Sensex, Nifty erase all gains, end on a flat note; 2-wheeler cos gain

3:30 pm Market at Close: Erasing a huge chunk of its gains through the day, the market ended the session on a flat note, with the indices ending above key milestones of 30K and 9400.

The Sensex closed up 2.81 points at 30250.98, while the Nifty ended higher by 15.10 points at 9422.40. The market breadth favoured the declines as 1,246 shares advanced against a fall of 1,588 shares, while 169 shares were unchanged.

Two-wheeler stocks gained throughout the day, followed by Zee Entertainment, while oil and gas stocks and Bharti Airtel were a drag.

The midcap index ended flat, while auto, IT and metals ended on a positive note. Meanwhile, banks closed lower.

3:10 pm HUDCO IPO oversubscribed 42 times: The initial public offer of state -owned HUDCO, which has seen a robust investor demand, was oversubscribed 42 times by the late afternoon trade on the last day of issue today.

The IPO received bids for over 865 crore shares against the total issue size of 20.4 crore shares, data available with the NSE till 1430 hours showed. Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO), a 'Miniratna' firm which provides loans for housing and urban infrastructure projects, will close the IPO today where the government is offering 204,058,747 shares for sale.

2:35 pm Interview: Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) is looking at multiple options to offer minimum assured returns to market-linked plans and is now engaged in discussions with other regulators to resolve this issue.

In an exclusive interaction with Moneycontrol, Hemant Contractor, Chairman, PFRDA also talks about growth figures of FY17.

2:12 pm Market Check: Equity benchmarks were off the day's high points and traded in a narrow range, with the market breadth favouring the declines.

The 30-share Sensex was up 58.42 points at 30306.59, while the Nifty was up 28.35 points at 9435.65. The market breadth was negative as 1,195 shares advanced against a decline of 1,515 shares, while 163 shares were unchanged.

Top gainers continued to be dominated by two wheeler makers, Zee Entertainment and Eicher Motors, while GAIL and Bharti Airtel lost the most.

1:35 pm MF View: The Indian economy is on a growth path and should be able to double from USD 2 trillion to USD 4 trillion in less than eight years, Swati Kulkarni, Fund Manager, UTI AMC, said in an exclusive interview with Kshitij Anand of Moneycontrol.

''In terms of overall opportunity, consumption, automobile, domestic cyclical sectors like construction, cement, banks for that matter looks attractive,'' she said.

1:10 pm Market Check: Benchmark indices remained rangebound after spiking during the morning session, with the Nifty struggling to be around 9450 mark.

The Sensex was up 67.46 points at 30315.63, while the Nifty was up 32.25 points at 9439.55. The market breadth was narrow as 1,340 shares advanced against a decline of 1,298 shares, while 149 shares were unchanged.

Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, Zee Entertainment and Eicher Motors were top gainers, while Bharti Airtel and GAIL continued to lose.

European markets were under pressure Thursday as investors digested the latest batch of corporate earnings and reacted to strong gains in oil prices. The pan-European Stoxx 600 dipped 0.16 percent with most sectors trading in negative territory in early morning deals.

12:50 pm Havells India Q4: Dragged by an exceptional loss to the tune of Rs 76.8 crore, electric equipments maker Havells India posted 74 percent fall in its Q4 net profit at Rs 94.7 crore against Rs 365.7 crore posted during the previous year. A poll of analysts conducted by CNBC-TV18 had pegged the net profit at Rs 155 crore. The results, not factoring in the exceptional loss, came in line with estimates.

The company's standalone revenue was up 16.8 percent at Rs 1,831.5 crore against Rs 1,568.4 crore during the corresponding quarter last year.

12:30 pm Earnings poll: Asian Paints will come out with its Q4 (March 2017) earning today. The company's consolidated net profit including other operating income, is expected to increase by 8.5 percent at Rs 471 crore, according to a poll of analysts conducted by CNBC-TV18.

Total income of the company may rise by 8.5 percent at Rs 4,402 crore.

12:10 pm Market Check: Benchmark indices were trading positive after gaining through the morning, with the Nifty around 9450-mark.

The Sensex was up 100.77 points at 30348.94, while the Nifty was up 40.65 points at 9447.95. The market breadth, however, was narrow as 1,322 shares advanced against a decline of 1,200 shares, while 157 shares were unchanged.

Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, Zee Entertainment and Hindalco continued to gain, while Bharti Airtel and Dr Reddy's lost the most.

11:40 am Gold update: Gold prices rose 0.05 per cent in futures trade today as participants raised their exposure, tracking a firm trend overseas.

At the Multi Commodity Exchange, gold for delivery in June was trading higher by Rs 14, or 0.05 per cent to Rs 28,010 per 10 grams in a business turnover of 472 lots.

11:25 am Buzzing Stock: Shares of Ashoka Buildcon advanced 4.6 percent intraday Thursday as it received Letter of Intent worth Rs 282.73 crore.

The company has received Letters of Intent (LoI) from Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam (JBVNL), for execution of urban electrification works for Ranchi and Medininagar towns in the state of Jharkhand and electric supply area covering 12 towns in the State of Jharkahand under Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS).

11:06 am Market Check: Bulls were in control on the Street as benchmark indices extended their gains from the opening session, with the Nifty eyeing 9450.

The Sensex was up 108.48 points at 30356.65, while the Nifty was up 40.45 points at 9447.75. The market breadth was narrow as 1,365 shares advanced against a decline of 960 shares, while 135 shares were unchanged.

Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, Eicher Motors and Zee Entertainment were the top gainers on both indices, while Bharti Airtel and GAIL fell the most.

10:45 am Sterlite Power Grid InvIT: Sterlite Power Grid Ventures, through the IPO of its InvIT, India Grid Trust IndiGrid, is expected to give 10 percent to its investors, according to market estimates

The IPO, which will be second in this segment, will open on May 17 and close on May 19.

It commands a price band of Rs 98-100 per unit, according to a public notice. The bids can be made for a minimum of 10,205 units and in multiples of 5,103 units thereafter, it added.

10:21 am Buzzing Stock: Hero MotoCorp rose over 1 percent in morning trade on Thursday, a day after the two-wheeler maker reported 13.9 percent year-on-year (YoY) drop in net profit to Rs 717.8 crore, compared to Rs 833.3 crore reported in the corresponding quarter of last fiscal.

At 10:00 am, it was quoting at Rs 3373, up 1.5 percent on the BSE. It touched an intraday high of Rs 3379.50 and an intraday low of Rs 3,295.50.

Deep discounts the company had offered to exhaust its inventory of BS III vehicles before April 1, 2017, took a toll on its margins, Hero MotoCorp said in a filing to exchanges.

10:10 am Market Check: Equity benchmark indices traded in the green zone, with the Sensex and Nifty trading steady after the huge gains posted on Wednesday.

The 30-share Sensex was up 70.34 points at 30318.51, while the Nifty was up 29.70 points at 9437.00. The market breadth was positive as 1,226 shares advanced against a decline of 764 shares, while 96 shares were unchanged.

Hero MotoCorp, Tata Steel and Zee Entertainment gained the most on both the indices, while Bharti Airtel and Hindustan Unilever lost the most on the back of profit booking.

9:45 am Good profit margin and high dividend payout: Through a Moneycontrol study, we came across 13 companies from the BSE universe which reported net profit margins in excess of 20 percent in each of the last three financial years (FY15, FY16, and FY17).

Not surprisingly, investors also earned good returns on most of these stocks. Barring three (TCS, Infosys and GE Shipping), each beat the Sensex.

The best performers -- Deep Industries, JM Financial, and Ajanta Pharma -- notched up 588 percent, 361 percent, and 334 percent absolute return, respectively, over a three-year time horizon.

There are also companies (Bajaj Corp, Indiabulls Housing Finance, and Infosys) that not only delivered steady results but also paid out a minimum of 40 percent of their annual profit as dividend each year.

9:30 am Buzzing Stock: Zee Entertainment added gains of over 3.5 percent intraday on Thursday as investors reacted positively to the company's March quarter performance.

The firm reported consolidated Q4 (Jan-March 2017) net profit at Rs 1,514 crore, which included exceptional gains of Rs 1,223 crore on sale of its sports business.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 226.5 crore in the quarter ended March 2016.

9:15 am Market Opens: Equity benchmarks continued their positive performance, with the Nifty opening at a fresh record high of on Thursday. Indices opened comfortably above their new milestones.

The Sensex was up 52.38 points at 30300.55, while the Nifty was up 26.10 points at 9433.40. the market breadth was healthy as 629 shares advanced against a decline of 172 shares, while 45 shares were unchanged.

Midcaps and banks gained around half a percent, along with the IT index.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel, Hindalco and Zee Entertainment were the top gainers, while Bharti Airtel and HUL lost the most.

HCL Technologies was up over 1 percent following its better than expected Q4 results, while Zee Entertainment gained 3 percent on the back of strong March quarter performance.

Asian indexes were cautiously higher in early Thursday trade, following a mixed close stateside as investors noted Snap's USD 2.2 billion loss, and monitored potential fallout on President Donald Trump's policies after FBI Director James Comey was fired.

Comey was dismissed by US President Donald Trump yesterday reportedly to increase public trust. The search for Comey's replacement is underway.

The Nikkei 225 edged up 0.2 percent while South Korea's benchmark Kospi index added 0.55 percent on Thursday. The ASX 200 was slightly higher, gaining 0.04 percent in early trade.

US stocks were mixed on Wednesday as investors digested President Donald Trump's abrupt dismissal of his FBI chief as well as corporate earnings from Walt Disney and Nvidia.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost ground, while the Nasdaq closed at a record high.

Trump said he fired Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey over his handling of an email scandal involving then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

In commodities and metals, Oil prices held on to 3 percent-plus overnight gains, their biggest one-day jump since Dec. 1, following a steep drop in US inventories and support from Iraq and Algeria for an extension to OPEC supply cuts.

US crude rose 0.1 percent to $47.41 a barrel in early trade on Thursday, although some market watchers warned the gains in prices may be short-lived given stubbornly high US production.

Gold was steady early on Thursday, holding just above eight-week lows hit earlier this week, as the US dollar and stocks firmed a was unchanged at $1,218.81 per ounce by 0102 GMT. It hit an eight-week low of $1,213.81 an ounce on Tuesday, its lowest since March 15.

US gold futures were also steady at $1,219.10 an ounce