Sensex lower, Nifty ends at 8236; Dr Reddy's, ONGC top losers

3:30 pm Market closing: Benchmark indices closed flat with a negative bias on first day of the week due to lack of domestic as well as global cues. All eyes are on quarterly earnings season that will kick start this week with IndusInd Bank, Infosys and TCS. Macro data will also be announced, which will be closely watched especially after currency demonetisation.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 32.68 points at 26726.55 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 8.70 points to 8235.10 while the broader market outperformed.

About 1567 shares advanced against 1253 declining shares on the BSE.

3:18 pm Earnings estimates: ICICIdirect says IndusInd Bank's loan trajectory may get impacted in October-December quarter.

It expects growth of 16.6 percent Y-o-Y to Rs 95,848 crore compared to 25 percent levels seen in last several quarters. Asset quality and portfolio growth of the commercial vehicle and loan against property segment would be key monitorables in Q3 FY'17.

Margins may decline but still expected at healthy levels of 3.8 percent. NII growth of 18.3 percent Y-o-Y to Rs 1389 crore is expected while PAT of Rs 669 crore (up 15 percent Y-o-Y) is estimated, the brokerage house says.

3:04 pm Market Update: Benchmark indices continued to be rangebound due to lack of domestic as well as global cues.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 12.85 points at 26746.38 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 1.05 points to 8242.75. About 1516 shares advanced against 1224 declining shares on the BSE.

2:50 pm Buzzing: Shares of Kitex Garments, the Kerala-based children's apparel manufacturer, rallied more than 6 percent intraday after the board approval for investment in its US subsidiary.

The board of directors of the company today approved further investment upto USD 1 million in the capital of Kitex USA LLC during fourth quarter of 2016-17, the company said in its filing.

The board also approved availing an additional term loan of Rs 17 crore under A-TUFS (The Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme) with a tenure of five years.

2:40 pm Order win: Infrastructure company HCC has received Rs 368.6 crore contract from IRCON International for construction of cable stayed bridge including its approaches across river Anji Khad in J&K.

The project is to be completed in 36 months.

This is the first order HCC received from IRCON International.

2:20 pm JLR sales: Britain's biggest carmaker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) sold a record 583,312 cars last year as the Indian-owned firm continues its rapid expansion with the aim of building 1 million vehicles a year at the turn of the decade.

Sales were up 20 percent from the previous year, although sales growth slowed to 12 percent year-on-year in December, the carmaker said.

The automaker, which spent years in the doldrums before being bought by India's Tata in 2008, has since invested heavily in new models and expanded production with plants in China and Brazil and construction of a new site in Slovakia under way.

Sales of luxury Jaguar models rose 77 percent to 148,730 units in 2016 due to strong demand for a range of new high-end products including the F-PACE, the brand's first off-roader which was launched last year.

Europe was the carmaker's biggest overall market, accounting for almost a quarter of total demand.

2:00 pm Market Check
Benchmark indices continued to consolidate in afternoon as investors awaited December quarter earnings that will kick start this week with Infosys, TCS and IndusInd Bank.

The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 12.43 points at 26771.66 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 4.60 points to 8248.40 while the broader markets continued to outperform.

The BSE Midcap index was up 0.2 percent and Smallcap gained 0.4 percent, respectively. About 1530 shares advanced against 1142 declining shares on the exchange.

BEML was the most active stock on bourses after the government decided to divest 26 percent stake in the company to strategic investor/s.

Dr Reddy's Labs retained its top position in the selling list, down more than 3 percent followed by Asian Paints, ONGC, Lupin, M&M and Sun Pharma.

ITC, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, TCS, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki and SBI continued to support the market, up 0.5-1 percent.

European bourses were lower, bucking the trend seen across other global markets, as investors focused on fresh data from the euro zone and volatility in oil markets.

1:45 pm Market view: Market may be witnessing selling from foreign institutional investors, but domestic institutional investors will continue to remain strong, says Hemant Kanawala, Head of Equity at Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance. So he expects no downside to the markets.

Due to lack of any major triggers other than the Budget in the near-future, he does not see an upside to the market as well.

Nifty, he feels, may continue range bound around 8,000 level.

Although the GDP numbers may come out in late February, the impact will become apparent sooner as companies come out with their earnings, says Kanawala.

1:30 pm Market outlook: Valuation in the information technology sector is favourable but challenges in terms of earnings and uncertainty on Trump's policies make them good picks only on bad days, says Nischal Maheshwari, Head - Institutional Equities at Edelweiss Securities. Maheshwari, however, feels risks in the pharmaceuticals sector may not be fully priced in. Most large cap companies have significantly scaled up businesses and are now struggling on compliance issues with US Food and Drug Administration, which could be a long-drawn pain, he says. He expects decent corporate earnings growth this quarter. Topline growth of around 9 percent is likely to be driven by metals and PSU banks, largely due to base effect more than return in growth, he says.

The market is still in red with the Sensex down 16.35 points at 26742.88. The Nifty is down 3.80 points at 8240. About 1486 shares have advanced, 1074 shares declined, and 400 shares are unchanged.

BHEL, Tata Motors, ITC,  Maruti and Bajaj Auto are top gainers while Dr Reddy's, ONGC, Coal India, NTPC and M&M are losers in the Sensex.

Investors are looking beyond the demonetisation impact now. There may be a lot of volatility and a hightened level of sensitivity, but in the long-term, the foreign institutional investors continue to remain positve on India, says the Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Bank India, Ravneet Gill.

Developed markets may no longer continue to outperform the emerging markets, says Gill. The rupee too, continues to perform better than other emerging market currencies, he adds.

Current fiscal may see a Gross Domestic Product less than the pre-demonetisation estimates of 7.1 percent, says Pratik Gupta, Head, Equities of Deutsche Bank India who is expecting a strong recovery. The GDP is expected to grow 7.5 percent in financial year 2018.

12:39 pm Tax collection: In the first 9 months of current fiscal, from April to December, indirect tax collection has increased by 25 percent year-on-year while the direct tax collection has increased 12 percent.

Addressing the press conference, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that in December 2016, service tax collection saw a rise of 14.2 percent. Central excise saw an improvement by 31.6 percent, but the custom duty collection declined 6.3 percent on back of lower gold imports.

Most states reported a hike in value added tax (VAT) in November mostly because of tax collection in old banned currency, Jaitley said.

For April-December period, services tax collection improved to 23.9 percent and central excise rose 43 percent.

12:20 pm Market Expert: Market may be witnessing selling from foreign institutional investors, but domestic institutional investors will continue to remain strong, says Hemant Kanawala, Head Of Equity at Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance. So he expects no downside to the markets.

Due to lack of any major triggers other than the Budget in the near-future, he does not see an upside to the market as well.

Nifty, he feels, may continue range bound around 8,000 level.

Although the GDP numbers may come out in late February, the impact will become apparent sooner as companies come out with their earnings, says Kanawala.

12:39 pm Tax collection: In the first 9 months of current fiscal, from April to December, indirect tax collection has increased by 25 percent year-on-year while the direct tax collection has increased 12 percent.

Addressing the press conference, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that in December 2016, service tax collection saw a rise of 14.2 percent. Central excise saw an improvement by 31.6 percent, but the custom duty collection declined 6.3 percent on back of lower gold imports.

Most states reported a hike in value added tax (VAT) in November mostly because of tax collection in old banned currency, Jaitley said.

For April-December period, services tax collection improved to 23.9 percent and central excise rose 43 percent.

12:20 pm Market Expert: Market may be witnessing selling from foreign institutional investors, but domestic institutional investors will continue to remain strong, says Hemant Kanawala, Head Of Equity at Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance. So he expects no downside to the markets.

Due to lack of any major triggers other than the Budget in the near-future, he does not see an upside to the market as well.

Nifty, he feels, may continue range bound around 8,000 level.

Although the GDP numbers may come out in late February, the impact will become apparent sooner as companies come out with their earnings, says Kanawala.

12:39 pm Tax collection: In the first 9 months of current fiscal, from April to December, indirect tax collection has increased by 25 percent year-on-year while the direct tax collection has increased 12 percent.

Addressing the press conference, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that in December 2016, service tax collection saw a rise of 14.2 percent. Central excise saw an improvement by 31.6 percent, but the custom duty collection declined 6.3 percent on back of lower gold imports.

Most states reported a hike in value added tax (VAT) in November mostly because of tax collection in old banned currency, Jaitley said.

For April-December period, services tax collection improved to 23.9 percent and central excise rose 43 percent.

12:20 pm Market Expert: Market may be witnessing selling from foreign institutional investors, but domestic institutional investors will continue to remain strong, says Hemant Kanawala, Head Of Equity at Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance. So he expects no downside to the markets.

Due to lack of any major triggers other than the Budget in the near-future, he does not see an upside to the market as well.

Nifty, he feels, may continue range bound around 8,000 level.

Although the GDP numbers may come out in late February, the impact will become apparent sooner as companies come out with their earnings, says Kanawala.

12:00 pm Market Check
Benchmark indices continued to be volatile with the Nifty hovering around 8250 level ahead of quarterly earnings season that will begin with Infosys, TCS and IndusInd Bank this week. Overall analysts will closely watch the impact of demonetisation on earnings and companies' outlook for March quarter.

Sanjay Mookim of Bank of America Merrill Lynch says while the consensus Sensex earnings growth expectation for FY17 has come down to 8 percent from 20 percent at the beginning of the fiscal, FY18 earnings growth expectations at 18 percent is still high.

Factoring the impact of demonetisation, on a top down basis, he expects Sensex FY18-19 EPS growth to be 12-14 percent.

This relatively robust earnings growth could drive Sensex to 29,000 by December 2017, Mookim feels.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 9.20 points at 26768.43 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 1.45 points at 8245.25. About 1482 shares advanced against 1036 declining shares on the BSE.

ITC, Reliance Industries, Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki gained 1 percent each while Dr Reddy's Labs, M&M, ONGC and NTPC were down 1-3 percent.

12:00 pm Market Check
Benchmark indices continued to be volatile with the Nifty hovering around 8250 level ahead of quarterly earnings season that will begin with Infosys, TCS and IndusInd Bank this week. Overall analysts will closely watch the impact of demonetisation on earnings and companies' outlook for March quarter.

Sanjay Mookim of Bank of America Merrill Lynch says while the consensus Sensex earnings growth expectation for FY17 has come down to 8 percent from 20 percent at the beginning of the fiscal, FY18 earnings growth expectations at 18 percent is still high.

Factoring the impact of demonetisation, on a top down basis, he expects Sensex FY18-19 EPS growth to be 12-14 percent.

This relatively robust earnings growth could drive Sensex to 29,000 by December 2017, Mookim feels.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 9.20 points at 26768.43 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 1.45 points at 8245.25. About 1482 shares advanced against 1036 declining shares on the BSE.

ITC, Reliance Industries, Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki gained 1 percent each while Dr Reddy's Labs, M&M, ONGC and NTPC were down 1-3 percent.

11:00 am Market Check
Benchmark indices remained volatile as investors maintained their cautious stance ahead of December quarter earnings that will kick start this week with Infosys, TCS and IndusInd Bank. Overall December quarter is seasonally weak for the technology sector but the key factor to watch out for would be outlook. Barring IT, analysts will closely watch the impact of demonetisation on other sectors.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 22.42 points at 26736.81 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 4.10 points to 8239.70 while the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 0.3-0.5 percent on positive breadth.

Asian shares were higher, following the Dow Jones coming within inches of hitting the 20,000 mark during last Friday's session. The ASX 200 climbed 0.9 percent or 51.82 points at 5,8074, seeing broad gains across all sub-indexes except for materials and gold.

Oil prices fell as Iran increased exports undermining efforts by other oil producers to curb a global fuel supply overhang and as US drillers increased activity for a 10th week.

Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were trading at USD 56.84 per barrel, down 0.46 percent from their last close. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were trading at USD 53.71 per barrel, down 0.52 percent.

10:59 am Market Update: Benchmark indices were flat with a negative bias. The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 25.47 points to 26733.76 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 6.35 points to 8237.45.

About 1314 shares advanced against 905 declining shares on the BSE.

10:36 am Economic growth outlook: The decline in gross domestic product (GDP) for the second half of the year is likely to be more stark than government estimates, says Tanvee Gupta Jain, India Economist Research at Macquarie Capital Securities.

Macquarie estimates 6 percent growth against the 6.7 percent estimate by the CSO for the second half of the current financial year.

The advance estimate for GDP for the fiscal year 2017 released on Friday shows India's growth is set to slow down to 7.1 percent in this financial year but this does not include the impact of demonetisation.

Keeping in mind the uncertainty due to the cash crunch, Macquarie's gross value added (GVA) estimate for the current year is 6.6 percent and for GDP is 6.8 percent at market price.

Macquarie is optimistic for financial year 2018 and estimates GVA at 7.4 percent and GDP at 7.5 percent.

10:20 am Buzzing: Hyderabad-based healthcare company Granules India shares plunged 13 percent intraday after the company received inspection report with 11 observations from Portugal regulator for Gagillapur facility.

INFARMED (InstitutoNacional da Farmacia E Do Medicamento) Portugal had conducted a renewal inspection on the company's facility that manufactures pharmaceutical formulation intermediates & finished dosages

The company said it had initiated steps to address observations of the inspection agency and will submit its response with a corrective and preventive action plan within stipulated time.

Granules will also be requesting the INFARMED for re-inspection of Gagillapur facility at the earliest.

10:00 am Market Check
Benchmark indices remained rangebound in morning with the Nifty hovering around 8250 level as all eyes are on quarterly earnings that will kick start this week with Infosys, TCS and IndusInd Bank.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 19.82 points at 26739.41 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 4.85 points to 8238.95 while the broader markets outperformed benchmarks.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 0.3 percent each on positive breadth. About two shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE.

Technology stocks decline further after losing 3 percent last week after the re-introduction of H1B Visa Reform Bill in the US Congress. Infosys, Wipro, HCL Technologies and TCS were down 0.4-1 percent.

Dr Reddy's Labs was the biggest loser among Sensex 30 stocks, down 2.5 percent followed by Tata Motors, Asian Paints and Mahindra & Mahindra while ITC, HDFC Bank, Adani Ports, Reliance Industries, SBI and Hero Motocorp continued to support the market.

9:55 am The decline in gross domestic product (GDP) for the second half of the year is likely to be more stark than government estimates, says Tanvee Gupta Jain, India Economist Research at Macquarie Capital Securities.

Macquarie estimates 6 percent growth against the 6.7 percent estimate by the CSO for the second half of the current financial year.

The advance estimate for GDP for the fiscal year 2017 released on Friday shows India's growth is set to slow down to 7.1 percent in this financial year but this does not include the impact of demonetisation.

9:45 am Market check: The Sensex is down 27.54 points or 0.1 percent at 26731.69, and the Nifty is down 5.05 points at 8238.75. About 1073 shares have advanced, 640 shares declined, and 388 shares are unchanged.

Dr Reddy's, Wipro, Asian Paints, TCS and M&M are losers in the Sensex. ITC, BHEL, Adani Ports, Hero and ONGC are gainers.

9:30 am FII view: Sanjay Mookim of Bank of America Merrill Lynch says while the consensus Sensex earnings growth expectation for FY17 has come down to 8 percent from 20 percent at the beginning of the fiscal, FY18 earnings growth expectations at 18 percent is still high. Factoring the impact of demonetisation, on a top down basis, he expects Sensex FY18-19 EPS growth to be 12-14 percent.

This relatively robust earnings growth could drive Sensex to 29,000 by December 2017, Mookim feels.

The market has opened in green Monday. The Sensex is up 93.34 points or 0.3 percent at 26852.57 and the Nifty is up 15.95 points or 0.2 percent at 8259.75. About 300 shares have advanced, 97 shares declined, and 323 shares are unchanged.

Axis Bank, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Steel, HDFC and Bajaj Auto are top gainers while Bharti Airtel, TCS, GAIL, Lupin and ICICI Bank are losers in the Sensex.

The Indian rupee declined in the early trade. It has opened lower by 21 paise at 68.17 per dollar versus 67.96 Friday.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity, "The rupee will continue to trade sideways but with a positive bias as optimism in equity market will help it appreciate. The USD-INR is expected to trade in a range of 67.80-68.20/dollar for the day."

The dollar held steady after mixed US payrolls report. Yields on US 10-year notes rose from 2.33 percent to 2.42 percent on the data.

Asian shares were higher on Monday morning, following the Dow Jones coming within inches of hitting the 20,000 mark at the close of trade last week.

The ASX 200 gained 0.54 percent, seeing broad gains across all sub-indexes except for materials and gold. In South Korea, the Kospi added 0.04 percent in early trade.

Across the Korean peninsula, North Korea had announced Sunday that it could test the launch of its intercontinental ballistic missile at any time from any location, Reuters reported.

US stocks ended at record highs fueled by optimism about Trump's plans to stimulate the economy with lower taxes and infrastructure spending. Both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 ended at record highs.