Sensex, Nifty end on a negative note; GAIL, RIL gain; NTPC falls

3:30 pm Market Check: Benchmark indices ended the day on a negative note, with the Nifty ending below the 9150-mark.

The Sensex was down 47.79 points at 29413.66, while the Nifty was down 11.50 points at 9139.30. The market breadth was narrow as only 1,505 shares advanced against a decline of 1,409 shares, while 171 shares were unchanged.

GAIL, Reliance and Indiabulls Housing were among top gainers, while NTPC, Sun Pharma and Bharti Infratel were top losers on both the indices.

Private sector lender DCB Bank share price dropped nearly 7 percent intraday Monday after subdued profit growth on elevated provisions and asset quality.

Profit during January-March quarter fell 23.88 percent year-on-year to Rs 52.9 crore as provisions increased 24.6 percent on yearly basis (up 11.1 percent QoQ) to Rs 33.9 crore.

3:10 pm Buzzing: Private sector lender DCB Bank share price dropped nearly 7 percent intraday Monday after subdued profit growth on elevated provisions and asset quality.

Profit during January-March quarter fell 23.88 percent year-on-year to Rs 52.9 crore as provisions increased 24.6 percent on yearly basis (up 11.1 percent QoQ) to Rs 33.9 crore.

Asset quality weakened further during the quarter as gross non-performing assets (NPA) rose 11.5 percent sequentially to Rs 254.2 crore and net NPA jumped 15.2 percent to Rs 124.41 crore in absolute terms.

Gross NPA as a percentage of gross advances was up 4 basis points at 1.59 percent and net NPA grew 5 bps to 0.79 percent compared with previous quarter.

2:57 pm Earnings estimates: According to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18, TCS is expected to report a 2 percent degrowth sequentially in profit at Rs 6,638 crore while revenue may increase 0.4 percent to Rs 29,864 crore in the quarter ended March 2017.

Revenue in dollar terms is likely to rise 2.1 percent quarter-on-quarter to USD 4479.5 million in Q4, supported by cross currency and continued recovery in BFSI & retail segments.

2:40 pm Market Check: Benchmark indices continued to trade lower amid consolidation as investors cautiously awaited quarterly earnings.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 48.94 points at 29,412.51 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 15.95 points to 9,134.85.

Indiabulls Real extended rally as the stock gained more than 42 percent intraday after restructuring of business.

2:30 pm USFDA inspection: Alembic Pharmaceuticals today said no observations were issued by US health regulator USFDA after inspection of its Baroda facility.

The bio-equivalence facility was inspected by US Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) from March 6-10; March 13-17 and April 10-12, Alembic said in a filing to BSE.

"There were no 483s issued by USFDA at the end of the inspection," it added. USFDA issues Form 483 observations to a firm's management at the conclusion of an inspection to notify it of objectionable conditions at the facility.

2:10 pm Market Check: The market is trading lower in the afternoon trade. The Sensex is down 31.51 points at 29429.94, and the Nifty down 17.10 points at 9133.70.About 1390 shares have advanced, 1404 shares declined, and 145 shares are unchanged.

1:45 pm Buzzing Stock: Shares of Indiabulls Real Estate surged nearly 20 percent intraday on Monday as investors placed positive bets following reports of a restructuring exercise.

As per the rejig plan, the company will be segregating commercial and leasing business and will be carried out by special purpose vehicles (SPVs).

The company's management told CNBC-TV18 that it will either look for strategic partner or demerge the commercial leasing business.

1:20 pm Market Check: Equity benchmarks remained volatile as investors are cautiously monitoring quarter earnings performance especially after Infosys kicked off earnings with subdued performance.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 32.05 points at 29,429.40 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 13.65 points to 9,137.15.

Bharti Infratel, NTPC, Sun Pharma, Hindalco, Coal India, Asian Paints and ONGC were leading losers among Nifty stocks, down 1-3 percent whereas GAIL, Dr Reddy's Labs, ITC, HDFC, Maruti Suzuki, Grasim and Indiabulls Housing were gainers.

1:11 pm BSNL-MTNL merger: The merger of BSNL and MTNL is "desirable" for operational synergy and even the fiercely- competitive telecom market necessitates such a combination for a stronger pan-India play, a top MTNL official has said.

The comment comes amid what seems to be a renewed push for BSNL-MTNL merger with a Parliamentary panel report recently noting that the Telecom Department plans to place the merger proposal before the Cabinet by June.

"The industry is consolidating. It is not an issue of BSNL and MTNL...for any operator to succeed in India a pan India operation is a must," MTNL CMD P K Purwar told PTI.

12:46 pm Buzzing stock: Shares of Punj Lloyd rose nearly 5 percent intraday Monday as its subsidiary received contract in Saudi Arabia.

"Dayim Punj Lloyd Construction Contracting Company, a subsidiary of Punj Lloyd has been awarded an EPC contract - 'Clean Fuels Interfacing Facilities Project' on LSTK basis in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia worth Rs 312 crore by the Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Company in Saudi Arabia," company said in press release.

Atul Jain, Director of Punj Lloyd said, "This is the third contract by YASREF to Dayim Punj Lloyd which is reflective of strong partnership that has been formed between YASREF and Punj Lloyd, focusing on quality, safety and successful delivery of projects."

12:25 pm Against banking charges: Bank customers seem to be determined to fight against the rising fees on banking services, hidden charges, higher interest rates, and mis-selling of other banking products. Nearly one lakh people have signed an online petition sent to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in this regard.

In what seems to be a fight between customers and banks, news publication Moneylife Foundation headed by journalist and author Sucheta Dalal, has initiated an online petition with Change.org to oppose the justification on bank charges.

"We, a group of bank consumers and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are disturbed at the unfair treatment that bank customers suffer in the form of frequent, arbitrary and one-sided increase in banking charges, or the refusal of banks to automatically pass on contractual benefits such as lower interest to those with floating rate home loans, or the rampant mis-sellling of third-party products such as insurance," the petition reads.

12:12 pm Market Check: Subdued trade on the market continued, with benchmark indices trading around key milestones.

The Sensex was down 52.57 points at 29408.88, while the Nifty was down 18.05 points at 9132.75. The market breadth was very narrow as 1,292 shares advanced against a decline of 1,289 shares, while 142 shares are unchanged.

NTPC, Sun Pharma and Bharti Infratel were among top losers, while GAIL and Dr Reddy's Laboratories were the top gainers.

The wholesale price index (WPI) for March was reported at 5.7 percent, a fall against a 6.55 percent during February.

Kicking off the divestment process for the current financial year, the government has cleared the sale of stakes in multiple state-owned companies. It will be offloading 10 percent stake each in PFC, SAIL, NTPC & NHPC, 5 percent in REC, 15 percent in NLC India, and 3 percent in IOC via offer for sale.

11:40 am Economic growth: A World Bank report has projected India's economic growth at 7.2% in current fiscal year, up from 6.8% in 2016.

The report, which was released on Sunday, also said the effects of demonetisation has waned.

It also projected growth to gather momentum by 2019 when the Indian economy is expected to expand by 7.7%. Several multilateral agencies have raised India's growth prospects.

"Timely and smooth implementation of the GST could prove to a significant benefit to economic activity. However, India faces the challenge of further accelerating the responsiveness of poverty reduction to growth," the report said.

11:00 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks continued to trade in a tight range, with the Nifty hovering around 9150 level as investors awaited March quarter earnings and companies' FY18 outlook.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 27.14 points at 29,488.59 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 6.10 points at 9,156.90.

Indiabulls Real Estate was the most active stock on bourses, rising 14 percent after restructuring news. Aluminium major Hindalco Industries was also among top give most active shares.

10:45 am China steel output: China's steel output rose 1.8 percent in March to a monthly record of 72 million tonnes, stoking worries of a glut that continues to grow even as Beijing tries to rein in excess capacity in the bloated sector and demand remains flat.

March's monthly total easily beat the previous record of 70.65 million tonnes hit in March 2016, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday.

In the first quarter, production totalled 201.1 million tonnes, up 4.6 percent from the same period a year earlier, the data also showed.

10:20 am Fundraising: Stock prices on the mend, the Finance Ministry will nudge at least six public sector banks to hit markets to raise funds and ease the pressure on the exchequer of pumping in capital as per the Indradhanush plan.

"Time has come for banks to tap capital market and we think that at least half a dozen banks would take advantage of the opportunity and raise capital from the market during the current fiscal," a senior finance ministry official told PTI.

"It is up to individual banks to decide when they want to raise capital and how much, but in our assessment, there are a few fit candidates for this, including State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Bank," the official said.

As per the scheme, public sector banks need to raise Rs 1.10 lakh crore from markets, including follow-on public offer, to meet Basel III requirements, which kick in from March 2019.

10:00 am Market Check: Benchmark indices as well as broader markets remained sluggish as investors awaited quarterly earnings.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 20.22 points at 29,441.23 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 11.65 points to 9,139.15. The market breadth was balanced.

Adani Group stocks were on buyers' radar as Adani Ports, Adani Enterprises, Adani Power and Adani Transmission gained 2-4 percent.

HDFC, Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank continued to support the market whereas ITC, HDFC Bank and Infosys were under pressure.

9:41 am Restructuring: Indiabulls Real Estate's board in its meeting today considered the possibility of streamlining its existing 'residential', 'commercial' and 'leasing' businesses by segregating 'commercial & leasing' business carried on by itself and/or through its SPVs and vesting the same into 'Indiabulls Commercial Assets Ltd' (ICAL).

The board also considered restructuring/reorganising its businesses by either restructuring by way of placing ICAL as a separate holding company under the company to hold its assets and investments relating to 'commercial & leasing' business segment and to undertake the business & operations of 'commercial & leasing' business segment and/or explore opportunities to bring in strategic investments; or by reorganising its existing businesses by way of a demerger of the undertakings, business, activities & operations pertaining to its commercial & leasing business segments.

9:33 am FII View: Mixo Das of Nomura says the sense of impending volatility that has pervaded recent sessions in Asian markets is likely to continue in the days ahead.

Even outside the political uncertainties, the near-term market outlook remains clouded, he added.

On the one hand, he says, "The US dollar has weakened again recently. On the other, and more importantly from our point of view, economic surprise indices have started to roll over."

Despite strong China exports reported in the week gone by, other data like inflation have disappointed, he says.

9:15 am Market Check: Benchmark indices started off the week on a flat note but the broader markets outperformed in early trade amid weak Asian cues.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 4.18 points at 29,457.27 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 2.55 points to 9,148.25. About 672 shares advanced against 321 declining shares on the BSE.

Dr Reddy's Labs share price rallied more than 2 percent after the USFDA has not issued any observations for Srikakulam plant.

Sun Pharma fell over 2 percent after sources told CNBC-TV18 that the US FDA issued 11 observations as part of audit to its Dadra unit, the biggest unit after Halol for the company for US supplies.

Torrent Pharma also lost 2 percent as sources told CNBC-TV18 that two of its plants will be re-inspected by US FDA.

The Indian rupee opened flat at 64.42 per dollar today against Friday's closing of 64.41.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity says pessimism that persists on back of geopolitical situation and weak cues from domestic equity market will be the reason for Rupee to depreciate today.

He expects the USD-INR pair to trade in a range of 64.20-64.80/dollar today.

Asian equities were mostly lower, with the dollar sinking against the yen, following tensions in the Korean Peninsula and better than expected Chinese economic data.