Nifty ends at 8206, Sensex rallies 331 points; SBI up 4%

3:30 pm Market closing: In a late rally triggered by cabinet decisions on SBI merger and National Civil Aviation Policy. The Sensex was up 330.63 points or 1.2 percent at 26726.34, and the Nifty ended 97.75 points or 1.2 percent at 8206.60. About 1660 shares have advanced, 961 shares declined, and 170 shares are unchanged.

NTPC, SBI, L&T. Maruti and Bharti Airtel were top gainers in the Sensex while Dr Reddy's Labs, M&M, Sun Pharma, Adani Ports and Axis Bank were losers.

3:15 pm Market outlook: An exit for Britain from the Eurozone is likely to result in a sell-off for the euro and pound, and put upward pressure on the US dollar.

This could be detrimental for all emerging markets, says Hans Goetti, Chief Strategist Middle East and Asia, Banque Internationale À Luxembourg.

However, he adds that it won't be much of a problem as Federal Reserve will hold off any hike in interest rates.

Brexit could lead to uncertainty and volatility mainly in the European markets in the short-term, he says. It could also affect the US Dollar and the Yen for a few days.

2:55 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks rallied further in late trade. The Sensex surged 307.38 points or 1.16 percent to 26703.09 and the Nifty jumped 91.45 points or 1.13 percent to 8200.30.

2:40 pm Interview: VG Kannan, Managing Director & Group Executive, SBI said the bank will now start working on merger process which will be completed by March 2017, he added.

Post merger, treasury gains will be a good boost, quality of investment will get better and cost of deposits will come down for the entity. In addition, merger will reduce account duplication for all the banks, he added.
 
Backing Kannan, N Krishnamachari, MD, State Bank of Mysore, said he is positive to move into the SBI fold. Branch overlaps will significantly be reduced by the act.

Calling this a 'win-win' situation, CR Sasikumar, MD, State Bank of Travancore said stake holders are happy about moving into SBI.

2:35 pm NITI Aayog VC on GDP: India's economic growth will cross the 8 percent-mark this fiscal on the back of good monsoon and pick up in manufacturing, NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya has said.

"India will cross 8 percent economic growth during the current fiscal. Good Monsoon will push farm sector growth to 4-5 percent this year," Panagariya said.

He said the growth in the last quarter of the previous fiscal touched 7.9 percent because of uptick in manufacturing activity and improved performance of agriculture sector.

According to the data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), manufacturing sector during the fourth quarter recorded a growth rate of 9.3 percent while farm sector grew at 2.3 percent.

India economy clocked a five-year high growth rate of 7.6 percent in 2015-16, mainly on account of good performance of manufacturing and improvement in farm sectors.

2:25 pm JLR's new plant: Jaguar Land Rover has inaugurated its new factory in Itatiaia, Brazil which has been set up with an investment of 240 million pounds. This is the company's first overseas facility which is completely owned by them.

This new factory will manufacture the Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Discovery Sport models for the Brazilian market.

 In an official release, the company has stated that both vehicles will be on sale by this month across their dealerships in Brazil.

2:15 pm Expert on Brexit: An exit for Britain from the Eurozone is likely to result in a sell-off for the euro and pound, and put upward pressure on the US dollar.

This could be detrimental for all emerging markets, says Hans Goetti, Chief Strategist Middle East and Asia, Banque Internationale À Luxembourg.

However, he adds that it won't be much of a problem as Federal Reserve will hold off any hike in interest rates.

Brexit could lead to uncertainty and volatility mainly in the European markets in the short-term, he says. It could also affect the US Dollar and the Yen for a few days.

2:00 pm Market Check
Equity benchmarks extended rally in afternoon trade with the Sensex rising 243.02 points to 26638.73 and the Nifty climbing 68.85 points to 8177.70. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 0.6-0.9 percent.

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

State Bank of India surged nearly 5 percent after the Cabinet has approved merger of five subsidiary banks with itself. State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Travancore rallied 20 percent each.

1:55 pm Brexit: A vote to leave the European Union in a referendum next week would trigger tax hikes and spending cuts, Britain's finance minister warned today, after stock markets sank on the apparently rising prospect of Brexit.

George Osborne, who is campaigning to remain within the 28-member bloc, announced that schools, hospitals and the army would all have their funding slashed if the pro-Brexit side prevails.

The intervention comes as polls indicate an uptick in support for the "Leave" side days ahead of the June 23 vote.

1:45 pm Fund raising: Mining conglomerate Vedanta said its shareholders have approved the proposal to raise its limit of inter-corporate loans to Rs 80,000 crore.

The firm led by billionaire Anil Agrawal had called for a postal ballot to seek approval from the shareholders.

"The special resolution as proposed in the postal ballot notice dated April 28, 2016 is passed with requisite majority," it said in a regulatory filing.

The metals major was seeking approval to raise the limit of inter-corporate loans, investments and guarantees and security in connection with loans from Rs 60,000 crore to Rs 80,000 crore.

1:30 pm F&O: Leading stock exchanges BSE and NSE will introduce futures and options (F&O) contracts in NIIT Technologies and Sintex Industries from July 1.

In similar-worded circulars, the exchanges said that futures and options contracts on these two "securities would be available for trading with effect from July 1, 2016." There are over 200 securities available in the F&O segment for trade.

In July 2015, Sebi had made a steep hike in the minimum investment size for any equity derivative product to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 2 lakh. Besides, the minimum lot size of an equity derivative contract increased to Rs 5 lakh.

The market is holding gains as the Nifty hovers around 8150. The 50-share is up 34.10 points or 0.4 percent at 8142.95 and the Sensex is up 123.54 points or 0.5 percent at 26519.25. About 1603 shares have advanced, 825 shares declined, and 160 shares are unchanged.

NTPC, Bharti Airtel, L&T and Hero MotoCorp and SBI are top gainers in the gainers while Axis Bank, Coal India, ICICI Bank, Dr Reddy's Labs and Adani Ports are losers in the Sensex.

The government today approved its long-awaited Civil Aviation Policy, which contains various measures to boost the country's under-penetrated aviation sector and boost connectivity across towns.

The details of the policy are not yet known but sources have told CNBC-TV18 the government has tweaked the 5/20 rule, which requires a carrier to be in operation for five years and have fleet of 20 aircraft before it is allowed to fly to international destinations.

Under the new rule, sources say the government has now stipulated airlines to have at least 20 aircraft but done away with the five-year requirement. This would come as good news to recent entrants AirAsia India and Vistara, who will though still be required to scale up their fleet size to be able to fly abroad.

12:55 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks gained strength again with the Nifty reclaiming 8150.

The Sensex gained 132.31 points at 26528.02 and the Nifty rose 38.05 points to 8146.90. About 1590 shares advanced against 791 declining shares on Bombay Stock Exchange.

All sectoral indices traded in green with infra and banks leading gainers.

12:45 pm Europe opens: European stocks opened higher today after a rocky start to the week as markets await the conclusion of a two-day meeting of the US Federal Reserve.

Expectations are for the bank to stand pat on interest rates following gloomy jobs data and rising concerns over a Brexit should the UK vote to leave the European Union (EU) in a referendum on June 23. The FOMC is expected to wind down its two-day meeting tonight with statement that sheds no light on the timing of its intended interest rate hike.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.73 percent.

12:35 pm Tata Sponge up 12%: Coal India has allotted coal linkage to Tata Sponge Iron, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting sources.

It is learnt that coal linkage will be for a period of 5 years and can be extended to 10 years, which provides coal security to the Tata Group company.

12:20 pm Macquarie on NTPC: Macquarie has maintained outperform rating on Adani Ports with target price of Rs 261 and believes that addressing balance sheet concerns will be key for stock re-rating.

After interacting with company's CEO Karan Adani recently, the brokerage says the largest private port has taken note of investors' and rating agencies' concerns about related party transactions and the build-up of loans and advances (L&As) over the last three years, and is looking to reverse some of the transactions.

Its total L&As increased from around Rs 1,400 crore in FY12 to Rs 10,000 crore in FY16, with related party L&As rising from Rs 680 crore to Rs 2,530 crore.

Macquarie says container volumes continue to be company's focus area as it drives overall volume growth medium term.

12:00 pm Market Check
The market continued to rise in noon trade with the Sensex gaining 98.09 points at 26493.80 and the Nifty climbing 25.10 points to 8133.95. The broader markets too remained higher with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.7-0.8 percent.

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

Jet Airways, SpiceJet and InterGlobe Aviation rallied more than 2 percent after the Cabinet has approved new aviation policy. 5/20 rule will be replaced by 0/20 rule, according to CNBC-TV18 reports quoting unnamed sources.

Crude futures fell in Asian trade as mounting concerns about Britain's possible exit from the European Union and a surprise build in US inventories left investors ignoring the IEA's declaration that the oil market is now in balance.

US crude fell to a three-week low of USD 47.55 as the contract dropped for a fifth day. It was trading down 66 cents at USD 47.83 a barrel.

Brent was also down for a fifth day to hit its lowest in around two weeks. The global benchmark was 73 cents lower at USD 49.10 a barrel.

11:55 am Inflation curbs? Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is meeting his ministry officials, a day after wholesale price inflation in May shot up by 0.79 percent and sent the government scrambling for ways to control it.

Jaitley is also slated to meet key ministers, including Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh and Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday.

Steps to check food inflation as well as efforts being taken to boost supply of pulses through its newly-created buffer stock and also from imports are likely to be discussed.

In many states, the price of essential commodities have soared due to insufficient rainfall.

11:45 am Market outlook: Anish Damania, CEO & Head-Institutional Equities, IDFC Securities, is not overly worried about the Brexit vote event impacting Indian equity market. He said the global markets had positioned themselves for the event but it is not visible in India, at least in terms of the VIX and put-call positioning.

Talking to CNBC-TV18 from the broking firm's dealing room, he said IDFC has not seen selling and does not see risk of FIIs pulling out money.

The house is bullish on the market with a target of 8900 on the Nifty.

Damania said he is upbeat on financials, capital goods and engineering spaces but bearish on consumer goods and pharma space.

11:30 am Aviation stocks: Shares of aviation stocks are in focus as the Cabinet is likely to take final decision on new and much-awaited civil aviation policy today. Stocks like SpiceJet, Interglobe Aviation and Jet Airways were up 1-3 percent intraday.

The Cabinet is expected to take final call on the existing 5/20 rule. The 5/20 rule states that airlines must have completed at least 5 years of flying and have 20 fleets to be allowed to fly international flights.

Released in October 2015, the draft civil aviation policy had proposed three options – keeping the rule, doing away with it or replacing it with a credit-based system.  It had suggested replacement of the 5/20 policy by a 0/20 policy or 20 percent seat capacity, whichever is higher.

The market is still holding its early gains. The Sensex is up 86.43 points or 0.3 percent at 26482.14, and the Nifty is up 24.55 points or 0.3 percent at 8133.40. About 1459 shares have advanced, 647 shares declined, and 125 shares are unchanged.

Bharti Airtel, Hero MotoCorp, Cipla, SBI and L&T are top gainers while ICICI Bank, Coal India, Dr Reddy's Labs, Axis Bank and HDFC are losers in the Sensex.

Gold futures fell by 0.21 percent to Rs 30,493 per 10 grams today as participants cut their bets amid a weak global trend. Besides, profit-booking by speculators weighed on gold prices. Market analysts attributed the fall in prices to weak trend overseas and profit-booking by speculators at existing higher levels. Gold traded lower 0.10 percent at USD 1,284.20 an ounce in Singapore.

10:58 am Market Update: The Sensex rose 90.04 points to 26485.75 and the Nifty gained 23.45 points at 8132.30. About 1455 shares advanced against 637 declining shares on BSE.

10:40 am Interview: Kiri Industries scrip has seen a phenomenal rise of 270 percent over the last three months.

The company's topline growth saw a double-digit growth in FY16, and the managing director, Manish Kiri expects the revenue to grow 25-30 percent to around Rs 1300 crore in FY17 and about Rs 1500-1600 crore in FY18.

The company manufactures dyes, intermediaries and basic chemicals.

"We have no expansion plans in the coming years as we aim to utilise our capacities to their fullest by increasing production of dyes," Kiri said.

Fifty percent of the company's total sales come from exports, where Asia contributes a major chunk, he added.

10:20 am Buzzing: Pincon Spirit shares touched an all-time high of Rs 164, up 10 percent intraday after it listed on the National Stock Exchange. The upside was an addition to nearly 19 percent jump in previous session on Bombay Stock Exchange.

The stock is already available for trading on the BSE since November 14, 2014.

Kolkata-based spirit company had reported a whopping 53.1 percent jump in profit at Rs 25.5 crore and 42.6 percent rise in revenue at Rs 987.9 crore in FY16 compared with FY15. Operating profit (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) grew by 63.9 percent and margin expanded by 80 basis points in same period.

10:00 am Market Check
Equity benchmarks as well as broader markets remained positive on Asian cues and short covering after 4-day fall. Infra, telecom, auto, FMCG and select banking & financials gained while ICICI Bank, HDFC, TCS and Dr Reddy's Labs fell.

The Sensex rose 101.75 points to 26497.46 and the Nifty climbed 28.75 points to 8137.60. The market breadth was also positive as about three shares advanced for every share falling on BSE.

L&T, State Bank of India, Bharti Airtel, Hero Motocorp and NTPC gained 1-2.5 percent.

Mahesh Patil, Co-Chief Investment Officer of Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company, says any volatility in market would make for a good opportunity to buy stocks.

"We may see some volatility, especially in currency markets due to Brexit. But [over the medium term] Indian market is mainly driven by domestic cues. The earnings story is starting to kick in," he adds.

9:55 am Debt woes: Punjab National Bank released an updated list of wilful defaulters. According to data published on its website, 913 borrowers have been classified as wilful defaulters and they collectively owe over Rs 11,480 crore to the bank as of March 2016 compared to Rs 10,870 crore in February. Since the time PNB last released this list for February, it added 9 new wilful defaulters who owe Rs 616 crore to the bank.

9:45 am Defaulters: Irked over non-payment of dues by Reliance Infra-backed discoms - BRPL and BYPL - in Delhi, state-run NTPC said that two firms have not made payment of Rs 993 crore to its joint venture firm APCPL.

"... in spite of DERC directives, no payment has been released by these two discoms for APCPL (Aravali Power Company Pvt Ltd) amounting to Rs 993 crore as on June 14, 2016," NTPC Ltd said in a press statement.

APCPL is a joint venture company with 50 percent share of NTPC, 25 percent of Haryana Power Generation Company Ltd and 25 percent of Indraprastha Power Generation Company.

The JV runs a 1,500 MW thermal power plant near Village Jharli in District Jhajjar (Haryana).

9:30 am Market outlook: Global equity markets, which have so far been complacent about the possibility of Britain actually leaving the European Union are now waking up to the it.

This has triggered a belated bout of volatility, says Michael Every of Rabobank.

He expects markets to remain extremely volatile untill the Brexit vote on June 23. Therefore, it is better to buy inflation related bonds or best raise cash levels, he says. The German bund yields going into negative territory yesterday also indicates anything other than a positive outlook, says Every in an interview to CNBC-TV18, adding that it is still unclear where growth will come frome in the longer-term.

The market has opened firm supported by banks, auto, infra and pharma stocks. The Sensex is up 131.18 points or 0.5 percent at 26526.89, and the Nifty up 38.35 points or 0.5 percent at 8147.20. About 624 shares have advanced, 138 shares declined, and 37 shares are unchanged.

Adani Ports, Bhari Airtel, SBI, NTPC and BHEL are top gainers while ICICI Bnak, Dr Reddy's and TCS are down in the Sensex.

The Indian rupee opened flat at 67.25 per dollar against previous close of 67.26.The yuan slipped to its weakest level since early February in offshore trading after MSCI Inc. denied local equities entry into their indexes. The pound was near a two-month low on Brexit concerns.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity said, "Rupee can remain under pressure due to global events. If Indian equity market trades positively on the back of GST news then the rupee may get some support near 67.50/dollar levels."

Global markets are jittery as investors are keenly waiting for the Federal Reserve decision on rates and Bank of Japan policy meeting outcome while upcoming vote on whether the UK will remain in the European Union looms large.

Chinese mainland markets opened lower, but then retraced much of the losses on Wednesday. Stock index provider MSCI said it would delay inclusion of mainland-traded Chinese A shares in its key emerging market index. Other Asia markets were mostly lower. Major stock index firm MSCI said Tuesday it would delay inclusion of the mainland-traded Chinese A shares in its key emerging market index given lingering concerns about market accessibility.

US stocks closed lower Tuesday, amid declines in oil prices. The major averages ended well off session lows, with the S&P 500 just a touch below its 50-day moving average of 2,076.63 for the first time since May 23.

Crude prices declined led by Brexit concerns which overshadowed signs of a return to health for crude prices. International energy agency, said the oil market is essentially balanced after two years of surpluses. Gold price is near 6-week high on expectations the Federal Reserve won't raise rates today