Sensex falls 122 points, Nifty ends at 8756; Bharti & RIL gain

03:30pm Market close
The market has ended lower dragged by rate sensitives. The Sensex was down 122.13 points or 0.4 percent at 29000.14. The Nifty slipped 40.85 points at 8756.55. About 1313 shares have advanced, 1553 shares declined, and 257 shares are unchanged.

Axis Bank was down 5 percent while Tata Power, Bajaj Auto, M&M and SBI are among laggards. Sesa Sterlite, Bharti Airtel, Reliance, ONGC and TCS are top gainers in the Sensex.

03:20 pm Gold update
Gold prices today fell by Rs 180 to Rs 28,270 per ten gram at the bullion market, snapping its two-day rising streak, as demand from jewellers and retailers eased at prevailing levels amid a weak global trend. Silver, however, recovered by Rs 450 to Rs 38,450 per kg on increased offtake by industrial units and coin makers. Traders said besides fall in demand at existing levels from jewellers and retailers at domestic markets, a weak global trend as investors weighed prospects for higher US interest rates mainly kept pressure on gold prices.

Gold in New York, which normally sets price trend on the domestic front, fell 0.72 per cent to USD 1,273.80 an ounce in yesterday's trade. In the national capital, gold of 99.9 and 99.5 per cent purity plunged by Rs 180 each to Rs 28,270 and Rs 28,070 per ten gram respectively. The precious metal had gained Rs 350 in the previous two trading sessions.

03:05 Result
Two-wheeler maker TVS Motor missed street expectations on bottomline and opearational front but topline was in line during October-December quarter. Net profit jumped 31.1 percent year-on-year to Rs 90.2 crore in Q3FY15 as against expected growth of 38 percent.

Revenue climbed 29 percent to Rs 2,653 crore in the quarter ended December 2014 compared to Rs 2,057.6 crore in same quarter last fiscal, supported by strong volume growth.

Operating profit surged 29.8 percent on yearly basis to Rs 160 crore and margin remained flat 6 percent in the quarter gone by. Analysts had estimated operating profit at Rs 174 crore and margin at 6.5 percent for the quarter.

02:50pm Bullish on Tata Motors
CLSA has a buy rating on Tata Motors citing that it has potential for multiples to improve given that the auto major is entering a strong volume and earnings growth phase. The brokerage has a target price of Rs 740 per share and sees a 60 percent upside at Rs 950 in a two-year's time once Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) new products have been launched.

CLSA also expects Tata's earnings growth to accelerate to 29 percent CAGR over FY15-17 and upgrades FY16-17 EPS by 8-22 percent. It is optimistic that JLR's
margins may sustain at 18-19 percent levels over FY16-17 despite a weaker
product and regional mix.

''This, together with multiple new product launches and start of China plant should drive strong profit growth in JLR over the next two years. India business losses should also shrink sharply with commercial vehicle cycle recovery and new passenger vehicle products,'' it says in a note.

02:30pm State Bank of Travancore in News
Capital markets regulator Sebi has sought clarification from the merchant banker of State Bank of Travancore on the firm's proposed Rs 485-crore rights issue. Without disclosing the details, Sebi said "clarifications (are) awaited from lead manager" for the proposed rights issue. In rights issue, shares are issued to existing investors based on their holdings at a pre-determined price and ratio.

According to the latest weekly update to the processing status of draft offer documents filed with Sebi, the regulator said clarifications are awaited on the proposed rights issue of State Bank of Travancore as on January 30 this year. The status is updated on a weekly basis by the regulator and the next update of the status, as on February 6, would be uploaded on Sebi's website the next working day.

Sebi said it might issue observations on State Bank of Travancore document within 30 days from the date of receipt of satisfactory reply from the lead merchant bankers to the clarification or additional information sought from them.

The regulator had received the draft offer documents on January 5 this year through its lead manager BOB Capital Markets. The bank proposed to issue equity shares for an aggregate amount up to Rs 485 crore on rights basis to its shareholders, as per a draft letter filed by the lending body with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). State Bank of Travancore is a subsidiary of the country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI), reports PTI.

02:00pm Market Check
The market saw sharp recovery in late trade post morning slump. The Sensex got back above the 29000 level led by oil & gas, FMCG and telecom stocks. However, weak earnings from Punjab National Bank and an absence of rate cut from the RBI dampened overall market sentiment today.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 60.16 points to 29062.11 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 17.50 points to 8779.90. About 1298 shares have advanced, 1464 shares declined, and 246 shares are unchanged.

Gautam Trivedi of Religare Capital Markets says he expects a rate cut post the Budget. The street is very cautious on banks as Q4 could be worse than Q3. Expectations are high from the Union Budget, he adds.

PNB topped the selling list on Nifty, down more than 7 percent after reporting very weak Q3 earnings. Asset quality worsened with gross NPAs close to 6 percent against 5.65 percent last quarter. Management expects pain on asset quality to continue for another two quarters.

The Reserve Bank of India kept key rates unchanged today but cut SLR by 50 basis points to 21.5 percent. Governor Raghuram Rajan says more data is awaited for further action on the rates front.

Sesa Sterlite rallied nearly 6 percent followed by Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, ONGC and Bharti Airtel with 2.5-3 percent upside. ITC, TCS and NTPC gained more than 1.5 percent.

Global markets were positive today. Shanghai rose more than 2 percent while European markets also traded in the green with gains of more than 0.5 percent. In the commodities market, crude was firm after 2-day rally. Brent crude currently rose to USD 55.4 a barrel, up more than 1 percent.

1:55 pm SEBI: Capital markets regulator Sebi has sought clarification from the merchant banker of State Bank of Travancore on the firm's proposed Rs 485-crore rights issue. Without disclosing the details, Sebi said "clarifications (are) awaited from lead manager" for the proposed rights issue. In rights issue, shares are issued to existing investors based on their holdings at a pre-determined price and ratio.

According to the latest weekly update to the processing status of draft offer documents filed with Sebi, the regulator said clarifications are awaited on the proposed rights issue of State Bank of Travancore as on January 30 this year. The status is updated on a weekly basis by the regulator and the next update of the status, as on February 6, would be uploaded on Sebi's website the next working day. Sebi said it might issue observations on State Bank of Travancore document within 30 days from the date of receipt of satisfactory reply from the lead merchant bankers to the clarification or additional information sought from them.

1:40 pm Market outlook: The government needs to move faster on the divestment process, as institutional investors are concerned about the government's approach to the fiscal deficit, feels Gautam Trivedi, MD & CEO, Religare Capital. In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Trivedi says market is having high expectations from the Railway Budget as well as Union Budget. On the positive side, he says foreign investor interest remains strong even as domestic institutions have been booking profits. He expects corporate earnings to grow 10-15 percent this year. Trivedi is cautious on banks, particularly state-owned banks, as he feels the fourth quarter numbers could be even worse than the third quarter ones. HDFC Bank is his top pick in the banking space.

1:30 pm Result: NHPC disappointed street on Tuesday by reporting a 30.6 percent decline (year-on-year) in profit at Rs 180 crore due to higher interest cost.

Profit was expected at Rs 300 crore on revenue of Rs 1,378 crore for the quarter, according to the average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

Net sales of the state-run hydro power generation company grew 3.9 percent to Rs 1,167 crore during October-December quarter from Rs 1,123.4 crore in same quarter last fiscal.

Operating profit declined 10.1 percent on yearly basis to Rs 561 crore and margin slipped 740 basis points to 48.1 percent in the quarter gone by. Analysts had expected operating profit at Rs 757 crore and margin at 54.9 percent for the quarter.

The market continues to be under pressure. The Sensex is down 173.79 points or 0.6 percent at 28948.48, and the Nifty is down 54.40 points or 0.6 percent at 8743.00. About 1156 shares have advanced, 1450 shares declined, and 259 shares are unchanged.

Sesa Sterlite, Reliance, Tata Motors, ONGC and Bharti are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Axis Bank, Bajaj Auto, M&M, HDFC and SBI.

Signalling strong demand for government bonds, overseas investors have put in bids worth Rs 813 crore, oversubscribing a Rs 310 crore auction for debt securities by more than two times.
The auction was held at 'nse-ebid' platform for allocation of investment limits in government debt securities worth Rs 310 crore (USD 50.2 million). The auction attracted bids for Rs 813 crore (USD 131.64 million), as per the bourse.

At the end of two-hour auction last evening, as many as 43 bids were made in the auction, of which 21 were declared successful. The debt auction quotas give overseas investors the right to invest in debt up to the limit purchased.

Foreign investors have so far put in over Rs 23,000 crore in the debt market in 2015. The equity market has also seen similar trends with overseas fund inflows of more than Rs 18,244 crore since the beginning of the year.

01:30pm Videocon holds 12% gains
A consortium that includes Bharat Petroleum and Videocon Industries has made a significant crude oil discovery off the Brazil's Northeast coast.

The discovery was made in a well drilled in the BM-SEAL-11 exploration block in the Sergipe basin off Brazil's Northeast coast, the two companies said in regulatory filings.

The well was drilled to appraise the 'Farfan' discovery made in August 2013. "The result obtained in this well, confirms the extension of the light oil reservoirs previously discovered by the 'Farfan' discovery well... In addition, the well found of a new light oil accumulation with a total thickness of 68 meters in shallower reservoirs," they said in identical but separate filings.

Brazilian state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras), which is the operator of the block, expects to start producing oil in the area in 2018.

The discovery, located 103-km from the city of Aracaju, is one of several in recent years in an area believed to hold more than 1 billion barrels of recoverable oil.

"The consortium plans to continue with the Discovery Assessment Plan as approved by the Brazilian upstream regulatory agency ANP," it said. Petrobras is the operator of the block BM-SEAL-11 with 60 per cent interest.

IBV Brazil - a 50:50 joint venture of Bharat PetroResources Ltd and Videocon Industries, holds the remaining 40 per cent. Bharat PetroResources Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of BPCL.

01:10pm Market Update
The Sensex fell 180.86 points to 28941.41 and the Nifty declined 61.10 points to 8736.30, dragged by banks and realty stocks.

About 1184 shares have advanced, 1475 shares declined, and 254 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

12:50pm Govt to raise money via ETF soon
India plans to raise Rs 5000 crore by selling additional units of a fund made up of shares in public sector companies, a source involved in the discussions told Reuters, a move which would boost government efforts to trim its deficit.

The previous government had set up the exchange traded fund (ETF) last year as a way of selling shares in 10 state-owned companies. It raised Rs 3000 crore in an oversubscribed offering as investors welcomed access to a basket of firms.

The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, elected last May, hopes to again tap appetite for a fund that has outperformed the Indian market, already one of Asia's strongest performers.

Goldman Sachs, which is the asset manager of the fund, is set to issue the new ETF units before the end of the fiscal year on March 31, the source said.

12:40pm Hero Q3 earnings today
Hero Motocorp's third quarter profit is expected to increase 31 percent year-on-year to Rs 689 crore, according to the average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

However, overall analysts expect a weak performance from the company in December quarter. Revenue is seen falling 1.3 percent to Rs 6,785 crore in Q3FY15 from Rs 6,876.8 crore in the year-ago period.

After a strong show in April-September period of FY15, volumes declined 2 percent year-on-year to 16.48 lakh units in Q3FY15. Domestic volumes slipped 5 percent to 15.71 lakh units due to overall weak sentiment and drop in rural economy.

Operating profit may increase 2.8 percent year-on-year to Rs 923 crore and margin may expand 60 basis points to 13.6 during the quarter due to price hikes of 0.7 percent announced in September.

12:30pm HDFC Bank share sale soon
HDFC Bank is expected to sell shares worth up to Rs 10,000 crore as early as this week, with an offering that will include overseas and domestic stock, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said today.

India's largest lender by market capitalisation, which is also listed in New York, last week received government approval for the share sale on the condition that its foreign ownership should not exceed 74 percent.

While HDFC Bank has said it does not have any immediate capital requirement, the share sale will help it build a buffer as credit growth picks up with an expected recovery in the economy.

Nine investment banks including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley are set to manage the share sale, said sources who declined to be named as the information is not public, reports Reuters.

12:20pm Market Expert
The government needs to move faster on the divestment process, as institutional investors are concerned about the government's approach to the fiscal deficit, feels Gautam Trivedi, MD & CEO, Religare Capital.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Trivedi says market is having high expectations from the Railway Budget as well as Union Budget.

On the positive side, he says foreign investor interest remains strong even as domestic institutions have been booking profits. He expects corporate earnings to grow 10-15 percent this year.

Trivedi is cautious on banks, particularly state-owned banks, as he feels the fourth quarter numbers could be even worse than the third quarter ones. HDFC Bank is his top pick in the banking space.

12:10pm Bonds Update
Bonds fell while the rupee trimmed earlier gains as the central bank held benchmark interest rates  steady at 7.75 percent today after easing monetary policy just three weeks ago.

The 10-year benchmark bond yield gained 4 basis points to 7.68 percent while the rupee trimmed intraday gains to 61.76 per dollar, reports Reuters.

12:00pm Market Check
A sudden sharp fall in the market dragged the Nifty below the 8750 level, weighed by banking & financials and realty stocks. Key indices lost over a percent from session highs.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 203.94 points to 28918.33 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 64.15 points to 8733.25. The broader markets also lost in-line with frontline peers.

About 1125 shares have advanced, 1393 shares declined, and 265 shares are unchanged on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The rupee too gave up some intraday gains while bond yields hardened post RBI policy.

The Reserve Bank of India kept key policy rates unchanged. The bank cut statutory liquidity ratio by 50 basis points to 21.5 percent. Governor Raghuram Rajan says more data is awaited for further action on the rates front. He left January 2016 inflation target unchanged at 6 percent.

Punjab National Bank extended losses to near 6 percent post an earnings disappointment. Significant worsening was seen in asset quality with gross NPAs rising to near 6 percent. Profits and net interest income too missed street estimates.

11:57 am ETF: India plans to raise Rs 5000 crore  by selling additional units of a fund made up of shares in public sector companies, a source involved in the discussions told Reuters, a move which would boost government efforts to trim its deficit.

The previous government had set up the exchange traded fund (ETF) last year as a way of selling shares in 10 state-owned companies. It raised 30 billion rupees in an oversubscribed offering as investors welcomed access to a basket of firms.

The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, elected last May, hopes to again tap appetite for a fund that has outperformed the Indian market, already one of Asia's strongest performers.

11:55 am The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is on "pause" on interest rates until there is more data on the broader economy and prices, but inter-meeting moves remain "on the table", governor Raghuram Rajan said at a press conference after the bank's policy review.

11:50 am Market check: The market has started to slide as the Sensex is down 153.46 points at 28968.8. The Nifty is down 46.90 points at 8750.50. About 1236 shares have advanced, 1209 shares declined, and 251 shares are unchanged.

11:47 am Results: Punjab National Bank (PNB) missed street expectations with the third quarter net profit rising 2.5 percent year-on-year to Rs 774.6 crore. The profit was impacted by elevated provisions and slow growth in net interest income, but was helped by strong other income.

Net interest income remained almost flat at Rs 4,233 crore during October-December quarter compared to Rs 4,221 crore in same quarter last year.

A CNBC-TV18 poll had expected profit of the public sector lender at Rs 930 crore and net interest income at Rs 4,396 crore for the quarter.

11:35 am: HDFC Bank is expected to sell shares worth up to Rs 10000 crore as early as this week, with an offering that will include overseas and domestic stock, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said to Reuters.

India's largest lender by market capitalisation, which is also listed in New York, last week received government approval for the share sale on the condition that its foreign ownership should not exceed 74 percent.

While HDFC Bank has said it does not have any immediate capital requirement, the share sale will help it build a buffer as credit growth picks up with an expected recovery in the economy.

11:30 am  Bond & rupee: Bonds fell while the rupee trimmed earlier gains as the central bank held benchmark interest rates steady at 7.75 percent after easing monetary policy just three weeks ago.

The 10-year benchmark bond yield gained 4 basis points to 7.68 percent while the rupee trimmed intraday gains to 61.76 per dollar.

11:25 am Earnings poll: FMCG major Marico's third quarter consolidated profit after tax is seen going up 12.3 percent year-on-year to Rs 152 crore, according to the average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

Total income is seen rising 24.1 percent to Rs 1,490 crore in the quarter ended December 2014 from Rs 1,201 crore in same quarter last fiscal. Operating profit may jump 14 percent year-on-year to Rs 230 crore but margin may decline 140 basis points to 15.4 percent during October-December quarter.

11:22 am Raghuram Rajan says:  Will be on pause till we get more data on macro economy, prices. Want a real risk-free policy rate of around 1.5-2 percent. Need to see what steps government takes to control veg prices. Domestically, conditions for growth are slowly improving. Looking for developments on disinflationary process, Budget.

11:18 am RBI says: CAD for FY15 likely to be at 1.3 percent of GDP. Real GDP growth may rise to 6.5 percent in FY16. Greater flexibility in pricing of instruments, securities. System level liquidity to come into effect from February 7. Inflation likely to be around 6 percent by January 2016

11:10 am Movers & gainers:  Bank Nifty is flat. SBI, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, Bank of Baroda and YES Bank are top gainers among banking stocks. HDFC twins, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra are in red.

11:07 am Market check: The market starts to slide as the Sensex is down 31.34 points  at 29090.93 and the Nifty is down 5.80 points at 8791.60.  About 1240 shares have advanced, 1031 shares declined, and 239 shares are unchanged.

The market seems to be unmoved as the central bank keeps repo rates unchanged but cuts SLR by 50 basis points to 21.5 percent. The Sensex is up 9.22 points at 29131.49 and the Nifty is up 5.05 points at 8802.45.

About 1275 shares have advanced, 975 shares declined, and 241 shares are unchanged.

A CNBC-TV18 poll of the bankers and economists suggested only 10 percent of the respondents are still looking forward to another rate cut of 25 bps, but the majority believed the rates will remain unchanged this time.

Oil futures continued to firm adding to gains of more than 11 percent in the prior two sessions, but persistent worries over China's demand outlook capped prices.
Some investors are betting a bottom has formed to the seven-month long rout on the market, with signs that a fall-off in drilling activity into US shale deposits has raised concerns about future production.

OPEC delegates, though, said prices may stay depressed until summer due to weak seasonal demand even as Saudi Arabia's strategy of curbing the output growth of rival producers shows results.

10:30am Interview
Bharat Forge posted a strong set of numbers, surpassing street expectations by reporting 108.8 percent growth in the bottomline in its third quarter.

We followed strategy of sweating out assets. Operating costs were under control, which resulted in margin expansion, CMD Baba Kalyani told CNBC-TV18 while discussing the details.

He said a sharp increase in industrial business, which contributed 47 percent to overall revenues as against 40 percent earlier, led to growth in profitability.

The company's exports rose more than 50 percent due to CV sales in North America and Kalyani expects it to drive the fourth quarter growth as well. However, he sees oil & gas sector slowing down a bit.

Bharat Forge sees large opportunities in aerospace sector and expects aerospace vertical to build up to USD 100 million in 3-4 years.

10:00am Market Check
Equity benchmarks remained in a consolidation mode ahead of RBI credit policy today. A CNBC-TV18 poll sees no rate cut by the RBI.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 15.42 points to 29137.69 and the 50-share NSE Nifty advanced 4.75 points to 8802.15. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 0.3 percent each.

About 1176 shares have advanced, 748 shares declined, and 220 shares are unchanged on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Reliance Industries gained nearly 2 percent after the company applied for payments bank licence. Reliance said SBI will hold up to 30 percent stake in payments bank JV.

Shares of ITC, Tata Motors, ONGC, HUL, Bharti Airtel and Sesa Sterlite gained 1-2 percent. However, HDFC, Infosys, Axis Bank, Bajaj Auto, Mahindra & Mahindra, Dr Reddy's Labs and Hindalco Industries declined 1-3 percent.

Videocon Industries surged 12 percent as Videocon consortium announced the largest discovery of petroleum in Brazil.

9:55 am Result poll: Hero Motocorp's third quarter profit is expected to increase 31 percent year-on-year to Rs 689 crore, according to the average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18. However, overall analysts expect a weak performance from the company in December quarter. Revenue is seen falling 1.3 percent to Rs 6,785 crore in Q3FY15 from Rs 6,876.8 crore in the year-ago period. After a strong show in April-September period of FY15, volumes declined 2 percent year-on-year to 16.48 lakh units in Q3FY15. Domestic volumes slipped 5 percent to 15.71 lakh units due to overall weak sentiment and drop in rural economy.

9:40 am Buzzing: Shares of Videocon Industries surged over 15 percent in early trade after it announced petroleum discovery in Brazil by a consortium.

''The accumulation is part of the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin ultra-deep water exploratory project, as provided for in the 2014-18 business and management plan.The well 3-SES-186 is currently under further drilling to the target depth of 6060 meters, at water depth of 2467 metres,'' Videocon said in a statement issued to BSE.

This is largest discovery of petroleum by the consortium this year. The consortium includes Petrobras, BPCL and Videocon.

9:30 am Rate cut? The Reserve Bank of India will announce its credit policy on February 3 after governor Raghuram Rajan surprised the street with an out of turn repo rate cut of 25 bps on January 15, 2015 on the premise that inflation number has come down and would remain largely range bound in the next few months. Against this backdrop, is there a scope of further rate cut tomorrow? A CNBC-TV18 poll of the bankers and economists suggests only 10 percent of the respondents are still looking forward to another rate cut of 25 bps, but the majority believes the rates will remain unchanged this time, but the governor may act post the Union Budget. A 55 percent respondents expect the RBI to announce three more rate cuts in 2015 taking repo to 7 percent by the end of the year; 35 percent expect only two more cuts this year while 10 percent see only one more cut coming their way.

After a few days of losing, the market has rose again ahead of Reserve Bank of India credit policy review today. The Sensex is up 114.54 points at 29236.81 and the Nifty is up 31.45 points at 8828.85. About 537 shares have advanced, 92 shares declined, and 146 shares are unchanged.

Sesa Sterlite, SBI, GAIL, Axis Bank and ONGC are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Dr Reddy's Labs, Bajaj Auto, HDFC Bank, Wipro and TCS.

The Indian rupee gained in early trade. It has opened higher by 18 paise at 61.62 per dollar versus 61.80 Monday.

The dollar holds steady against the yen and euro. Meanwhile the Canadian dollar and Norwegian crown held onto strong gains following a rebound in oil prices. Abheek Barua, Consultant at ICRIER, feels the Reserve Bank should cut rates in today's policy as inflation has seen a dramatic decline. Stating that stage is set, Barua expects a 25-bps rate cut in today's credit policy. He sees January CPI at around 5.6 percent to 5.7 percent.

Global cues, meanwhile, are positive with the US markets rallying with the Dow rising 200 points on encouraging news from the eurozone and stronger oil prices. Major European indices closed higher after a volatile day of trading. Greek stocks rallied upto 5 percent , as its new left-wing government began on to persuade its eurozone partners to create a new debt agreement with the country. Despite a positive handover from the US and European markets, Asian markets are trading with a mild negative bias.