Sensex, Nifty end rangebound session higher; TCS, Bajaj Auto, Adani Ports lead gainers

3:30 pm Market closing: Benchmark indices closed rangebound session higher on Monday after the GST Council finalised rates for some commodities and looked confident of GST rollout on July 1.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 36.20 points at 31,309.49 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 21.60 points to 9,675.10.

About 1445 shares advanced against 1264 declining shares on the BSE.

TCS, Bajaj Auto, Adani Ports, Cipla, L&T, Indiabulls Housing, Yes Bank, Bharti Infratel and IOC were leading gainers whereas Coal India, GAIL, Dr Reddy's Labs, Infosys, Lupin and UltraTech Cement were under pressure.

3:15 pm FII View: Samir Arora, Fund Manager at Helios Capital told CNBC-TV18 that a part of the reason for the market rally was 10 percent fall in November-December 2016.

Speaking about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's initiatives, he said that Modi had managed to raise the profile of India across the world, adding that the international community knew about his financial inclusion plans, Aadhaar and demonetisation plans.

Meanwhile on GST, he said that there could be a correction in the short term due to the implementation of tax regime.

3:00 pm CLSA on Coal India: While retaining a sell call, CLSA slashed its target price for Coal India to Rs 240 from Rs 245 following cut in FY18-19 EPS estimates by 14-15 percent. The stock lost 1.5 percent intraday.

The research house, which believes earnings downgrades are not over yet, had also lowered target price from Rs 265 after fourth quarter earnings that disappointed the Street last month.

According to the brokerage firm, operating performance is expected to remain weak in FY18, and costs will rise further as full impact of wage hike comes through.

2:40 pm Sector outlook: The cement industry is expected to grow at 6-7 per cent in the current fiscal with government's focus on infrastructure development being a key driver of demand, says HeidelbergCement India.

A subsidiary of HeidelbergCement Group, Germany, the company also said that while prospects of a normal monsoon augur well for the industry, oversupply may restrict the ability to pass on any input cost increases.

Cement demand growth expectations for 2017-18 is 6-7 per cent, HeidelbergCement India said in an investor presentation.

2:20 pm Market Check: Benchmark indices traded positive in the afternoon session, with the Nifty hovering around 9700-mark.

The Sensex was up 56.98 points at 31330.27, while the Nifty was up 29.05 points at 9682.55. The market breadth was narrow as 1,406 shares advanced against a decline of 1,188 shares, while 149 shares were unchanged.

Bajaj Auto, Adani Ports, Indiabulls Housing Finance and Yes Bank were among top gainers on both indices, while Coal India, Lupin and UltraTech Cement lost the most.

2:00 pm Alankit in action: Alankit shares jumped nearly 18 percent intraday as promoters will increase stake more than three-fold in the company through a deal struck with large investors.

IT service management company, in its BSE filing on June 2, said Alok Kumar Agarwal, Ankit Agarwal, Alka Agarwal, Pratishtha Garg, Sakshi Agarwal, Alankit Assignments and Alankit Associates have entered into a share sale / purchase confirmation with public shareholders of the company for acquisition of 5.4 crore equity shares (representing 37.78 percent of paid-up equity).

There were two sellers among public shareholders, who are Diwakar Commercials (18.19 percent stake) and NewWave Commercial (19.59 percent).

With this, promoters or acquirers have triggered the open offer to acquire 3.7 crore equity shares of the company (representing 26 percent of paid-up equity) at Rs 33.3 per share, it added.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Ankit Agarwal, MD said promoters struck a deal with large investors.

"Promoters wanted to increase stake in the company but we are not planning to de-list company," he said.

As of March 2017, promoter and promoter group held 24.34 stake in the company and the rest is held by public shareholders.

1:45 pm Buzzing Stock: Shares of Ramco Systems were trading higher around 4 percent as investors cheered an order-based development for the company.

Canada-based specialty aircraft operations provider, Conair, announced that it upgraded to the Series 5 version of Ramco Systems' Aviation Suite.

"The comprehensive application from Ramco will not only simplify the life of a shop floor mechanic, but also streamline company-wide operations, eliminating unnecessary manual steps and ensuring real-time data availability to support decision making," Heather
Murley, Vice President Finance, Conair said in a statement.

1:20 pm RBI policy expectations: There is a clear case for the RBI to be pressing the pause button on June 7 when it will be announcing its policy action. Lower inflation  and slowing growth are indicators, if anything, that the banking regulator won't undertake a rate cut.

Risks to inflation amid uncertainty around the impact of Goods and Services Tax (GST) implementation and monsoon with low credit demand, are likely to keep key policy rate or repo rate unchanged at 6.25 percent.

The second bi-monthly monetary policy meeting will be held on June 6 and 7 with the RBI making the announcement on June 7, Wednesday.

1:00 pm Market Check: Benchmark indices lost some morning gains after hitting record highs, following correction in European markets. Even the broader markets came off day's high but still outperformed equity benchmarks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 12.35 points at 31,285.64 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 13.80 points at 9,667.30.

Tata Company topped the buying list among midcaps, up nearly 17 percent after the GST Council fixed GST rate for gold & gold jewellery at 3 percent.

12:50 pm Buzzing: Tata Elxsi shares rallied nearly 5 percent intraday on signing licensing and integration support deal with one of the world's top five original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

"... announced the licensing of its advanced autonomous vehicle middleware platform "AUTONOMAI" to one of the world's top 5 automotive OEMs for their driverless car R&D," the global design and technology services company said in its filing.

The Autonomai platform provides carmakers and Tier 1 automotive suppliers with a comprehensive and modular solution covering perception, GNC and drive-by-wire systems, to quickly build, test and deploy autonomous vehicles.

12:40 pm Europe opening: Bourses in Europe open mixed as investors eye an upcoming monetary policy meeting from the European Central Bank (ECB) and react to the terrorist attack in London over the weekend, just a few days ahead of a general election.

12:25 pm NPA stress in banks: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stressed that reviving banking sector and investment in private sector top his priority list.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and banks are working on a list of defaulters and will put out the list soon, he said. Last month, the RBI had said it would reconstitute and expand the oversight committee to deal with the menace of non-performing assets (NPAs).

However, the reality on the ground still remains unchanged. The stress levels remain unchanged for banks for the quarter ended March 31. Overall stress remains unchanged in Q4, with debt having interest cover (IC) less than 1, which stands at 40 percent, Credit Suisse said in a report.

12:00 pm Market Check: Benchmark indices extended gains amid consolidation, with the Sensex hitting fresh record high of 31,355.42, backed by index heavyweight Reliance Industries.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 71.88 points at 31,345.17 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 29.55 points to 9,683.05.

Hero Motocorp, Adani Ports and IndusInd Bank hit fresh record highs while Indiabulls Housing, L&T, ITC, Hindustan Unilever, Maruti, HDFC and Kotak Mahindra Bank were near its record highs.

11:36 am NDTV hits 1-year low: New Delhi Television (NDTV) share price hit fresh 52-week low of Rs 58.10, down nearly 7 percent intraday after the CBI conducted raids at co-founder Pranay Roy's residence in Delhi.

Central Bureau of Investigation has confirmed raids going on at NDTV's co-founder Prannoy Roy's residence in Delhi, reports CNBC-TV18.

The CBI has registered a case against Prannoy Roy, his wife Radhika Roy and others for alleged loss to bank.

Searches are being conducted today at 4 places including Delhi & Dehradun.

11.15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks gained some momentum amid consolidation in morning trade, with the Nifty hitting fresh record high of 9,675.35.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 46.86 points at 31,320.15 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 20.60 points to 9,674.10.

The BSE Midcap index was up 0.4 percent and Smallcap gained 0.7 percent as about 1411 shares advanced against 853 declining shares on the BSE.

Coal India fell a percent as CLSA slashed target price to Rs 240 from Rs 245 following cut in EPS estimates by 14-15 percent for FY18-19 while maintaining sell call on the stock.

Lupin was also under pressure as USFDA in its observations said company's Indore facility failed to review discrepancies in products and operations did not have written norms for manufacturing process. US FDA inspected Lupin's Indore unit on May 8-19.

11:05 am Buzzing: Britannia Industries shares gained nearly 4 percent intraday after GST rates on biscuits are fixed by the GST Council.

After detailed discussions on taxation of biscuits, the GST Council finally decided on a GST rate of 18 percent on all categories of biscuits on June 3.

"GST rate is tax neutral if you look at the current rate. So it is not going to impact us either way, positively or negatively. It is a very fair move from the government," Varun Berry, MD of Britannia Industries said in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

However, Harpreet Singh, Partner, Indirect Tax at KPMG India said this was little surprising, as like footwear and textiles, this industry was also expecting two rates i.e. a lower rate for cheaper biscuits used by the 'aam aadmi' and a residual higher rate for costly cookies meant for the elite class.

He feels this GST rate definitely appears to be on the higher side.

10:51 am Services PMI: The Indian service sector recovered some recent lost ground, with a quicker rise in new business inflows boosting growth of both activity and employment during May, Nikkei IHS Markit said.

Rising from 50.2 in April to 52.2 in May, the seasonally adjusted Nikkei India Services PMI Business Activity Index pointed to the fastest increase in output in the current four-month sequence of expansion, it said.

10:30 am Bond Outlook: Ajay Manglunia of Edelweiss said the bond markets have seen some position building ahead of the policy on expectations of a relatively dovish tone at this week's monetary policy review.

This can drive further buying today, however the momentum might be limited as participants might prefer to adopt a cautious stance, according to him.

The 10-year benchmark is likely to trade in a range of 6.59-6.64 percent today, Manglunia said.

10:16 am Gold Update: Gold held steady after hitting its highest in over six weeks earlier today, buoyed by disappointing US jobs data that appeared to dilute the prospects for an aggressive string of interest rate hikes in the United States.

US job growth slowed in May and employment gains in the prior two months were not as strong as previously reported, suggesting the labor market was losing momentum despite the unemployment rate falling to a 16-year low of 4.3 percent.

10:06 am Buzzing: Jewellery stocks witnessed a surge following the government's announcements of GST rates on gold.

Titan Company, PC Jeweller, Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri and Gitanjali Gems rallied 5-8 percent.

The GST Council on Saturday announced that the rate on gold and gold jewellery would be at 3 percent. Having said that, the import duty of 10 percent stays, which will be over and above the 3 percent.

"The government's decision to apply 3 percent GST on gold is an encouraging step in the current context to stabilise the industry and address the concerns of the millions employed in the industry," Somasundaram PR, Managing Director, World Gold Council India told news agency PTI.

10:00 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks continued to consolidate in morning trade as investors awaited RBI monetary policy due on Tuesday.

Experts largely expect the central bank to maintain status quo in tomorrow's policy meeting despite subdued inflation. The RBI will watch out for more economic data and progress of monsoon before deciding further rate cut.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 23.98 points at 31,249.31 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 6.05 points to 9,659.55 while the broader markets outperformed.

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

9:53 am FM interview: Even as the government scurries to tackle the problem of bad loans, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stressed that reviving banking sector and investment in private sector top his priority list. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and banks are working on a list of defaulters and will put out the list soon, he said.

''My next big target is banks and private sector investment… that is the bull's eye,'' Jaitley told CNBC-TV18 in an exclusive interview. The list of companies to be selected in the first instance for invoking insolvency code is almost ready, he added. ''RBI should put out the details soon.''

9:38 am Rupee update: The Indian rupee was trading at 64.33 against the US dollar on Monday, up 10 paise or 0.16 percent from Friday's closing level.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity says weak US economic data will be the reason for rupee to strengthen.

The rupee will breach 64.20 a dollar and will head towards 64, he feels. Trading range for the day will be 64-64.50, he said.

The dollar nursed losses, coming close to a seven-month low against a currency basket plumbed after disappointing US employment data prompted investors to pare back their expectations of future US Federal Reserve rate hikes.

9:30 am FII view: Sanjay Mookim of Bank of America Merrill Lynch says the GST council has finalised rates for several previously undecided categories.

More critically, the government has reiterated its intention to stick to the July 1 deadline. A deferral now seems likely only if technology at the government's end were to be delayed, he feels.

According to him, the GST transition is likely to create cash flow/margin volatility for many companies over the next few quarters. As much of the equity rally seems driven by falling cost of equity, this uncertainty could hurt, he feels.

He stays cautious near term. December-end Sensex target of 30,000 implies little upside, he said, adding he prefers financials.

9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks started off the week on flat note after the GST Council meet, with the Nifty holding 9650 level.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 17.08 points at 31,256.21 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 3.50 points to 9,657. About 576 shares advanced against 222 declining shares on the BSE.

Sun Pharma, Cipla, BHEL, Adani Ports, Hero Motocorp, Bharti Infratel, IOC, Indiabulls Housing and Aurobindo Pharma were early gainers while ITC, Lupin, Coal India, Wipro, HDFC and Dr Reddy's Labs were under pressure.