Sensex, Nifty end higher amid volatile trade; auto, metals rally

3:30 pm Marlet closing: The market has ended in green after a lot of volatility due to December Future & Options (F&O) expiry today. The  Nifty was up 68.75 points or 0.9 percent at 8103.60 and the Sensex climbed 155.47 points or 0.6 percent at 26366.15. About 1651 shares have advanced, 929 shares declined, and 171 shares are unchanged.

Auto, metals and IT stocks lend support. MAruti, HDFC, Tata Motors, TCS and Bahrti were gainers while Adani Ports, Infosys, Sun Pharma, L&T and BHEL were losers in the Sensex.

3:00 pm Market climbs: The Sensex is up 166.74 points or 0.6 percent at 26377.42, and the Nifty up 73.45 points or 0.9 percent at 8108.30.
About 1609 shares have advanced, 887 shares declined, and 172 shares are unchanged.

Tata Motors, NTPC, HDFC twins and TCS are top gainers while Adani Ports, Sun Pharma, L&T, Infosys and BHEL are losers in the Sensex.

2:45 pm Auto sales to be hit? The sector that was likely hit the most due to demonetisation is automobiles. To throw more light on the outlook for the sector post the cash crunch CNBC-TV18 spoke to John K Paul, President, Federation Of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA). The year-on-year two-wheeler sales for the month of December are down 40 percent in urban areas and 50-60 percent in rural. Bookings for two-wheelers is down about 25-30 percent and that for cars are down 10-15, said Paul. The luxury segment, CV segment and tractor sales have also been hit badly, said Paul.

2:30 pm Pharma update: Drug firm Lupin has received tentative approval from the US health regulator to market its Balasalazide Disodium tablets, used for treatment of ulcerative colitis, in the American market.

The company has received tentative approval to market its Balasalazide Disodium tablets 1.1 gm from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), Lupin said in a BSE filing today.

The company's product is generic version of Salix Pharmaceuticals Inc's Giazo tablets in the same strength, it added.

"Giazo tablets had the US sales of USD 0.79 million (IMS MAT September 2016)," Lupin said.

The market is picking pace as the Sensex is up 97.28 points or 0.4 percent at 26307.96. The Nifty is up 35 points or 0.4 percent at 8069.85. About 1514 shares have advanced, 908 shares declined, and 150 shares are unchanged.

TCS, Wipro, Tata Steel, HDFC and Maruti are top gainers while Adani Ports, L&T, Sun Pharma, ITC and SBI are losers in the Sensex.

According to Nirmal Bang Institutional Equities, there is a possibility of market going to level of 7500 in next 1-2 months. While there is a lot of noise regarding upcoming elections and cash crunch impacting market, the main mover of market remains earning, Rahul Arora, CEO of Nirmal Bang. Market earnings have grown at a 5 percent compounded annual growth in last six years.

At the current stage, pharmaceutical, IT and metal are the sectors to concentrate on in first quarter of 2017, Arora said. Any domestically driven sector should be avoided.

1:50 pm Interview: The aim of the government is to move towards an economy that uses 'less cash' and not necessarily 'cashless' is the word coming in from the Minister of State for Finance, Satosh Kumar Gangwar.

According to him, demonetisation will help this process of moving towards using less cash. The government, he says, could not print currency earlier because then the news would have leaked and defeated the main purpose. So far, according to his sources around Rs 25-30 crore notes are being printed on a daily basis.

From the time PM Modi announced the openings of Jan Dhan accounts with zero balance, the common man has moved towards banking and more than 25 crore accounts have been opened so far, says Gangwar.

1:30 pm Market outlook: Sharing his market outlook for 2017, Hiren Ved, Director & CIO, Alchemy Capital Management says demonetisation has pushed the growth recovery by a couple of quarters and it is likely to pick up only in second half of CY17. The full impact of demonetisation will be seen in January and once the cash withdrawal limits are eased, normalcy will return to the market because consumption is a major part of the economy, says Ved. With talks of a farm loan waiver doing the rounds, Ved says farmers should not be encouraged not to pay back loans because it would be a bad practice. Instead, there are other tools to help farmers such as support prices, greater access to credit etc which is a better way to solve the crisis; waivers have a systemic risk to a country's finances.

The market is going listless with the Sensex up 40.42 points at 26251.10. The Nifty is up 18.30 points at 8053.15. About 1469 shares have advanced, 839 shares declined, and 152 shares are unchanged.

TCS, Wipro, Asian Paints, HUL and ONGC are top gainers while Adani Ports, L&T, Sun Pharma, ITC and Dr Reddy's Labs are losers in the Sensex.

The government is expected to raise Rs 1,00,000 crore of additional taxes under the Income Disclosure Scheme II (IDS II), which in turn will help in containing the 2017-18 fiscal deficit, says a report.

According to Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA-ML), besides containing the fiscal deficit, the additional taxes under the IDS II would fund the 7th Pay Commission as well as recapitalise PSU banks without cutting back on public capex.

"We continue to expect the government to raise about Rs 1,000 billion/0.7 per cent of GDP of additional taxes under Income Disclosure Scheme II," BofA-ML said in a research note.

12:50 pm Buzzing:  Shares of IFCI rose 15 percent while IDBI Bank gained 6 percent intraday as NSE has filed Draft Red Herring Prospectus for its share sale. According to the DRHP, existing NSE shareholders may offer 20-25 percent shares for estimated Rs 10000 crore which has got investors existed.

Investors expect it to have a positive rub off on IFCI abd IDBI Bank as both own around 3.1 percent and 1.5 percent stake in NSE respectively.

Touted to be one of the biggest IPO of India, investors are keenly awaiting for NSE public offer. The initial public offer would see sale of a little over 11 crore equity scrips, which is 22.5 percent of total shares outstanding by existing shareholders through offer for sale (OFS) route.

Of the total shares on offer, around 15.8 percent stake would be tendered by foreign shareholders, and 6.7 percent by domestic entities.

12:30 pm Market outlook: Speaking to CNBC-TV18 Rashesh Shah, Chairman & CEO of Edelweiss Financial Services said that from April next year growth should bounce back. ''Demonetisation hasn't changed the structural demand-supply balance, but it has only got dislocated.'' FIIs selling are a function of EM allocations. US interest rates going up, dollar strengthening are some of the headwinds for EMs. Markets have absorbed the events of 2016. People are still looking for opportunities he said, adding that for investors there aren't that many places to go. India's GDP has been doubling every six years in rupee terms which is leading to growth in consumption and investments. In the medium- to long-term a lot of investors are positive and they are in a wait-and-watch mode, he said.

The market is mildly in green but the Nifty is managing to hold 8050. The 50-share index is up 17.95 points at 8052.80 and the Sensex is up 38.58 points at 26249.26.
About 1463 shares have advanced, 760 shares declined, and 149 shares are unchanged.

IT, metals and oil & gas stocks are lending support to the market. TCS, ONGC, HUL, HDFC and Wipro are top gainers while Adani Ports, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Labs, L&T and ITC are losers in the Sensex.

Asia markets were under pressure, with Japan's Toshiba tumbling on credit downgrades while Takata soared as it nears a settlement with the US Department of Justice related to faulty airbags for vehicles. Japanese benchmark Nikkei 225 dropped 1.21 percent, likely due to pressure from a stronger yen.

On Wednesday, both Moody's and S&P Global Ratings downgraded Toshiba credit ratings and put the electronics conglomerate on ratings watch with negative implications.

11:50 am Auto sales hit? The sector that was likely hit the most due to demonetisation is automobiles. To throw more light on the outlook for the sector post the cash crunch CNBC-TV18 spoke to John K Paul, President, Federation Of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA).

The year-on-year two-wheeler sales for the month of December are down 40 percent in urban areas and 50-60 percent in rural. Bookings for two-wheelers is down about 25-30 percent and that for cars are down 10-15, said Paul.

The luxury segment, CV segment and tractor sales have also been hit badly, said Paul.

11:30 am Market outlook: Sharing his market outlook for 2017, Hiren Ved, Director & CIO, Alchemy Capital Management says demonetisation has pushed the growth recovery by a couple of quarters and it is likely to pick up only in second half of CY17. The full impact of demonetisation will be seen in January and once the cash withdrawal limits are eased, normalcy will return to the market because consumption is a major part of the economy, says Ved. With talks of a farm loan waiver doing the rounds, Ved says farmers should not be encouraged not to pay back loans because it would be a bad practice. Instead, there are other tools to help farmers such as support prices, greater access to credit etc which is a better way to solve the crisis; waivers have a systemic risk to a country's finances. Agriculture as a sector has a long-term potential in India, believes Ved. Government's hopes of doubling farm income by 2022 shows its intention is more strategic than tactical.

Investors seem to be on edge as the Sensex is up 23.01 points at 26233.69. The Nifty is up 14.45 points or 0.2 percent at 8049.30. About 1404 shares have advanced, 674 shares declined, and 139 shares are unchanged.

ONGC, GAIL, TCS, HDFC and NTPC are top gainers while Adani Ports, ITC,Hero MotoCorp, L&T and Bajaj Auto are losers in the Sensex.

Gold prices rose 0.58 percent toRs 27,383 per 10 grams in futures trade  after
speculators widened their bets, taking positive cues from global markets.
 
Market analysts said rise in the precious metal in global markets, influenced gold prices at futures trade here. Meanwhile, gold climbed as much as 0.67 percent to USD 1,149.30 an ounce in Singapore today.

10:45 am Interview: Demonetisation is a radical reform that will change the way of life, believes Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal. The move will increase the tax base and improve gross domestic product (GDP) by 2 percent if completed.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Meghwal said that once the entire process of cash ban is completed, consumption and investments will pick-up rapidly. The cash collected at the end will be disclosed by the central bank at right time.

Any dividend from the Reserve Bank of India will come post demonetisation.

RBI's obligation on old notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 will lapse on March 31, 2017. Possessing more than 10 notes in old currency will attract jail term, which is mentioned in the Ordinance of Demonetisation, Meghwal added.

10:30 am New IPO in 2017: The National Stock Exchange (NSE) filed draft papers with market regulator Sebi for its much-awaited IPO, expected to be one of the biggest in recent times, with an estimated size of over Rs 10,000 crore. The initial public offer will see existing shareholders offloading 20-25 per cent shares to the public through the OFS route. The offer may give the exchange a valuation of Rs 50,000-55,000 crore, sources said, adding that the IPO itself could be worth about Rs 10,000 crore. The Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) has been filed with Sebi well ahead of the exchange's own deadline of January 31, 2017. NSE's IPO is being keenly awaited in the market as one of the biggest in recent times. Rival BSE is also in the process of launching its initial share sale of up to Rs 1,500 crore for which it filed draft prospectus with Sebi in September.

The market seems to be cautious ahead of Futures and Options (F&O) expiry today. The Sensex is up 14.17 points  at 26224.85 and the Nifty is up 9 points at 8043.85.
About 1087 shares have advanced, 561 shares declined, and 90 shares are unchanged.

TCS, Axis Bank, Infosys, ONGC and NTPC are top gainers while Adani Ports, ITC, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto and Tata Motors are losers in the Sensex.

US oil prices fell following a surprise build in the country's crude stocks shown in data published by the American Petroleum Institute (API).

Gold prices rose as the US dollar slipped against a basket of currencies, but gains were limited on expectations of more rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve next year.

The dollar sagged against the yen, weighed down by U.S. yields slipping to two-week lows and an ebb in risk appetite that favored the safe-haven Japanese currency.

9:55 am Autos in focus: As auto companies gear up to announce December sales data analysts say real impact of demonetisation on auto sales volumes is expected to be felt in December. According to Motilal Oswal, two-wheelers are likely to be worst hit on account of demonetisation.

Nomura sees December wholesales to be impacted by a sharp decline in retail
sales due to demonetization, and inventory de-stocking by original equioment manufacturers (OEMs) to clear off 2016 model year inventory.

9:45 am Market check: The Sensex is up 22.25 points at 26232.93 and the Nifty is up 11.60 points at 8046.45. About 1049 shares have advanced, 495 shares declined, and 80 shares are unchanged.

ITC, Bharti, Adani Ports, Hero MotoCorp and Dr Reddy's Labs are losers in the Sensex. TCS, ONGC, Axis Bank, NTPC and Wipro are gainers.

9:30 am FII view: Naveen Kulkarni of PhillipCapital said, "As inflation challenges can arise in the medium-term, and there are expectations of a populist Budget, rate cuts are more likely to be deferred. Recommend buying inflation protection plays like consumer staples, exports, and commodity plays which can deliver portfolio alpha."

"Add Hindustan Unilever (HUL) to model portfolio in place of Dabur India and increase weight for Infosys and cut position in Idea Cellular. Within exports theme, top picks are Infosys, Sun Pharma, and Aurobindo Pharma," he added.

The market has opened flat on December Futures & Options expiry today. The Nifty is down 11.00 points at 8023.85 and the Sensex is down 29.47 points or 0.1 percent at 26181.21.

HUL, Adani Ports, L&T, Bharti Airtel and HDFC bank are losers while Axis Bank, Lupin, Cipla, M&M and SBI are gainers in the Sensex.

The Indian rupee opened flat at 68.24 per dollar versus previous close 68.24.

Mohan Shenoi of Kotak Mahindra Bank said, "Year-end holidays expected to keep volumes and activity in currency markets low and thin. USD-INR expected trading range for the day 68-68.30/dollar."

The Japanese yen strengthened against the dollar, meanwhile the dollar index is firm above 103 mark, remember it has gained 4.7 percent this year. All those gains have come after the November 8 US election.

Global markets are unsteady as Dow closed down triple digits triggered by a sharp drop in home re-sales. Asian shares slipped on Thursday after Wall Street suffered a mild setback after weeks of gains, while the dollar stayed in demand as US government debt offered ever-fatter premiums over euro zone bonds.

Japan's Nikkei lost 0.7 percent, edging away from its recent one-year top. Australia's main index eased 0.4 percent, having touched a 17-month peak the previous day.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was off a slight 0.1 percent.

US stocks fell in low volume in a broad decline triggered in part by a sharp drop in home resales. Contracts to buy previously-owned US homes fell in November to their lowest level in nearly a year, a sign that rising interest rates could be weighing on the housing market.