Sensex gains 363 points, Nifty ends above 8350; DRL, HDFC surge

3:30 pm Market closing: Driven by late upsurge, the market ended with handsome gains. The Sensex was up 363.30 points or 1.3 percent at 27687.30 and the Nifty closed up 111.30 points or 1.3 percent at 8373.65. About 1668 shares advanced, 1052 shares declined, and 173 shares were unchanged.

Oil stocks gained most on fuel price hike over the weekend. Banks, infra, pharma and FMCG stocks were up. Dr Reddy's Labs, Tata Power, GAIL, HDFC and Bajaj Auto were top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers were Coal India, Hero Motocorp, NTPC, Tata Steel and Tata Motors.

3:20 pm Market check: Late surge take the market higher as the Sensex is up 372.64 points or 1.4 percent at 27696.64. The Nifty is up 115.85 points or 1.4 percent at 8378.20. About 1639 shares have advanced, 1067 shares declined, and 169 shares are unchanged.

Dr Reddy's Labs, GAIL, Tata Power and HDFC are up 3 percent each.

3:00 pm Result: Consolidated net profit of Asian Paints grew 18.6 percent to Rs 341 crore in the quarter ended March 31, 2015 from Rs 287.4 crore in corresponding quarter last fiscal. Total income was up 6.9 percent at Rs 3535 crore compared to Rs  3307 crore on a yearly basis.

This is much lower than estimates. According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, the company was expected to report net profit at Rs 371 crore, up 29.1 percent (year-on-year) and total income was seen up 9.3 percent at Rs 3616 crore. The company had seen an exceptional gain of Rs 9.96 crore last year.

Its decorative business recorded single-digit volume growth due to poor demand.

2:30 pm P-Notes: Investments into Indian markets through participatory notes (P-Notes) have dropped to Rs 2.68 lakh crore (USD 42 billion) at the end of April, after hitting over 7-year high in the preceding month.

P-Notes, mostly used by overseas HNIs (High Net Worth Individuals), hedge funds and other foreign institutions, allow such investors to invest in Indian markets through registered Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs). This saves time and costs for them, but the flip side is the route can also be used for round tripping of black money.

According to data released by Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), total value of P-Notes investment in Indian markets (equity, debt and derivatives) declined to Rs 2,68,168 crore at the end of April, from Rs 2,72,078 crore at the preceding month-end.

The market is holding its gains smartly. The Sensex is up 195.68 points or 0.7 percent at 27519.68 and the Nifty is up 64.00 points or 0.8 percent at 8326.35. About 1527 shares have advanced, 1013 shares declined, and 180 shares are unchanged.

Dr Reddy's Labs, Tata Power, GAIL, Reliance and HDFC Bank are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Tata Motors, Hero Motocorp, Coal India, Wipro and Vedanta.

Ahead of RBI's second bi-monthly monetary policy review, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday said his "expectation" from Governor Raghuram Rajan was the same as general expectation on an interest rate cut. "My expectation is the same as your expectation," he said when asked about what he expected the RBI to do in the June 2 policy review.

The RBI has lowered its policy rate twice so far in 2015, but maintained a status quo in its first bi-monthly monetary policy released on April 7 on fears of unseasonal rains impacting food prices. The repo rate, at which the RBI lends to the banking system, currently stands at 7.5 percent and the cash reserve ratio, which is the amount of deposits parked with the central bank, is 4 percent .

1:50 pm Market outlook: The recent correction in Indian equities was expected, but its depth and duration were surprising, said Manishi Raychaudhuri, Asia Pacific Strategist at BNP Paribas in an interview to CNBC-TV18. Raychaudhuri says rising crude prices and the relative attractiveness of other Asian markets are among the reasons for the correction. "We have seen oil prices trending back again to the 65-70 levels and therefore there is a concern that the benefit that India enjoyed on the inflation and current account front would be whittled away," he says. ''From April, there has been significant buoyancy in Chinese and Korean equity markets, thus affecting a degree of flows that have got diverted from India to other emerging markets,'' he said.

1:30 pm Rate cut? Ahead of RBI's second bi-monthly monetary policy review, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said his "expectation" from Governor Raghuram Rajan was the same as general expectation on an interest rate cut. "My expectation is the same as your expectation," he said when asked about what he expected the RBI to do in the June 2 policy review. "I expect what you expect," when he was told during an interview with agency that the expectation was of a rate cut by the RBI.

The market consolidates for second straight with support from oil, pharma and FMCG stocks. The Sensex is up 126.01 points at 27450.01 and the Nifty is up 42.60 points at 8304.95. About 1452 shares have advanced, 995 shares declined, and 174 shares are unchanged.

Dr Reddy's Labs is up 3 percent while GAIL, Hindalco, Tata Power and Bharti are top gainers. On the losing side are Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp, NTPC, Coal India and Cipla.

The European markets will be reacting to a whole host of economic data coming out this week, says Nick Parsons of National Australia Bank. The upcoming CPI data will most likely indicate to the ECB that it must persist with its quantitative easing (QE) programme.

At the moment, European bond yields have calmed, he says. But volatility is not far away either. Parsons believes any unexpected data can trigger volatility.

Moving to the US, he says most analysts see the Federal Reserve raising rates in September. But if market pricing is anything to go by, he sees the first rate hike happening in January or February.

12:55 pm Boardroom: Gammon infrastructure has started adding low margin engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) income to the revenue, said the company's Managing Director, Kishor Kumar Mohanty in an interview to CNBC-TV18. The EPC business contributes around Rs 40-50 crore to the overall revenues, Mohanty said. He said the company is likely to complete two projects by the first week of June. The Hazipur–Muzaffarpur project will get completed over next 3-4 months, he said. Mohanty said the company's interest burden has reduced as loans from IDFC has been repaid using proceeds from the recent share sale. Stock is up 14 percent.

12:30 pm Result analysis: Analysts do not seem to be too impressed with Nestle India's January-March quarter (Q1 as it follows January-December financial year). The FMCG major reported a 23.58 percent increase in net profit at Rs 320.28 crore while net sales rose to Rs 2,506.79 crore, up 8.35 percent as against Rs 2,313.46 crore on yearly basis.

With a sell rating, CLSA says Nestle needs to optimise its revenue-margin equilibrium to drive a sustainable growth as it finds valuations expensive. The brokerage has lowered revenue growth but raised margin estimates.

Credit Suisse has maintained underperform rating on the stock but increased target price to Rs 6450 per share. It has increased earnings estimates for CY15-17 by 2 percent to build in the input cost savings being fully retained. However, it is disappointed, on the lack of focus on volume growth and market share, which are long-term value drivers for a consumer company.

However, Deutsche Bank reiterates buy with a target price of Rs 7500 per share.

The Sensex is up 99.72 points at 27423.72 and the Nifty is up 34.45 points at 8296.80. About 1433 shares have advanced, 901 shares declined, and 142 shares are unchanged.

Hindalco, Dr Reddy's Labs, GAIL, ONGC and Vedanta are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Tata Motors, Cipla, Hero, HUL and HDFC.

Oil prices edged up following fighting in Iraq and Yemen, but Iranian comments that OPEC was unlikely to cut output as well as signs of strengthening US production capped gains.

Prices were supported by concerns that conflict in Iraq and Yemen could disrupt supplies after Islamic State militants said they had taken control of the Iraqi city of Ramadi in a big blow to the government.

In Yemen, a Saudi-led coalition resumed air strikes against Houthi militia in Aden, a port-city on the shores of key Middle East oil routes. Despite these Middle East conflicts, analysts said oil markets remained oversupplied, and that the glut could worsen if US-production picked up and output by producer-club OPEC remained strong.

The Sensex is up 97.43 points at 27421.43 and the Nifty is up 28.50 points at 8290.85.
 
About 1381 shares have advanced, 742 shares declined, and 134 shares are unchanged.

Oil marketing companies are in focus as petrol and diesel price was hiked by Rs 3.13 a litre and Rs 2.71 per litre respectively. Hindalco is up 3 percent while Dr Reddy's Labs, GAIL, ONGC and Bharti Airtel are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Tata Motors, HUL, Hero Motocorp, Wipro and SBI.

Gold was trading close to a three-month high, buoyed by a weaker dollar and more soft US data that triggered hopes the Federal Reserve would not hike interest rates soon. The metal has been supported in recent days by sluggish US economic data, which has hurt the dollar and altered expectations regarding the Fed's monetary policy.

The dollar languished around a three-month low against the euro in early Asian trade, after weak data on US industrial production and consumer sentiment.

10:55 am Market check: The Sensex is up 106.81 points at 27430.81 and the Nifty is up 32.50 points  at 8294.85. About 1371 shares have advanced, 735 shares declined, and 134 shares are unchanged.

10:45 pm Result: Jammu and Kashmir Bank reported 60 percent decline in net profit at Rs 101.61 crore for the fourth quarter ended March on account of rise in bad loans. The bank's net profit stood at Rs 250.60 crore in the January-March quarter of 2013-14. Gross NPAs as a percentage of total advances rose significantly to 5.97 percent from 1.66 percent in the same quarter a year ago. The bank's net NPAs went up to 2.77 percent from 0.22 percent at the end of March 2014. The total provisions, excluding for income tax, rose to Rs 380.76 crore during the quarter as against Rs 60.57 crore in the year-ago period.

10:30 am Interview: Zuari Group's offer to buy over 36 percent stake in Mangalore Chemicals was oversubscribed and the company spent Rs 400 crore for the same, says Zuari Agro managing director Kapil Mehan. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Mehan said the share transfer is expected to happen very soon and Mangalore Chemicals will continue to be a listed entity. Through this open offer, Zuari has raised its stake to 53.03 percent.

The market is maintaining its early gains supported majorly by oil & gas stocks. The Sensex is up 175.25 points or 0.6 percent at 27499.25, and the Nifty is up 55.40 points or 0.7 percent at 8317.75. About 1265 shares have advanced, 469 shares declined, and 113 shares are unchanged.

Hindalco, ONGC, GAIL, Dr Reddy's Labs and Bharti Airtel are top gainers in the Sensex. Hero MotoCorp and Coal India are losers. Asian Paints rises 3 percent ahead of announcing March quarter results today.

Asian shares are struggling after soft data raised more questions about the health of the US economy. US industrial production unexpectedly fell for a fifth straight month in April while consumer confidence dropped to a seven-month low in early May, data showed on Friday, pushing down the dollar and US bond yields. The weakness also cemented expectations that the Federal Reserve will probably not raise interest rates anytime soon, with US interest rate futures pricing a rate hike near the end of 2015.

The 10-year US Treasuries yield fell almost 10 basis points to 2.140 percent on Friday, compared to six-month high of 2.366 percent set on Tuesday.

9:55 am Boardroom: Edelweiss Financial Services on Friday reported 45 percent rise in its net profit at Rs 88 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2015. Total revenue jumped 74 percent at Rs 1,215 crore during the quarter under review from Rs 699 crore in the year ago period. Going forward too Rashesh Shah, Chairman & CEO is confident of a 25 percent growth on back of good mix of diversified financial services business. According to him most good financial servives companies will be able to post this kind of growth.

9:45 am Poll: Asian Paints will announce its January-March quarter results today. According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, the company is likely to report Q4FY15 net profit at Rs 371 crore, up 29.1 percent from Rs 287 crore. During the quarter, total income is seen up 9.3 percent at Rs 3616 crore versus Rs 3307 crore year-on-year. The company had seen an exceptional gain of Rs 9.96 crore last year.

EBITDA is likely to be up 19 percent at Rs 577 crore from Rs 485 crore (Y-o-Y) while operating profit margins is seen growing 130 basis points (bps) at 16 percent compared to 14.7 percent (Y-o-Y).

During the growth volume growth is seen at 1-9 percent. The volume growth will be on a base of 12-14 percent last year (in Q3FY15 volume growth was 3 percent on a base of 8 percent).

9:35 am Market check: The Sensex is up 141.14 points or 0.5 percent at 27465.14 and the Nifty is up 44.10 points or 0.5 percent at 8306.45. About 1060 shares have advanced, 400 shares declined, and 115 shares are unchanged.

ONGC, M&M, Bajaj Auto, GAIL and Vedanta are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Wipro, Hero and HUL.

The market has kick-started the week on a positive note. The Sensex is up 79.82 points or at 27403.82 and the Nifty is up 22.90 points at 8285.25. About 384 shares have advanced, 121 shares declined, and 76 shares are unchanged.

Hindalco, ONGC, Cipla, GAIL and Hero are top gainers while HUL, Wipro and HDFC are major losers. Asian Paints is up around 2 percent ahead of announcing its March quarter earnings today.

The Indian rupee opened with marginal gains of 6 paise at 63.45 per dollar on Monday versus 63.51 Friday.

The dollar falls to a three-month low against the euro, as disappointing data on US domestic factory activity and consumer sentiment spurred doubts about the recovery in the US. The dollar index slips to the 93 levels.

Agam Gupta of Standard Chartered said, ''The weak US data overnight has led to dollar weakness overseas. The USD-INR pair should range between 63.30-63.60/dollar today. We expect to see demand from the local government banks below 63.40 levels and we see small exporter interest close to 63.60 levels.''

Meanwhile Asian markets opened largely flat. Though stock markets in Japan led gains in the region early Monday as March machinery orders due before the market open beat expectations, while other bourses tracked a muted finish on Wall Street Friday.

On Friday, stocks closed flat in choppy trade on Friday, as disappointing data weighed on investor sentiment amid dollar declines and lower bond yields. In precious metals, gold prices rose above USD 1220 an ounce following dollar weakness.