Sensex, Nifty end flat; ICICI Bank top loser, Adani Ports spikes 4%

3:30 pm Market closing: Equity benchmarks closed flat with a negative bias on Thursday while the outperformance of broader markets continued for third consecutive session.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 8.21 points at 31,137.59 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 5.15 points to 9,616.10.

About 1414 shares advanced against 1260 declining shares on the BSE.

3:00 pm Gold update: Gold prices rebounded by Rs 250 to Rs 29,350 per 10 grams at the bullion market today on firm overseas cues and increased buying by local jewellers Silver also recovered by Rs 150 to Rs 40,150 per kg backed by increased offtake by industrial units and coin makers.

2:45 pm Brokerages view: Real estate major, Prestige Estates, received the backing of domestic and global brokerages after posting steady set of numbers for its March quarter.

The company reported 31 percent rise in Q4 net profit QoQ at Rs 89.2 crore The revenue came in at Rs 1,440 crore. The earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation increased 14 percent quarter on quarter.

Brokerage houses are largely upbeat about the stock and highlighted the company's efforts to sustain through a tough environment.

2:30 pm Narayana Murthy view: IT companies can protect the jobs of youngsters if senior executives take pay cuts, said Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy.

He added that the industry has dealt with the issue several times in the past.

Murthy said he has no doubt that all industry leaders have good intentions to solve the problem of layoffs.

2:10 pm Market Check: Market continued to trade rangebound, with the Nifty trading around swaying around 9600 range.

The Sensex was up 16.51 points at 31162.31, while the Nifty was down 3.15 points at 9618.10. The market breadth was narrow as 1,366 shares advanced against a decline of 1189 shares declined, and 159 shares are unchanged.

ONGC, ICICI Bank, Indian Oil and Indiabulls Housing Finance lost the most, while Hindustan Unilever, Adani Ports and Aurobindo Pharma were the top gainers.

1:50 pm RCom debt situation: Bankers are likely to meet next week to decide on a restructuring plan for debt worth over Rs 42,000 crore owed by Reliance Communications (RCom). After three rating firms recently downgraded the company's debt, its bad loans are in danger of turning into non-performing assets.

The raft of downgrades have come in the wake of the Anil Ambani-run company missing its bond repayments. Bankers fear that these downgrades, combined with diminishing cash flows, could make it difficult for the company to service its loan repayments. Another fallout of the downgrade has been that investors have rushed to sell the stock.

A consortium of more than 20 banks led by State Bank of India has formed a joint lenders forum (JLF) as a proactive measure to prevent an account from turning into an NPA.

"With the delay in repayment of the bond instalment and the rating downgrades, there are concerns over its financial health. But we have categorised it as an SMA (special mention account)...We will discuss the way forward on how to reduce the debt," said a bank official.

1:31 pm Auto sales: Utility vehicle and tractor maker Mahindra & Mahindra's auto sales in May grew by 3 percent to 41,895 units, largely driven by domestic business that showed 11 percent growth.

Domestic sales for the month increased to 40,602 units against 36,613 units YoY but exports saw steep decline of 68 percent at 1,293 units from 4,043 units exported in year-ago month.

Meanwhile, M&M said it sold 25,599 tractors in May 2017, higher by 11 percent over 23,018 units sold in same month last year. The growth was largely due to continued demand ahead of normal monsoon.

Domestic sales grew by 11 percent year-on-year to 24,575 units and exports jumped 18 percent to 1,024 units in May.

1:10 pm Market Check: Benchmark indices extended their losses from the morning session, with the Nifty snapping 9600 mark.

The Sensex was down 65.13 points at 31080.67, while the Nifty was down 22.35 points at 9598.90. The market breadth was very narrow as 1,270 shares advanced against a decline of 1,203 shares, while 156 shares were unchanged.

Hindustan Unilever and Adani Ports continued to gain, while Tata Steel, Indiabulls Housing, Vedanta and ICICI Bank lost the most.

12:45 pm Auto sales: Chennai-based commercial vehicle maker Ashok Leyland's sales in May dropped 8 percent to 9,071 units compared with 9,875 units sold in year-ago month.

It was largely impacted by subdued growth in medium & heavy commercial vehicle sales that declined 18 percent to 6,139 units from 7,469 units year-on-year.

12:30 pm Market Check: Benchmark indices continued to remain consolidated, even as the Nifty hovered around 9600-mark. The market's next big trigger could the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy stance next week.

The Sensex was down 25.56 points at 31120.24, while the Nifty was down 14.70 points at 9606.55. The market breadth was narrow as 1,320 shares advanced against a decline of 1,102 shares, while 156 shares were unchanged.

Hindustan Unilever and Adani Ports continued to gain the most, while Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, Vedanta and Indiabulls Housing lost the most.

European markets opened mixed Thursday as investors eyed oil prices and continued to monitor politics in the region with U.K. elections just a week away.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was 0.06 lower with sectors and major bourses trading in several directions.

12:10 pm IPO: SREI Infrastructure Finance promoted company Bharat Road Network and Gujarat-headquartered NBFC MAS Financial Services have received approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for their initial public offerings.

Kolkata-based road build-operate-transfer (BOT) Bharat Road Network proposed an initial public offer of upto 2.93 crore equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each by way of book building process.

MAS Financial Services targets to raise up to Rs 550 crore comprising of fresh issue aggregating up to Rs 307.4 crore and an offer for sale by selling shareholders aggregating up to Rs 242.6 crore.

The company is also considering a private placement of up to 41 lakh equity shares for cash consideration aggregating up to Rs 135 crore, prior to filing of the red herring prospectus. If the pre-IPO placement is completed, the size of the fresh issue will be reduced to the extent of such pre-IPO placement, MAS said.

11:50 am Escorts at record high: Escorts said its agri machinery segment in May sold 6,886 tractors, higher by 29 percent over 5,331 units sold in year-ago month. The growth on month-on-month basis was 41 percent, it added.

The stock price surged nearly 2 percent intraday to hit a record high of Rs 706.

Domestic sales for the month of May increased 29 percent to 6,770 units compared with same month last year while exports sales stood at 116 tractors, up by 47 percent over 79 tractors exported in May 2016.

11:40 am Buzzing Stock: Claris Lifesciences zoomed nearly 12 percent intraday on Thursday after investors cheered the positive developments around US FDA inspection.

The company told the exchanges that the company and its subsidiary underwent a successful US FDA pharmacovigilance audit from May 29-May 31. The regulator did not issue any observations (i483s) for the plant.

11:20 am Market Check: Benchmark indices were trading in a narrow range, with the Nifty holding 9600-mark.

The Sensex was up 20.95 points at 31166.75, while the Nifty was down 3.20 points at 9618.05. The market breadth was positive as 1,338 shares advanced against a decline of 929 shares declined, and 137 shares were unchanged.

Sun Pharma, Aurobindo Pharma and Hindustan Unilever were the top gainers, while Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, Hindalco and Vedanta lost the most.

11:05 am Maruti sales: Country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki sold 1.37 lakh units in May, higher by 11.3 percent over a year-ago month, which was way below analysts' expectations. The growth was led by its best selling cars Alto, Baleno & WagonR, and also by utility vehicles like Vitara Brezza and Ertiga.

The company sold 1.23 lakh units in the corresponding month of last year.

Domestic sales during the month grew by 15.5 percent to 1.31 lakh units compared with same month previous year but exports fell sharply by 36.3 percent to 6,286 units year-on-year.

Maruti said its passenger car sales increased 8.7 percent year-on-year to 95,047 units in the month gone by.

10:50 am RComm woes: Bankers are likely to meet next week to decide on a restructuring plan for debt worth over Rs 42,000 crore owed by Reliance Communications (RCom). After three rating firms recently downgraded the company's debt, its bad loans are in danger of turning into non-performing assets.

The raft of downgrades have come in the wake of the Anil Ambani-run company missing its bond repayments. Bankers fear that these downgrades, combined with diminishing cash flows, could make it difficult for the company to service its loan repayments. Another fallout of the downgrade has been that investors have rushed to sell the stock.

A consortium of more than 20 banks led by State Bank of India has formed a joint lenders forum (JLF) as a proactive measure to prevent an account from turning into an NPA.

10:30 am Auto sales: Eicher Motors said it sold 60,696 units of Royal Enfield in May, a growth of 25 percent over 48,604 units sold in same month last year.

The growth was driven by selling of models with engine capacity upto 350cc that sales increased by 29 percent year-on-year to 55,823 units in the month gone by, which have a waiting period as well as capacity ramp up.

The company, however, said sales of models with engine capacity exceeding 350cc declined 10 percent to 4,873 units compared with same month previous year.

Royal Enfield exports sales growth continued to healthy during the month. It exported 2,049 units in May, up 49 percent over 1,372 units sold in corresponding month last year.

10:15 am Expert Speak: In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Surendra Goyal, Director and Head of India Equity Research at Citi Research spoke about his reading of the market and his outlook.

Citi India has upped the Sensex target for FY18 to 32,200. Explaining this upgrade, he said that Q4 FY17 earnings have come in slightly ahead of estimates, so this change in target is more of a roll forward.

Low inflation, goods and services tax (GST) about to come in, strong domestic and foreign institutional investors (FII) flows are the positives which give people a medium-term comfort that India is one of the key markets to be in, he said.

9.50 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks continued to be volatile in morning trade as investors awaited May auto sales data due today.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 23.73 points at 31,169.53 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 5.40 points at 9,626.65.

The broader markets continued to outperform benchmarks for third consecutive session, with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.5 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively. About two shares advanced for every share falling on the exchange.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Hero Motocorp and Bajaj Auto gained a percent each ahead of auto sales data. Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki and Escorts were flat with a positive bias.

9:40 am Buzzing: Bharat Gears shares rallied nearly 5 percent in morning trade on board approval for term loan from KKR India Financial Services.

The India's largest gear manufacturer informed exchanges that its finance committee of board of directors, on May 31, considered and approved the proposal to avail a term loan of Rs 110 crore from KKR India Financial Services Private Limited.

The company has taken a loan for the purpose(s) of repaying some of the existing term debts, working capital requirements and capital expenditure, among others, it added.

9:23 am Market Update: Equity benchmarks rebounded after initial losses but against drifted lower amid volatility. The market awaited fresh triggers to move on either direction.

9:20 am Market Outlook: The Nifty formed a strong technical setup and is on the verge to touch 9,700 levels in coming sessions. Since Nifty has given a double bottom breakout in the start of the year, it is observed that on every breakout Nifty has rallied nearly 150 points.

Traders need to be cautious, as the index is trading at all-time highs and need to change strategies. Rather than jumping on fresh breakouts one can better look for a dip.

9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks started off June month on negative note after fourth quarter GDP growth slowed to 6.1 percent and eight core sector growth slipped to 2.5 percent in April.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 69.90 points at 31,075.90 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 17.70 points to 9,603.55.

Infosys was the top loser, down 1.4 percent followed by HDFC Bank, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Asian Paints, ONGC and Reliance Industries.

Sun Pharma rebounded over a percent followed by ITC, M&M, Tata Motors, Hero Motocorp and L&T.

The Indian rupee opened at 64.48 to the dollar, up 3 basis points from its previous close of 64.51.

Mohan Shenoi of Kotak Mahindra Bank said selling of dollars by exporters and support by the Reserve Bank of India are likely to keep the rupee rangebound.

The USD-INR is expected to trade in the range of 64.35-64.70 to the dollar for the day, according to him.