Sensex, Nifty end in green; auto & metal drag; infra gains

3:30 pm Market closing: The market has ended with gains driving on a late buying. The Sensex is up 83.67 points or 0.3 percent at 25772.53 and the Nifty is up 21.75 points or 0.3 percent at 7887.80. About 1252 shares have advanced, 1321 shares declined, and 179 shares are unchanged.

Dr Reddy's Labs, L&T, Axis Bank, HUL and GAIL are top gainers while Tata Motors, Hindalco, ONGC, NTPC and Adani Ports are losers in the Sensex.

3:00 pm Result: State-run Punjab & Sind Bank reported a profit of Rs 98.12 crore for the March quarter despite increase in bad loans.

The bank had posted a loss of Rs 70.24 crore during the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. Total income during the quarter rose to Rs 2,302.27 crore as against Rs 2,234.90 crore in the year-ago period.

Gross NPAs as a percentage of total advances surged to 6.48 percent from 4.76 percent a year ago. The bank's net NPAs increased to 4.62 percent compared with 3.55 percent at the end of March 2015.

2:30 pm Fund raising: Kotak Mahindra Prime today said it will raise Rs 50 crore by issuing debentures on a private placement basis.

"The company intends to issue secured, redeemable, non- convertible debentures of the face value of Rs 10 lakh each, amounting to Rs 50 crore, on a private placement basis," it said in a BSE filing.

Kotak Mahindra Prime Ltd (KMPL) is a subsidiary of Kotak Mahindra Bank, primarily formed to finance passenger vehicles.

It offers financing by loaning for passenger cars, multi-utility vehicles and pre-owned cars. And also offers inventory funding and infrastructure funding to car dealers.

The company also offers corporate loans, personal loans, loans against securities, developer loans, corporate loans, personal loans, securitisation and assignment transactions and purchase of non-performing assets.

The market continues to gain in a late buying spree. The Sensex is up 76.75 points or 0.3 percent at 25765.61, and the Nifty is up 16.05 points or 0.2 percent at 7882.10. About 1217 shares have advanced, 1222 shares declined, and 152 shares are unchanged.

Dr Reddy's Labs, HUL, Axis Bank, BHEL and GAIL are top gainers while Tata Motors, Hindalco, ONGC, NTPC and ITC are losers in the Sensex. The newly listed stock Ujjivan Financial and Axis Bank are most active stocks on the NSE.

Meanwhile, industrial production in March is likely to grow at 1.9 per cent while deflationary pressure in the wholesale price index will moderate in April data, India Ratings and Research said today. Ind-Ra estimates the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) growth for March to come in at 1.9 per cent and Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation at (-)0.4 per cent in April. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based retail inflation is projected to come around at 4.9 per cent, it said.

"Industrial production in March 2016 is likely to remain close to February 2016 levels and on the price front wholesale price deflation will continue to moderate and retail inflation will remain stable in April 2016," Ind-Ra said in a statement. Industrial production grew 2 per cent year-on-year in February after staying negative for the last three months. Ind-Ra said it expects industrial production in March to get a boost from better performance in the core sectors of the economy.

1:30 pm Market outlook: Barring minor corrections of 100-200 points in the near term, the uptrend in Nifty is likely to continue, feels Dilip Bhat, Joint MD of Prabhudas Lilladher. He expects Nifty to trade between 9000-9500 by March 2017.

The government has done a good job of setting the ground for economic recovery, he says. With good monsoon likely and pick-up in orders in the infrastructure space, fair amount of optimism will seep into the market by December and that should boost sentiment in the first quarter of calendar 2017, he adds.

He is positive on some companies in the infrastructure space like Larsen & Toubro, Sadbhav Engineering and KEC international.

The market has seen some amount of buying led by capital goods, healthcare and banks. The Sensex is up 87.50 points or 0.3 percent at 25776.36, and the Nifty is up 17.70 points or 0.2 percent at 7883.75. About 1215 shares have advanced, 1124 shares declined, and 153 shares are unchanged.

Dr Reddy's Labs, HUL, BHEL, Axis Bank and GAIL are top gainers while Tata Motors, Hindalco, ONGC, Bharti and ITC are losers in the Sensex.

Oil prices were steady as brimming inventories and a looming refined products glut offset supply disruptions in Canada and elsewhere that have taken more than 2 million barrels a day of production out of the market.

 Despite the improving conditions, producers expect shutdowns of several weeks as facilities like pipelines that were close to the fires need to be inspected, while evacuees need to leave production plants before staff can return.

Outages in Canada and around the world now amount to more than 2 million barrels of lost daily output since the beginning of the year, virtually erasing a glut that emerged in 2014 and pulled down prices by as much as 70 percent before a recovery started earlier this year.

12:30 pm Result poll: Zee Entertainment Enterprises is expected to announce net profit at Rs 273.3 crore in January-March quarter, up 18.4 percent from Rs 230.8 crore in corresponding quarter last fiscal. According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, the media company's total income may rise 10.8 percent at Rs 1492.7 crore compared to Rs 1347.1 crore in year-ago period. During the quarter, its EBITDA may increase 39.2 percent at Rs 377 crore against Rs 270.7 crore while margins may stand at 520 basis points (bps) at 25.3 percent versus 20.1 percent year-on-year. Ad revenue growth is seen at 23 percent (YoY). Sports business EBITDA loss is likely to be between Rs 15 crore to Rs 30 crore due to WWE in Delhi and T20 Series in South Africa.

The market continues its sluggish note with the Nifty unable to make any good move. The Nifty slips 16.40 points at 7849.65 and the Sensex is down 37.32 points or 0.1 percent at 25651.54. About 1093 shares have advanced, 1180 shares declined, and 160 shares are unchanged.

Dr Reddy's Labs, HUL, BHEL, GAIL and Axis Bank are top gainers while Tata Motors, Hindalco, ONGC. Bharti Airtel and Bajaj Auto.

Barring minor corrections of 100-200 points in the near term, the uptrend in Nifty is likely to continue, feels Dilip Bhat, Joint MD of Prabhudas Lilladher. He expects Nifty to trade between 9000-9500 by March 2017.

The government has done a good job of setting the ground for economic recovery, he says. With good monsoon likely and pick-up in orders in the infrastructure space, fair amount of optimism will seep into the market by December and that should boost sentiment in the first quarter of calendar 2017, he adds.

11:55 am Buzzing: Shares of UFO Moviez India gained 3.5 percent intraday as it has settled  dispute with Real Image Media Technologies.

"The company with Real Image Media Technologies has arrived at an agreement on mutually acceptable terms, which settles all disputes between the parties. The agreement is binding and effective between the parties from April 1, 2016 till September 30, 2022. The aggregate annual expense on account of this co-existence agreement is non-material," it says in a statement to the BSE.

The company had received a legal notice from Real Image regarding two patents of Real Image used by the company and that it should obtain licence from Real Image.

11:30 am Interview: April provisional indirect tax collection has risen 41 percent at Rs64,394 crore on a year-on-year basis, signalling a pick-up in the economic activity. Radhika Rao, Economist at DBS Bank believes the numbers are positive and has given India a buffer as far as fiscal consolidation targets are concerned. She added that FY16 saw a good indirect tax collection overall, where the excise duties rose 70 percent due to sharp hike in fuel prices, and customs duties by 22 percent due to rise in price of commodities like steel, coal and gold. "This is a good news for India's revenues, too," Rao said.

The market continues to be sluggish dragged by auto and metal stocks. The Sensex is down 52.73 points at 25636.13 and the Nifty is down 21.50 points or 0.3 percent at 7844.55. About 1014 shares have advanced, 977 shares declined, and 136 shares are unchanged.

HUL, Dr Reddy's Labs, BHEL, Axis Bank and Tata Steel are top gainers while Tata Motors, Hindalco, ONGC, M&M and Bajaj Auto are losers in the Sensex.

Oil traders moved cautiously after the previous day's sharp losses as the threat of wildfires to Canada's crude-producing Alberta region eased and a strong greenback dampened appetite.

Canadian authorities were focusing on restoring output after the fires that have raged for a week forced oil companies in the area to shut down operations, slashing production by one million barrels a day.

10:55 am Inflation poll: Higher food and fuel prices probably nudged India's annual inflation up to 5.0 percent in April from 4.83 percent in March, according to a Reuters poll, making it harder for the central bank to follow up last month's interest rate cut too swiftly.

"The central bank has to be confident of hitting the 5 percent target next year before deciding on easing further," said Rishi Shah, economist at Deloitte.

Shah expects inflation to rise to 5.20 percent in April, though the median forecast from the survey of 27 economists was 5.0 percent.

10:30 am Market outlook: The Indian economy is a "lone bright star" in the global setup, aided by structural factors and a reform-minded government, says Dipen Sheth, Head of Institutional Equities, HDFC Securities. "If you're not gung-ho on India now, when will you be," he asked in an interview with CNBC-TV18. Sheth also discussed many investment ideas that mainly revolved around the rural sector, which he said look solid for the next few years, should the monsoons not play truant this year. Stocks he is positive on include rural NBFCs Chola and M&M Financial Services , agri-chemical firms Coromandel, Rallis, UPL as well as "boring large-cap" play Hero MotoCorp .

The market seems to be quite with the Nifty hovering around 7850 mark. The 50-share index is down 7.40 points at 7858.65. The Sensex is down 7.45 points at 25681.41. About 946 shares have advanced, 711 shares declined, and 92 shares are unchanged.

Dr Reddy's Labs, Tata Steel, HUL, Lupin and Axis Bank are top gainers while Tata Motors, Hindalco, M&M, ONGC and Bajaj Auto were losers in the Sensex.

Ujjivan Financial Services was listed at the exchanges at Rs 231.90 per share up, 10.4 percent over its issue price of Rs 210 per share. Price band for microfinance player's offer was fixed at Rs 207-210 and was open for subscription from April 28-May 2.

The Rs 885-crore IPO of Ujjivan Financial Services was oversubscribed nearly 41 times earlier this month.

Ujjivan's issue comprised fresh issuance of shares worth Rs 358.16 crore and an offer for sale of up to 24,968,332 shares by the existing shareholders.

9:55 am New kid in the block: In a short while from now, microfinance player Ujjivan Financial Services will list shares on the bourses.

The Rs 885-crore IPO of Ujjivan Financial Services was oversubscribed nearly 41 times earlier this month.

Ujjivan's issue comprised fresh issuance of shares worth Rs 358.16 crore and an offer for sale of up to 24,968,332 shares by the existing shareholders.

Price band for the offer was fixed at Rs 207-210 and was open for subscription from April 28-May 2.

9:45 am FII view: Jonathan Garner of Morgan Stanley said, "For EM, we are raising our MSCI EM base-case target slightly from 735 to 755. However, our revised target price still implies 6.3 percent downside from current levels, and we continue to advise selling the rally."

"The revised target price is due to marginal positive impact on earnings in 2016 with less-aggressive USD strength in the near term compared to our previous forecasts. Similarly, our MSCI APxJ base-case target price is revised upward from 390 to 395," he added.

9:30 am Finding the right buyer: Seven bidders have been short-listed as players who may bid for Tata Steel's UK assets that have been put up on the block. It is learnt of four names that are in the fray, including India's JSW Steel . The other three are Liberty House, Excalibur Steel (led by the plants' ex-management chief Stuart Wilkie) and US-based Nucor. Sources say the Tata Steel will now enter into financial discussions with each of the bidders following which due diligence exercise will be conducted by buyers. Tata Steel is keen to close the deal soon but it is learnt that the UK government and unions have been pressuring the company to make sure the right bidder comes in.

The market has opened flat on Tuesday as the Sensex is down 15.74 points at 25673.12. The Nifty is down 2.80 points at 7863.25. About 396 shares have advanced, 261 shares declined, and 46 shares are unchanged.

HUL is up 1 percent while Adani Ports, Dr Reddy's Labs, Tata Steel and Maruti are top gainers while Hindalco, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, NTPC and ONGC are losers in the Sensex.

The Indian rupee opened lower by 8 paise at 66.66 per dollar on Tuesday versus previous close of 66.58.

Ashutosh Raina of HDFC Bank said, "The USD-INR pair has come off from recent highs tracking global dollar strength."

The dollar rose broadly as investors moved to cover bearish bets and oil-linked currencies fell. The yen hit a roughly two-week low after Japan's finance minister said Tokyo was ready to intervene in the currency market if needed, with stronger risk sentiment also easing demand for traditional safe havens such as the Japanese currency.

Asia markets traded mixed, with the Japanese benchmark index leading gains in early trade, ahead of Chinese inflation data due later on Tuesday.

US stocks closed mixed in high-volume trade, with the Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.2 percent, the S&P 500 closed up 0.08 percent and the Nasdaq composite added 0.3 percent.