16.

"The day-to-day operations of the company shall be managed by S Sridhar, presently the Executive Director, Business Unit and Distribution Head, until such time that Tobaccowalla's successor is appointed by the Board of Directors," Pfizer informed the BSE.

2:20 pm Govt's panel on mega innovation projects: Government has set up a committee to push innovative collaboration joint ventures involving investment of over Rs 2,000 crore with a view to create jobs, promote exports and increase the potential of revenue to the exchequer.

The Empowered Committee for Innovative Collaborations will be headed by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman and its members would include Economic Affairs Secretary and Industry Secretary. Besides, former Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar and former Central Vigilance Commissioner P Shankar are also members in the committee, an official told PTI.

The committee's mandate would be to fast track innovation joint ventures, involving joint venture of over Rs 2,000 crore. It, however, will also be taking up projects involving lower investments if substantial social, economic or security benefits are expected, the official added.

2:00 pm Market Check
Equity benchmarks fell half a percent in afternoon trade, dragged by further profit booking in metals, oil and select technology stocks.

The Sensex slipped 137.47 points to 26766.64 and the Nifty declined 40 points to 8103.60. About 1345 shares have advanced, 1276 shares declined, and 112 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

Aviation stocks continued to fly high. Jet Airways gained 6 percent. SpiceJet surged 17 percent, riding on management confidence. Ajay Singh, promoter and chief operating officer, said that SpiceJet has achieved occupancy of 92 percent in past five months. He also said that the festive season will help improve performance in Q3 and that the company is not facing cashflow issue at this point.

1:55 pm SBI: The Reserve Bank of India has given an in-principle approval to the country's largest lender - State Bank of India to set up a new subsidiary to manage its non-banking activities reports CNBC-TV18's Ritu Singh quoting sources. Sources say, the bank has roped in KPMG as an advisor to set up the new subsidiary, which will look at all the non-banking activities - primarily, real estate. This arm will provide transactional, advisory and managerial services to the bank. However, the time line for setting this up would likely be in the new fiscal but the ground work has started.

1:45 pm Result poll: After lower-than-expected earnings in previous four quarters and strong results by rival Infosys, TCS 's Q2FY16 numbers will be closely watched. Profit is expected to grow 6.5 percent to Rs 6,052.3 crore and revenue may increase 6.1 percent to Rs 27,230 crore on sequential basis, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18. Tata Consultancy Services will announce its quarterly earnings in evening on October 13. Dollar revenue growth may be 3.6 percent at USD 4,181 million in the quarter ended September 2015 and 4.2-4.3 percent in constant currency.

1:30 pm Buzzing: Shares of SpiceJet soared 18 percent intraday, touching 28-month high at Rs 36.80 riding on management confidence. In an exclusive interview to CNBC-TV, Ajay Singh, promoter and chief operating officer, said that SpiceJet has achieved occupancy of 92 percent in past five months. He also said that the festive season will help improve performance in Q3 and that the company is not facing cashflow issue at this point.
 
Singh added that the airline company will be able to sustain high occupancy. However, lower crude price has aided the company which was struggling for existence in December last year. "Oil prices have come down and as a consequence, airfares have come down. Our occupancy factors have ensured that our total revenues remain the same. We have also focused on ancillary revenue and increased that pretty dramatically over the last few months. So, even as costs are lower, revenues have sustained and therefore we have been profitable," Singh said.

The market is still under pressure as metal stocks continue to drag. The Sensex is down 144.92 points or 0.5 percent at 26759.19 and the Nifty is down 39.90 points or 0.5 percent at 8103.70. About 1339 shares have advanced, 1202 shares declined, and 115 shares are unchanged.

Coal India, Bajaj Auto, ITC, BHEL and Maruti are top gainers while Hindalco, ONGC, Vedanta, Tata Steel and Infosys are among losers.

European stocks extended losses as the shine slipped from Asian markets on the back of concerning China data.  Overnight, Asian shares slid deeper into the red in a choppy trading session on Tuesday, with resources names leading losses after latest trade figures out of China rekindled concerns over demand from the world's second-biggest economy.

China's dollar-denominated exports fell 3.7 percent in September from a year earlier, while imports plunged 20.4 percent to chalk up their 11th consecutive month of decline, official data showed.

12:58 pm Market update: Benchmark indices continued to be weak. The Sensex declined 104.63 points to 26799.48 and the Nifty fell 29.65 points to 8113.95.

About 1384 shares have advanced, 1115 shares declined, and 106 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

12:45 pm Europe opens: European stocks opened lower as the shine slipped from Asian markets on the back of concerning China data.

All major European indices were in negative territory.

Asian shares slid deeper into the red in a choppy trading session today, with resources names leading losses after latest trade figures out of China rekindled concerns over demand from the world's second-biggest economy.

China's dollar-denominated exports fell 3.7 percent in September from a year earlier, while imports plunged 20.4 percent to chalk up their eleventh consecutive month of decline, official data showed on Tuesday.

12:30 pm TCS weak ahead of Q2 nos: After lower-than-expected earnings in previous four quarters and strong results by rival Infosys, TCS 's Q2FY16 numbers will be closely watched. Profit is expected to grow 6.5 percent to Rs 6,052.3 crore and revenue may increase 6.1 percent to Rs 27,230 crore on sequential basis, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

Tata Consultancy Services will announce its quarterly earnings today evening.

Dollar revenue growth may be 3.6 percent at USD 4,181 million in the quarter ended September 2015 and 4.2-4.3 percent in constant currency.

A constant currency growth of sub 4 percent may be a disappointment, according to analysts who see cross currency headwinds due to depreciation of Australian dollar, Brazilian real and rupee against US dollar. Its peer Infosys posted 6 percent dollar revenue growth and 6.9 percent in costant currency with margin at 25.5 percent.

They expect the country's largest IT company to clock lower volume growth during the quarter compared to previous September quarters (6.36 percent in Q2FY15 and 5.43 percent in Q2FY14).

12:15 pm Fed rate hike in 2015?: The Federal Reserve should hold off on any interest rate hike until it is clear that a global slowdown, trouble in China and other international risks will not push the US recovery off course, Fed Governor Lael Brainard said on Monday in one of the strongest defenses yet of a go-slow approach to rate policy.

"I view the risks to the economic outlook as tilted to the downside. The downside risks make a strong case for continuing to carefully nurture the US recovery - and argue against prematurely taking away the support that has been so critical to its vitality," Brainard said. It was, Brainard said, time only for "watching and waiting" - not hiking rates.

Her comments and those of other policymakers point to a vigorous debate underway ahead of the Fed's October and December meetings, as US central bankers mull whether to proceed with an interest rate hike or delay in the face of what Brainard called "deflationary" trends around the world.

In contrast to Brainard's remarks, two policymakers whose views are often at odds both suggested on Monday they could well support a rate increase in December, as long as the economic data does not disappoint and that rate hikes once begun are gradual. Fed Vice Chair Stanley Fischer on Sunday said he too expects a 2015 hike.

12:00 pm Market Check
The market remained marginally under selling pressure in noon trade following weak Asian cues. The rupee breached 65 a dollar, down 33 paise to 65.07 on strong dollar demand.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 33.62 points to 26855.55 and the 50-share NSE Nifty slipped 15.55 points to 8128.05. About 1311 shares have advanced, 1019 shares declined, and 94 shares are unchanged.

Hindalco (-4 percent), Vedanta (-4 percent), ONGC (-3 percent) and HCL Tech (-3 percent) were the big losers in the Nifty. Other laggards in the index were GAIL (-1 percent), Hero Motocorp (-1 percent) and Bosch (-1 percent).

Gainers included BPCL (2 percent), Bajaj Auto (2 percent), UltraTech Cement (1 percent) and Coal India (1 percent).

In sectoral performance as reflected by the respective indices, IT (-1.6 percent), metals (-0.7 percent) and oil & gas (-0.3 percent) were under pressure, while capital goods (0.4 percent), power (0.4 percent), FMCG (0.2 percent) and auto (0.1 percent) gained.

In second line shares, investors showed better appetite for small cap shares than mid cap shares, with the BSE Small Cap Index up 0.3 percent and the BSE Midcap Index down 0.02 percent.

Container Corp (-3 percent), SKS Microfinance (-3 percent), Gujarat Pipavav (-2 percent), Kansai Nerolac (-2 percent) and Rajesh Exports (-2 percent) were big losers in midcap space. Other notable laggards included Emami (-1 percent), Adani Power (-1 percent), Glenmark (-2 percent), Indiabulls Housing (-2 percent) and Godrej Industries (-2 percent).

Among key Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 132 points at 22598 and Singapore's Straits Times was down 22 points at 3009. Japan's Nikkei 225 closed at 18234, down 203 points or 1.1 percent over its previous close, Korea's KOSPI closed at 2019, down 2 points, and Taiwan's Taiwan Index closed at 8567, down 5 points.

11:55 am Results: SAP, Europe's biggest software maker reported a 19 percent rise in third-quarter operating profit, excluding special items due to growth in its mature markets.

SAP said third-quarter operating profit, excluding special items, rose to 1.62 billion euros (1.20 billion pounds), beating the most optimistic estimate among 14 analysts, with individual estimates ranging from 1.45 billion to 1.59 billion euros, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Europe's largest software maker said it was sticking to its outlook for the full year for non-IFRS operating profit of 5.6 billion euros to 5.9 billion euros at constant currencies, which represents flat growth to a rise of as much as 5 percent from 5.6 billion euros last year.

11:45 am Buzzing: Shares of Reliance Capital gained more than 3 percent intraday after Nippon Life Insurance has agreed to raise stake in company's asset management subsidiary. "Nippon Life Insurance (NLI) today has signed definitive agreements to increase its stake in Reliance Capital Asset Management (RCAM) to 49 percent from existing 35 percent in tranches," the Anil Dhiribhai Ambani Group company said in its filing. Boards of directors of both the companies - Nippon Life Insurance and Reliance Capital Asset Management - have approved an increase in stake by the Japanese partner, subject to regulatory approvals.

11:30 am Buzzing: Global Vectra has signed Power By the Hour (PBH) agreement with Airbus for supplying spare parts.

The deal signed is for replacement of defective parts of H130 Light Helicopters, which guarantees a constant supply of aircrafts to the largest private helicopter company in the country, AJ Baker, CEO, Global Vectra tells CNBC-TV18.

This will optimise costs for the company as replacement for defective parts is made without upfront payments and will have a little impact on the company's margins, says Baker.

Majority of Vectra's helicopters are the Airbus H series Light Helicopters.

The market is struggling with the Nifty holding 8100 mark. The 50-shar index is down 30.95 points or 0.4 percent at 8112.65. The Sensex is down 111.72 points or 0.4 percent at 26792.39. About 1183 shares have advanced, 889 shares declined, and 102 shares are unchanged.

Bajaj Auto, Lupin, Coal India, Wipro and BHEL are top gainers while Hindalco, Vedanta, ONGC, Tata Steel and Infosys are major losers in the Sensex.

Gold steadied near a three-month high, as investors pushed back expectations of a Federal Reserve interest rate hike to next year and on a weaker dollar. The Fed was expected to raise US rates for the first time in nearly a decade this year, but recent weak US data, concerns over Chinese growth and volatility in financial markets have prompted markets to shift rate hike views to early 2016.

The US central bank refrained from hiking rates at its last meeting in September. It holds two more policy meets in 2015: on Oct. 27-28, and then in December. Higher rates could dent demand for non-interest-paying bullion, while boosting the dollar.

10:55 am Market Update: Equity benchmarks remained weak. The Sensex declined 108.88 points to 26795.23 and the Nifty fell 30.20 points to 8113.40.

About 1186 shares have advanced, 888 shares declined, and 98 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

10:40 am Buzzing: Shares of Reliance Capital gained more than 3 percent after Nippon Life Insurance has raised stake in company's asset management subsidiary.

"Nippon Life Insurance (NLI) today has signed definitive agreements to increase its stake in Reliance Capital Asset Management (RCAM) to 49 percent from existing 35 percent in tranches," the Anil Dhiribhai Ambani Group company said in its filing.

Boards of directors of both the companies - Nippon Life Insurance and Reliance Capital Asset Management - have approved an increase in stake by the Japanese partner, subject to regulatory
approvals.

''Together we are determined to grow businesses multifold and have stronger footprint in India and abroad'',  Anil Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Group.

10:20 am FII View: Deutsche Bank expects India to outperform other emerging markets given its imporving macro fundamentals. However, India would not be spared if emerging markets in general trend lower, says Harsh Agarwal, CFA Research Analyst, Deutsche Bank.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, he says the ongoing corporate earnings season is unlikely to throw up any major surprises.

Agarwal says longer the US Fed stays on hold with its rate hike, longer will the emerging market story sustain. He expects first rate hike by the Fed in March 2016.

Agarwal believes a ''tactical bounce'' will continue in the near-term and has given a year-end Sensex target at 28,000. He does not see any trigger for the Sensex to exceed that mark by a big margin.

10:00 am Market Check
The market has continued to see profit booking with the Sensex falling 65.48 points to 26838.63 on weak global cues. The Nifty has maintained 8100 level amid selling pressure, down 16.10 points to 8127.50. Metals stocks lost shine while capital goods and FMCG provided support.

The broader markets remained flat. The market breadth was positive as about 1041 shares advanced against 728 declining shares.

State Bank of India gained 1 percent after sources told CNBC-TV18 that the country's largest bank has received in-principle approval from RBI for setting up a new subsidiary.

Infosys, ONGC, Tata Steel, Vedanta and Hindalco Industries topped the selling list on Sensex, down 2-3 percent.

Tata Motors snapped six-day winning streak today, down 1 percent after rising 22 percent in past six sessions.

L&T, Axis Bank, Wipro, Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki, BHEL and Coal India gained 0.5-1 percent.

9:50 am Kingfisher: CBI is likely to register more FIRs into alleged loan defaults of Kingfisher even as it plans to expand its probe to look into the allegations of diversion of about USD 200 million dollars to "tax havens".

The agency is likely to register more FIRs to bring into the ambit of probe the additional Rs 3100 crore loans from 10 other nationalised banks on which the company has allegedly defaulted, turning them into non-performing assets, CBI sources said. They said the present FIR against the company is related to Rs 900 crore of bad loan from IDBI bank but more FIRs may be registered to probe exposure of other public sector banks.

9:40 am Buzzing: Shares of Cox & Kings have gained 3.6 percent in early trade  after the travel company has acquired hotel booking portal based in the UK. "The Cox & Kings Group has acquired 100 percent of issued and outstanding shares of Late Rooms from TUI Group for Rs 85 crore (8.5 million pound)," the company said in its filing. LateRooms, a profitable online hotel booking specialist in the UK, have 35 lakh opted-in and active consumer database. It had 930 lakh online visits in the financial year ending September 2015, generating net revenues of 50 million pound.

9:30 am Poll: After lower-than-expected earnings in previous four quarters and strong results by rival Infosys, TCS 's Q2FY16 numbers will be closely watched. Profit is expected to grow 6.5 percent to Rs 6,052.3 crore and revenue may increase 6.1 percent to Rs 27,230 crore on sequential basis, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18. Tata Consultancy Services will announce its quarterly earnings in evening on October 13. Dollar revenue growth may be 3.6 percent at USD 4,181 million in the quarter ended September 2015 and 4.2-4.3 percent in constant currency.

The market has opened marginally lower. The Sensex is down 33.62 points at 26855.55. The Nifty slips 21.65 points or 0.3 percent at 8121.95. About 308 shares have advanced, 166 shares declined, and 35 shares are unchanged.

BHEL, L&T, Dr Reddy's Labs, TCS and ITC are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Hindalco, Vedanta, Infosys, Tata Steel and ONGC.

The Indian rupee declined further in early trade. The currency has opened at 64.88 per dollar, down 13 paise compared to previous day's closing value of 64.75 a dollar.

Ashutosh Raina, HDFC Bank feels the better than expected IIP numbers and CPI on expected lines should lift the sentiment in Indian markets. He says the USD-INR pair has come off from recent highs and is hovering near the lower end of the current range of Rs 64.50-65.50/USD and central bank support can be expected here.

The dollar traded near 3-week lows on doubts whether the US Fed would raise interest rates later this year in the face of a weakening global economy.

Asian shares stepped back from two-month highs on profit-taking and oil prices regrouped after Monday's big fall, while the dollar was on the defensive as expectations of an imminent US rate hike receded.

Gains in utilities offset a retreat in energy shares, leaving US stocks slightly higher as investors remained nervous about third-quarter corporate results.