Nifty ends at 8659, Sensex falls 66 points; BHEL, Wipro up 3%

3:30 pm Market closing: The Sensex ended down 66.51 points or 0.2 percent at 27984.37 while the Nifty slipped 18.80 points or 0.2 percent at 8659.10. About 1633 shares have advanced, 1184 shares declined, and 203 shares are unchanged.

2:59 pm Market Update: Benchmark indices remained volatile after yesterday's rally.

The Sensex was down 61.84 points at 27989.04 and the Nifty down 19.20 points at 8658.70 but the market breadth remained positive.

About 1600 shares advanced against 1137 declining shares on the BSE.

2:50 pm Earnings: Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilisers turned profitable in July-September quarter on strong operational performance despite revenue degrowth. Profit for the quarter stood at Rs 15.4 crore against loss of Rs 19.4 crore in year-ago period.

Total income from operations fell 5.6 percent to Rs 848.4 crore in the quarter ended September 2016 compared with Rs 898.3 crore in same period last year.

EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) stood at Rs 61.2 crore during the quarter against EBITDA loss of Rs 0.5 crore in corresponding period of last fiscal.

The scrip of Mangalore Chemicals was locked at 20 percent upper circuit at Rs 63.35 amid high volumes on the BSE.

2:36 pm New products from Hind Zinc soon: Hindustan Zinc (HZL) will come out with its specialised product -- zinc die casting alloy -- through which it looks to meet requirements of auto, household appliances and defence sectors.

Hindustan Zinc die casting alloy (HZDA) is produced using primary zinc and pure aluminium and will cater to the need of the die-casting sector for applications in automobile components, household appliances, sanitary-ware and defence, the firm said.

It is expected to replace the imported zinc alloys.

The company will also be starting production of the Toning Alloy series for consumption in steel galvanising sector for precise control of aluminium in galvanising bath, it added.

The product will be launched by Steel Minister Chaudhary Birendra Singh at the two-day International Galvanising

2:20 pm Outlook: Earnings are going to be a major driver for the market. The Sensex could touch 30,000 soon if earnings continue to pick up, says Sashi Krishnan, Chief Information Officer, Birla Sun Life Insurance.

He is postive on the market in the long-term as he sees a lot of overseas flows continue into India. But there could be a positive effect if the US Federal Reserve raises rates faster than expectation.

The second quarter results may be under pressure for corporate banks, says Krishnan.

2:00 pm Market Check
Equity benchmarks recouped losses with the Sensex reclaiming 28000 level, aided by oil, pharma and select technology stocks. However, the profit booking in ITC, ICICI Bank, HDFC and SBI limited gains.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 6.13 points at 28057.01 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 3.20 points to 8681.10. The broader markets continued to outperform benchmarks with the BSE Midcap rising 0.1 percent and Smallcap 0.66 percent on positive breadth.

About 1601 shares advanced against 1103 declining shares on the BSE.

Fertiliser stocks gained momentum with Chambal Fertilisers, Deepak Fertilisers, FACT, GNFC, Madras Fertilisers, NFL, Zuari Agro and Zuari Global rising 6-13 percent.

2:00 pm Market check: Market recovers as the Sensex is down 3.44 points at 28047.44 and the Nifty is up 0.25 points  at 8678.15. About 1562 shares have advanced, 1109 shares declined, and 209 shares are unchanged.

1:45 pm IPO: Varun Beverages has set a price range of Rs 440-445 each for its planned initial public offering (IPO), which is targeting to raise between USD 165 million and USD 167 million, according to a term sheet of the deal obtained by IFR.

Varun Beverages is offering up to 25 million shares, comprising 15 million primary and the rest secondary shares, representing 13.7 percent of the expanded capital, the terms showed.

The company will have a market value of about USD 1.2 billion after the IPO, which will be open for subscription between October 26-28, the terms showed. The shares will start trading on or around November 8.

1:30 pm Asset on portfolio managers: Wealthy investors continued to have faith in portfolio managers or advisory services as the assets under management of such entities surged to over Rs 11.5 lakh crore in the Indian capital market at September-end.

It also marks the ninth-consecutive monthly increase in the asset base of portfolio managers.

Asset base of portfolio managers, who mostly manage investments or provide advisory services to high net worth individuals (HNIs), stood at Rs 9.85 lakh crore in September 2015.

According to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), asset under management (AUM) of portfolio managers was at Rs 11.50 lakh crore at the end of September as against Rs 11.37 lakh crore in the preceding month.

The market is slipping away as the Sensex is down 83.30 points or 0.3 percent at 27967.58. The Nifty is down 25.60 points or 0.3 percent at 8652.30. About 1463 shares have advanced, 1135 shares declined, and 188 shares are unchanged.

FMCG, banks and auto stocks are under pressure. ICICI Bank, ITC, Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp and M&M are losers while BHEL, Wipro, Lupin, GAIL and Sun Pharma.

European stocks were mixed in morning trade Wednesday, following a raft of data out of China which showed government spending had helped the world's second-largest economy to stabilize.

The pan-European Euro Stoxx 600 Index was flat with major bourses pointing in directions. The main focus Wednesday was China's gross domestic product which grew 6.7 percent in the year to September, precisely in line with forecasts.

Tepid private investment was compensated for by robust government spending and a heated property market. Industrial output was the key disappointment and concerns persist that unsustainable credit growth was a key support factor in the numbers.

12:59 pm Market Update: Benchmark indices extended losses in afternoon trade. The Sensex was down 95.73 points at 27955.15 and the Nifty down 29.30 points at 8648.60 despite positive breadth.

About 1450 shares advanced against 1140 declining shares on the BSE.

12:39 pm Europe opens: European stocks opened higher, reassured by a raft of data out of China showing government spending has helped the economy to stabilize.

China's GDP (gross domestic product) grew 6.7 percent in the year to September, precisely in line with forecasts, with tepid private investment compensated for by robust government spending and a heated property market. Industrial output was the key disappointment and concerns persist that unsustainable credit growth was a key support factor in the numbers.

12:20 pm Cairn Arbitration: Government has sought putting on hold the arbitration initiated by British oil explorer Cairn Energy against a Rs 29,047 crore retrospective tax demand and instead wants a parallel arbitration initiated by Vedanta Resources to be taken up first.

The government using retrospective tax legislation had in January 2014 issued a tax notice on Cairn Energy for alleged capital gains it made on a 10-year old internal reorganisation of its India unit.

Three months later in April 2014, it imposed a tax demand of Rs 20,495 crore on Cairn India, the UK firm's erstwhile subsidiary for failing to deduct tax on the capital gains.

Cairn Energy and Vedanta, which had bought Cairn India from the Scottish firm in 2011, had initiated separate arbitrations against the tax demands.

12:00 pm Market Check
Benchmark indices remained rangebound in noon trade with the Nifty hovering around 8675 level as investors awaited September quarter earnings.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 31.65 points at 28019.23 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 8.75 points to 8669.15. The broader markets continued to outperform benchmarks on positive breadth. About 1561 shares advanced against 922 declining shares.

IDBI Bank rallied 4 percent as four bidders are in race to buy stake in the bank.

DHFL shares hit a record high of Rs 334.70, up nearly 18 percent in four consecutive sessions. While maintaining buy rating on the stock, Nomura raised target price Rs 375 per share from Rs 250 after September quarter earnings.

Oil prices traded higher, pushed up by a report of a fall in US crude inventories and an OPEC statement saying a planned production cut was achievable, although analysts warned that Chinese economic data could erode the bullish momentum.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were trading at USD 50.84 per barrel, up 1.09 percent, from their last settlement. International Brent crude futures were at USD 52.22 a barrel, up 1.04 percent.

11:55 am Boardroom: In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Sudhakar Ram, MD & Group CEO of Mastek
 spoke about the results and his outlook for the company.

He said, "The growth could have been better in terms of our expectations but on some projects it was the right shift. Going forward, we do expect the growth rates to pick up. We do see quarter-on-quarter improvement over the next 3-4 quarters, in terms of topline and definitely it should translate to better bottom-line".

Talking about margin improvement, he further mentioned, "The troubled program has pretty much been resolved and it will now take on a more profitable execution path going forward. We have also had improvements in terms of SG&A leverage, SG&A effectiveness that in terms of the overheads as well as sales and marketing, we have taken a tighter look at it to ensure that it is in line with our current revenue projections. Both of those have led to margin improvements in this quarter and they will continue to yield better margins going forward".

11:45 am Gold: Gold prices softened by 0.12 percent to Rs 29,870 per 10 gram in futures trading as traders trimmed their bets amid weak global cues.

At Multi Commodity Exchange, gold for delivery in February next year declined by Rs 35 or 0.12 percent to Rs 29,870 per ten gram in business turnover of 7 lots.

Likewise, the metal for delivery in December contracts was trading lower by Rs 19 or 0.06 percent to Rs 29,767 per ten gram in 322 lots.

Analysts said cutting down of positions by participants, tracking a weak trend in global markets weighed on gold prices in futures trade here.

Meanwhile, gold fell 0.07 percent to USD 1,261.30 an ounce in Singapore.

11:30 am COAI: Cellular operators' association COAI has asked the telecom regulator TRAI to defer the review of interconnect usage charges -- paid by one telecom operator to another for connecting phone calls -- till March 2017.

In its written response to TRAI's contentious consultation paper on interconnection usage charges or IUC, the association said that the regulator has initiated various other consultations which depending upon their final outcomes "may have a significant direct impact on cost structures, changes in technology and other market dynamics."

"It is therefore critical that the IUC review should not be held at this stage and be deferred by some months, that is, after end March 2017...By such time there will be more clarity on several issues," COAI said in its latest submission to TRAI.

The market is under pressure as the Sensex is down 56.94 points or 0.2 percent at 27993.94. The Nifty is down 13.40 points or 0.1 percent at 8664.50. About 1456 shares have advanced, 868 shares declined, and 146 shares are unchanged.

BHEL, GAIL, Wipro, Sun Pharma and Lupin are top gainers while ITC, ICICI, M&M, Hero and Tata Motors are losers in the Sensex.

Consumer demand in the three months to November is likely to be meaningfully better than the corresponding period of last year on account of abundant provisioning for loans and consumer appetite for purchasing goods, said Saurabh Mukherjea of Ambit Capital Investments.

He, however, adds that while consumer demand isn't a worry, softening investment demand over the past 3-4 months is a concern.

Mukherjea said that IT sector is challenged from a top line growth perspective. The mismatch between elevated PE multiples and modest EPS is unlikely to abate in the near term, he said.

10:34 am Earnings Poll: Hindustan Zinc, a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources Plc, is likely to report a 35 percent degrowth year-on-year in profit at Rs 1,491 crore for July-September quarter, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

Total income from operations may fall 17 percent to Rs 3,365 crore in the quarter ended September 2016 compared with Rs 4,033.5 crore in same period last year, impacted by lower sales volumes despite higher realisations.

Operating profit is seen declining 21 percent to Rs 1,700 crore and margin may contract 320 basis points to 50.5 percent in same period due to sharply lower refined zinc and lead metal production.

10:16 am IPO: Varun Beverages has set a price range of Rs 440-445 each for its planned initial public offering (IPO), which is targeting to raise between USD 165 million and USD 167 million, according to a term sheet of the deal obtained by IFR.

Varun Beverages is offering up to 25 million shares, comprising 15 million primary and the rest secondary shares, representing 13.7 percent of the expanded capital, the terms showed.

The company will have a market value of about USD 1.2 billion after the IPO, which will be open for subscription between October 26-28, the terms showed. The shares will start trading on or around November 8.

10:00 am Market Check
Equity benchmarks continued to consolidate after yesterday's sharp run as investors awaited more quarterly earnings. The broader markets marginally outperformed benchmarks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 26.22 points at 28024.66 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 4.75 points to 8673.15. About 1307 shares advanced against 640 declining shares on the BSE.

Endurance Technologies surged 22 percent on debut. The stock opened at Rs 572 per share against issue price of Rs 472 per share.

BHEL and GAIL topped the buying list, up 3-4 percent followed by Reliance Industries, Sun Pharma, Lupin, Axis Bank, ONGC and L&T.

ITC, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, TCS, Tata Motors, HDFC and HUL saw profit booking.

9:45 am Sovereign Gold Bonds: The Reserve Bank said it has issued five tranches of Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGB) for a total value of Rs 3,060 crore till date.

Investors in these bonds have been provided with the option of holding them in physical or dematerialised form.

"The requests for dematerialisation have largely been processed successfully. A set of records, however, could not be processed for various reasons such as mismatches in names and PAN numbers, inactive or closed demat accounts, besides other reasons," the central bank said in a statement.

RBI issued the bonds in consultation with the government.

9:35 am FII view: Barring autos, high-frequency data doesn't show any uptick, Mahesh Nandurkar of CLSA says, adding an analysis of more than 40 high frequency indicators reveals that economic recovery isn't visible as yet.

He feels the positive impact of an early Diwali was largely offset by an extended monsoon.

He says autos is the only sub-segment where data has improved substantially in the past three months. Several other indicators such as cement, power, commercial vehicles and rail freight remain weak in low single digits/decline.

9:20 am Market check: The Sensex is down 3.13 points at 28047.75, and the Nifty is down 3.40 points at 8674.50. About 840 shares have advanced, 332 shares declined, and 53 shares are unchanged.

BHEL is up over 4 percent while GAIL, Sun Pharma, Lupin and Wipro are gainers. ICICI Bank, ITC, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel and Adani Ports are top losers in the Sensex.

The market has opened in greeen with the Nifty still below 8700. The 50-share index is up 17.75 points or 0.2 percent at 8695.65 and the Sensex is up 63.66 points or 0.2 percent at 28114.54. About 421 shares have advanced, 84 shares declined, and 33 shares are unchanged.

BHEL, Asian Paints, HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma and Axis Bank are top gainers while Tata Motors, Coal India and L&T are losers in the Sensex.

The Indian rupee opened marginally higher at 66.68 per dollar on Wednesday against previous close 66.72.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity said, "Rupee to trade with positive bias following positive sentiment in domestic equity market. See resistance for the USD-INR at 66.80/dollar levels. The USD-INR pair will trade in a range of 66.50-66.80/dollar."

The US dollar was mixed as investors took some profits from the greenback's recent strength and evaluated whether the Federal Reserve is likely to raise interest rates later this year.

Among global markets, Asian shares inched ahead after Wall Street got a lift from encouraging corporate earnings and investors wagered an imminent barrage of Chinese data would confirm the economy had at least stabilised.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.4 percent, on top of a jump of 1.4 percent on Tuesday. Australian shares firmed 0.4 percent, while Japan's Nikkei dithered either side of flat.

All eyes were on the Chinese gross domestic product (GDP) report due at 0200 GMT. While there are some doubts about the reliability of the data, markets tend to take them on face value.

Wall Street advanced on Tuesday to give the S&P 500 its best day this month on the heels of solid earnings reports from names such as UnitedHealth and Netflix that put corporate profits on track to snap a four-quarter streak of declines.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 75.54 points, or 0.42 percent, to 18,161.94, the S&P 500 gained 13.1 points, or 0.62 percent, to 2,139.6 and the Nasdaq Composite added 44.01 points, or 0.85 percent, to 5,243.84.

Hindustan Zinc Q2 earnings is seen improving on a sequential basis due to higher production and prices. KPIT Tech is expected to post a tepid quarter.

Endurance Technologies is set to list on exchanges today issue price been fixed at Rs 472 per share.

Among asset classes, Crude oil prices were higher, as the dollar relinquished early gains and expectations of OPEC output curbs lifted crude futures from session lows.

Gold prices logged highest settlement level in nearly two weeks, as strength in the British pound helped the US dollar ease back from recent multi-month highs. However, receding worries about the outcome of the US election and expectations of US rate rises in December could limit upside going ahead.