Sensex ends 300 points higher, Nifty closes above 9600; ITC gains the most

3:30 pm Market Check: Equity benchmark indices ended the session on an extremely strong note, with the Nifty closing above the crucial 9600-mark.

The Sensex closed 300 points higher at 31221.62, while the Nifty closed 94.1 points higher at 9615.

ITC, Hero MotoCorp and Bharti Infratel were the top gainers on both indices, while NTPC, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Jaypee Infra lost the most.

3:20 pm Nomura on Infratel: Nomura has maintained its neutral rating on Bharti Infratel but raised target price to Rs 396 (up 20 percent from Rs 330 earlier) on higher earnings forecast and derived intermediate growth rate of 7 percent (versus 6 percent previously) and terminal growth rate of 3 percent (against 2.5 percent), and a WACC of 9.7 percent (10 percent). The stock rallied nearly 7 percent intraday.

The research house raised FY18/19 EBITDA forecasts by 7/11 percent and profit after tax forecasts by 1/6 percent. It also expects FY17-20 EBITDA/EPS CAGR at a healthy 9/12 percent.

3:03 pm Market Check: Equity benchmarks remained strong in afternoon trade with the BSE Sensex up 298.36 points at 31,219.97 and the NSE Nifty up 92.35 points at 9,613.25.

2:59 pm Buzzing: RBL Bank share price gained nearly 3 percent intraday ahead of board meet to consider preferential allotment.

The private sector lender's board of directors will meet during the week to discuss preferential allotment, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting unnamed sources.

The bank is likely to raise Rs 1,500-1,700 crore and may dilute nearly 9-10 percent via preferential allotment.

However, RBL refused to comment on preferential allotment plan.

2:40 pm Interview: VST Tillers Tractors declared a good set of June sales numbers. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, KU Subbaiah, CEO said he expects tractor sales to be around 11,000-12,000 units in FY18.

"As on date we have not increased the prices but going forward depending on the demand and how the commodity prices behave, maybe we will take a look and adjust the prices if necessary. As on date, we are not thinking of any price revision," said Subbaiah.

According to him, the company will take one-two years to consolidate the export markets.

2:20 pm Market Check: Equity benchmarks maintained uptrend in afternoon trade, with the Nifty hovering around 9,600 level led by ITC that held its 6 percent gains.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 266.61 points at 31,188.22 and the 50-share NSE Nifty was up 74 points at 9,594.90.

The broader markets also participated in the rally, up 0.9 percent on strong breadth. More than two shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE.

2:00 pm Auto sales: Hero MotoCorp shares rose nearly 2 percent intraday after the world's largest two-wheeler maker reported a 14 percent growth in June sales.

"With sales of 6,24,185 two-wheelers in June 2017, the company registered a growth of 14 percent over the corresponding month of the previous fiscal when it sold 5,49,533 units on strong growth in both motorcycles and scooters," Hero said in its filing.

It sold 5,47,185 units of motorcycles in June, a growth of 13 percent over the corresponding month last year while it sold 77,000 scooters in June, registering a 22 percent growth over the corresponding month in 2016.

Hero MotoCorp announced record sales performance for the first quarter of FY18.

"Registering strong sales, the company sold 18,49,375 units in first three months (April-June 2017) - the highest-ever sales by Hero MotoCorp in any quarter," it said.

1:44 pm Buzzing: DB Realty share price rallied 12 percent intraday after its subsidiary signed an agreement with Sanjay Chhabria Venture for construction of residental project in Mumbai.

"Subsidiary Neelkamal Realtors Tower has entered into a development management agreement with Indo Global Soft Solutions and Technologies for the development of its Orchid Heights Project admeasuring 19,434.10 square meters at Mahalaxmi in Mumbai, Maharashtra," the Mumbai-based real estate developer said in its filing.

Indo Global is a Radius Group Company which is a Sanjay Chhabria Venture.

1:25 pm Market Check: Benchmark indices were trading after posting strong gains in the morning session, while the Nifty continued to hold 9600.

The Sensex was up 274.76 points at 31196.37, while the Nifty was up 83.10 points at 9604.00. The market breadth was healthy as 1729 shares advanced against a decline of 720 shares, while 142 shares were unchanged.

ITC, Maruti Suzuki and Bharti Infratel gained the most on both indices, while NTPC, Kotak Mahindra, and HCL Tech were the top losers.

1:10 pm New listing: GTPL Hathway, which offers cable TV and broadband services, is all set to make a debut on exchanges on July 4. The issue price is fixed at Rs 170 per share.

The listing is likely to be around its issue price, given the tepid response to the public issue and grey market premium of around of Rs 2-4 over the IPO price.

The initial public offering, which was opened for subscription during June 21-23, was oversubscribed 1.53 times as the reserved portion of qualified institutional buyers was oversubscribed only 1.48 times and non institutional investors 2.85 times. The portion set aside for retail investors was subscribed 99 percent.

12:58 pm Order win: JMC Projects (India) won an order worth nearly Rs 700 crore. In addition to that they have a board meeting scheduled today to mull fund raising options.

''With this Rs 700 crore, at the June end, we will be close to around Rs 7,000 crore of order book. This is a mix of water pipeline and commercial orders,'' Manoj Tulsian, Whole-Time Director & CFO of the company told CNBC-TV18.

12:45 pm Oil update: Oil markets edged up on Monday, lifted by the first fall in U.S. drilling activity in months, although price gains were capped by reports of rising OPEC output last month even as the group has pledged to cut supply.

Brent crude futures had climbed 13 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $48.90 per barrel by 0643 GMT, after jumping 5.2 percent last week in their first weekly gain in six weeks.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 17 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $46.21 per barrel, adding to last week's 7-percent gain.

12:30 pm Management Speak: Bajaj Auto's domestic two-wheeler sale was under pressure in the month of June, while export sales fared relatively better but there was still a decline of close to 4 percent. Meanwhile, commercial vehicle sales continue to be
weak, in-line with the industry.

The impact of sales in June could have been mainly because of transition to the new tax regime due to which all bikes under 350 CC have seen price reduction in most states and so customers must have postponed their buying for post GST, said S Ravikumar,
President - Business Development in an interview to CNBC-TV18. The price reduction were around 2 percent on an average, because it was different for different states, he added.

12:15 pm Market Check: The market continued to gain strength from the morning session, with the Nifty trading above 9600, while the Sensex continued to gain over 300 points.

The Sensex was up 314.81 points at 31236.42, while the Nifty was up 90.95 points at 9611.85. The market breadth was positive as 1699 shares advanced against a decline of 653 shares, while 135 shares were unchanged.

FMCG stocks gained strength, while midcaps too advanced further. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical stocks were trading flat with a negative bias.

ITC, Maruti Suzuki and Bharti Infratel were the top gainers on both indices, while NTPC, Wipro and HCL Technologies lost the most.

11:45 am Management at banks: Banks Board Bureau (BBB) has recommended to the government names of 15 general managers of various public sector banks for appointment as executive directors.

Sources said the recommendations were made by BBB Chairman Vinod Rai and other members of the bureau.

The list would be sent to the Department of Financial Services to get Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) clearance, sources said. The ACC is headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

11:30 am GST impact: Chartered accountants and tax consultants have bumped up their consultant fees after the increased pressure in compliance, tax returns and maintaining books under the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) expects an increase of Rs 15,000 crore from consulting fees.

The heat will be felt by the three lakh sales-tax accounting practitioners, that help the small and micro businesses, as well as the 1.5 lakh Chartered Accountants in India.

11:10 am Buzzing Stock: Shares of Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) surged 4.7 percent intraday Monday as its joint venture company has bagged an order worth Rs 798 crore.

The company in the joint venture with URC Construction has been awarded Rs 797.29 crore contract by the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation.

The company has 51 percent share in the joint venture which is approximately Rs 406.61 crore of the total contract value.

The said project is to be completed in 36 months.

11:02 am Market Check: The equity benchmark indices extended its gains, which is majorly contributed by ITC, which has rose 9 percent in intraday trade.

The Sensex was up 302.73 points at 31224.34, and the Nifty was up 86.25 points at 9607.15. About 1618 shares have advanced, 525 shares declined, and 112 shares are unchanged.

ITC, M&M, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Steel, HUL, Bharti Infratel, Hindalco and Vedanta were the top gainers on the indices, while top losers include NTPC, Wipro, Bajaj Auto, Sun Pharma, Kotak Mahindra Bank and HCL Tech.

10:45 am Benefits passed on: Hero Motocorp is passing on the benefit of GST to its customers with a reduction in the prices of models across its product portfolio in most of the states w.e.f. July 1, 2017. The quantum of reduction ranges from Rs 400 to Rs 1800 on mass-selling models.

10:30 am Market Check: Equity benchmark indices regained strength and was trading at high points of the day, with the Nifty comfortably placed over 9550.

The Sensex was up 207.08 points at 31128.69, while the Nifty was up 57.15 points at 9578.05. The market breadth was positive as 1553 shares advanced against a decline of 536 shares, while 91 shares were unchanged.

ITC, Maruti Suzuki and Hindalco were the top gainers on both indices, while NTPC, Wipro and HCL Technologies lost the most.

FMCG sector is the top gainer on the Nifty, while metals and auto followed suit. Midcaps continued to gain as well, gain around half a percent.

10: 15 am Expert Speak: On the first trading session post the roll out of GST, benchmark indices were trading strong on the back of leads by index heavyweights such as ITC.

The government, over the weekend, scrapped excise and additional excise on cigarettes. As a result, cigarette manufacturer ITC gained over 9 percent in the opening trade.

Kotak Institutional Equities further said that there was no incremental negative for cigarette taxation. On competitive dynamics against bidis, the incremental position of cigarettes look better, Sanjeev Prasad of Kotak Institutional Equities told CNBC-TV18 in an interview.

''Materially, Colgate stands to benefit from the GST rates and will look to pass the benefit to customers,'' Prasad added. He also expects the competitive position for the company to improve.

9:50 am Buzzing Stock: Ashok Leyland rallied as much as 4.9 percent in morning trade on Monday after the Indian commercial vehicle manufacturer registered sales growth of 11 percent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis to 12,330 units for the month of June 2017.

The company had sold 11,108 units in June 2016 as reported in a BSE filing.

9:32 am Market Update: Equity benchmarks' opening gains reduced by more than 50 percent due to correction in HDFC Group, oil, infra and select technology stocks.

ITC also erased some opening gains but still maintained its top position in the buying list among Sensex stocks, up 6 percent.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 130.52 points at 31,052.13 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 30.75 points to 9,551.65.

About 1,067 shares advanced against 438 declining shares on the BSE.

9:25 am Fund flows into India: Sanjeev Prasad of Kotak Institutional Equities said listed fund flows to India continued to be net buyers since the beginning of CY17.

India has received USD 1.8 billion of inflows, driven by USD 943 million of ETF inflows and USD 856 million of non-ETF inflows, he added.

He further said Global Emerging Market (GEM) funds saw USD 988 million of inflows, led by USD 617 million of ETF inflows. India-dedicated funds saw an inflow of USD 614 million, he added.

Allocations to India and China constitute more than one-third of the average Asia ex-Japan fund portfolio. Allocation to India by Asia ex-Japan funds has come down to 13.3 percent in May from 13.6 percent in April.

Fund allocation to India by GEM funds remained around 11 percent. Allocation by Asia ex-Japan non-ETF funds to India came down to 13.9 percent from 14.2 percent in the previous month, Prasad said.

9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks started off the week on a strong note, with the Sensex surging nearly 300 points driven by ITC but immediately erased some gains due to correction in select banks and technology stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 157.16 points at 31,078.77 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 38.30 points to 9,559.20.

ITC rallied 8 percent after the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), over the weekend, removed excise and additional excise duty on cigarettes, while the National Calamity Contingent continued to remain.

HUL, ICICI Bank and Infosys were other gainers while Wipro, HDFC, HCL Technologies, TCS and Reliance Industries were under pressure.

Nifty Midcap gained 0.35 percent on positive market breadth as about three shares advanced for every share falling on the NSE.

Emami Infra, Zandu Realty, Godfrey Phillips, Kalpataru Power, JMC Projects, Shiva Cement, Dilip Buildcon, MEP Infra and Jaiprakash Associates were up 1-6 percent while Jet Airways fell over 2 percent followed by InterGlobe Aviation.