Nifty rises above 8350, Sensex ends 136 points up; ITC gains 2%

03:30 pm Market closing: After a day of volatility, the market finally ended with a bang. The Sensex closed up 135.68 points or 0.5 percent at 27780.83, and the Nifty was up 50.10 points or 0.6 percent at 8368.50. About 1717 shares advanced, 986 shares declined, and 162 shares were unchanged.

Tata Steel, Coal India, Sun Pharma, Lupin and Bharti Airtel were big gainers on the Sensex. ITC gained 2 percent. Among the losers are TCS, Wipro, ICICI Bank, Hero MotoCorp and GAIL.

03:10 pm Oil imports: The government has asked refiners that owe billions of dollars to Iran for oil imports to build up dollar and euro balances to avoid downward pressure on the rupee if western powers and Tehran reach a final nuclear deal.

Local refiners owe about USD 6.5 billion to Iran, equivalent to 55 percent of their oil bill, after a route to pay for Iranian oil through Turkey's Halkbank was stopped in February 2013 by western sanctions.

"The refineries may buy forex in the spot/forward market in an incremental manner so as to build up the required USD/EUR balance," according to an oil ministry letter dated June 11 that was seen by Reuters.

02:55 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks gained strength in late trade amid consolidation. The Sensex rose 83.33 points to 27728.48 and the Nifty advanced 34.05 points to 8352.45.

About 1657 shares have advanced, 962 shares declined, and 150 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

02:45 pm IT spending to reduce: Gartner has slashed worldwide IT spending forecast for current year 2015. It had earlier in April said that the spending would decline by 1.3 percent on back of concerns raised by many IT players. However, now Gartner says the IT spending would decline by 5.5 percent.

02:35 pm OMCs may buy dollar: India has asked refiners that owe billions of dollars to Iran for oil imports to build up dollar and euro balances to avoid downward pressure on the rupee if western powers and Tehran reach a final nuclear deal.

Local refiners owe about USD 6.5 billion to Iran, equivalent to 55 percent of their oil bill, after a route to pay for Iranian oil through Turkey's Halkbank was stopped in February 2013 by western sanctions.

"The refineries may buy forex in the spot/forward market in an incremental manner so as to build up the required USD/EUR balance," according to an oil ministry letter dated June 11 that was seen by Reuters.

02:20 pm Alibaba investment: Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding is in advanced talks to invest in Indian online payment platform and e-commerce firm Paytm, two sources with knowledge of the matter said today.

Alibaba's financial arm Ant Financial, which runs the Alipay online payment platform, is already an investor in Paytm's parent, having agreed in February to buy a 25 percent stake.

One source with direct knowledge of the matter said the new deal would see Alibaba directly invest around USD 600 million for a share in Paytm that could take the Chinese group's total holding to around 40 percent of the Indian payments firm.

The fresh investment would value Paytm at around USD 4 billion.

02:00 pm Market Check
The market continued to be rangebound in afternoon trade but the broader markets remained strong. FMCG, and select oil, pharma & metals stocks supported the market whereas technology, private banks and select auto stocks lost ground.

The Sensex fell 4.31 points to 27640.84 and the Nifty rose 8.20 points to 8326.60. However, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 1 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively. About 1586 shares have advanced, 935 shares declined, and 160 shares are unchanged on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Sun Pharma rallied 2.5 percent after Credit Suisse said the drug maker has taken price increases in six of Ranbaxy's branded products in the US in May 2015. Lupin topped the buying list on Sensex, up 2.8 percent.

Coal India climbed 2.6 percent after Morgan Stanley upgraded price target to Rs 530 from Rs 499 per share. The brokerage said the company looks much better positioned for growth with low volatility versus coal peers, and is now at the top of its pecking order in the Indian mining group.

Shares of ITC, HUL, Bharti Airtel and Tata Steel gained 1-1.5 percent whereas ICICI Bank, TCS, L&T, Axis Bank, Hero Motocorp, NTPC and GAIL fell 1-1.7 percent.

1:30 pm Buzzing: Shares of Coal India jumped over 2 percent intraday. Morgan Stanley has increased target price to Rs 530 from Rs 449, indicating a 36 percent total return potential over one year.

More convinced about its volume growth and pricing power, the brokerage thinks that Coal India is much better positioned for growth with low volatility compared to other peers. It is also positive that receding government controls may help lift the government-run company's margins and returns.

Morgan Stanley estimates its volume growth to be at 250-300 basis points higher than the Street's. It expects volumes and prices for non-power sector sales to be substantially higher than the market. The general perception is that there may not be any price hike at all for the power sector.

The market seems to be very sluggish as the Nifty struggles a lot to breach 8350-level. The 50-share index is down 1.90 points or 0.02% at 8316.50 and the Sensex is down 33.76 points or 0.12% at 27611.39.

About 1490 shares have advanced, 916 shares declined, and 155 shares are unchanged.

Lupin, Coal India, Sun Pharma, HUL and Bharti Airtel are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are GAIL, NTPC, TCS, ICICI Bank and M&M.

Meanwhile, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has lowered its sovereign rating on Greece to 'CCC minus' from 'CCC', saying the probability of Greece exiting the eurozone was now about 50 percent. Greece's bailout talks with lenders collapsed over the weekend, intensifying fears that the country could soon exit the euro zone. S&P said according to its assessment Greece would likely default on its commercial debt during the next six months.

12:55 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks erased gains in afternoon trade, dragged by technology, select private banks and auto stocks. The Sensex fell 31.83 points to 27613.32 and the Nifty slipped 3.25 points to 8315.15.

About 1500 shares have advanced, 902 shares declined, and 147 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

12:45 pm Kotak Mahindra Bank rallies: Kotak Mahindra Bank's shareholders, in annual general meeting on June 29, approved bonus issue in the proportion of one equity share for every one share held on the record date.

The bank has fixed July 09, 2015 as record date for the purpose of allotment of bonus shares.

Moreover, the stock also gained ahead of meeting of Foreign Investment Promotion Board on July 1. Sources said FIPB may consider Kotak Mahindra Bank's proposal of raising foreign investment limit in the bank to 55 percent. Earlier the inter-ministerial panel deferred this proposal twice.

The Reserve Bank of India has barred foreign investments in Kotak after FII shareholding reached threshold limit following merger of ING Vysya Bank with Kotak Mahindra Bank.

12:30 pm Nestle in focus: Nestle India gained 4 percent after media report suggests that Bombay High Court has allowed company to export Maggi noodles.

12:20 pm IPOs lined up: At least three companies -- low-cost carrier IndiGo, staffing firm Teamlease and e-retailer Infibeam - have lined up public offers to raise an estimated over Rs 3,000 crore from investors.

Merchant banking sources said the draft papers for all the three initial public offers (IPOs) were being submitted to capital markets regulator SEBI today.

InterGlobe Enterprises, which runs the country's biggest airline by market share under 'IndiGo' brand, is looking to raise Rs 2,000-2,500 crore through the IPO, sources said, while Teamlease is looking to raise Rs 450-500 crore and Infibeam about Rs 400 crore.

After a prolonged lull, the IPO space has become very active and over 30 companies have lined up plans to raise funds totaling over Rs 20,000 crore through public offers, which also include Cafe Coffee Day, Matrix Cellular and GVK Airport.

12:00 pm Market Check
The market remained marginally higher. The Sensex gained 27.39 points at 27672.54 and the Nifty rose 13.85 points to 8332.25.

The broader markets continued to outperform benchmarks. The BSE Midcap Index rallied 1 percent and Smallcap advanced 0.77 percent. The market breadth remained positive as about 1450 shares have advanced against 832 shares declined on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Asian markets gained recovering from yesterday's heavy sell off, even as Greece inched near a debt default. Shanghai Composite bounced back sharply, up nearly 4 percent. Hang Seng and Nikkei gained 1.3 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively.

Citi's chief economist Willem Buiter says Greece is most likely to vote yes for reforms; post referendum financial markets will slip back to business as usual. He sees a Fed rate hike mostly in September, but added it will be a non event.

Coal India gained more than 2 percent after Morgan Stanley upgraded price target to Rs 530 from Rs 499 per share. The brokerage says the company looks much better positioned for growth with low volatility versus coal peers, and is now at the top of its pecking order in the Indian mining group.

Brigade Enterprises (up 10 percent) and Kansai Nerolac (up 2 percent) gained on land sale news. Brigade told CNBC-TV18 that the purchase will be funded via internal accruals. Kansai is set to use the sale proceeds for their Gujarat unit.

Marksans Pharma spiked 8 percent after the company acquired 100 percent in Time-cap Labs for USD 28 million.

11:50 am Market outlook: Although the Indian equity market ignoring the Greece risk rebounded yesterday, and continue to consolidate, the Greece risk is not yet completely out of the way believes Deepak Shenoy, Founder, Capitalmind.in.

According to him there are still many unknown risks that could cause lot of jitters in global markets, says Shenoy in an interview .

''Worst is still ahead of us and not behind,'' he adds. India though does not have direct exposure to Greece, there could always be a second impact and third impact on our market, says Shenoy.

11:30 am Buzzing: Shares of Voltas slipped 4 percent intraday on Tuesday as Nomura has downgraded it to reduce with a reduced target of Rs 265 per share. The brokerage has also cut FY16 earnings per share (EPS) estimate by 12-16 percent to factor in weaker growth in room AC sales as well as further delays in the electro-mechanical projects (EMP) segment's recovery.

Voltas has outperformed the market significantly over the past two months and is up 30 percent during the period. However, with potential weaker results and slowdown in AC sales brokerage does not seem to be impressed with Voltas.

The market is holding up its gains as metals, pharma and FMCG stocks support benchmark indices. The Sensex is up 38.14 points at 27683.29, and the Nifty is up 17.15 points at 8335.55. About 1414 shares have advanced, 672 shares declined, and 118 shares are unchanged.

Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel, Coal India, HUL and Lupin are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are NTPC, M&M, Hero Motocorp, TCS and Wipro.

Oil futures hovered below three-week lows after Greeks took to the streets to protest against austerity following a bank shutdown, keeping investors away from riskier assets and putting Brent crude on course for a second month of declines.

US crude dropped 20 cents to USD 58.13, having closed down USD 1.30 at USD 58.33 a barrel, its lowest settlement since June 8. It is set for its first monthly decline in three.

10:58 am Market Update: The Sensex rose 8.92 points to 27654.07 and the Nifty added 6.65 points at 8325.05. About 1404 shares have advanced, 707 shares declined, and 113 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

10:45 am Market Expert: Vikas Khemani, CEO at Edelweiss Capital says the Indian economy won't be significantly impacted by the Greek crisis as the market is well supported.

Khemani is of the view that 'Indian macros are well in place' which have also kept the market resilient. He said government's efforts of the past year will have a positive impact in the next 2-3 months.

Even in the worst case, he does not see Nifty going below 7,600 level, he adds.

10:35 am Gammon Infra in News: Gammon Infrastructure's joint venture special purpose vehicle (SPV), Indira Container Terminal Pvt Ltd has accepted the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) proposal for alternative use of their Offshore Container Terminal for roll-on/roll-off operations. In includes provide facilities to the importers and exporters of automobiles and self propelled equipment. The project is for a period of one year from the date of operation with revenue share of 45 percent to ICTPL and 55 percent to MbPT.

Speaking on the above development, KK Mohanty, MD, Gammon Infrastructure told CNBC-TV18 that this was a temporary arrangement for an interim period because Rs 1500 crore has already been invested by both the sides and it is not that alternate use has been permanently granted to the company.

He said the revenue potential from Indira Terminal is around Rs 150 crore, out of which 55 percent will go to MbPT and the rest will be with the company. The traffic growth of Indira Container terminal is likely to be around 15 percent, he added.

According to him the Indira Terminal will start generating revenues in two weeks and is likely to add around Rs 40-50 crore to the annual topline of Gammon Infra.

10:20 am Greece rating: Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lowered its sovereign rating on Greece to 'CCC minus' from 'CCC', saying the probability of Greece exiting the eurozone was now about 50 percent.

Greece's bailout talks with lenders collapsed over the weekend, intensifying fears that the country could soon exit the euro zone.

A Greek official told Reuters on Monday the country would not pay a 1.6 billon euro loan instalment due the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday.

S&P said according to its assessment Greece would likely default on its commercial debt during the next six months.

Should Greece exit the euro zone, there will be a serious foreign currency shortage for the private and public sectors in the country, which may lead to rationing of key imports, according to the rating services.

S&P's outlook on the country is negative.

The agency said it could lower its long-term ratings on the country within the next six months in case of a distressed exchange or nonpayment of commercial debt.

10:00 am Market Check
The market continued to consolidate ahead of deadline for the Greece to repay its debt. Today is the last day for the debt-laden country to avert default by paying euro 1.6 billion to International Monetary Fund. The broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.7-0.9 percent.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 19.59 points to 27664.74 and the Nifty gained 10.45 points at 8328.85. Nearly two shares advanced for every share declining on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Pharma stocks are in focus. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries rallied 2.5 percent intraday as brokerage Credit Suisse said the drug maker has taken price increases in six of Ranbaxy's branded products in the US in May 2015. Marksans Pharma surged 8 percent on buying US-based Time-Cap. Another pharma company Glenmark rallied 2 percent on receiving approval from US Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) for its cholesterol drug Ezetimibe.

10:00 am Interview:  Paints maker Kansai Nerolac has decided to sell a 15.86-acre land in Perungudi, Chennai for Rs 550 crore to Brigade Enterprises or a special purpose vehicle.

The firm will use proceeds from the sale to invest in a plant it is setting up in Gujarat, he added.

MD HM Bharuka sounded optimistic about business for paints makers, saying the industry was in a sweet spot and added he expected "good growth over the next 20 years".

9:45 am Monsoon session: The contentious Land Acquisition Bill of the Narendra Modi government may not make it to the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament.

Congress party leaders, who are part of the parliamentary panel examining the bill, have sought an extension. According to them, the committee is yet to receive the response of all state governments on the validity of the bill.

The move comes as a major setback for the NDA government, which has struggled to pass the bill in Rajya Sabha, where it does not enjoy a majority.

9:30 am Buzzing: Shares of Bank of India and Canara Bank jumped 1-2 percent intraday on Tuesday. Moody's has downgraded Bank of India and Canara Bank to Baa3 from Ba2 rating. Bad loan is cause of concern for both the banks.

According to the rating agency, Bank of India may continue to see stress in its corporate loan portfolio. The bank had seen a significant spike in non-performing loan (NPL) formation in the quarter ending March 2015. It has weak buffers to withstand incremental asset quality stress, with a core Tier 1 ratio of only 7.2 percent at end March 2015.

9:20 am Market check: The Sensex is up 109.68 points or 0.5 percent at 27754.83, and the Nifty is up 33.95 points or 0.4 percent at 8352.35. About 750 shares have advanced, 204 shares declined, and 66 shares are unchanged.

The market opened on flat note but has quickly gained even though Greek crisis continues to drag global equities. The Sensex is up 66.98 points at 27712.13 and the Nifty is up 22.50 points at 8340.90. About 575 shares have advanced, 185 shares declined, and 58 shares are unchanged.

Coal India, HUL, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Auto and Vedanta are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are NTPC, Dr Reddy's Labs, TCS and Tata Motors.

The Indian rupee opened higher by 8 paise at 63.76 per dollar on Tuesday against previous closing of 63.84. The dollar slips, while the euro climbs back above 1.12 to the dollar.

Ashutosh Raina of HDFC Bank said, "Greece continues to grab the headlines and the global risk off sentiment has resulted in a flight to safety with US treasuries and bunds rallying hard and global equity markets tumbling."

Greece will not be paying a 1.6 billion euro loan instalment due to the international monetary fund today. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has urged citizens to vote against the reform proposals by the creditors.

Asian shares edged up and the euro sagged in early Asian trading on Tuesday as Greece lurched toward defaulting on a looming debt payment, raising the likelihood of the cash-strapped nation's exit from the euro zone.

US stocks plunged nearly 2 percent or more with the Dow and S&P 500 wiping out gains for the year on escalating tensions between Greece and its creditors. The Dow closed 1.95 percent lower, falling below its 200-day moving average. The index is 1.27 percent lower year-to-date. Treasury yields declined, with the US 10-year yield near 2.32 percent.

European equities closed sharply lower as fears rose that Greece could be the first country to exit the euro zone, after instigating capital controls. Greece's main stock exchange was closed on Monday and will not reopen until July 6, with banks across the country also shut.

Additionally, Iran looked likely to extend nuclear negotiations with the west to export more of its oil into an oversupplied market.

Gold prices are steady as the prospect of a Greek debt default hit global shares, offsetting wariness among investors over the metal's longer-term outlook.