Sensex ends at 2-year high, up 496 points; Nifty above 9000

3:30 pm Market at Close: Equity benchmarks end the day on a high note. The Nifty closed above 9000-mark for the first time ever.

At close, the Sensex was up 496.4 points at 29442.63, while the Nifty was up 140.25 points at 9074.80. The market breadth, however, was slightly narrow with 1,684 shares having advanced, 1,167 shares having declined, while 198 shares remained unchanged.

3:15 One-time settlement of tractor loans: The country's largest lender, State Bank of India, has announced a one-time settlement (OTS) scheme worth Rs 6,000 crore for tractor loans.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, SBI Managing Director Rajnish Kumar said the lender was willing to take a haircut of 40 percent on outstanding tractor loans as of September 30, 2016.

2:52 pm IPO Street: C L Educate fixed price band of Rs 500-502 per share for its upcoming initial public offer (IPO) through which it aims to raise Rs 239 crore.

The IPO will open on March 20 and close on March 22, said the company which operates across segments in the education industry including test preparation, K-12 and vocational training.

The issue comprises 47.60 lakh equity shares or about 33.61 per cent. It consists of fresh issue of 21,80,119 shares and an offer for sale of up to 25,79,881 scrips by existing shareholders.

2:40 pm Buzzing Stock: Coal India shares fell 7 percent intraday Tuesday after the stock adjusted for interim dividend announced for the current financial year.

"The board of directors of the company, on March 6, approved payment of interim dividend for financial year 2016-17 at Rs 18.75 per share of face value of Rs 10 each," the country's largest coal mining company had said in its filing.

Coal India has fixed March 15 as the record date for payment of dividend. "The date of payment of interim dividend is on and from March 21," it said.

The Government of India holds 79.11 percent in the company as of December 2016.

02:29 pm The SBI Chairman interview: The country's largest lender, State Bank of India has called for an independent agency and transparent process to help banks offload bad loans at a practical price.In an exclusive interaction with Moneycontrol, SBI Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya said resolution of non-performing assets (NPAs) and the merger of five associate banks with itself are the key near-term challenges for the bank.

On non-performing assets, she said, ''The main thing is that when we are looking at a very sustainable solution, we need to ensure that the pricing at which we put the new piece is sustainable. So, to that extent, there will be quite a lot of write-downs both on the equity and the debt front.''

2:10 pm Market Check: The market continued to extend its gains from the previous session as the Street reacted positively to BJP's victory in state assembly elections.

The Sensex was up 539.64 points at 29485.87, while the Nifty was up 162.30 points at 9096.85. The market breadth, however, was slightly narrowing, as 1,746 shares advanced, 1,000 shares declined and 174 shares remained unchanged.

ICICI Bank and Sun Pharma were the top gainers, while Coal India and Bharti Airtel were among the top losers on both the indices.

Shares of Sun Pharma recovered over 6 percent from the day's low as investors turned bullish on reports of US FDA lifting an import alert from Mohali unit.

The stock jumped up nearly 6 percent intraday on Tuesday after the company said that the US Food and Drug Administration was planning to remove Sun Pharma from the Official Action Initiated status.

1:57 pm USFDA to lift import alert: Shares of Sun Pharma recovered over 6 percent from the day's low as investors turned bullish on reports of US FDA lifting an import alert from Mohali unit.

The US Food and Drug Administration is planning to remove Sun Pharma from the Official Action Initiated status.

The proposed action will clear the path for the firm for products from the Mohali plant.

"The Mohali facility was inherited by Sun Pharma as part of its acquisition of Ranbaxy Laboratories in 2015. The US FDA had taken action against the Mohali facility in 2013 when it ordered the facility to be fully subject to Ranbaxy's Consent Decree of Permanent Injunction. Certain conditions of the consent decree will continue to be applicable to the Mohali facility," the company said in a filing to the exchanges.

1:45 pm Buzzing: Share price of Ramco System rose 5 percent intraday on order win from New Zealand.

The company has won an order from New Zealand based Ravensdown Aerowork, wherein the company will deploy Ramco Aviation Suite v5.8 to enable Ravensdown Aerowork automate and unify the maintenance and overhaul operations of its fleet.

Virender Aggarwal, CEO of Ramco Systems said, "We are excited to see the recognition of our innovation in the Oceania region, with Ravensdown Aerowork being the latest addition to our esteemed clientele in the region."

1:35 pm Market Expert: There is not much steam in earnings immediately for markets to sustain at higher levels, according to Lalit Nambiar, Executive VP - Fund Manager & Head Of Research at UTI Mutual Fund in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

Some positive announcements on investments are likely post UP elections verdict, he said. However, he noted it remains to be seen, "if the government is going to play specifically for long term economic benefit of the country or have an eye on the general elections coming up in couple of years." It will probably do little bit of both, he added.

1:20 pm Fortune Financial in focus: Fortune Financial wants a more level-playing field for its reinsurance entity ITI Reinsurance.

Sources privy to the development tell CNBC-TV18 that in a letter to the insurance regulator, ITI has argued that it be given a share of the Rs 5,000 crore reinsurance premium which goes to government-owned GIC Reinsurance, according to current rules.

ITI is owned by Fortune Financial which is promoted by Sudhir Valia who is an executive director of Sun Pharmaceuticals and also the brother-in-law of Sun Pharma's founder Dilip Shanghvi.

1:00 pm Market Check: Bulls retained control over Dalal Street as equity benchmarks continued to rally more than 1.6 percent in afternoon trade on hopes of continuity in policies after BJP's landslide win in Uttar Pradesh.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 483.13 points or 1.67 percent at 29429.36 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 148.20 points or 1.66 percent at 9082.75. The gap between advances and declines narrowed in afternoon as about 1709 shares advanced against 1008 declining shares. Advance:decline ratio was 5:1 in morning on the BSE.

ICICI Bank was the biggest gainer among Sensex and Nifty stock, up 6 percent followed by L&T, Asian Paints, HDFC, Adani Ports and UltraTech Cement. However, Coal India tanked 6 percent as stock goes ex-dividend.

12:45 pm SpiceJet's retail foray: Ajay Singh-led low-cost carrier SpiceJet will shortly foray into India's highly competitive retail space with plans to set up a string of physical stores, online e-tail gateways, and in flight merchandise, selling a range of consumer goods from fashion products, gadgets and electronic items to, eventually, food.

The company will sell its own brand of products sourced from hundreds of vendors across the country and overseas, top sources, who did not wish to be identified, told Moneycontrol.

A special line of brands have been created for each product category under the umbrella ''Spice'' brand, which the company is currently finalising.

12:33 pm Expert Speak: Market expert Nilesh Shah of Envision Capital in an interview to CNBC-TV18 said that two important developments will decide whether the market can maintain this high. One is US Federal Reserve's decision on interest rate. How hawkish the tone will be especially after the recent employment data. The second is the advance tax numbers which will be out on March 16.

Has the market moved to the 9,000-9,300 range? As per Shah, there is some time for the market to move in that range as it has to look at headwinds like that of the global equities trading higher which will impact emerging markets.

''It is good that you don't have a runaway rally,'' he said.

12:25 pm Brokerage call: Nomura sees near-term impact on earnings for Dr. Reddy's on the back of litigation loss, delay in resolution of US FDA's warning letters and delays in high-value launches. However, it is positive on the company's 1-3 year prospects and hence maintains its buy call on the stock. It has set a target price of Rs 3,594 per share and implies 32 percent potential upside.

''Given the high operating leverage, we believe the near-term earnings impact will be substantial,'' the research firm said in its report.

However, increased approvals and launch of complex generic products could spring a surprise to the stock, the firm added.

12:10 pm Market Check: After seeing some erosion of morning gains, the market held steady even as inflation data came in higher. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) for February was 6.55 percent against 5.25 percent, month on month (MoM).

At 12.03 hrs IST, The Sensex was up 476.78 points at 29423.01, while the Nifty was up 142.85 points at 9077.40. The market breadth was healthy as 1,741 shares had advanced, 816 shares declined, while 160 shares were unchanged.

ICICI Bank and Larsen & Toubro continued to be top gainers on both the indices, while Coal India and Bharti Airtel were the top losers.

Diamond Power Infrastructure today said its lenders have in principally agreed to a proposal from CKP Group to infuse Rs 1,200 crore under Strategic Debt Restructuring (SDR) scheme. Shares of the company were trading 4.95 percent higher at Rs 42.40 on BSE.

Ramco Systems today said it has bagged an order from New Zealand-based Ravensdown Aerowork to automate and unify the maintenance and overhaul operations of its fleet. Shares of Ramco Systems were trading at Rs 358, up 2.59 percent on BSE.

11:54 am FII view: Christopher Wood of CLSA says India has been looking a far better story ever since it became clear in late 2013 that Narendra Modi was likely to be elected Prime Minister in a landslide, while off late the China story has also become more interesting.

These two markets now account for a 53 percent weighting in Greed & Fear's relative-return portfolio against a benchmark 33 percent.

11:40 am Capital infusion: Diamond Power Infrastructure today said its lenders have in principally agreed to a proposal from CKP Group to infuse Rs 1,200 crore under Strategic Debt Restructuring (SDR) scheme.

"The company would like to inform its shareholders that lenders in their meeting in-principally agreed, subject to approvals of various authorities, towards the proposal received from CKP Group to infuse Rs 1,200 crore under SDR scheme," Diamond Power Infrastructure said in a BSE filing.

Earlier this month, Diamond Power Infrastructure said its shareholders have approved the proposal to convert Rs 2,398 crore debt into equity and optionally convertible redeemable preference shares (OCRPS).

11:30 am Buzzing: Shares of Gitanjali Gems jumped over 8 percent intraday after the company's arm filed its draft red herring prospectus for an initial public offering (IPO).

Nakshatra World, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the firm, filed the DRHP with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the stock exchanges.

The company had in December 2016 outlined its plan to raise close to Rs 650 crore, subject to regulatory approvals. The board of directors of the company had also approved the proposal of public offering of equity shares of Nakshatra World and dilution of its stake consequent to the IPO.

11:15 am CLSA on Yes Bank: CLSA has a buy call on Yes Bank, with increased target price at Rs 1,780 from Rs 1,620 as it sees a 24 percent earnings CAGR over FY16-19.

The research firm believes bank should see strong growth in retail loans over next three years as it leverages a broader product suite and the opportunity to cross-sell to internal customers.

Moreover, as CASA scales to 40 percent of deposits, it can lower rates on savings deposits by 100-150bps (from 6 percent now); a 50bps cut can lift earnings by 4 percent. This can improve the profitability of the retail segment, which is in the investment-phase and incurred loss of Rs 220 crore in 9MFY17, CLSA says.

11:00 am Market Check: Benchmark indices maintained uptrend, with the Nifty heading for closing above 9000 level for the first time in history on likely political stability for next seven years after BJP's landslide victory in UP.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 486.74 points or 1.68 percent at 29,432.97 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 147.10 points or 1.65 percent at 9,081.65 while the broader markets underperformed.

The Nifty Midcap and Smallcap indices were up 1.3 percent each on strong breadth.

Arvind Sanger of Geosphere Capital Management says the improved political backdrop could cause market valuations to go above historic averages.

He noted that non-performing assets problems in the banking sector, and hiccups after implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) could lead to some dislocations in the market but will also provide opportunities to invest.

ICICI Bank, HDFC, ITC, L&T, Infosys, HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries were leading contributors to Sensex's gains, up 1-6 percent whereas Coal India fell 5 percent as it goes ex-dividend.

10:47 am Management Speak: Indian market saw a big fall in fuel demand in January and February, said MK Surana, Chairman and Managing Director, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL).

However, he added that the negative figures are slowly tapering off and demand for March is almost comparable to last year figures.

When asked about the potential Rs 44,000 crore ONGC-HPCL merger deal, Surana declined to offer any comment.

10:32 am Gitanjali Gems' arm files DRHP: Nakshatra World, a subsidiary of Gitanjali Gems, has filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the capital market regulator for initial public offering.

In a notification to the exchanges on Friday, the company informed about the filing of the prospectus to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) as well as both the exchanges.

The company had in December 2016 outlined its plan to raise close to Rs 650 crore, subject to regulatory approvals.

Shares of Gitanjali Gems jumped over 8 percent intraday after the company's arm filed its draft red herring prospectus for an initial public offering (IPO).

The stock rose 3 percent in the past one month, while its 3-day gain also stood at 2.2 percent. At 10:30 hrs, the stock was quoting at Rs 67.15, up Rs 3.80, or 6.00 percent, on the BSE. It has touched an intraday high of Rs 68.65 and an intraday low of Rs 66.25.

10:20 am Buzzing Stock: Shares of Marathon Nextgen Realty rose nearly 11 percent intraday Tuesday ahead of its board meeting scheduled to be held on March 17. The company's board meeting is scheduled to be held on March 17, to consider the proposal of buyback of equity shares and new project proposal, among other things.

10:05 am Market check: After opening at record highs, the market erased some of its gains on the back of profit booking by investors. The Street positively reacted to the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) victory in Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, along with three other states.

The Sensex was up 480.34 points at 29426.57, while the Nifty was up 140.50 points at 9075.05. The market breadth was healthy, with 1,645 shares having advanced, 456 shares having declined, while 106 shares remained unchanged.

ICICI Bank, HDFC and Larsen & Toubro were the top gainers on the indices, while Coal India and Bharti Airtel were the top losers.

Shares of aviation companies jumped between 2.6 percent and 5 percent intraday as investors placed their bets on falling crude prices. Jet Airways gained 2.6 percent, while SpiceJet and IndiGo surged 5.05 percent and 2.81 percent intraday, respectively.

Meanwhile, Shares of NBCC advanced 4.6 percent intraday on receipt of Rs 250 crore order from Mauritius government. The company signed agreement with the State of Mauritius (Government of Mauritius) and Landscope for construction of new Supreme
Court building on PMC basis in Mauritius.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Arvind Sanger, Managing Partner of Geosphere Capital Management said that he does not believe there is need to rush in to buy today as it is certainly not the only chance to invest in individual stocks. Instead of buying into the index, he advised focussing on individual stocks where earnings would justify valuations.

Crude oil prices hovered near three-month lows in Asian trading, with investors waiting for key reports and data that may shed light on a supply overhang in the global market.

Gold prices were steady as investors awaited the start of a two-day US Federal Reserve meeting where the central bank is widely expect to raise interest rates.

9:54 am Textile outlook: India Ratings (Ind-Ra) has maintained a stable outlook for cotton textiles for the next financial year following steady input prices, healthy capacity utilisation and healthy domestic demand.

The agency has revised its cotton outlook to stable for FY18 from negative for FY17, in view of stable input prices, healthy capacity utilisation and steady domestic demand scenario.

It will emanate through fiscal incentives and implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) that will improve the industry's export competitiveness, Ind-Ra said.

Favourable trade agreements with the US and Europe will also lead to a significant increase in India's exports and a higher-than-expected domestic demand would be positive for the sector, it added.

9:43 am Buyback: IT services provider Mphasis said that its shareholders have approved the proposal to buyback 1.73 crore equity shares worth about Rs 1,103 crore.

The proposal to buy back 1,73,70,078 equity shares at a price not exceeding Rs 635 per share has been approved by shareholders, the company stated in the voting results on the proposal, in a BSE filing.

According to the statement, the special resolution to buy back 1.73 crore shares representing 8.26 per cent fully paid up capactial was approved by the requisite majority.

Promoters and promoter group hold 60.42 per cent share in the company, while public shareholding is at 39.58 per cent as in December, 2016.

9:35 am Market Update: Equity benchmarks erased some gains on profit booking after the Nifty and Bank Nifty hit record highs.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 468.28 points or 1.62 percent at 29,414.51 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 141.50 points or 1.58 percent at 9,076.05.

The market breadth remained strong as about five shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE.

9:25 am Buzzing: Gujarat Fluorochemicals added 4.4 percent intraday on buzz of the company undergoing a rejig to enhance shareholder value.

The company plans to make the company's structure a simpler one, sources have told CNBC-TV18. The focus will be on restructuring the chemical business and remove the holding company discount.

As part of the strategy, the firm will demerge its chemicals business into a separate entity. Currently, the company has four verticals-chemicals, wind turbine manufacturing, wind farm, film exhibition.

On the financial front, the company's standalone specialty chemical business is valued at Rs 5,000 crore, while its market capitalisation is seen at Rs 6,500 crore.

The company, a part of the INOX Group, holds 63 percent stake in INOX Wind which is valued at Rs 2,500 crore. Simultaneously, it also holds 48 percent stake in INOX Leisure, which is valued at Rs 1,150 crore.

9:15 am Market Check
Equity benchmarks started off the truncated week on a solid note, with the Nifty hitting a record high following landslide win of BJP in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. BJP President Amit Shah also said the ruling party would form government in four out of five states.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 512.56 points or 1.77 percent at 29458.79 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 160.05 points or 1.79 percent at 9094.60. About 1119 shares advanced against 108 declining shares on the BSE.

ICICI Bank, HDFC, ITC, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank and L&T were leading contributors to Sensex's gains, up 2-5 percent. However, Coal India lost 5 percent.

The Indian rupee gained in the early trade. It has opened higher by 40 paise at 66.20 per dollar versus Friday's close 66.60.

The rupee is currently trading at one year high.

Bhaskar Panda of HDFC Bank said, "Expectations have built up for a rate hike in the FOMC meeting this week. Dollar index is up at 101.37. However in Indian context election victory in major states will be a booster."

He further added, "I expect the USD-INR pair to open with a gap and trade in a range of 66.30-66.50/dollar today."