Nifty ends Nov F&O series at 7884, Sensex up 183 points

3:30 pm Market closing: The Nifty ended up 52 points or 0.7 percent at 7884 on November F&O series expiry. The Sensex was up 182.89 points or 0.7 percent at 25958.63. About 1610 shares have advanced, 1058 shares declined, and 227 shares were unchanged.

Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, GAIL, Reliance and M&M are top gainers in the Sensex. Among losers are Dr Reddy's Labs, Bajaj Auto, TCS, Lupin and HDFC Bank.

3:10 pm New hire: Taxi aggregator Ola said it has appointed former Infosys Chief Financial Officer Rajiv Bansal to head finance operations as part of its expansion drive in the country. Bansal, who announced his resignation from the country's second largest software services firm in October this year, will join the Softbank-backed Ola in January 2016.

"Rajiv brings close to 21 years of experience in finance with over 16 years at Infosys, where he was the CFO and recently transitioned to being an advisor to the CEO. Rajiv will be part of Ola's core leadership team," Ola said in a statement. Mitesh Shah, who is currently the CFO, will lead strategic finance initiatives as part of Bansal's team, it added.

2:59 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks continued to be strong on expiry day. The Sensex rose 216.25 points or 0.84 percent to 25991.99 and the Nifty climbed 62 points or 0.79 percent to 7893.60.

About 1582 shares have advanced, 1019 shares declined, and 220 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

2:50 pm Buzzing: Shares of Godrej Properties gained 4.6 percent intraday on launching residential real estate project in Mumbai.

"The real estate development arm of the Godrej Group today launched its flagship project, The Trees that has an area of 34 acres," the Mumbai-based real estate developer says in its filing.

The first phase of residences in project contains a total of 374 apartments with a saleable area of approximately 46,000 square metres (5 lakh square feet), it adds.

2:45 pm Shipping industry sops: In a respite for the shipping industry, the government has given indirect tax breaks for local shipbuilding by announcing exemption on customs and excise duties on raw materials. In addition to this, there will not be any tax levied on parts to be used for ships or vessels manufacturing.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, D Datar, CFO of ABG Shipyard says that this announcement will ease administrative mechanism and expects government orders to flow in coming days. However, Datar does not see tax exemption bringing huge fiscal benefits.

2:30 pm Gold demand: India's gold buying in the key December quarter is likely to fall to the lowest level in eight years, hurt by poor investment demand and back-to-back droughts that have slashed earnings for the country's millions of farmers.

The sluggish demand could halve imports by the world's second-biggest gold consumer in US dollar terms in the final quarter, a retailer and two bank dealers said, putting further pressure on global prices that hit a five-year low earlier this month.

December quarter demand could fall to 150 to 175 tonnes, said Bachhraj Bamalwa, a director with the All India Gems & Jewellery Trade Federation, from 201.6 tonnes a year ago and a five-year average for the quarter of 231 tonnes, according to World Gold Council data.

2:15 pm Market Expert: Deepak Shenoy, Founder, capitalmind.in believes that the market has bottomed out and recommends investors to avoid going short at this time.

With Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Current Account Deficit (CAD) data playing key triggers, he expects market to pick up in near-term.

2:00 pm Market Check
The market extended rally in afternoon trade on positive global cues and hopes of likely passing of GST Bill. Tata Motors (up 3.9 percent), Reliance Industries (up 1.77 percent), Sun Pharma (up 3.88 percent) and Infosys (up 1.6 percent) were top contributors to Sensex's gains.

The Sensex rallied 193.60 points or 0.75 percent to 25969.34 and the Nifty rose 58.75 points or 0.75 percent to 7890.35. The market breadth continued to be positive as about 1561 shares advanced against 1002 declining shares on the BSE.

1:45 pm Buzzing: Shares of Natco Pharma rallied 16 percent intraday after sub-division of face value of shares from Rs 10 to Rs 2.

The pharma company has fixed record date as November 28 for sub-division of one equity share of face value of Rs 10 each into five equity shares of Rs 2 each," it said in its filing on November 13.

That means the stock price is reduced from Rs 2575.5 (closing price as on November 24) to Rs 515.10.

1:30 pm Market oulook: Vineet Bhatnagar of PhillipCapital says the 50-share index Nifty is currently in a strong support range of 7700-7730 and has a resistance at 7930 levels. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Bhatnagar says the market has selective pockets to invest into and the Bank Nifty is the one of the most preferable space to allocate funds into. On specific stocks, Bhatnagar advises investors to buy IndusInd Bank , HDFC Bank among private banks; TCS and Infosys among tech stocks, and Maruti Suzuki in the auto sector.

The market is still on an uptrend. The Sensex is up 143.38 points or 0.6 percent at 25919.12 and the Nifty is up 41.50 points or 0.5 percent at 7873.10. About 1551 shares have advanced, 947 shares declined, and 211 shares are unchanged.

Sun Pharma, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Coal India and Hindalco are top gainers in the Sensex. Dr Reddy's Labs, Bajaj Auto, Lupin, TCS and Maruti are major losers in the Sensex.

Gold hovered close to its lowest in nearly six years , as the dollar held at multi-month highs and US economic data reinforced market expectations of an interest rate hike this year.

Any worsening of tensions could see investors seeking safety in bullion. Russia sent an advanced missile system to Syria on Wednesday to protect its jets operating there and pledged its air force would keep flying missions near Turkish air space.

12:55 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks maintained uptrend in afternoon trade. The Sensex rose 144.57 points to 25920.31 and the Nifty advanced 39.80 points to 7871.40.

About 1559 shares have advanced, 905 shares declined, and 200 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

12:45 pm Buzzing: Shares of DLF, the country's biggest real estate company, rallied 8.8 percent intraday after promoters increased their stake in the company through open market transactions.

The company in its filing said Ms Kavita Singh, a Rajiv Singh's wife, bought 23 lakh equity shares (0.13 percent equity) of the company through open market transactions during November 23-24.

With these transactions, promoters KP Singh and his family raised their stake in the company to 74.99 percent from 74.86 percent earlier.

Rajiv Singh is a vice chairman of the company.

12:35 pm Lumax in JV: Lumax Auto Technologies said it has entered the Indian aerospace and defence sector through a joint venture with Italy's SIPAL.

"As per the JV agreement, Lumax will hold 51 percent equity with management control over the JV and SIPAL S.p.A. will hold 49 percent equity in the new JV company under formation as Lumax SIPAL Engineering Private Ltd," Lumax Auto Technologies said in a BSE filing.

It further said: "The proposed JV is expected to become operational in fiscal 2017 and will be a full service provider for all types of Integrated Logistic Support Engineering having a strong knowledge and experience in Technical Publishing, Product/Manufacturing engineering, Process engineering, design and manufacture of toolings, design of systems of production lines related to the Aerospace, Defence & Automotive sectors."

12:20 pm Nov expiry: Hemant Thukral of Aditya Birla Money says expiry should be towards 7,880-7,900 today.

"If by chance the Nifty crosses 7,900 then for December series also one can carry long positions because the next target is 8,050 and 8,100," he adds.

"What is important is that right now we are in a no trading zone because 7,780 has not been breached from last one week and so has not been 7,910. Any move above 7,900 will be a very positive thing if we can get today but in any case, I am expecting expiry towards 7,880. So any small dip also during the day -- one can buy 7,850 Call for expiry," he says.

12:00 pm Market Check
Equity benchmarks continued to see buying interest in noon trade, supported by banks, technology, infra, metals and select auto & pharma stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 144.57 points to 25920.31 and the Nifty advanced 39.70 points to 7871.30. The market breadth remained positive as about 1510 shares have advanced against 851 declining shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Tata Motors was the leading contributor to Sensex's gains, up 3 percent followed by Sun Pharma (up 3.9 percent), ICICI Bank (up 1.35 percent) and Reliance Industries (up 1.2 percent). Dr Reddy's Labs plunged 7 percent after USFDA released details of the warning letter issued to the pharma major.

Among midcaps, Chennai Petroleum, ABG Shipyard, Natco Pharma, Videocon Industries and Manappuram Finance topped buying list, up 5-7 percent. Lumax Industries, Lumax Auto Tech, JMT Auto, Metalyst Forging and Butterfly were top smallcap gainers, up 10-13 percent.

11:55 am Buzzing: Shares of Lumax Auto Technologies surged 14.6 percent on a joint venture with Italian company as it forays into defence space.

"Lumax announced its entry into the Indian aerospace and defence sector by formation of it's new joint venture with SIPAL S.p.A of Italy (part of the Turin based euro 240 million FININC S.p.A. group)," says the New Delhi-based and DK Jain Group company in its filing.

As per the JV agreement, Lumax will hold 51 percent equity with management control over JV and SIPAL S.p.A. will hold 49 percent equity in new JV company Lumax SIPAL Engineering Private limited.

11:45 am Recall: South Korea said its own testing showed that Volkswagen AG intentionally manipulated a diesel emissions device in vehicles with an older engine, and ordered the recall of 125,522 cars.

South Korea is the first country after the United States to announce measures based on it own testing to address the diesel emissions scandal that has engulfed Europe's biggest auto manufacturer.

In September, Volkswagen admitted that it installed software in up to 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide that vastly understated their actual emissions of smog-causing nitrogen oxides.

11:30 am IPO plans: Isaac George, director- finance, GVK Power and Infrastructure, says the company has readied the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) for its airport business, but is waiting for a particular transaction to take place before filing the DRHP.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, George says the airport business is doing well across cities. Mumbai's passenger traffic has risen 16 percent at 9.8 million passengers in Q2FY16 while Bangalore has outperformed with a 21 percent growth in traffic at 4.6 million passengers.

For the next quarters he expects the cities to log in 20 percent and 30 percent passenger growth, respectively.

The market is surging ahead on November Futures and Option (F&O) expiry day. The Sensex is up 154.70 points or 0.6 percent at 25930.44 and the Nifty is up 43.70 points or 0.6 percent at 7875.30. About 1485 shares have advanced, 692 shares declined, and 143 shares are unchanged.

Sun Pharma, Tata Motors, Coal India, Hindalco and Wipro are top gainers in the Sensex. Dr Reddy's Suzuki, Maruti, GAIL, Hero and TCS are major losers in the Sensex.

Viktor Shvets, Macquarie says combination of dollar shortage & divergent global monetary policies is likely to lead to significant shifts in currency, bond & commodity markets in 2016.

The global economy can only be re-flated if Fed joins other central banks in stimulating, he feels. According to him, divergent policies are likely to compress aggregate demand & trade. Whilst short emerging market (EM) equities/long dollar is the consensus view, it could remain so in 2016, Shvets says.

10:55 am Market Update: The Sensex rose 139.10 points or 0.54 percent to 25914.84 and the Nifty climbed 39.90 points or 0.51 percent to 7871.50.

About 1440 shares have advanced, 667 shares declined, and 158 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

10:45 am Lumax in News: Lumax Auto Technologies gained more than 10 percent after the New Delhi-based company (part of the Rs 2,500 crore DK Jain Group) today announced its entry into the Indian aerospace and defence sector by formation of it's new joint venture with SIPAL S.p.A of Italy (part of the Turin based Euro 240 million FININC S.p.A. group).

10:30 am Oil Update: Oil prices held above USD 43 a barrel in Asia today after US commercial crude supplies rose at a slower pace while jitters over the shooting down by Turkey of a Russian warplane lingered. Data from the US Department of Energy released yesterday showed the country's commercial crude supplies rose by 1.0 million barrels for the week ending November 20.

The increase for a ninth straight week kept supplies more than 100 million barrels above the five-year seasonal average and further confirmed the supply glut that has depressed prices for over a year.

10:15 am FII View: Viktor Shvets, Macquarie says combination of dollar shortage & divergent global monetary policies is likely to lead to significant shifts in currency, bond & commodity markets in 2016.

The global economy can only be re-flated if Fed joins other central banks in stimulating, he feels.

According to him, divergent policies are likely to compress aggregate demand & trade. Whilst short emerging market (EM) equities/long dollar is the consensus view, it could remain so in 2016, Shvets says.

"We continue to focus on safety. India & China remain our largest overweight," he adds.

10:00 am Market Check
The market gained more strength in morning trade with the Sensex rising 142.92 points to 25918.66 and the Nifty climbing 42.05 points to 7873.65 on hopes of passing Goods & Service Tax (GST) Bill in Winter Session of Parliament that started today.

The broader markets also traded in line with benchmarks; the BSE Midcap gained 0.4 percent and Smallcap rose 0.6 percent. The market breadth positive as about 1292 shares advanced against 509 declining shares on the BSE.

Sun Pharma topped buying list on the Sensex, up 3.5 percent after subsidiary Taro Pharma dropped plan to invest in wind energy business. Barclays upgraded stock to overweight from equalweight, given the favorable risk-reward following the 40 percent share price decline from its peak in April 2015.

ICICI Bank and Tata Motors gained more than 1.5 percent while Dr Reddy's Labs remained top loser on the Sensex, down 6 percent after USFDA release details of the warning letter issued to company.

9:55 am Pulses: Expecting a further increase in the supply-demand gap of pulses, the government is considering importing more lentils to check prices, which are still ruling as high as Rs 180 per kg. So far, state-owned MMTC has imported 5,000 tonnes of tur on behalf of the government.

The stock has been given to some state governments including Delhi at a subsided rate for further distribution in the open market.

Pulses prices continue to rule high due to fall in domestic production by 2 million tonnes in the 2014-15 crop year (July-June) due to 14 percent deficit monsoon.

A committee of secretaries from the Finance, Food and Consumer Affairs, Agriculture and Commerce ministries deliberated on availability and prices of pulses and other essential items.

9:45 am  DRL in soup: In fresh trouble for Dr. Reddy's Laboratories (DRL), a warning letter has been uploaded on the US Food and Drug Administration website with regards to DRL's plants it had inspected recently. The administrator has identified significant deviations from current good manufacturing practices (CGMP) at three of DRL's plants. The three plants that were inspected earlier by US FDA were Unit VI of Srikakulam Plant, Unit V at Telangana's Miryalaguda Taluk Plant and Unit VII at the Duvvada Plant in Visakhapatnam. The American regulator says it has identified significant deviations from CGMP at all three plants. For the plant units in Srikakulam and Miryalaguda the deviations lay for manufacturing active pharma ingredients (API's), while for the Oncology Plant at Duvvada, the problem lay with finished pharmaceutical products.

9:35 am Buzzing: Shares of Hero MotoCorp were up 1.5 percent intraday. The US private equity firm Bain Capital will sell shares in Hero MotoCorp via block deal to raise as much as USD 116 million. Bain launched the deal to sell 2.98 million Hero shares in the indicative price band of between Rs 2,570 and Rs 2,600, says Reuters.

After the deal, Bain will earn almost double of its investment made in Hero Moto four years ago.

In March 2008, Bain Capital bought 8.6 percent stake in Hero Moto for USD 550 million (Rs 2500 crore ) in June 2014. Bain sold 2.84 percent stake for  Rs 1481 crore in first tranche in Nov 2014, Bain sold 4.27 percent  stake for Rs 2500 crore in second tranche. It also earned Rs 320 crore dividend since 2011.

9:20 am Market check: The Sensex is up 97.50 points or 0.4 percent at 25873.24, and the Nifty is up 17.40 points or 0.2 percent at 7849.
About 851 shares have advanced, 228 shares declined, and 72 shares are unchanged.

The market has opened flat as the Sensex is up 20.82 points at 25796.56. The Nifty is up 4.45 points or 0.06 percent at 7836.05. About 500 shares have advanced, 127 shares declined, and 64 shares are unchanged.

Dr Reddy's Labs is down 8.5 percent while Hero, HDFC Bank, Wipro and Lupin are major losers. Sun Pharma, Tata Motors, Infosys, L&T and HUL are top gainers.

The Indian rupee has opened marginally lower at 66.35 per dollar on Thursday against 66.32 a dollar in previous trading session.

Mohan Shenoi of Kotak Mahindra Bank said, "December could see global monetary divergence. European Central Bank (ECB)is expected to ease further while Fed is expected to start tightening monetary policy."

The dollar rose after strong economic data further backed the case for the Fed to raise interest rates, and after officials said the ECB was discussing additional options for stimulating the economy.

The major US indexes were virtually unchanged at the close of a quiet trading day on Wednesday with gains in healthcare and consumer stocks after data showed US modest economic growth.

The euro hit a fresh seven-and-a-half month low of USD 1.0632 against the dollar in Asian trade after European Central Bank (ECB) officials told Reuters on Wednesday that they were considering unconventional easing measures, such as introducing a two tiered deposit rate, ahead of the bank's policy review next week.