Sensex ends flat, Nifty above 7500; TCS, Sun Pharma up 4%

03:35 pm Market closing
The market ended first day of July series on a flat note. The Sensex is up 37.25 points at 25099.92 and the Nifty is up 15.60 points at 7508.80. About 1720 shares advanced, 1287 shares declined and 107 shares are unchanged.

IT stocks supported the indices with TCS and Wipro gaining 2-3 percent each. Sun Pharma, Cipla and Dr Reddy's Labs were other gainers. BHEL, Hindalco, Bharti Airtel and M&M were major losers.

03:25 pm RBI
The RBI will remain open for banking transactions on July 1, departing from its regular practice of no same-day interbank settlement on its annual accounts closing day, it said in a release on Friday.

On July 1, the Reserve Bank of India will start its real time gross settlement operation from 1200 hours and funds will be settled on T+0 basis from noon onwards.

The RBI will operate its Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) window between 12:30 and 1:30 local time. Settlement of Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) and LAF transactions due for reversal will be at 1200 hours on July 1.

03:15 pm Power Ministry: Power & Coal Minister Piyush Goyal sees potential in Coal India to enhance production, efficiency and quality. The government realises that ownership and management are two separate issues. Despite being open to government divesting stake in Coal India, splitting up the company is not the best decision as the government has found strength in it, Goyal opines. He feels power and fertiliser must be affordable as they impact consumers directly.

Thus, a more humane approach is needed on gas pricing for power and fertiliser sectors. There are number of anomalies in gas pricing and Rangarajan formula clearly has issues, he says in an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18.

03:10 pm  Monsoon update
The cyclonic circulation in north Bay of Bengal extending up to mid tropospheric levels is moving in a southwest direction and is expected to make a landfall over coastal parts of south Odisha or north Andhra Pradesh within next 48 hours. The system will weaken sufficiently but will still hold capacity to bring widespread rain over Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Gangetic West Bengal.

Just as predicted by Skymet Meteorology Division in India, this low intensity weather system, lying 4.5 km above the sea level, brought rain over coastal Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha.

In the last 24 hours, Keonjhar received 28 mm of rain, Koraput 22 mm, Cuttack 15 mm and Jharsuguda 12.3 mm of rain. Bhawanipatna had featured in Skymet's top ten hottest cities on Thursday but just as predicted the city received 12 mm of rain bringing the mercury down from 41.2°C to 35.5°C.

02:55pm FII View
Chris Wood, CLSA says as the quarter draws to a close amidst continuing market focus on the remarkable lack of volatility in bond, currency and equity markets, a pertinent question for investors remains whether it is time again to overweight emerging markets.

''Greed & fear would advise an overweight in emerging markets for those investors who have the capability or investment style to go substantially overweight India. This is because Greed & fear is convinced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be single-mindedly focused on creating the conditions for a new investment cycle,'' says Wood.

02:40pm Dr Reddy's Labs up 2%
Dr Reddy's Laboratories announced that it has launched Duloxetine delayed-release capsules USP 20 mg, 30 mg and 60 mg, a therapeutic equivalent generic version of CYMBALTA in the US market on June 26. This ANDA is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA).

The CYMBALTA brand and generic had US sales of approximately USD 5.04 billion MAT for the most recent 12 months ending in April 2014, according to IMS Health.

02:30pm Nikkei falls
Japan's Nikkei share average fell to its lowest in 1-1/2 weeks as investors took profits, while overall sentiment suffered from brewing concerns over a weak US economy and the yen's strength.

The Nikkei closed down 1.4 percent at 15,095, the lowest closing level since June 17. For the week, the index dropped 1.7 percent.

02:20pm Interview
Speaking at the sidelines of Axis Capital Rising Star Conference, Saurabh Dhanorkar, MD of Finolex Industries said that the immediate impact of El Nino is positive for the company and May-June have been strong months.

''The sluggishness in demand in January-February was mainly because of unseasonal rains because when it starts raining, the soil is wet and you cannot lay the pipelines. Once rains stop, we have seen a surge in demand from mid-April onwards,'' he added.

He expects demand for pipes to remain stable in long-run and volumes to grow 15 percent over the next two years.

Continuing the positive tone, he said the company is confident of achieving over 16 percent margins in next two years.

02:10pm Market Expert
Near-term challenges like ongoing crisis in Iraq, fears of poor monsoon and expectations of weak India Inc earnings would cap market's upside for now, Girish Pai, Director of Claritas Research told CNBC-TV18 in an interview.

From a six month perspective, Pai doesn't see the Nifty moving much higher from 7,700 level. However, in the next two-three years, the market is poised to give 15-20 percent return largely driven by earnings growth.

02:00pm Benchmark as well as broader indices continued to be rangebound in afternoon trade. The Sensex rose 55.43 points to 25118.10 and the Nifty advanced 19.85 points to 7513.05. About 1558 shares have advanced, 1334 shares declined, and 108 shares are unchanged.

Sun Pharma kept its top position in the buying list, up 4 percent after brokerage house Credit Suisse says company's subsidiary Taro Pharma increased prices of 11 products. It maintains outperform rating on the stock. Meanwhile, Ranbaxy Labs, which will be a part of Sun Pharma soon, received USFDA approval for Valsartan (to treat high blood pressure).

TCS surged 3.5 percent after Accenture's third quarter earnings beat estimates with the strong traction in Europe and financial services. Its rivals Infosys and Wipro gained 1-2 percent.

Cigarette major ITC gained for the second consecutive session today, up 1 percent. HDFC Bank rose 0.5 percent as its shareholders approved raising FII investment limit in bank to up to 74 percent.

However, shares of ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, M&M, Hindalco Industries, BHEL, Sesa Sterlite, Tata Steel and Coal India slipped 1-2.5 percent.

2:00 pm Budget hopes: With the boost in footfall after the first excise duty reduction, Eicher Motors' Chairman S Sandilya sees extension of lower excise duty by six months as a huge positive.

Anticipating a growth-oriented Budget, a speedy implementation of projects in the infrastructure and manufacturing space is expected, he says in an interview with CNBC-TV18's Sonia Shenoy.

As his Budget wishlist, S Sandilya wants the government to address fleet modernisation issues as well as prompt release of money under JNNURM.

A roadmap of Goods and Services Tax (GST) roll out would induce confidence in the market. Besides, he feels the commercial vehicle sector beaten over the last two years needs to be propped up. Also, current duties are unattractive for Indian manufacturers to export, thus the government must incentivise exports via effective Duty Drawback Schemes with older rates, he opines.

1:50 pm Asian market: Japan's Nikkei share average fell to its lowest in 1-1/2 weeks on Friday as investors took profits, while overall sentiment suffered from brewing concerns over a weak US economy and the yen's strength.

The Nikkei closed down 1.4 percent at 15,095.00, the lowest closing level since June 17.

For the week, the index dropped 1.7 percent. The broader Topix dropped 0.8 percent to 1,253.15, while the new JPX-Nikkei Index 400 slipped 0.9 percent to 11,391.36.

1:40 pm Market outlook: In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Girish Pai, Director of Claritas Research shared his reading and outlook on the market and the road ahead. Near-term challenges like ongoing crisis in Iraq, fears of poor monsoon and expectations of weak India Inc earnings would cap market's upside for now, he told CNBC-TV18 in an interview. From a six month perspective, Pai doesn't see the Nifty moving much higher from 7,700 level. However, in the next two-three years, the market is poised to give 15-20 percent return largely driven by earnings growth.

1:30 pm Buzzing: Investors' confidence is building around technology stocks taking the IT index up over 2 percent. IT stocks gained 1-4 percent intraday as Accenture's third quarter revenue beat estimates with strong traction in Europe and financial services.

The company expects new bookings in FY14 to be in the upper end of its earlier guidance of USD 33-36 bn. However, Accenture narrowed its FY14 guidance to 4-5 percent from 3-6 percent earlier.

Barclays retains overweight rating on Indian IT services as Accenture's revenue and booking performance indicate that the underlying demand in IT services remain strong. The brokerage says relatively muted March 2014 quarter for Indian IT was a 'short-term wobble'.

Citi remains constructive on the sector and prefers Wipro and HCLTech from the sector. ''Accenture's strong Q314 results reaffirm our view of a robust demand environment sustaining. Moreover, investor concerns around a sharp rupee appreciation also seem to be abating. Valuations offer decent support,'' it elaborates.

The market trades marginally in the red on first day of the July series. Nifty is trading below 7500-mark.

The Sensex is up 17.77 points at 25080.44 and the Nifty is up 3.30 points at 7496.50.
About 1452 shares have advanced, 1294 shares declined, and 108 shares are unchanged.

BHEL, Hindalco, Bharti Airtel, Coal India and Sesa Sterlite are major losers while Sun Pharma, Ranbaxy, TCS, Wipro, Dr Reddy's Labs and Infosys are gainers in the Sensex. GAIL is down over 1 percent.  Fourteen people have been reportedly killed and several have been injured in an explosion that occurred at an 18-inch pipeline of GAIL near an ONGC refinery complex in Nagaram in the East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh.

Asian markets trade mixed weighed down by a weak performance on Wall Street and doubts about the strength of the US economy, which pushed bonds higher. The rupee is slightly up tracking slight strength in Asian currencies versus the dollar.

However, month-end dollar purchases may weigh on sentiments.

01:00pm Ashok Leyland under pressure
Shares of Ashok Leyland, the second largest commercial vehicle maker in India, fell nearly 5 percent after the company launched its qualified institutional placement (QIP) on Thursday.

It set floor price for this QIP at Rs 34.30 apiece, which is 9.5 percent discount to Thursday's closing price. It aims to raise about Rs 600-700 crore by allotting up to 18.52 crore equity shares through QIP.

12:50pm ONGC shuts 2 gas fields
State-controlled energy firm Oil and Natural Gas Corporation has shut two gas fields in Andhra Pradesh after a pipeline fire killed more than two dozen people, its exploration chief said.

"Fields connected to the pipeline have been shut as the pipeline is closed because of the fire," NK Verma told Reuters. It was not immediately clear how much production was affected.

12:40pm Market Expert
Near-term challenges like ongoing crisis in Iraq, fears of poor monsoon and expectations of weak India Inc earnings would cap market's upside for now, Girish Pai, Director of Claritas Research told CNBC-TV18 in an interview.

From a six month perspective, Pai doesn't see the Nifty moving much higher from 7,700 level. However, in the next two-three years, the market is poised to give 15-20 percent return largely driven by earnings growth.

12:30pm Transformers and Rectifiers gains strength
Transformers and Rectifiers (India) says it has been awarded the order for supply of 220kV and above class of transformers aggregating to 5590 MVA and amounting to Rs 161 crore from Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation (GETCO).

With this order, company's order book as on date stands around Rs 550 crore, it adds.

12:20pm Aban in focus
Aban Offshore, an offshore drilling rig services company, is likely to launch a share sale to raise as much as USD 150 million on Friday, two people directly involved in the deal said.

Aban's board had on May 28 approved share offering worth up to Rs 2,500 crore to institutional investors.

An Aban Offshore spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

Axis Capital is the lead manager to the Aban issue, said the sources, who declined to be named as the details of the deal is not public yet, reports Reuters.

12:10pm FII View
Jonathan Garner, Morgan Stanley says the history of other emerging markets (EM) elections, as well as current relative valuations and positioning suggests that India is unlikely to enjoy further sustained outperformance versus EM.

''We advise clients to follow a "trust but verify" approach on the structural reform agenda to be rolled out under the country's new leadership looking in particular at the upcoming budget,'' he adds.

12:00pm The market erased morning gains with the Nifty falling below 7500 level weighed down by banks, capital goods, metals and auto stocks. But healthcare and IT remained supportive.

The Sensex declined 7.97 points to 25054.70 and the Nifty lost 5.15 points to 7488.05. About 1441 shares have advanced, 1181 shares declined, and 108 shares are unchanged.

Top telecom operator Bharti Airtel, state-run power equipment maker BHEL, aluminium major Hindalco Industries and coal mining company Coal India dropped 2-3 percent. Shares of ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Sesa Sterlite, Tata Steel and Gail India lost 1-1.5 percent.

However, TCS and Sun Pharma bucked the trend, rising over 3.5 percent followed by Infosys, HDFC Bank, Wipro and Dr Reddy's Labs with 0.5-1.5 percent.

11:50 am GAIL blast: Fourteen people have been reportedly killed and several have been injured in an explosion that occurred at an 18-inch pipeline of GAIL near an ONGC refinery complex in Nagaram in the East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh. GAIL chairman BC Tripathi said they are currently focused on relief and rescue operations.

"The fire occurred at an 18-inch pipeline of the company close to an ONGC refinery complex. The reasons for the accident are not known yet. We are currently focused on relief and rescue operations," he said. Confirming the incident, Director Corporate Communications GAIL Vandana Chanana said, "The incident took place at about 5:45 am. Nearly 13-14 people have been killed and around 15 people have been injured. The fire has been extinguished now."

11:40 am Buzzing: Shares of Ashok Leyland , the second largest commercial vehicle maker in India, fell more than 5 percent after the company launched its qualified institutional placement (QIP). It set floor price for this QIP at Rs 34.30 apiece, which is 9.5 percent discount to Thursday's closing price.

It aims to raise about Rs 600-700 crore by allotting up to 18.52 crore equity shares through QIP. "Subsequent to the approval accorded by the board of directors of company on May 10, 2013 and approval of shareholders of company by way of special resolution dated July 16, 2013 for the QIP, the fund raising committee, on June 26, 2014, has passed resolutions of authorising the opening of QIP on June 26, 2014," says the company in its filing.

11:30 am Market outlook: The government's decision to defer gas price hike is a temporary disappointment, but the prices will be raised in the near future, feels Sanjeev Prasad of Kotak Securities. While deferring the decision, the government said it will announce the new price in three months, and Prasad is hopeful that the deadline will be adhered to.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Prasad said he was bullish on most companies in the oil & gas space. BPCL and GAIL are among his key picks. Prasad says BPCL share price could touch Rs 700 if under-recoveries are reduced to nil.

As for expectations from the upcoming Budget, Prasad says the government has to announce a medium term target for fiscal deficit, and have a credible plan for reducing subsidies. It could do that by targeting subsidies to the needy through cash transfers and gradually raising prices of subsidized products.

The market seems to be cheerful kick-starting the July series. The Nifty is up 25.75 points at 7518.95 while the Sensex is up 92.21 points at 25154.88. About 1577 shares have advanced, 888 shares declined, and 101 shares are unchanged.

IT and pharma stocks are lending major support to the indices with both indices rising 2 percent each.

Brent crude steadied above USD 113 a barrel, holding on to most of previous session's losses and heading for the biggest weekly loss since March as investors unwound their positions on reduced concerns over exports from strife-torn Iraq.

Prices have dropped about USD 2.50 from a nine-month high of USD 115.71 hit on June 19 as output from Iraq's southern oilfields - which produce most of the nation's 3.3 million barrels per day - remained unaffected by fighting in the north and west.

If fighting between Sunni militants and Iraq government forces is kept north of Baghdad then the chances of supply disruptions would ease, Spooner said. But investors are still watching how the fight for control of Iraq's largest refinery, the 300,000-barrel-per-day Baiji complex, unfolds. Weaker-than-expected US consumption data was among the other factors responsible for the oil price drop, Spooner said.

US consumer spending rose less than expected in May, prompting economists to downgrade estimates for second-quarter growth, muddying the outlook for demand from the world's top consumer of oil.

11:00am IT stocks active
IT stocks gained 1-3 percent as Accenture's April-June quarter revenue beat estimates with strong traction in Europe and financial services. Also, Accenture narrowed its FY14 guidance to 4-5 percent versus 3-6 percent earlier. Citi says Accenture results reaffirmed their view of a robust demand environment sustaining.

HCL Technologies gained 3 percent followed by TCS and Tech Mahindra with 2.5 percent. Infosys rose 1 percent and Wipro climbed 1.7 percent.

10:50am Ranbaxy Labs in News
Ranbaxy Labs has received an approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to launch the first generic version of Swiss drugmaker Novartis' Diovan (Valsartan) in the US market, for which it enjoys a 180 days exclusive marketing rights.

Vikas Dandekar of PharmAsiaNews.Com believes the worst is behind for the pharma major with this USFDA boost, a USD 3.4 billion opportunity.

However, according to him, Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) sourcing will be done from third party.

With USFDA approval for Valsartan drug , confidence has risen on pending approvals for Nexium and Valcyte drugs. Although sourcing alliance for Nexium generic seems to be in place, a similar deal could be witnessed, he says in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

10:40am Dr Reddy's Labs in focus
Dr Reddy's Laboratories announced that it has launched Duloxetine delayed-release capsules USP 20 mg, 30 mg and 60 mg, a therapeutic equivalent generic version of CYMBALTA in the US market on June 26. This ANDA is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA).

The CYMBALTA brand and generic had US sales of approximately USD 5.04 billion MAT for the most recent 12 months ending in April 2014, according to IMS Health.

10:30am OnMobile Global up 7%Telecom value added services provider OnMobile Global announced the appointment of Francois-Charles Sirois as an additional director of its board. He is the president and CEO of OnMobile Systems, the largest shareholder of the company.

"Rajiv Pancholy has also been appointed on the board of directors and as managing director. Meanwhile, Mouli Raman, the erstwhile CEO and MD, has decided to step down from his position on the board," says the company.

10:20am Ballarpur Industries on buyers' radar
Ballarpur Industries says its step down subsidiary Ballarpur International Graphic Paper Holdings (BIGPH) is evaluating and exploring options with International Finance Corporation (IFC) for receiving a potential investment from IFC, in a combination of debt and/or equity in BIGPH and/or its step down subsidiaries.

"Any proposed investment would be subject to IFC's management and board approval, satisfactory documentation and satisfaction of all necessary conditions. The company is also exploring the possibility of listing of equity shares of BIGPH at an overseas stock exchange," it adds.

10:10am Ashok Leyland launches QIP
Ashok Leyland, the second largest commercial vehicle maker in India, fell more than 5 percent after the company launched its qualified institutional placement (QIP) on Thursday.

It set floor price for this QIP at Rs 34.30 apiece, which is 9.5 percent discount to Thursday's closing price. It aims to raise about Rs 600-700 crore by allotting up to 18.52 crore equity shares through QIP.

10:00am The market continued to hold early gains supported by technology, oil & gas, pharma and HDFC twins stocks. But the fall in metals, auto and select banks capped the upside.

The Sensex climbed 77.48 points to 25140.15 and the Nifty rose 23.05 points to 7516.25. About 1422 shares have advanced, 723 shares declined, and 87 shares are unchanged.

Sun Pharma gained nearly 4 percent after Credit Suisse maintains outperform rating on the stock, saying its subsidiary Taro increased prices of 11 products. Even Ranbaxy, which will be a part of Sun Pharma soon, received approval from US Food and Drug Administration for Diovan Generic or Valsartan (to treat high blood pressure).

Software services exporter TCS gained more than 2 percent followed by Infosys and Wipro with more than 1 percent upmove. HDFC Bank advanced 0.8 percent after its shareholders approved raising FII investment limit in bank to up to 74 percent.

However, shares of Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, BHEL, Sesa Sterlite, Hindalco and Coal India fell 1-2 percent.

9:50 am Market news: Market regulator Sebi today said it was keen to implement self-regulation in the Rs 10 trillion mutual fund industry at the earliest and said it will soon come out with new rules for distributors and advisors. "There is a demand for self-regulatory organisations (SROs) in the MF sector and we are very keen on that and are also hopeful of implementing the same soon," Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) Chairman UK Sinha told reporters on the sidelines of a mutual fund summit.

Sinha also said the regulator is finalising norms for distributors and investor advisors and they will be issued shortly. The Sebi chief said that although the idea of an SRO has been challenged in court, he is hopeful of its implementation. The Financial Planning Supervisory Foundation (FPSF), where retired Supreme Court Justice BN Srikrishna is a director, has taken Sebi to court over the SRO matter. It contends a possible conflict of interest if an industry group that has been protecting the interests of MFs appoints a company as an SRO to regulate its distributors and agents.

9:40 am Crude: Brent crude steadied above USD 113 a barrel, holding on to most of previous session's losses and heading for the biggest weekly loss since March as investors unwound their positions on reduced concerns over exports from strife-torn Iraq.

Prices have dropped about USD 2.50 from a nine-month high of USD 115.71 hit on June 19 as output from Iraq's southern oilfields - which produce most of the nation's 3.3 million barrels per day - remained unaffected by fighting in the north and west.

"The risks can't be dismissed but the fact time has gone by suggests investors are getting nervous about the risk premium (built into Brent)," said Ric Spooner, chief markets analyst at Sydney's CMC Markets. "We might start to see some unwinding of investors' positions if Baghdad holds steady."

9:30 am Udayan Mukherjee opinion: Udayan Mukherjee of CNBC-TV18 says the real juice is in midcap and smallcap stocks. Midcaps fetched 20 percent plus returns in series gone by. It will be a stock-specific market going ahead and the boarder market outperformance is likely to continue going ahead, he added.

He feels it is not too late to join the midcap-smallcap game. Those looking to bet on the boarder markets should consider high quality midcap and smallcap stocks. He suggests market participants to adopt a staggered approach to build midcap portfolio.

Equity benchmarks rebounded with the Nifty reclaiming 7500 level on first day of July series supported by pharma, oil & gas, metals and FMCG stocks.

The Sensex rose 45.36 points to 25108.03 and the Nifty gained 13.10 points to 7506.30 while the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices climbed 0.6 percent each. About 845 shares have advanced, 196 shares declined, and 27 shares are unchanged.

Sun Pharma topped the buying list, rising 4.41 percent followed by Dr Reddy's Labs, ONGC, NTPC, Coal India, Grasim, IDFC and Ambuja Cements with 0.7-1 percent.

However, Bharti Airtel, Gail, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Axis Bank and United Spirits slipped 0.6-2 percent.

The Indian rupee opened with marginal gains of 6 paise at 60.08 per dollar on Friday as against previous day's closing value of 60.14 a dollar.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity said, "Taking cues from US economic data and growing tensions in Iraq, domestic markets are expected to trade lower."

He expects rupee to depreciate during the day. According to him, trading range for spot rupee is expected to be within 59.80-60.60/dollar.

Asian equity markets declined following hawkish comments from a Federal Reserve official. Speaking in a televised interview in the US overnight, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard suggested interest rates could rise sooner rather than later, leading Wall Street shares to end in the red overnight. Japanese shares fell despite data showing May core consumer prices rose at the fastest pace since 1982. A stronger yen was to blame for the weaker sentiment as the currency traded near a one-week low. In Korea, May industrial output came in well below market expectations.

China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.51 percent or 10.45 points at 2,028.23. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was flat at 23,190.74. Singapore's Straits Times declined 0.26 percent or 8.56 points at 3,270.01. South Korea's Seoul Composite was flat at 1,996.28. Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted was flat at 9,325.36.

US markets ended lower on the back of government data prompting downward revisions to US economic growth in the second quarter, coupled with comments from Fed on interest rate hikes. Six of the 10 S&P 500 sectors were in negative territory. The S&P financial index slipped 0.3 percent and ranked among those leading the market's decline.

In commodities, crude trades close to the USD 113 mark as fears eased over export disruptions from war-ravaged Iraq.

From precious metals space, gold trades lower on the back of US consumer spending data and sliding crude oil prices.