RIL rally helps Sensex close up; Just Dial up 15% on debut

Benchmark indices closed slightly up Wednesday, lifted by a 2.6 percent surge in Reliance Industries shares ahead of the company's annual general meeting Thursday.

Just Dial, which debuted on the exchange today, was the star performer of the day, rising 15 percent above its issue price to finish at Rs 611.45 after touching a peak of Rs 628 intra-day.

The Sensex ended the day at 19568.22, up 22 points over the previous close, and the Nifty rose 4 points to close at 5924.

Dealers said the undertone was cautious and global cues held key to near term trend, with most local events having been discounted.

Realty shares firmed up after a shaky start as the general view is the Real Estate bill approved by the Parliament Tuesday will benefit the sector in the long run.

"Overall while the provisions of this bill may lead to short term pain, longer term it actually may benefit the industry. An unintended consequence of the bill may however be to reduce supply medium term, thus keeping prices firm," brokerage house JP Morgan said in a note to clients.

Reliance Communications , Oracle, Adani Power , UCO Bank and Future Retail were among the key gainers, up 3-5 percent.

Among laggards, Jain Irrigation , Cadila Health , JP Indratech, Satyam Computer and  Glaxosmithkl Pharma declined 3-6 percent.

Broadly, IT and FMCG shares were among the key laggards of the day, while realty, oil & gas and metal shares found takers.

3:55 pm The nation's largest lender State Bank of India on Wednesday said it will have less than 1 per cent impact on its pre-tax balance sheet or around Rs 200 crore annually due to the revised norms on NPAs and restructuring by the RBI, reports PTI.

"Total impact will be around Rs 200 crore a year which will be less than 1 per cent on a PBT (profit before tax) basis," Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri told reporters on the sidelines of an international banking summit organised by the industry lobby IMC.

On May 19, the central bank revised the norms on restructuring and NPA accounts, increasing the provisioning percentage on restructured accounts besides making loan recasts tougher by increasing promoters contribution.

3:50 pm Alert: Shareholders of telecom major Airtel today approved sale of around 5% stake in the company to Doha-based Qatar Foundation Endowment for around Rs 6,796 crore.
    
"All the items of business as contained in the notice of Extraordinary general meeting have been approved by the shareholders," Airtel said in a BSE filing.
    
In the EGM held in New Delhi, Airtel sought approval of shareholders for issue and allottment of upto 1,99,870,006 equity shares at an issue price of Rs 340 per equity share for an aggregate consideration of over Rs 6795.58 crore on preferential basis, among other issues.

3:45 pm New kid on the block: After a strong run on the bourses, Just Dial ended its debut day at Rs 611.45, up Rs 81.45, or 15.37 percent on the BSE.

3:40 pm Losers: After an extremely volatile session, the market closed flat with IT, FMCG and Consumer Durables index in the red.  Wipro , Infosys , HDFC , ITC and Bharti Airtel are top losers in the Sensex.

3:30 pm Closing tick: Failing to get strong suport from any index mover, the market ended flat. The Sensex closed up 18.72 points or  at 19564.50 while the Nifty closed up 5.25 points at 5924.70 (provisional).

3:20 pm RBI's take: In the light of deposit mop-up by non-banking finance corporations (NBFCs) Reserve Bank of India Governor D Subbarao admitted there was a dire need to tighten regulations for financial stability and consumer protection. He stressed that collection of deposits outside the banking space should be minimised and finally eliminated.

Talking about mushrooming ponzi schemes that have duped many investors in recent times the RBI boss reminded that its jurisdiction was limited to NBFCs, but admitted there was a need to tighten regulation to check such schemes. Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment scheme where the money being brought in by newer investors is used to pay off older investors.

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The market has not been able to find any direction even in the last trading hour of the day. The Nifty is still struggling at the 5900 levels. The Nifty is up just 3.75 points at 5923.20 while the Sensex is up 20.85 points at 19566.63, and About 1052 shares have advanced, 1165 shares declined, and 141 shares are unchanged.

Reliance Industries has gained momentum (up 2.6 percent) just ahead of the annual general meeting scheduled tomorrow. Sun Pharma too has held up its intraday gains. ONGC , GAIL and Hindalco are other gainers in the Sensex

Goodyear India surges around 20 percent as the parent company is likely to try delisting again. According to CNBC-TV18 sources, the parent company is in advanced stages to finalise delisting. Goodyear Orient holds 74% in Goodyear India.

Meanwhile, Wipro, HDFC, Infosys and ITC are key losers.

2:56pm Infosys to bid for state healthcare, general services orders

Infosys official told cogencis that the company will bid for state healthcare and general services orders. The IT major is eyeing USD 1 billion annual revenue  from Indian opeartions in 5 years. The stock was down 1 percent.

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2:46pm Pennar Industries to mull share buyback on June 10. The stock was up 12 percent at Rs 28.20 on heavy volumes.

2:39pm Sun Pharma gains 2 percent as Meda clarifies on takeover talks

Shares in Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd rose 2 percent after Swedish drugmaker Meda said it was not involved in discussions with a potential buyer, contradicting reports that the two companies were in talks.

2:33pm  TCS bags four-year deal from UK's network rail

TCS has bagged a four-year deal from UK's Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd worth USD 350 million reported PTI sources. The vendors include TCS, Cognizant, Accenture, CSC, BAE Systems Detica. The stock was trading flat.

2:30pm L&T bags order worth USD 300 million, stock flatLarsen & Toubro (L&T) won an infrastructure contract worth nearly USD 300 million from Saudi Aramco. The stock was trading flat at Rs 1416, after touching an intraday high of Rs 1425.

2:24pm Indian rupee falls from one-week high on weakness in local shares The rupee depreciated from today's high of 56.31 to trade at 56.52 in afternoon.

2:20pm India Cements down 25% in 15 days

N Srinivasan promoted India Cements has lost 25 percent of its market-cap in last 15 days in the wake of ongoing spot fixing controversy in the sixth edition of IPL. The stock has been hammered by the bears post arrest of Srinivasan's son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan.

2:16pm Buzzing stock: Polaris up 2% on buzz of Cognizant to pick stake

Sources told CNBC-TV18 that IT major Cognizant has emerged as the front-runner in the race to acquire Chennai-based software firm Polaris ' services business.

Polaris promoters have been looking at selling its services business after its products and services business were demerged.

2:14pm The most active shares on NSE were Just Dial (Rs 608.00, 10,598,220), SBI (Rs 2,035.95, 1,596,280), ICICI Bank (Rs 1,133.40, 2,317,906), Axis Bank (Rs 1,380.00, 1,582,076) and DLF (Rs 199.20, 10,293,660).

2:06pm Just Dial cools off, stabilises around Rs 600

Just Dial listed on the bourses at Rs 590 against issue price of Rs 530. The debutant made an intraday high of Rs 631.90 and now stabilised around Rs 600. Volumes as expected were also on the higher side.

Key equity benchmarks were consolidating in afternoon trade around the levels they closed yesterday. Japan's Nikkei continued its downward journey and closed down 4 percent.

Selective buying was seen in oil&gas and realty stocks.  FMCG and IT stocks were marginally under pressure.

At 14.05 hrs IST, the Sensex was up 17 points at 19563, and the Nifty was up 4 points at 5923. About 1013 shares advanced, 1120 shares declined, and 143 shares were unchanged.

Key gainers in the Nifty were DLF (Rs 199.10, 3.19%), Sun Pharma (Rs 1,043.75, 2.50%), Reliance (Rs 799.20, 2.44%), GAIL (Rs 317.25, 1.96%) and Jaiprakash Associates (Rs 67.40, 1.81%).

Laggards included Ambuja Cements (Rs 170.80, 2.04%), ACC (Rs 1,199.50, 1.57%), Axis Bank (Rs 1,376.45, 1.36%), ITC (Rs 333.15, 1.23%) and HCL Tech (Rs 727.10, 1.16%).

1:50 pm Alert: A private equity fund run by Goldman Sachs has invested USD 135 million in unlisted Indian wind energy firm ReNew Power Pvt Ltd, a company official said, making it one of the largest renewable energy investors in India, reports Reuters.

The Wall Street bank's private equity arm had invested about $200 million in the same company two years ago.

1:45 pm Buzzing: TTK prestige gains over 1% as Mauritius-based fund Cartica will buy over 5 percent stake in the company for over Rs 100 crore. The acquisition will be through a preferential allotment of 3 lakh shares.

1:35 pm New kid on the block: Just Dial is quoting at Rs 606.70, up Rs 76.70, or 14.47 percent.

1:25 pm Gold take : Buoyed by a firm global trend, gold prices rose by 0.33% to Rs 27,336 per 10 gm in futures trade today as speculators enlarged their positions.
   
At the Multi Commodity Exchange, gold for delivery in October rose by Rs 90, or 0.33%, to Rs 27,336 per 10 gm in business turnover of 15 lots.
   
Similarly, gold for delivery in August traded higher by Rs 186, or 0.32%, to Rs 27,178 per 10 gm in 852 lots.

1:20 pm Alert: India's largest software services exporter Tata Consultancy Services said on Wednesday that it has won a IT solutions contract from UK's Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd.

The four year IT solutions and system integration framework agreement encompasses identifying, defining, designing, building and integration of next generation IT solutions for Network Rail, the owner of Britain's railway infrastructure, it said.

Expert take:
Worst priced in; see recovery in economy ahead: Chetan Ahya

The market has inched up a bit and is off day's low. The Sensex is up 20.65 points at 19566.43, and the Nifty is up 3.60 points or 0.06% at 5923.05.  About 947 shares have advanced, 1096 shares declined, and 139 shares are unchanged.

GAIL , Sun Pharma , Reliance are top gainers in the Sensex today.

It's a weak session across Asia. The Nikkei is down nearly 4 percent. Hong Kong, South Korea too clocked 1 percent plus losses.  The yen, meanwhile, inched higher as Japan's Prime Minister outlined growth plans.

12:42 pm Alert:  Cadila Healthcare has pioneered breakthrough with anti-diabetic drug Lipaglyn. Lipaglyn is first new chemical entity(nce) to reach market. Cadila Healthcare is at Rs 779.25, down Rs 35.20, or 4.32 percent.

12:40 pm Breaking: CCI has ordered DG investigation against three oil marketing companies and 17 sugar mills to probe bid rigging cartels, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting sources.  The OMCs include in IOC, BPCL and HPCL. Triveni, Balrampur Chini and Bajaj Hindusthan are some sugar mills that are under scanner. The CCI orders is for investigation against Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), Ethanol Manufacturers Association Of India (EMAI) and National Federation Of Co-operative Sugar Factories (NFCSF).

12:30 pm European market update: European markets opened weak. FTSE 100 (down 0.76 percent),  CAC 40 (down 0.67 percent), DAX  (down 0.80 percent) are in the red.

12:15 pm Update: A CNBC-TV18 exclusive sources say Cognizant is likely to be the front runner for Polaris' Services business and is in talks with promoters over valuation. The deal may go through only after the demerger is complete. Both Polaris and Cognizant refused to comment. The Polaris stock is up over 2 percent on the BSE.

12:10 pm Buzzing:  HMT ralllies around 7 percent as the board has approved Rs 443 crore fund raising proposal via preference issue to the government. The board also gave its nod to the proposal to increase share capital of the company to Rs 2100 crore from Rs 1450 crore.

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It is yet another day of volatile trading session with the Nifty struggling around 5900. FMCG stocks are under pressure. The Nifty is down 22.15 points to be at 5897.30 while the Sensex slips 61.10 points to be at 19484.68.

About 871 shares have advanced, 1013 shares declined, and 141 shares are unchanged.
 
Sun Pharma , GAIL,Hindalco, ONGC and Dr Reddys Labs are the top gainers in the Sensex.

The Indian rupee is tad higher in sync with other Asian currencies all of which have strengthened over the past 24 hours on dollar weakness. Gilts are a tad lower after data showed selling by PSU banks yesterday. The minor uptick in crude prices is also hurting sentiment.

11:50 am:  The Sensex is now down 70 points at 19475, and the Nifty is down 26 points at 5892.

Brokerage house Bank of America Merrill Lynch says that the latest curbs on gold shows that the central bank will try to hold Rs 52-56/USD if the US Dollar trades in a 1.30s-1.20s/euro band.

BoA Merrill is of the view that the reason for the rupee underperforming other BRIC currencies vis-a-vis the US dollar is due to a combination of seasonal factors and inadequate forex reserves.

The best outcome for the rupee is if RBI starts buying dollars to shore up its forex reserves and traders go long on the rupee, says BoA MerrillHowever, it says the RBI is hesitant to buy dollars for fears of triggering a sell-off in the rupee, and traders are wary of going long on the rupee for fears that at some stage RBI's purchases of dollars will weaken the rupee.

"The only way out of this impasse is for the RBI to strategically buy FX-as it had rightly begun to do-to comfort the market like itdid in the late 1990s. If the INR stabilizes, we expect it to buy FX in end-June when Unilever could pump in USD 5 billion plus to buy back 22 percent of stock in HUL ," the BoA Merrill reeport says.

11:30 am: FMCG shares are under pressure with the BSE FMCG Index down close to 1 percent.

Brokerage house Religare is advising investors to book profits in FMCG shares.

"Input cost inflation declined further in April continuing its recent downward trend, even as price hikes picked up in some categories month-on-month. We recommend booking profits and remain underweight on the sector due to a slowdown in growth, sectoral outperformance in the past 12-18 months and rich valuations," said the Religare note to clients.

Religare is bearish on Asian Paints and Colgate , and neutral on ITC , Hindustan Unilever .

11:25 am: Kotak Securities expects under-recoveries on LPG and kerosene to remain stable, reflecting steady global product prices and no change in domestic retail prices.

" We estimate under-recovery on diesel at  -Rs2.6/liter (versus - Rs3.2/liter in May 2013 and -Rs 9.4/liter in FY2013) assuming no further change in domestic retail prices. We compute
marketing margin of Rs0.2/liter on gasoline (versus -Rs0.8/liter in May 2013 and -Rs1.6/liter inFY2013) assuming no further change in domestic retail prices," the brokerage said in a note to clients today.

HPCL and IOC are trading flat, and BPCL shares up close to 1 percent.

11:20 am: RBI governor D Subba Rao, speaking at a oublic function today reiterated the need to tighten regulations for non-banking financial companies (NBFCs)to maintain financial stability. If NBFCs fail, stress can spread to financial system, he said.

11:15 am: Current market undertone is slightly bearish says Rajan Malik of Phillip Capital.

"The market seems to be adjusting towards depreciating currency. What happened last month was easy liquidity and fall in commodity prices perked up the markets. It is now coming back to base. We are of the opinion that the current undertone is mildly bearish," he said in an interview to CNBC-TV18 earlier today.

Read: Most stocks barring pharma, consumption, FMCG to fall

Benchmark indices are trading flat to lower, with key realty shares having reversed early losses and now mostly up.

The Sensex is down 10 points at 19535, and the Nifty flat at 5917.

Small and midcap shares are faring slightly better, but brokerage house UBS has cautioned that getting into second line shares may not be a good idea.

"Over last decade, when India's GDP grew  around 8%year-on-year on average, small and mid cap indices' outperformance (including consistency) vs. larger caps was not that exciting, especially given arguably higher risks and lower liquidity in small and mid caps. Local investors (institutions/retail) continue to be sellers in Indian equities and these are traditional buyers of Indian small and midcaps-underperformance of small and mid caps may not reverse in a hurry," said the UBS note to clients.

FMCG and IT shares are among the key laggards, while bank shares have managed to recoup early losses.

LiveMarket Commentary
10:55 am:  Brokerage house CLSA appears more hopeful of a recovery in the macro economic situation. This is in contrast to the view held by most brokerages.

"Investment cycle is not visible just as yet but the confluence of various macro factors like improvement in policy environment, expected corporate Return on Equity recovery, lower inflation and interest rate should drive an improvement. Our recent meetings with various government officials and industry experts highlights that decision making in the government has improvement and political urgency to revive growth is visible," said the CLSA note.

The brokerage is betting ICICI Bank , Axis Bank , L&T, Maruti, Tata Motors and Zee Enterprises as its top picks.

10:45 am: TTK Prestige is up around 2 percent to Rs 3516.15. It is one of the three names in the consumer discretionary space that brokerage house Ambit is recommending.

"We recommend investors to switch into high-quality discretionary names like Asian Paints , TTK Prestige and Bata," said the Ambit note to clients.

10:40 am: Political uncertainty has been one of the key sentiment dampeners over the last few months, but brokerage house does not see general elections taking place ahead of schedule, as feared by the market. But it is not too bullish on economic reforms or a revival in the investment cycle.

"The government's legislative agenda is bereft of further economic reforms with only lip service to improvements in bureaucracy. Significant economic legislation (like an integrated goods and services tax or a land acquisition bill) could be left for the new government.  Given the high political uncertainty, investment cycle is unlikely to revive in near term," the brokerage said in a note to clients.

10:30 am: Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services up over 3 percent at Rs 246.60. Brokerage house IIFL has initiated coverage on the stock with a price target of Rs 283.

"MMFS's premium valuation amongst NBFCs (2.7 times 1-year roll forward Price/Book Value) is likely to sustain aided by better earnings growth and RoA delivery. Diversified business compared to other vehicle financiers and strong relationships with manufacturers lend higher predictability to MMFSL earnings growth. Key risks to our hypothesis would be a negative surprise in asset growth and asset quality," said the IIFL note to clients

10:25 am: Just Dial building on its gains after a strong opening. the stock is now up close to 18 percent at Rs 623, against issue price of Rs 530.

10:20 am: Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services up close to 3 percent at Rs 245.60 as market is betting that the company is among the best placed NBFCs looking for a bank license.

"With its rural franchise, M&M Fin generates large priority sector lending in the direct agriculture lending segment; it will hence not be challenging for an M&M Fin-promoted bank to generate   priority sector lending," said a Kotak Securities note to clients.

10:15 am: Rupee slightly down at 56.41 to the dollar, after a firm start, and at a one-week high. However, the widely-held view is that the rupee could stay weak near term. Current account deficit for May too likely to be on the higher side due to seasonal factors, according to economists.

10: 12 am: Maruti shares up 1.3 percent at Rs 1569, and among the key gainers at this hour. Brokerage house CLSA has rated the stock among its 'conviction buys.'

"With peers in disarray and its competitive advantages enhanced, Maruti is set to grow its 39% market share. Demand should recover by FY15 as car-ownership costs ease and the economy improves. The weak yen will boost margins," CLSA said in its note to clients today.

The brokerage has a target of Rs 2050 on the stock.

10:10 am: Realty shares slugglish as Cabinet clears Real Estate bill. HDIL , Anantraj Industries, Oberoi Realty , Prestige Estates down 1-2 percent.

"Overall while the provisions of this bill may lead to short term pain as the business model graduates to this longer term it actually may benefit the industry. An unintended consequence of the bill may however be to reduce supply medium term, thus keeping prices firm," brokerage house JP Morgan said in a note to clients.

Equity benchmarks continue to be under pressure in absence of buying support. Weak macro data and absence of positive cues from global markets is holding back buyers from making fresh commitments.

The Sensex is down 33 points at 19512, and the Nifty is down 11 points at 5907.

Brokers expect the market to be volatile near term, unless liquidity flows pick up again."We see the Sensex sniffing at 23,000 by December and we are bullish on cyclicals and a bit averse to defensives like consumer staples

Realty, banking, IT and FMCG shares are among the key laggards in the first gour of trade.

"We see the Sensex sniffing at 23,000 by December and we are bullish on cyclicals and a bit averse to defensives like consumer staples," Morgan Stanley's Managing Director, Ridham Desai told reporters at an investor conference being hosted by the brokerage.

9:55 am Rupee check: The rupee is trading at 56.36/37, after touching 54.3250, its highest since May 30, and higher versus its close of 56.44/45 on Tuesday.

Should read: RBI curbs gold import, extends restrictions beyond banks

9:50 am Weak stocks: ITC , Coal India , HDFC , ICICI Bank and Hero MotoCorp are top losers in the Sensex.

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9:45 am Brokerage views: CLSA reiterates buy on Maruti with a target of Rs 2,050. It says Maruti is likely to show 11 percent sales CAGR over FY13-16 and set to grow its 39% market share. "Weak yen will boost margins," it adds. The stock is up 1.6 percent on the BSE.

9:40 am Alert: A public-interest litigation ( PIL ) has been moved in the Supreme Court against Ranbaxy Pharma, reports CNN-IBN. The stock is down 0.9 percent on the BSE.

The PIL is seeking prosecution of all Ranbaxy directors and sealing of its manufacturing units at Paonta Sahib and Devas.

This was based on Ranbaxy USA's 500 million dollar settlement with the US for making and selling aulterated drugs for over four years. Earlier in May, Ranbaxy had pleaded guilty to felony charges.

9.32am Market update: The Sensex is down 93.08 points at 19452.70, and the Nifty slips 29.65 points to 5889.80.

9:30am Losers: Realty stocks are under pressure today as the Cabinet cleared the Realty Regulation Bill. HDIL (down 2.3 percent), DLF (down 1.1 percent), IndiaBulls Real Estate (down 1.9 percent) and Unitech (down 1.5 percent) are major losers in the sector.

The Bill, which the real estate sector has vigorously opposed, contains provisions for jail terms to developers who cheat buyers. Also, builders will not be allowed to divert money paid by home-buyers to other projects.

The Bill also provides for a refund if a project is delayed. Under the proposed new law, builders will be able to sell property only after getting all necessary clearances.

9:20 am FII View: Global brokerage Morgan Stanley said the economy has come out of the trough and will grow at 6 percent in the current fiscal. Sounding bullish on the stock markets, it pegged the Sensex target at 23,000 by December.

"We are confident that the economy has come out of the furrow, though the recovery will be gradual beginning the second half, and will close the fiscal at 6 per cent," Morgan Stanley Asia Pacific economist Chetan Ahya said.

The market has opened on a mute note with the Sensex at 19502.98 down 42.80 points. The Nifty is down 11.15 points to be at 5908.30. About 194 shares have advanced, 217 shares declined, and 34 shares are unchanged.

Globally, US markets recovered from their session lows, but still finished in the red, with the Dow snapping its Tuesday winning streak, amid ongoing worries over the future of the fed's bond-buying policy.  Asian markets are cautious on Wednesday morning ahead of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's speech. Investors will be monitoring his speech on growth strategy.

Back home, in some primary market action, Just Dial will list on the exchanges today . The issue raised Rs 925 crores with the price fixed at Rs 530. The total subscription of the issue was over 11 times. Some of the key anchor investors include Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Dsp Blackrock and Fidelity.

The Indian rupee opened flat at 56.42 per dollar against 56.44 Tuesday.  Pramit Brahmbhatt, Alpari India said, "The rupee is likely to be rangebound owing to primary measures taken by the RBI to control CAD, a flat euro and possible RBI intervention around 57/USD. The range for the day is seen between 56.26-56.71/USD."

The euro stays above 1.30 to the dollar. The dollar index was at 82.80 levels.