Nifty ends June series below 7500, Sensex loses 251 points

03:40 pm Centre-state: Amid weakening of monsoon and rise in food prices, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today pushed for close coordination between the centre and states on implementing contingency plans and asked states to set up fast-track courts to deal with hoarders and black-marketeers. Holding a meeting with Cabinet colleagues to review the progress of monsoon and steps taken to contain inflation, the Prime Minister directed that adequate water, power and seed supply should be ensured to the farmers so that the production is not affected due to scant rainfall.

The meeting was told that the monsoon has been weak but it is likely to "improve substantially" in the next two months and steps taken to contain inflation have shown "positive effect". The Agriculture Ministry has firmed up a contingency plan for more than 500 districts, the meeting was told.

03:30 pm Market closing: Sharp sell-off in oil & gas stocks and also cautiousness due to F&O expiry dragged Indian market today. The Nifty ended June series below 7500, down 76.05 points at 7493.20.The Sensex was down 251.07 points at 25062.67.

ONGC plunged 6 percent. NTPC, Coal India and HDFC were major losers in the Sensex. Among the gainers were  Wipro, L&T, Dr Reddy's Labs and Bharti Airtel.

03:15 pm Warning: Standard Chartered warned of lower profits this year after a 20 percent slump in first-half earnings, as tougher regulations and low market volatility hit its trading business.

The bank also said the head of its financial markets business, Lenny Feder, was taking a one-year sabbatical and would not return in the same role.

Revenues from the financial markets business, which includes equities, commodities, foreign exchange and other capital markets activities, are set to fall by a fifth in the first half from a year ago, the bank said in a trading update.

That extends a slump seen since the middle of last year when trading volumes at Standard Chartered and rivals were hit as clients do less business in a low interest rate environment and banks have to hold more capital against these businesses. Interest rate and foreign exchange trading have been particularly hit.

03:05 pm Market alert: Just sharp sell off is seen as the market gears up for June F&O series closing. The Nifty is down 76.25 points or 1.01 percent at 7493.00 and the Sensex slips 279.45 points or 1.10 percent at 25034.29. About 1450 shares have advanced, 1515 shares declined, and 96 shares are unchanged.

03:00pm L&T up 2%
L&T Technology Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro, has purchased 74 percent equity stake in Thales Software India. With this transaction, L&T Technology will now manage and oversee the management control, operations and delivery of services of the new joint venture, says the company in its filing.

By retaining 26 percent stake, Thales will help the company develop the latest trends in the avionics industry.

"This joint venture represents each organisation's strong commitment to provide customers with a single source of best services in avionics industry, says Keshab Panda, chief executive, L&T Technology.

CLSA says L&T remains its preferred pick in the infrastructure space. According to the brokerage, it would be a key beneficiary of the revival in highways, oil & gas, railways and urban infrastructure sectors. Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) itself would be a big opportunity with USD 4 billion ordering expected in FY15.

02:50pm Market Expert
Indian stock market has been volatile for a few days due to various local and global issues. Chris Roberts, MD, Asianomics finds this market quite stretched and feels a 5-10 percent correction will make it quite interesting.

He, however, rules out a massive setback and sees Sensex hitting 35000-45000 in coming years.

02:40pm Interview
Anil Khandelwal, chief financial officer, Cox & Kings says the company will use the proceeds of its camping business sale to pare its debt.

Cox & Kings sold its non-core camping business for 89 million pounds.

The rationale, Khandelwal, says is that the camping business doesn't have synergies with the group's existing business, so the company is happy to be able to sell it.

02:30pm Dewan Housing on buyers' radar
Dewan Housing Finance Corporation says rating agency Credit Analysis & Research (CARE) has up-graded the ratings assigned to the long term bank facilities and other instruments/securities of the company.

CARE has revised its rating on company's long term bank facilities worth Rs 30,843.45 crore to AAA from AA+. Its non-convertible debenture issue worth Rs 3,000 crore got AAA rating while other debenture issue worth Rs 8,155.22 crore received AAA rating revised from earlier AA+. The stock was up 7 percent.

02:20pm FII View
Avadhoot Sabnis, CIMB says the FY15 budget will showcase Prime Minister Narendra Modi's commitment to key election planks: infrastructure, jobs and housing which can set the stage for the next leg of economic growth.

"Within the coverage universe, our top budget buys are Nagarjuna Construction, L&T, Cummins India, Ashok Leyland, Sobha Developers and LIC Housing Finance," he adds.

02:10pm Aban Offshore in focus, up 6%
Macquarie raised its FY15e target price on Aban Offshore to Rs 1090 and upgraded it to outperform from underperform.

The brokerage house says, "India's largest E&P drilling firm, Aban Offshore, is starting to emerge from the debt-trap it faced due to an ill-timed leveraged-acquisition at the peak of the market. Aban is the best placed oil-services firm to benefit from revival in Indian E&P capex led by regulations, and catching up with improved rig-rates globally."

"With the worst behind it, and the stock up near its rig-replacement value, Aban will likely raise equity (or restructure debt) to retire a large bond up for repayment in FY15 that put the stock at bankruptcy valuations until CY13," it adds.

Macquarie expects 20-30 percent higher rig-rates for 3-5 jackups up for contract renewals in FY15, saying risks of/sanctions on operating in Iran seem to be waning. Hence, it forecasts profit growth of 43 percent CAGR by FY17, also driven by Aban deleveraging from around 3 times to 1.5 times.

02:00pm The 50-share NSE Nifty continued to see selling pressure on expiry day for June derivative contracts, falling 40.80 points to 7528.45. The 30-share BSE Sensex slipped 155.65 points to 25158.09 weighed down by oil & gas, metals and HDFC group stocks.

ONGC dropped more than 5 percent on deferment of natural gas price revision by the government. Shares of HDFC, NTPC, Hindustan Unilever, Sesa Sterlite and GAIL declined 1-2 percent followed by HDFC Bank, Tata Motors, Infosys and ICICI Bank with marginal loss.

However, L&T, Dr Redddy's Labs, BHEL and Wipro remained on buyers' radar, up 1-1.6 percent. TCS, Axis Bank, ITC, Sun Pharma, Bharti, M&M and Bajaj Auto gained 0.2-0.7 percent.

Aban Offshore, ONGC, HDFC, Kesoram Industries and State Bank of India were most active shares on exchanges.

2:00 pm FII view: Indian stock market has been volatile for a few days due to various local and global issues. Chris Roberts, MD, Asianomics finds this market quite stretched and feels a 5-10 percent correction will make it quite interesting. He, however, rules out a massive setback and sees Sensex hitting 35000-45000 in coming years.

Among stocks, Roberts finds Infosys interesting but may exit ITC if it closes below Rs 300 per share. He also chooses not to chase auto sector that has unfavourable risk-reward ratio.

1:50 pm Pinching gas price: After the new government took the decision to keep gas price unchanged for three more months, former Union minister and senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily said the deferment will hurt ONGC and other public sector oil and gas companies.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Moily said the delay in working out a gas price formula will lead to decline in investment climate which in turn will lead to rise in imports and inflation."Right thing would be to work out the pricing formula at the earliest."

The government on Wednesday postponed revision in natural gas prices by three months pending a "comprehensive" review to make a controversial pricing formula more palatable.

1:40 pm Buzzing: Shares of Kesoram Industries, which engaged in the businesses of cement, textile and tyre, shot up as much as 12.7 percent intraday after the board members created committee to consider steps for reorganisation of company.

Kesoram says the board of directors noted the imminent necessity for the company to explore options for reorganising and realigning its existing businesses.

"The board has, for these purposes, constituted a core committee to consider and evaluate steps that the company may need to pursue to implement such reorganisation and realignment," it adds. The committee is comprising of three directors, two of whom are independent.

1:30 pm Market outlook: Sanjay Dutt of Quantum Securities is advising investors against buying auto stocks at current levels, as he feels the sector is over owned. In other words, most investors already have auto shares in their portfolio, reducing the probability of big gains. In an interview to CNBC-TV18's Sonia Shenoy and Anuj Singhal, Dutt said he was pleased with the government's performance in its first month in office.

He said the mood among investors is upbeat, and that he would not be too perturbed if there was no pre-Budget rally. Dutt says he will not buy Infosys and ITC at current prices, adding that he failed to understand the logic the government owning stake in ITC. 

The market is going weak on expiry day with the Nifty slipping below 7,550 mark. Oil & gas heavyweights while IT stocks aid markets.

The Sensex is down 150.34 points at 25163.40 and the Nifty is down 41.70 points at 7527.55. About 1392 shares have advanced, 1404 shares declined, and 97 shares are unchanged.

L&T, Dr Reddy's Labs, BHEL, Wipro and M&M are top gainers in the Sensex.

The board of MCX is meeting today to decide on the 24 percent stake sale in Financial Technologies. Stake sale in likely to be expedited post the board meet. Sources suggest MCX may opt for offer for sale route to divest stake in FT.

The rupee erased initial gains to trade tad lower as month-end dollar purchases by importers weigh.

01:00pm Essar Oil in focus
The company said it has received a certificate computing the floor price for delisting proposal. "Based on the certificate, promoter Essar Energy Holdings (EEHL) has informed that, in accordance with Sebi Delisting Regulations, a floor price of Rs 108.18 apiece has been set for delisting," it added.

Earlier on June 23, the board of directors of Essar Oil had approved delisting proposal received from its promoter EEHL.

12:50pm Kesoram Industries up 10.5%
Kesoram Industries says the board of directors today noted the imminent necessity for the company to explore options for reorganising and realigning its existing businesses. "It has, for these purposes, constituted a core committee comprising of three directors, two of whom are independent, to consider and evaluate steps that the company may need to pursue to implement such reorganisation and realignment," it adds.

12:40pm Man Infra in News
The board of directors of Man Infraconstruction on Wednesday has approved sub-division of one equity share of face value of Rs 10 each into five shares of face value of Rs 2 each, says the company in its filing. It is subject to approval of shareholders.

The board, after its approval, is also seeking approval from company's shareholders for borrowing funds in excess of aggregate paid-up share capital and free reserves of the company; creation of mortgage, charge, hypothecation, lien and other encumbrances; and to invest or to provide loans and advances or give guarantees/securities up to 100 percent of free reserves and securities premium account or Rs 900 crore, whichever is higher. The stock climbed 6 percent.

12:30pm Aban Offshore on buyers' radar
Aban Offshore gained 6.5 percent. Macquarie raised its FY15e target price on the stock to Rs 1090 and upgraded it to outperform from underperform.

The brokerage house says, "India's largest E&P drilling firm, Aban Offshore, is starting to emerge from the debt-trap it faced due to an ill-timed leveraged-acquisition at the peak of the market. Aban is the best placed oil-services firm to benefit from revival in Indian E&P capex led by regulations, and catching up with improved rig-rates globally."

"With the worst behind it, and the stock up near its rig-replacement value, Aban will likely raise equity (or restructure debt) to retire a large bond up for repayment in FY15 that put the stock at bankruptcy valuations until CY13," it adds.

Macquarie expects 20-30 percent higher rig-rates for 3-5 jackups up for contract renewals in FY15, saying risks of/sanctions on operating in Iran seem to be waning. Hence, it forecasts profit growth of 43 percent CAGR by FY17, also driven by Aban deleveraging from around 3 times to 1.5 times.

12:20pm Interview
Subhash Pramanik, Managing Director, Gulf Oil Corporation said the listed entity will focus on real estate, mining and infrastructure.

The shares of Gulf Oil Corporation India (GOCL), which de-merged the lubricants division into a separate entity Gulf Oil Lubricant India (GOLIL), were listed on BSE and NSE today.

The company's lubricant business will be listing in a month and it has been ramping up capacity, he said. He expects over Rs 1,000 crore sales per year from this segment.

12:10pm Market Expert
The PSU oil and gas sector in India is a hostage to policy announcements, says Nilesh Shah, MD & CEO of Axis Capital. The gas price hike deferment coupled with the situation in Iraq is impacting ONGC stock negatively, he says.

High risk of policy announcements shrouds the entire oil and gas sector, he adds. He advises investors to look at historic valuations of such stocks before buying them. ''Do trading kind of investments rather than buy and hold these stocks,'' is the word coming in from Shah.

He expects Nifty to remain rangebound from here till Budget. He believes market will look for investment and growth revival moves or announcements by the government in the Budget. He says many mid and small cap companies are trading at attractive valuations.

12:00pm The market remained under pressure in noon trade with the Sensex falling 147.89 points to 25165.85 and the Nifty declining 40.90 points to 7528.35 weighed down by private banking & financials, oil & gas and metals stocks.

About 1286 shares have advanced, 1326 shares declined, and 109 shares are unchanged.

State-run oil & gas company ONGC kept its top position in the selling list, falling more than 5 percent after the government postponed revision in natural gas price by three months. Gail declined over a percent while oil marketing companies dropped 3-4 percent as there was no proposal to hike LPG or kerosene prices in cabinet meeting held on Wednesday.

NTPC fell 2 percent followed by HDFC, HDFC Bank, Infosys, ICICI Bank, HUL, Sesa Sterlite, Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki with 0.3-1.3 percent.

However, Larsen & Toubro, Dr Reddy's Labs, BHEL and Wipro bucked the trend, gaining over a percent. ITC rebounded, up 0.4 percent. Mahindra & Mahindra, State Bank of India, Bharti Airtel and Axis Bank gained marginally.

11:55 am Buzzing: Shares of Crompton Greaves (CG) gained as much as 3.2 percent intraday on Thursday after the Avantha Group company along with the other consortium partners Fabricom and Iemants has been selected by Van Oord, for the offshore wind project 'Gemini' in the Netherlands.

"The volume of the order for the consortium is in excess of euro 150 million. The project is expected to start in the second quarter of 2014 and to be completed in 2016," says the company in its filing.

As part of the scope CG will design, deliver and install 2 high voltage offshore substations and 1 HV onshore substation. CG's scope covers approximately 30 percent of the overall contract. It is the 10th offshore grid connection project secured since 2008.

11:45 am FII view: Indian stock market has been volatile for a few days due to various local and global issues. Chris Roberts, MD, Asianomics finds this market quite stretched and feels a 5-10 percent correction will make it quite interesting. He, however, rules out a massive setback and sees Sensex hitting 35000-45000 in coming years. Among stocks, Roberts finds Infosys interesting but may exit ITC if it closes below Rs 300 per share. He also chooses not to chase auto sector that has unfavourable risk-reward ratio.

11:30 am Interview: Arundhati Bhattacharya, chairman and managing director, State Bank of India says the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley should announce such a Budegt on July 10 that leads to tremendous amount of job creation. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Bhattacharya says job creation is one mean to ensure the economy starts moving and this growth will help both public as well as private banks. One of the sector that can generate lot of employment, she says, is the medium and small enterprises (MSMEs).

''However, the sector is plagued by lack of capital and an inability to receive payments on time. So, if the FM can address these issues, it could help revive the economy,'' she further adds.

The market is still sulking with oil & gas stocks dragging feet. Investors are also cautious ahead of June F&O expiry series. The Sensex is down 132.16 points at 25181.58 and the Nifty is down 34.70 points at 7534.55. About 1239 shares have advanced, 1141 shares declined and 92 shares are unchanged.

BHEL, L&T, Dr Reddy's Labs, Wipro and M&M are top gainers in the Sensex.

Oil & gas are under Pressure as CCEA deferred gas price hike by three months and there is no proposal to hike LPG and kerosene.

Overseas investors bought shares worth of Rs 6.95 lakh crore on Wednesday. Asian shares swung higher on Thursday as weak US growth seemed to further delay the day when interest rates might rise, pulling down bond yields globally and pushing investors toward riskier assets in desperate search for returns.

11:00am Jayaswal Neco's preferential issue
Jayaswal Neco Industries says the board of directors has approved issue of further 4 crore equity shares of Rs 10 each at premium of Rs 15 per share on preferential basis. It will be for the purpose of raising further equity as a part of equity contribution towards expansion projects of the company under implementation.

The board has also approved to convene extra-ordinary general meeting of the members of the company on the July 25, 2014 for obtaining approval to the aforesaid preferential issue.

10:50am Essar Oil rallies 5%
Essar Oil has received a certificate computing the floor price for the delisting proposal from Essar Energy Holdings (EEHL). Based on the certificate, EEHL says a floor price of Rs 108.18 has been set for delisting.

The board of directors approved voluntary delisting proposal received from its promoter, Essar Energy Holdings on June 23, 2014.

10:40am Rajlaxmi Industries in News
Rajlaxmi Industries says a meeting of the board of directors will be held on July 02, 2014 to consider and approve the sub-division of the nominal value of equity shares of the company.

10:35am Autos in focus
In a big relief for auto manufacturers, the government cleared the air on excise duty structure for the sector. It decided to extend excise duty concession by six months , till the end of 2014.

Welcoming the move, Kapil Singh of Nomura told CNBC-TV18, this step augurs well for the auto sector and is a big positive.  He added that this step is in the right direction since the recovery in the auto sector is still at a nascent stage.

Singh is hopeful of 12 percent growth in auto demand in FY15. He added that four -wheeler sales have not seen growth over the past three-four years, but demand is likely to pick up substantially going ahead.

Maruti would be the biggest beneficiary of excise sops extension, he added.

Nomura has a buy rating on Maruti, Tata Motors and M&M.

10:25am Interview
Engineers India (EIL) has been awarded the Navratna status. This upgraded status will provide the company with enhanced operational and financial autonomy to work in domestic and overseas markets.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Chairman Ashok Kumar Purwaha said the Navratna status gives the company autonomy to work better in international market and make it more competitive.

EIL is an engineering consultancy company providing design, engineering, procurement, construction and integrated project management services from concept to commissioning. It is the 15th state-owned company to receive this status.

Meanwhile, speaking about the latest happenings in the company, he said EIL's current order book stands at Rs 4,200 crore.

10:20 am Market outlook: The gas price hike deferral will be negative for companies like ONGC and Oil India , is the word coming in from Manish Sonthalia of Motilal Oswal Asset Management. He, however, does not see it impacting GAIL in a major way.

"There will be a negative kneejerk reaction to Oil India, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) because the earnings per share (EPS) cut because of six months delay, the sensitivity is like this that for every dollar delay increase for six months reduces ONGC's EPS by 5 percent, for Oil India 3.5 percent. Therefore, these stocks would be negatively impacted. GAIL, I do not think would get impacted at all," he said.

On the overall market, he does not expect a pre-Budget rally. He says at the most it can consolidate side ways. Plus, any negative development in Iraq could also impact the market.

Oil & gas stocks drag the market as government defers gas price revision. The Sensex is down 170.37 points at 25143.37 and the Nifty slips 49.50 points at 7519.75. About 913 shares have advanced, 916 shares declined, and 72 shares are unchanged.

ONGC has fallen 5 percent while Reliance, GAIL, HUL and HDFC are major laggards in the Sensex. Autos are firm with gainers like M&M and Bajaj Auto as government has extended lower excise duty till Dec.

Gold held on to small overnight gains on Thursday to trade near a two-month high, supported by safe-haven bids from weak data on US economic growth and a softer dollar.

Asian shares swung higher as weak US rowth seemed to further delay the day when interest rates might rise, pulling down bond yields globally and pushing investors toward riskier assets in a desperate search for returns.

A shockingly poor reading on the US economy for the first quarter also pressured the dollar while giving a lift to most commodities and resource-related currencies. Still, the prospect that Federal Reserve would keep rates low for longer encouraged equity investors. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.3 percent. Japan's Nikkei gained 0.4 percent and South Korea 0.5 percent.

09:55am Crompton Greaves bags order
Avantha Group Company Crompton Greaves, along with the other consortium partners Fabricom and Iemants, has been selected by Van Oord, for the offshore wind project
''Gemini'' in the Netherlands.

As part of the scope CG, will design, deliver and install 2 high voltage offshore substations and 1 HV onshore substation. The volume of the order for the consortium is in excess of euro 150 million. CG's scope covers approximately 30 percent of the overall contract. The
project is expected to start in the second quarter of 2014 and to be completed in 2016.

09:45am Market Update
Equity benchmarks extended fall with the Sensex losing 178.38 points to 25135.36 and the Nifty slipping 54.50 points to 7514.75. About 857 shares have advanced, 818 shares declined, and 56 shares are unchanged.

09:35am Mcleod Russel in focus
Mcleod Russel India says Phu Ben Tea Company, a step down subsidiary at the company in Vietnam has signed an agreement on June 25 with Ngoc Hai Company for acquisition of a factory in Doan Hung District, Phu Tho Province, Vietnam.

The factory has annual production capacity of 12 lakh kgs of made Tea at a price of USD 2,093,700 inclusive of VAT.

09:25am Market Expert
The gas price hike deferral will be negative for companies like ONGC and Oil India, is the word coming in from Manish Sonthalia of Motilal Oswal Asset Management. He, however, does not see it impacting GAIL in a major way.

He advises investors to be in the wait and watch mode and see whether the Rangarajan formula gets implemented before buying stocks in the oil and gas sector. There is some debate on the need for a new formula, he adds.

On the overall market, going by the current state, he does not expect a pre-Budget rally. He says at the most it can consolidate side ways. Plus, any negative development in Iraq could also impact the market.

He is bullish on auto as well as the auto ancillary sector. He believes the government's decision to continue with low excise duty for six months till December 31 is a huge positive for the sector. Also, the sector will be one of the biggest beneficiaries of an improvement in the economy going ahead, he adds.

09:15am Equity benchmarks started off Thursday's trade on a weak note weighed down by oil & gas stocks post deferment of revision in natural gas price.

The Sensex declined 26.57 points to 25287.17 and the Nifty fell 4.60 points to 7564.65. About 851 shares have advanced, 364 shares declined, and 45 shares are unchanged.

ONGC tanked 5.62 percent as the government postponed revision in natural gas prices by three months pending a "comprehensive" review to make a controversial pricing formula more palatable. The current USD 4.2 per million British thermal unit rate for gas, which would have jumped to USD 8.8 if a formula approved by the previous UPA government was implemented on July 1, will continue till September-end, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said.

BPCL and GAIL declined 2-3 percent. Maruti Suzuki, Cipla and Cairn India slipped marginally.

However, Bajaj Auto, M&M, Hero Motocorp, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, Bharti Airtel, BHEL and SBI advanced 0.8-1.2 percent.

The Indian rupee has opened flat at 60.09 per dollar on Thursday as against previous day's closing value of 60.12 a dollar.

The dollar languished near one-month lows against a basket of major currencies after revised US growth figures for the first quarter came in shockingly weak.

Mohan Shenoi of Kotak Mahindra Bank said, ''FII flows and exporter selling is neutralised by RBI intervention and demand from oil companies." Hence, USD-INR is trading in a tight range, he added.

According to him, the range for the day is seen between 60-60.35/dollar.

Asian markets remained in positive terrain with the Shanghai, Nikkei and Hang Seng rising 0.3-1 percent following gains on Wall Street but Iraq tension capped the upside.

The US markets snapped the two-day fall, as weak data supported the Federal Reserve's dovish stance. The country's Q1 GDP contracted 2.9 percent- the worst reading since 2009.