Nifty ends at 8201, Sensex in red ahead of RBI policy; SBI up 1%

3:30 pm Market closing: After a lot of struggles and sluggishness, the market has ended in red. The Nifty closed tad above 8200, down 19.75 points or 0.2 percent at 8201.05 and the Sensex slipped 65.58 points or 0.2 percent at 26777.45.

SBI, Tata Motors, GAIL, M&M and L&T were top gainers while Bharti Airtel, Lupin, Maruti, Sun Pharma and Axis Bank are losers in the Sensex.

3:00 pm International currencies: Sterling fell 1 percent against the dollar to hit a three-week low on Monday, while the cost of hedging against swings over the coming month traded at its highest since early 2009 on growing concerns over whether Britain will stay in the European Union.

Sterling has been weighed down since late last year by worries that the June 23 referendum on EU membership could lead to Britain leaving the bloc.

Britain's hefty current account deficit - 7 percent of output in the last quarter of 2015 - makes the economy, and the currency, vulnerable to any pull-back in investment flows.

2:40 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks extended losses with the Sensex falling 104.84 points to 26738.19 and the Nifty down 33.25 points at 8187.55.

2:20 pm L&T's new order:  Larsen & Toubro has secured a contract to build a USD 135 million stadium for Qatar's 2022 World Cup, an official told Reuters, a boost for the Indian firm facing a slowdown in its key Middle East market due to low oil prices.

"As part of a joint venture, L&T will serve as a contractor building the 40,000 seat Al Rayyan stadium," said the Qatari government official, who declined to be named as he was not authorised to speak publicly.

L&T, which declined to comment, is one of India's biggest industrial groups and is involved in infrastructure projects in the Gulf including the construction of a metro line in Doha.

2:00 pm Market Check
The market extended losses in afternoon trade ahead of RBI monetary policy. Economists expect no rate cut on June 7 but their main focus will be on commentary.

"A higher-than-expected April CPI print, the upcoming Fed meet and the Brexit referendum are all likely to keep the central bank in wait-and-watch mode. We believe India is near the end of the monetary easing cycle as core inflation has remained sticky with no signs of abating and overall inflation carries upside risks," Religare said.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 24.57 points to 26818.46 and the Nifty fell 6 points to 8214.80. About 1352 shares declined against 1188 advancing shares on Bombay Stock Exchange.

PSU banks gained after a meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Nifty PSU Bank up 2 percent as State Bank of India rallied 2 percent and Bank of Baroda gained 2.8 percent.

1:55 pm Exclusive: HDIL is close to two big land deals pegged at Rs 775 crore in Virar and Palghar suburbs of Mumbai, sources have told CNBC-TV18. The term sheet for the the two deals has been signed and the final negotiations are taking place. HDIL has been looking to sell land worth 49 lakh square feet in Palghar and 50 lakh square feet in Virar. While the Palghar deal is expected to fetch Rs 300 crore, HDIL is expected to mop up Rs 475 crore from the Virar deal. The company is in talks with Shapoorji Pallonji for the Virar land parcel while negotiations for Palghar parcel are under way with Veena Developers.

1:45 pm De-listing notice: With regulator Sebi mulling removal of suspended companies from the capital markets, top bourse BSE has already sent notices to 509 firms to either apply for revocation of suspension or opt for delisting. In all, trading in shares of as many as 1,021 companies listed on BSE has been under suspension for a period of 7 years or more as on June 1 this year. The exchange, which is considering compulsory delisting of these companies from its platform in a phased manner, has sent out communications to 509 firms advising them to initiate the process of revocation of suspension. While follow up letters have also been sent out in this regard, 52 companies have sought revocation of suspension in trading of shares and one company has sought delisting, in response to the exchange's communication.

1:30 pm Interview: Larsen & Toubro , which has just agreed to a sell off its general insurance business to HDFC Ergo, says that the stake sale is part of the company's plan to exit non-core businesses. On Friday, HDFC Ergo had announced a deal to buy L&T General Insurance for Rs 551 crore in a deal valued at Rs 4,900 crore. L&T Chairman AM Naik told CNBC-TV18 that the valuation was a fair one for both the companies. After the completion of the deal HDFC Ergo will hold 49 percent in the general insurance company. Naik said the proceeds of the stake sale will go towards meeting the company's working capital needs of other core businesses. Admitting that there is presure on working capital, he said that none of L&T's customers are unsafe. Naik said exiting general insurance business is part of L&T's strategy of gradually hiving off non-core assets.

The market is absolutely flat as the Nifty struggles below 8250. The Sensex is down 4.05 point at 26838.98, and the Nifty up 0.65 points at 8221.45. About 1208 shares have advanced, 1246 shares declined, and 128 shares are unchanged.

SBI, GAIL, M&M, Cipla and ICICI Bank are top gainers while Axis Bank, Maruti, Bharti, Adani Ports and Coal India are major losers in the Sensex. Banks are in focus ahead of RBI policy review meeting tomorrow.

Asian markets closed mixed, with Japan shares losing ground, as a disappointing May jobs report in the US on Friday weakened the dollar and bolstered regional currencies, including the yen.

Oil prices pushed higher today thanks to a softer dollar after last week's well-below- forecast US jobs report, but the gains were limited as producers increased their rig count as the commodity held around the key USD 50 level.

12:59 pm Market Update: The Sensex fell 10.92 points to 26832.11 and the Nifty declined 3.95 points to 8216.85.

Laggards in the index were Adani Ports (-1 percent),Coal India (-1 percent), Aurobindo Pharma (-1 percent) and Tata Motors (D) (-1 percent).

Gainers included Bank of Baroda (3 percent), SBI (2 percent), GAIL (2 percent) and M&M (1 percent).

In sectoral performance as reflected by the respective indices, consumer durables (-1.1 percent), oil & gas (-0.4 percent), IT (-0.3 percent) and healthcare (-0.1 percent) were under pressure, while capital goods (0.5 percent), FMCG (0.1 percent) and power (0.1 percent) gained.

European markets recouped early losses. Markets are awaiting a speech by Fed Chair Janet Yellen later today for further clues on the central bank's direction of travel.

12:45 pm Buzzing: Cadila Healthcare shares rose nearly 2 percent after its group company has received approval from the US health regulator for clinical trials for diabetes drug.

"The US Food & Drug Administration has approved company's plan to initiate a phase 2 clinical trials of Saroglitazar (Lipaglyn) in patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) of the liver in USA," the Ahmedabad-based pharma company says in its filing.

NASH is a liver disease in which fat accumulates in the liver.

Pankaj Patel, CMD of Zydus Cadila says NASH is an area of unmet healthcare and as there are currently no drugs approved for the treatment of NASH.

12:25 pm Interview: Gitanjali Gems is betting on its diamond business to see a significant demand uptick going forward, where it expects a number of customers to come in at lower price points, says Group President Saurav Bhattacharya.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Bhattacharya said the company plans to open 25-30 large and small format stores in next two quarters.

"Being an omnichannel, in addition to e-commerce, our main focus will be on setting up small shop-in-shops in large stores, small stores, and government bodies like canteen store, sahakari bhandar," he added.

We also plan to tie-up with large players in hyper market space in next 2-3 weeks, Bhattacharya said.

12:00 pm Market Check
Equity benchmarks as well as broader markets continued to consolidate in noon trade as investors are eagerly waiting for cues from the Reserve Bank of India monetary policy review that will be announced on Tuesday.

The Sensex declined 26.67 points to 26816.36 and the Nifty fell 9.60 points to 8211.20. About 1172 shares declined against 1096 advancing shares on Bombay Stock Exchange.

Maruti Suzuki, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel and Coal India were top losers, down 1-2 percent while M&M, SBI, GAIL and Cipla gained over a percent.

Asian markets traded mixed today, with Japan shares paring some early losses, as a disappointing May jobs report in the US on Friday weakened the dollar and bolstered regional currencies, including the yen. The Nikkei 225 shed 0.37 percent, retracing early losses of as much as 1.81 percent.

11:45 am FII view: With India Inc's good earnings show in the March quarter in FY16, Citigroup has revised its Sensex target for FY17. The US-based brokerage now expects Sensex to touch 28,800 points by the end of FY17. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Surendra Goyal, Head of Research at Citigroup India, said 47 of BSE100 companies have exceeded estimates in the fourth quarter of FY16. He added whenever earnings momentum has been positive, the market tends to trade at higher-than-mean valuations. He said, "If the momentum trajectory continues, higher multiples can not be ruled out."

11:30 am Market outlook: Even as valuations are not as cheap as they were in late February, around the day of the Budget, Nilesh Shah, Managing Director of Kotak Asset Management Company, says a revival in earnings will help support stocks. In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Shah said fourth quarter earnings were ahead of expectations and should result in an uptick in upgrades. In fact, ex-bank adjusted earnings (net of one-offs) were up 40 percent for 600 companies during the March quarter, he pointed out.

The market is flat ahead of RBI monetary policy review on June 7. The Sensex is up 0.02 points at 26843.05, and the Nifty down 2.10 points at 8218.70. About 1107 shares have advanced, 1011 shares declined, and 91 shares are unchanged.

M&M, GAIL, SBI, Cipla and BHEL are top gainers while Maruti, Adani Ports, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank and Coal India are major losers in the Sensex.

Oil prices pushed higher today thanks to a softer dollar after last week's well-below- forecast US jobs report, but the gains were limited as producers increased their rig count as the commodity held around the key USD 50 level.

The US labour department that just 38,000 new jobs were created last month, a quarter of what was expected and scything any chance of an interest rate hike any time soon.

With borrowing costs not seen to rise before September at the earliest, the dollar tumbled, making oil cheaper for anyone buying it with other currencies.

10:55 am Market Update: The Sensex rose 17.88 points to 26860.91 and the Nifty advanced 3.35 points to 8224.15. About 1098 shares advanced against 977 declining shares on BSE.

10:45 am FII View: With India Inc's good earnings show in the March quarter in FY16, Citigroup has revised its Sensex target for FY17. The US-based brokerage now expects Sensex to touch 28,800 points by the end of FY17.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Surendra Goyal, Head of Research at Citigroup India, said 47 of BSE100 companies have exceeded estimates in the fourth quarter of FY16.

He added whenever earnings momentum has been positive, the market tends to trade at higher-than-mean valuations. He said, "If the momentum trajectory continues, higher multiples can not be ruled out."

Goyal said the brokerage expects a 14 percent earnings growth on the Sensex for FY17.

10:25 am CLSA on HDFC: With maintaining buy rating and target price of Rs 1,440 on HDFC, CLSA says it has raised earnings per share (EPS) by 3 percent after the housing finance company completed the sale of 23 percent stake in HDFC Ergo General to its partner.

Further upsides may arise from the sale of 10 percent stake in the life insurance subsidiary (IPO planned), it says.

Post the transaction, HDFC's stake will decline to 51 percent and the rest will be owned by Ergo International.

The brokerage says the deal will lead to a pre-tax profit of Rs 920 crore and post-tax profit of Rs 730 crore, adding the management plans to utilise 30 percent of pre-tax profit (Rs 280 crore) to build provisions for any unexpected risk (HDFC has built provisions of about 30 bps of loans with recent stake sales in insurance subsidiaries).

10:00 am Market Check
The market started consolidation today after rallying 6 percent in previous two weeks and ahead of RBI monetary policy. The Sensex fell 16.75 points to 26826.28 and the Nifty declined 3.50 points to 8217.30.

The market breadth was marginally positive as about 929 shares advanced against 833 declining shares on Bombay Stock Exchange.

Bharti Airtel and Adani Ports fell 2.5 percent each followed by Axis Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Steel and Coal India with 1-1.5 percent loss while HDFC, Infosys, M&M, SBI, L&T and Sun Pharma were morning gainers.

Oil prices edged up today as a plunge in the US dollar was seen spurring fuel demand, although traders said plentiful supplies capped increases. International Brent crude futures were trading at USD 50.05 per barrel, up 41 cents from their last settlement, and US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 49 cents at USD 49.11 a barrel.

Traders said that the higher oil prices were largely a result of a sharpfall in the dollar on Friday, when the greenback lost over 1.5 percent intra-day against a basket of other leading currencies.

9:45 am Auto sales: Car buyers seem to have begun lapping up petrol variants in a big way with the diesel vehicles facing wrath of the courts on pollution concerns, prompting automakers to recalibrate their production strategy.

Major car makers like Hyundai and Honda are re-working their strategy to meet the demand for more petrol vehicles.

Even in the fancy SUV segment, hitherto a stronghold for diesel versions, sales of diesel-powered cars is on a decline. In the luxury segment too, market leader Mercedes Benz has predicted that there could be "a tide turning" in India in favour of petrol versions although the company hasn't witnessed a strong shift so far.

9:30 am GST: Government needs to speed up implementation of GST, address the issue of cheap imports and improve investment climate as majority of sectors are witnessing 'moderate' growth, says a CII survey.

The survey, which tracks the growth of economic sectors on a quarterly basis, also stressed on the quick implementation of the announcements in the budget especially in the infrastructure space, boosting export competitiveness and addressing the issue of delayed payments.

Overall, the current trends reveal that majority of the sectors are continuing to witness 'moderate' growth trends with 'excellent' and 'high' growth limited to some sectors, it said.

The market has opened in green but the Nifty is still below 8250. The 50-share index is up 7.95 points or 0.1 percent at 8228.75 and the Sensex is up 42.55 points or 0.2 percent at 26885.58. About 345 shares have advanced, 147 shares declined, and 40 shares are unchanged.

Lupin, GAIL, Cipla, Sun Pharma and M&M are top gainers while Adani Ports, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Steel, Asian Paints and Maruti are losers in the Sensex.

The Indian rupee gained in early trade, opening higher by 30 paise at 66.95 per dollar versus 67.25 Friday. Dollar sees mild gains after posting its largest one-day percentage fall against a basket of major currencies since February on Friday, meanwhile the yen surges.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity said, "The rupee is expected to trade stronger on back of weak data from US, thus a weakening USD.The trading range for USD-INR pair will be 66.80 - 67.50/dollar for the day."

Asian markets traded mixed, with Japan shares taking a tumble, as a disappointing May jobs report in the US on Friday weakened the dollar and bolstered regional currencies, including the yen.

Chinese mainland markets traded mixed, with the Shanghai composite nearly flat, while the Shenzhen composite added 0.30 percent. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was down 0.1 percent.

The Korean stock market is closed for memorial day.