Sensex gains 265 points, Nifty ends below 8550; Maruti up 3%

03:30 pm Market closing: The market has seen some good gains today supported by autos, It and pharmas. The Sensex was up 265.39 points or 0.9 percent at 28198.29 and the Nifty gained 69.70 points or 0.8 percent at 8523.80. About 1534 shares have advanced, 1289 shares declined, and 179 shares are unchanged.

Maruti, Tata Motors, Wipro, M&M and TCS were top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Tata Steel, BHEL, Vedanta and HUL.

3:10 pm FII view: The quality of companies in India is much better compared to those in other emerging markets, making it the most interesting market to invest in,says Kristoffer Stensrud, Portfolio Manager at Norway-based SKAGEN Kon-Tiki Equity Fund.

Stensrud says his fund is bearish on China because of weak growth and poor quality of companies. SKAGEN is overweight on India, and has an exposure of around USD 1 billion to Indian stocks. Its top holdings are SBI, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel and ABB.

Stensrud is bearish on private sector banks as he feels valuations are expensive. His fund recently bought a stake in Eros International, and counts United Phosphorus among its favourite stocks in the midcap space.

02:59 pm Market Update: The Sensex rose 244.20 points or 0.87 percent to 28177.10, and the Nifty gained 62.10 points or 0.73 percent at 8516.20. About 1499 shares have advanced, 1262 shares declined, and 181 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

02:50 pm Oil Minister on Iran oil: International oil prices will come down with the imminent lifting of sanctions against Iran and benefit India, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said.

"With Iran coming to market, the assumption is that there will be further slide in oil prices... India will be one of the beneficiaries of sliding oil prices," he said.

India is the world's fourth largest oil consumer and also the second biggest buyer of Iranian oil after China, importing about 11 million tonnes of crude oil in 2014-15. However, Pradhan remained non-commital on whether India will increase imports from Iran after restricting it at 11 million tonnes in the past two fiscal.

"Let's see. It (increasing imports) depends on a lot of commercial considerations," he said.

"But one thing is sure, oil prices (in international market) will be reasonable. I believe prices will be reasonable and responsible."

The slide in oil prices may, however, put some pressure on exploration and production (E&P) business due to low returns, he said here at an industry event while adding this was "a challenge."

As per the deal, sanctions imposed by the US, European Union and United Nations will be lifted in return for Iran agreeing long-term curbs on a nuclear program that the West suspected was aimed at creating a nuclear bomb.

02:40 pm Brokers on NIIT Tech: Shares of NIIT Technologies extended its northward journey as brokerages raised target price on the stock and earnings per share (EPS) forecast post first quarter earnings.

Credit Suisse has maintained its outperform rating on the stock and raised target price to 600 per share from Rs 475 earlier. It also increased EPS estimates by 2-8 percent.

With retaining hold on NIIT Tech, Religare upped target to Rs 500 from Rs 370 and raised FY16/FY17 EPS by around 15 percent.

The software services provider's revenue finally showed some momentum with the first quarter revenue rising 3.2 percent sequentially to USD 101 million, including USD 3.5 million from an acquisition. Revenue was up 1.3 percent in organic terms while Organic international revenue rose around 3 percent on sequential basis.

02:20 pm Market Expert: The easing Greece standoff, US Federal Reserve's dovish stance have all contributed to the recent bounceback seen in the Nifty, says Dhananjay Sinha, head-institutional research, Emkay Global Financial Services.

Sinha says the Q1 earnings season is likely to be sub-par with a decline in profit after tax (PAT) to the tune of seven percent. However, he excludes oil and gas stocks and banking stocks from this expectation.

02:00 pm Market Check
The market remained strong in afternoon trade, supported by technology, banking & financials, auto, oil, FMCG and capital goods stocks. The Sensex gained 248.55 points at 28181.45 and the Nifty climbed 67.10 points to 8521.20.

The market breadth also remained in positive terrain as about 1538 shares have advanced against 1193 shares declined on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Technical expert Atul Suri retained his bullish stance on Indian markets, saying this is a time wise correction in an ongoing bull market.

Aurobindo Pharma, Aban Offshore, Reliance Industries, Force Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, TCS and Zee Entertainment are most active shares on exchanges.

Global markets are subdued today. Asian markets like China and Hong Kong closed in the red with Shanghai down more than 3 percent while European markets, too, are flat with negative bias.

Concerns on the monsoon continued. Indian MET department told CNBC-TV18 that rainfall in July is 33 percent deficient, will pick up only post July 23. It said sowing is affected in Gujarat, Maharashtra and northern part of Karnataka.

1:50 pm Monsoon: A strengthened El Nino has started to hurt Indian rainfall making July rainfall 33 percent deficient and overall rainfall 5 percent below normal as of yesterday.

DS Pai, Director of Long Range Forecast, India Meteorological Department says except for northern India, no other region was getting good rainfall. Monsoon will improve July 23 onwards and on the back of this IMD maintains its long-period average (LPA) rainfall at 80-85 percent for August and September, he says. He expects LPA rainfall for the year in the range of 83-101 percent from the previous estimate of 92 percent and says IMD will review monsoon targets only in the last week of July.

1:30 pm Crude: International oil prices will come down with the imminent lifting of sanctions against Iran and benefit India, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Wednesday.

"With Iran coming to market, the assumption is that there will be further slide in oil prices... India will be one of the beneficiaries of sliding oil prices," he said.

India is the world's fourth largest oil consumer and also the second biggest buyer of Iranian oil after China, importing about 11 million tonnes of crude oil in 2014-15. However, Pradhan remained non-commital on whether India will increase imports from Iran after restricting it at 11 million tonnes in the past two fiscal.

"Let's see. It (increasing imports) depends on a lot of commercial considerations," he said.

The market continues to rally with the Nifty holds 8500. The 50-share is up 59.45 points or 0.7 percent at 8513.55. The Sensex is up 216.55 points or 0.8 percent at 28149.45. About 1524 shares have advanced, 1138 shares declined, and 176 shares are unchanged.

Maruti Suzuki, Wipro, TCS, HDFC and Tata Motors are top gainers in the Sensex. Among losers are Tata Steel, GAIL and Bharti Airtel.

Oil prices rose in Asia on easing concerns about the impact of the expected flood of Iranian supplies on the global market following the country's historic nuclear deal.

Iran's compliance with the terms of the agreement will lead to a lifting of crippling western economic sanctions which have restricted its key oil exports. But prices eventually settled higher yesterday as investors were confident it would take time for Iran to start exporting more crude to a market already awash with supplies.

12:55 pm Market Update: The Sensex gained 261.57 points or 0.94 percent at 28194.47 and the Nifty rose 69.80 points or 0.83 percent to 8523.90. About 1589 shares have advanced, 1034 shares declined, and 160 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

12:40 pm Greek Vote: Greece today geared up for a parliamentary vote on draconian reforms demanded by eurozone creditors in exchange for a huge new bailout, in what could be Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's toughest political test yet.

The crucial vote comes hours after the International Monetary Fund issued a stark warning that Greece would need far more debt relief to stop it crashing out of the common currency than European governments have so far been willing to contemplate.

The last-ditch deal struck Monday saw Tsipras agree to sweeping changes to labour laws, pensions, VAT and other taxes -- many of which had been rejected by voters in a public referendum - in exchange for new funds to keep Greece's struggling economy alive.

The parliament in Athens must approve the deal before the 18 other eurozone leaders start negotiations over what Greece is to get in return: a three-year bailout worth up to 86 billion euros (USD 95 billion), its third rescue programme in five years.

12:20 pm Oil Update: Oil prices rose in Asia today on easing concerns about the impact of the expected flood of Iranian supplies on the global market following the country's historic nuclear deal.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for August delivery rose 26 cents to USD 53.29 and Brent crude for August climbed 10 cents to USD 58.61 a barrel. Oil prices initially tumbled yesterday after negotiators from Iran and major world powers announced they had reached a deal to monitor Tehran's nuclear programme, which the West says will curb its efforts to build a nuclear bomb.

Iran's compliance with the terms of the agreement will lead to a lifting of crippling western economic sanctions which have restricted its key oil exports. But prices eventually settled higher yesterday as investors were confident it would take time for Iran to start exporting more crude to a market already awash with supplies.

12:00 pm Market Check
The market extended its rally in noon trade with the Sensex rising 265.26 points or 0.95 percent to 28198.16 and the Nifty climbing 71.90 points or 0.85 percent to 8526, led by autos, IT and metal stocks. The broader markets performed largely in-line with benchmark indices, rising 0.4-0.8 percent.

About 1631 shares have advanced, 849 shares declined, and 154 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

Maruti Suzuki touched a new high of Rs 4,171, up 3 percent after Credit Suisse raised target price to Rs 5,100 on hopes of strong volume growth going ahead. Zee Entertainment gained 1 percent after profit beat estimates aided by higher topline & other income. Advertising revenue growth stood at 25 percent, a big surprise.

Shares of HDFC, Infosys, Reliance Industries, TCS, L&T, Wipro, Tata Motors, ONGC, Bajaj Auto, Coal India and Hindalco Industries climbed 1-2 percent.

11:50 am Market outlook: Last three months have been disappointing but with the last top 8500 getting breached, Indian equities are poised for interesting times ahead, says Atul Suri of Rare Enterprises. However, Suri finds Nifty lacking in momentum and predicts a consolidation phase. But he retains his bullish stance on market because of stocks-specific actions and performance of midcaps. He sees Nifty trading in 8200-8500 range saying "if 8200 goes, I will be worried."

Suri says world over stocks are doing better than key indices and cited example of the US. ''Looking globally, chiefly US, we see index is not moving too much but stocks are doing well. The most beautiful bull market however is in Japan with smoothest trend since last two years,'' he said.

11:30 am  Zee Entertainment Q1 result: Media conglomerate Zee Entertainment Enterprises surpassed street expectations on every parameter Wednesday with the first quarter profit rising 15.8 percent year-on-year to Rs 243.8 crore, aided by strong revenue growth and other income. According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, profit was estimated at Rs 214 crore on revenue of Rs 1,275 crore for the quarter. Consolidated revenue increased by 27 percent to Rs 1,340 crore in the quarter ended June 2015 from Rs 1,055.1 crore in the year-ago period, supported by advertising sales and subscription revenues.

The market is still surging ahead with major support from autos, metals and IT.  The Sensex is up 248.43 points or 0.9 percent at 28181.33 and the Nifty is up 65.40 points or 0.8 percent at 8519.50. About 1611 shares have advanced, 658 shares declined, and 132 shares are unchanged.

Maruti, Tata Motors, M&M, ONGC and Reliance are top gainers in the Sensex.

China's economy grew an annual 7 percent in the second quarter, steady with the previous quarter and slightly better than analysts' forecasts, though further stimulus is still expected after the quarter ended with a stock market crash.

It has been a difficult year for the world's second-largest economy. Slowing growth in trade, investment and domestic demand has been compounded by a cooling property sector, deflationary pressure, and most recently a stock market crash, so the recent sequence of data releases showing signs of improvement may help buttress faltering confidence in the effectiveness of prior policy support measures.

10:55 am Market Update: The Sensex gained 235.74 points or 0.84 percent at 28168.64 and the Nifty rose 62.20 points or 0.74 percent to 8516.30. About 1585 shares have advanced, 657 shares declined, and 132 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

10:40 am Earnings: Media conglomerate Zee Entertainment surpassed street expectations on every parameter Wednesday with the first quarter profit rising 15.8 percent year-on-year to Rs 243.8 crore, aided by advertising revenue.

Consolidated revenue increased by 23.4 percent to Rs 1,340 crore in the quarter ended June 2015 from Rs 1,085.7 crore in the year-ago period.

According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, profit was estimated at Rs 214 crore on revenue of Rs 1,275 crore for the quarter.

Zee said advertising revenues for the quarter were Rs 779.9 crore, recording a growth of 25.4 percent over Q1 FY15 and subscription revenues were Rs 462.5 crore during the quarter, recording a growth of 12.2 percent over Q1 FY15.

During the quarter, domestic subscription revenues stood at Rs 368 crore while international subscription revenues stood at Rs 94.5 crore.

Operating profit margin declined 530 basis points year-on-year to 23.2 percent in June quarter, which was better than analysts' estimates of 23 percent against 28.5 percent in the corresponding quarter of last fiscal.

10:20 am Oil volatile: The reason behind the fall and rise in oil prices yesterday, according to Miswin Mahesh of Barclays, is the fact that the Iranian nuclear agreement still needs to be approved within the Congress in the US. They have 60 days to do that. Despite US President Barack Obama firm statement that he will veto any opposition to it, it is still important. Secondly, even after the Congress approval in September, actual oil from Iran will hit the market only in the fourth quarter.

There are also a few other roadblocks to go through in terms of Iranian oil hitting the market. The first tranche that would hit the market would be the 40 million barrels of oil Iran has on oil tankers, says Mahesh. This will hit the market first after the European insurance sanctions are removed on tanker shipments, he told CNBC-TV18.

Iran has the fifth largest oil reserves in the world. Despite the fact that Iran will be opening its oil sector to foreign companies, oil contracts will play a key role here, he says. While foreign companies are extremely keen to go to Iran, a lot will depend on how attractive it will be for major oil companies around the world to go to there and start rejuvenating the oil fields, he adds.

10:00 am Market Check
The market gained strength after a day of consolidation, rising 0.8 percent led by broadbased buying. The Sensex climbed 217.44 points to 28150.34 and the Nifty rose 57.10 points to 8511.20.

The BSE Midcap index advanced 0.5 percent and Smallcap jumped 0.8 percent. Nearly three shares advanced for every share falling on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Maruti Suzuki rallied more than 2 percent to touch a new high of Rs 4,138.45. Brokerage Credit Suisse has maintained outperform rating on the stock and raised target price to Rs Rs 5,100 from Rs 4,370 earlier (implying 26 percent potential upside), citing higher volume growth going ahead and likely addition in MSCI index.

Reliance Industries, TCS, ONGC, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and Wipro climbed 1-1.8 percent.

9:50 am Tata Motors' pain: Worries about Tata Motors' Jaguar Land Rover retail sales in China continues as it reported flat growth in June. JLR total retail sales in China (June) was at 39602 units. Landrover China sales was up merely 1 percent (year-on-year) at 32447 units while Jaguar sales slipped 6 percent (YoY) at 7155 units during the month. However, China slowdown has already been priced in, with the stock diving around 4 percent on Tuesday.

China sales was weak due to softening market conditions and delay in production ramp up of local Evoque also hit sales in the country. JLR retails in China declined 46 percent in June 15 reflecting overall slowdown in demand as well as transition of the Evoque from UK to Chery JV.

9:40 am Market check: The market is surging ahead as the Sensex is up 181.64 points or 0.6 percent at 28114.54. The Nifty is up 47.20 points or 0.6 percent at 8501.30. About 1202 shares have advanced, 378 shares declined, and 86 shares are unchanged.

9:30 am Market outlook: Ridham Desai, Morgan Stanley says the recent resilience in domestic flows provides a confirmatory signal to his view on India's structural liquidity story. In the near term, the market participants should also prepare for a material rise in equity supply, he adds. He feels, valuations are not providing help in making the market call. "That said, if we are right about growth and interest rates, then they are attractive at 12.3x our FY17 estimate for the BSE Sensex," Desai says. He prefers rate sensitives & cyclicals and continue to avoid beta.

The market has opened in green territory. The Sensex is up 54.63 points at 27987.53 and the Nifty is up 9.30 points at 8463.40. About 468 shares have advanced, 100 shares declined, and 61 shares are unchanged.

ONGC, Hero MotoCorp, Lupin, Coal India and Maruti are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are BHEL, HDFC twins, Hindalco and Bharti Airtel.

The Indian rupee opened flat at 63.36 per dollar against 63.39 Tuesday. Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity said, "Reduction in FIIs inflows coupled with profit booking in local equities may put pressure on the rupee to depreciate. However, the gains in Asian equities may support the rupee."

"The range for the USD-INR pair is seen between 63-63.80/dollar," he added. Dollar eased as data shows a surprise drop in US retail sales in June denting optimism about US economic growth.

Asia opened up in the green ahead of a raft of Chinese data that is due. Yen is hovering around two-week lows leading the Nikkei higher which has gained 3.5 percent for this week. Kospi has moved to more than one-week highs. Chinese economic data later in the session includes second quarter GDP, fixed asset investment, industrial output and foreign direct investment.

US stocks closed higher in light volume trade as second quarter earnings season began and investors eye developments in Greece and a slight recovery in oil prices. The S&P 500 briefly topped 2,110, while the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 18,000.

In important cues to watch today, Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen's testimony to congress today and tomorrow will be watched closely.

European stocks ended mildly higher on hopes that the Greek parliament will pass the legislation needed to secure a third bailout. The Greek finance ministry submitted a reform bill yesterday.

The nation's parliament has until tonight to approve the legislation, paving the way for Athens to meet a Monday repayment deadline to the European Central bank.

Crude prices gain reversing losse after Iran and six global powers reached a landmark nuclear deal.The agreement must now overcome opposition from reluctant conservatives in US Congress. Also the deal will not immediately remove sanctions placed on Iranian crude exports.

Gold prices hover around USD 1150 an ounce.