Sensex, Nifty flat; Tata Motors up 3%, rail stocks in focus

03:50 pm Railway Budget: Faced with revenue shortfall, Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge is likely to refrain from announcing many populist measures in the interim budget on February 12.

However, there will be announcement of new trains and some measures for providing better amenities at stations and trains besides steps to strengthen safety for passengers.

Since Lok Sabha elections are round the corner, there are demands from many zones and MPs for new trains. Kharge has conceded some demands and as a result survey of new lines, extension and increase of certain train service are also to be announced in the vote-on-account statement, sources said.

The vote-on-account is likely to mention the expeditious work on coaching complex for maintenance facility at Gulberga.

03:40 pm Market closing:
The market has once again closed on a flat note with Nifty below the 6100-mark. The Nifty ended up 9.25 points at 6062.70 while the Sensex was up 29.10 points at 20363.37. About 1259 shares advanced, 1357 shares declined, and 134 shares were unchanged.

Tata group stocks were on buyers' radar with Tata Motors and Tata Steel gaining 2-3 percent. IT stocks were also in focus on Nasscom's bullish FY15 guidance. ONGC, HDFC and ICICI Bank were other gainers in the Sensex.

NTPC, Hindalco, Reliance, Hero Motocorp and Maruti Suzuki dragged during the day. Rail-related stocks were in focus ahead of Railway mini-Budget to be presented in the Parliament tomorrow.

03:30 pm Market outlook:
Gautam Shah, Associate Director & Technical Analyst, JM Financial feels the Nifty will broadly trade in the range of 5950-6350. However, he adds that the near term trend looks weak. At worse, he feels Nifty may hit 5700 levels in the near-term.

He further forecasts a weakness in Bank Nifty, and says it could head lower to 9100-9200 from current 10282. Public sector banks like Bank of Baroda, Bank of India and State Bank of India can lose another 10-15 percent.

He expects Dow Jones to move lower to 14500-14700 levels in the near-term and forecasts a 8-10 percent drop in S&P 500.

03:20 pm Sales number:
Mahindra South Africa has had its best annual sales in a decade of operating in the country during 2013, bolstered primarily due to some government tenders.

The company sold 4 056 units of the range it offers in South Africa, maintaining a consistent upwards sales trend with a four per cent increase on the previous year. "We are very happy with our performance in a very competitive market," said the CEO of Mahindra SA, Ashok Thakur.

We now have 12 product lines in our local range of Mahindra and SsangYong vehicles and I am pleased to report that sales volumes were up in all but two of the model ranges," he added.

03:10 pm Divestment:
An Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) is likely to meet soon to consider Oil and Natural Gas Corp's (ONGC) request to buy a 5 percent stake in Indian Oil Corp (IOC) from the government at a lower price.

ONGC and Oil India (OIL) each want to buy a 5 percent stake in IOC from the government at the six-month average traded price and not at the current rate.

''We are considering their request for a lower share price for the IOC stake purchase," a senior Oil Ministry official said. ''We are talking to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to work out an off-market transaction.''

The ultimate decision will be taken by an EGoM headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, he said.

03:00 pm Views on Nasscom guidance:
Bhavin Shah, CEO of Equirus Securities, expects the domestic IT growth to be at the lower end of 9-12 percent of Nasscom's guidance.

''Even any new government, I am not sure, they will have an immediate effect of improving that spending environment,'' he told CNBC-TV 18's Latha Venkatesh and Ekta Batra, adding that for the export guidance, he would expect the growth to touch the higher end.

According to Anand Deshpande, CEO & CMD, Persistent Systems, it is a fair guidance, given the fact that though markets look in good shape, but there are many challenges.

''You have to look at the guidance from the short-term and long-term perspective. Most of the guidance that has been given is for the services companies. And for a services market to grow 13-15 percent is actually very healthy,'' he said.

Nasscom expects the IT sector exports to grow by 13-15 percent as against 13 percent (Y-o-Y) in FY15. The domestic IT market is expected to grow 9-12 percent and the additional FY15 revenue will be USD 13-14 billion in FY15, said Nasscom.

02:45pm Tata Steel to announce Q3 earnings today
Analysts expect Tata Steel to report good numbers during the quarter following optimism created by its rival Arcelor Mittal.

Arcelor Mittal, the world's largest steel maker, reported EBITDA per tonne at USD 33 per tonne in October-December quarter of CY13, a sequential growth of 10 percent. It expects European steel consumption to increase by 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent in 2014 as against degrowth in 2013.

Year-on-year net sales are likely to increase 10.9 percent to Rs 35,300 crore and EBITDA may go up 84.3 percent to Rs 3,600 crore while EBITDA margin may expand to 10.2 percent versus 6.1 percent and net profit is likely to be at Rs 680 crore versus net loss of Rs 763 crore.

02:15pm Market expert
Dilip Bhat, joint MD, Prabhudas Lilladher believes muted foreign flows can possibly upset the markets in the short run. But in the long run it will still be a matter of how much people can take a call that probably India has bottomed out and there is a good growth story in the next couple of years.

Bhat recommends buying L&T among frontliners due to its solid balance sheet compared to peers. He is also bullish on Hero MotoCorp at current levels and Bajaj Auto at slightly lower levels.  In case of Tata Motors, Bhat expects at least 20-22 percent return on the upside from current levels.

02:00pm Equity benchmarks rose 0.3 percent in afternoon trade supported by Tata group stocks. Technology and banks too helped the market hold positive momentum.

The Sensex advanced 64.31 points to 20,398.58 and the Nifty rose 18.85 points to 6,072.30.

Tata Steel climbed over a percent ahead of its December quarter earnings while Tata Motors surged 3 percent on strong numbers in Q3 driven by Jaguar Land Rover. TCS and Tata Power gained 0.6 percent and 1 percent, respectively.

Among financials, HDFC and ICICI Bank rallied over a percent. State Bank of India, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank added 0.2-0.6 percent.

However, Dr Reddy's Labs fell over a percent on profit booking. The stock had rallied in anticipation of strong numbers in Q3FY14 that beat analysts' expectations today. Net profit grew over 70 percent to Rs 618.53 crore compared to same quarter last year.

1:50 pm Buzzing: Shares of AstraZeneca Pharma soared over 17 percent intraday on its December quarter results. The drug major reported a net profit of Rs 1.51 crore in Q3 FY14 from a net loss of Rs 17.69 crore during the same period of previous fiscal.

Total income from operations of the company jumped 13.3 percent at Rs 119 crore against Rs 105 crore. SP Tulsian of sptulsian.com says that the company has been struggling on the operating and net level but for this December quarter the company at the operating level has seen break even, which seems to be a big trigger for the stock.

1:40 pm Poll: GMR Infrastructure will announce its October-December quarter earnings today. According to CNBC-TV18 poll, analysts on an average expect the company's loss may widen to Rs 353 crore from Rs 217 crore year-on-year due to higher capitalisation charges.

Total income may fall 4.9 percent to Rs 2,261 crore versus Rs 2,378 crore. EBITDA is likely to grow 16.4 percent to Rs 680 crore versus Rs 584 crore.

1:30 pm Railway Budget: Faced with revenue shortfall, Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge is likely to refrain from announcing many populist measures in the interim budget on February 12. However, there will be announcement of new trains and some measures for providing better amenities at stations and trains besides steps to strengthen safety for passengers.

Since Lok Sabha elections are round the corner, there are demands from many zones and MPs for new trains. Kharge has conceded some demands and as a result survey of new lines, extension and increase of certain train service are also to be announced in the vote-on-account statement, sources said.

The market maintained its upbeat trend with Nifty trading above 6,050 levels. The Sensex is up 50.96 points at 20385.23, and the Nifty is up 11.70 points at 6065.15. About 1086 shares have advanced, 1242 shares declined, and 117 shares are unchanged.

Tata Motors , Tata Steel , ONGC , Tata Power and ICICI Bank are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the laggards are Hindalco , Bharti Airtel , Hero Motocorp , NTPC and Reliance .

IT stocks are in focus as Nasscom forecasts FY15 guidance at the highest in three years. Nasscom expects the Indian IT sector exports to grow by 13-15 percent as against 13 percent in FY15. The domestic IT market is expected to grow 9-12 percent.

Trade deficit for January came in at USD 9.92 billion compared to USD 10.14 billion in December last year. Exports were up 3.8 percent on a year-on-year basis at USD 26.75 billion.

Lok Sabha stands adjourned today as well. The government will present the mini rail Budget tomorrow.

12:55pm Market Unmoved by trade data
Trade deficit for January stood at USD 9.92 billion as against USD 10.14 billion in previous month and USD 18.97 billion in a year-ago period.

Imports increased (down 18.1 percent on yearly basis) to USD 36.67 billion versus USD 36.49 billion on month-on-month basis while exports jumped (3.8 percent Y-o-Y) to USD 26.75 billion from USD 26.35 billion M-o-M.

12:35pm Dr Reddy's Labs to announce Q3 earnings today
According to CNBC-TV18 poll, analysts expect Dr Reddy's Labs to report profit after tax of Rs 506 crore in October-December quarter as against Rs 363.3 crore in a year-ago period.

Revenue may grow 23 percent year-on-year to Rs 3,520 crore while operating profit margin may expand 670 basis points Y-o-Y to 22.5 percent.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation is likely to increase to Rs 791 crore versus Rs 452.5 crore during the same period.

12:25pm Sugar stocks sweeten ahead of CCEA meeting
Sugar stocks like Shree Renuka ,  Balrampur Chini Mills and  Bajaj Hindusthan are on buyers' radar ahead of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) meeting today on sugar subsidy. Shares of Shree Renuka jumped 4 percent, Bajaj Hindusthan rallied 6 percent while Balrampur Chini Mills rose 3.5 percent.

The government is likely to decide on subsidy for export of 4 million tonnes of raw sugar. The CCEA had been twice deferred the decision on fixing the export subsidy this week as agriculture minister Sharad Pawar was in favour of higher subsidy of Rs 3,500 per tonne as against Rs 2,000 per tonne proposed by the food ministry.

12:10pm Market Expert
Gautam Shah, Associate Director & Technical Analyst, JM Financial feels the Nifty will broadly trade in the range of 5950-6350. However, he adds that the near term trend looks weak. At worse, he feels Nifty may hit 5700 levels in the near-term.

He further forecasts a weakness in Bank Nifty, and says it could head lower to 9100-9200 from current 10282.

He expects Dow Jones to move lower to 14500-14700 levels in the near-term and forecasts a 8-10 percent drop in S&P 500.

12:00pm The market maintained its positive momentum in noon trade supported by banks, technology, capital goods and Tata group stocks.

The Sensex climbed 68.97 points to 20,403.24, and the Nifty rose 17.50 points to 6,070.95. About 1104 shares have advanced, 1037 shares declined, and 111 shares are unchanged.

Tata Motors kept its top position in the buying list post strong Q3 earnings, rising nearly 3 percent. TCS , ICICI Bank , Tata Steel and Tata Power climbed over a percent.

Infosys , HDFC, Larsen & Toubro, ONGC , HDFC Bank , State Bank of India and Axis Bank continued to see buying interest.

However, index heavyweight Reliance Industries fell 0.7 percent. Bharti Airtel , Hero Motocorp , Hindalco Industries , Coal India and NTPC slipped 1-2 percent.

Aurobindo Pharma , Tata Motors, Cipla , Asian Paints , Aban Offshore , TCS, Bharti Airtel and HCL Technologies are most active shares on exchanges.

11:50 am Buzzing: Shares of Sun Pharma rose over 2 percent intraday after its US subsidiary Taro reported strong December quarter earnings with record margins. Its sales jumped 15 percent to USD 213.6 million while operating margins jumped 63.2 percent from 56.1 percent on a yearly basis.

During the period, Taro's net income increased 30 percent year-on-year to Rs 115.6 million.

Sun currently holds 66 percent stake in the company. The US is a critical market for Sun Pharma as it accounted for almost 60 percent of the company's consolidated revenues during the first half of the fiscal.

Sun Pharma is the second largest player in the domestic market and holds leadership position in chronic therapy areas such as neuropsychiatry, anti-diabetes and cardiovascular.

11:40 am Macro outlook: Leif Eskesen, chief economist-India & ASEAN, HSBC expects India's FY14 GDP growth to be around 4.6 percent against 4.9 percent pegged by the Central Statistics Office. According to him, some growth deceleration is possible in the second half of the fiscal and fast pace of growth in sectors like agriculture may not repeat in the last quarter of the fiscal.

He also adds that the second quarter fiscal numbers for the financial services sector will be somewhat revised down and will therefore, come in lower than the second half of the fiscal.

Eskesen expects a trade deficit of USD 11 billion for January and current deficit to come in lower than USD 50 billion for FY14.

11:30 am Market outlook: Gautam Shah, Associate Director & Technical Analyst, JM Financial feels the Nifty will broadly trade in the range of 5950-6350. However, he adds that the near term trend looks weak. He feels Nifty may hit 5700 levels in the near-term.

He further forecasts a weakness in Bank Nifty, and says it could head lower to 9100-9200 from current 10282. Public sector banks like Bank of Baroda,  Bank of India and State Bank of India can lose another 10-15 percent.

The market continues to trade higher as the Nifty races towards 6100. The Nifty is up 19.50 points at 6072.95 and the Sensex is up 76.37 points at 20410.64. About 1044 shares have advanced, 838 shares declined, and 98 shares are unchanged.

Tata group stocks are rallying with Tata Motors gaining 3 percent and Tata Steel is up 2 percent. TCS , Infosys and Wipro are other gainers in the Sensex. Bharti Airtel continues to remain weak, followed by Hindalco , Hero Motocorp,Cipla and NTPC .

The rupee opened marginally higher amid low trade volumes tracking strength in Asian currencies and the euro. Volume is expected to remain lower as most PSU banks enter second day of strike.

Gilts hold steady ahead of the trade deficit data due today and CPI inflation data tomorrow. Market participants build fresh positions on expectation that CPI could surprise on the positive side. Profit sales weigh.

Gold continued to gain trading at two-week highs while Brent fell nearly USD 1 pressured by sinking heating oil prices.

Asian stocks are gaining. However trade is cautious ahead of Janet Yellen's first statement today. Volumes are low as the Nikkei is closed today.

10:59am Dhanlaxmi Bank plunges 5%
Dhanlaxmi Bank posted a net loss of Rs 119.4 crore during October-December quarter as against profit of Rs 4.4 crore in corresponding quarter of last fiscal, dented by lower net interest income and higher provisions.

Net interest income dropped to Rs 56.5 crore versus Rs 74.3 crore (Y-o-Y). Asset quality worsened as net non-performing assets jumped to 4.64 percent versus 3.69 percent (Q-o-Q).

10:50am Dr Reddy's Labs to announce Q3 earnings today
According to CNBC-TV18 poll, analysts expect Dr Reddy's Labs to report profit after tax of Rs 506 crore in October-December quarter as against Rs 363.3 crore in a year-ago period.

Revenue may grow 23 percent year-on-year to Rs 3,520 crore while operating profit margin may expand 670 basis points Y-o-Y to 22.5 percent.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation is likely to increase to Rs 791 crore versus Rs 452.5 crore during the same period.

10:45am IIFL upgrades Tata Motors
Without doubt Jaguar Land Rover's performance helped Tata Motors post better-than-expected Q3 numbers said Prayesh Jain, AVP - Research at  IIFL in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

The house has upgraded the stock to buy with a target price of Rs 425 and has revised the earnings estimates by around 6-8 percent for JLR operations. Jain expects a strong performance from the stock in the next six to eight months.

JLR's standout performance was mainly because of the product mix and a higher contribution from emerging markets, he said. The momentum too is likely to sustain for JLR in the coming 2-3 years on back of sustained volume growth of 15-20 percent  said Jain.

Tata Motors posted stellar Q3 numbers driven by an exceptional income in the local standalone business and a robust performance at its British subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover.

10:30am FII View
Mahesh Nandurkar of CLSA said December quarter results have been slightly weaker than expectations. "Cement and consumer staples were the key disappointments; while IT, pharma and L&T were the positive surprises," he added.

He further said the recent investor interactions suggest a pre-election beta rally is likely. ICICI Bank , Axis Bank , L&T and Maruti are his preferred ideas and he also added Reliance Industries to the list of high conviction buy ideas.

10:15am NMDC talks to CNBC-TV18
State-controlled mineral producer NMDC believes the worst is over for the steel industry. According to CMD CS Verma, once the steel industry looks up, iron ore industry will also be better. ''So, good times are ahead for iron ore companies and steel companies in India,'' he adds.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Verma says the bottomline of the company has been good because of superb volume compared to the corresponding period last year.

Verma also says that for Q3, the company's realisation pattern was Rs 3,795 per tonne and on a year-on-year basis for the corresponding period last year it was Rs 3,790 per tonne and so, on a Q-o-Q basis there is a growth of 0.13 percent.

NMDC increased its iron ore prices by Rs 100 per tonne from February 1 and the iron ore fine prices now stand at Rs 2,910 per tonne and iron ore lump prices remain unchanged at Rs 4,500 per tonne, adds verma.

10:05am The market continued to be rangebound with the Nifty consolidating around the 6050 level. Technology, banks and Tata group stocks are seeing buying interest.

The Sensex rose 39.36 points to 20,373.63, and the Nifty gained 8.15 points at 6,061.60. Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of 833 to 605 on the BSE.

Tata Motors surged 3 percent riding high on its stellar December quarter earnings. Its British subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover delivered a big operational beat yet again but domestic performance continued to be weak in third quarter.

Tata Steel gained over a percent ahead of October-December quarter earnings today. Analysts expect net sales of the company to increase 10.9 percent to Rs 35,300 crore and net profit is likely to be at Rs 680 crore versus net loss of Rs 763 crore year-on-year.

Sun Pharma climbed 1 percent post Israel-based Taro earnings. Taro reported a 15 percent growth in sales at USD 213.6 million and 30 percent growth in net income at USD 115.6 million year-on-year during October-December quarter earnings.

Technology stocks like TCS , Wipro and Infosys gained between 0.7-1 percent. Capital goods majors L&T and BHEL climbed over 0.6 percent.

Shares of State Bank of India , ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank , HDFC and Axis Bank rose 0.2-0.9 percent.

However, Bharti Airtel , Cipla and Hindalco Industries fell over 1.5 percent. Index heavyweights Reliance Industries and ITC slipped 0.4 percent each.

9:50 am FY15 Guidance: IT stocks are trading firm asNasscom is expected to release the FY15 guidance today. The figures are likely to be higher than last three years and seen at 14-16 percent. Uptick is seen in client spending, spending from US and Europe are likely to see uptick, recovery in key verticals like BFSI, increased off-shoring from Europe and significant traction in digital space factors that may drive Nasscom's FY15 guidance.

9:40 am Buzzing: Shares of Tata Motors jumped 5 percent intraday riding high on its stellar December quarter earnings. Its British subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover delivered a big operational beat yet again but domestic performance continued to be weak in third quarter.

The management said JLR's margins increased due to an improvement in its product mix - new Land Rover models such as the Range Rover Evoque and Jaguar's F-Type and higher contributions from high-growth markets such as China.

Brokerages are upbeat on the stock. Macquarie has maintained an outperform rating with a target price of Rs 475. ''This is best phase in JLR's current model cycle as two high margin models RR and RR Sport  are growing strong. However, India business delivered weaker-than-expected profitability,'' it said.

9:30 am FII view: Mahesh Nandurkar of CLSA says that December quarter results have been slightly weaker than expectations. "Cement and consumer staples were the key disappointments; while IT, pharma and L&T were the positive surprises. Our recent investor interactions suggest a pre-election beta rally is likely," he said. ICICI Bank , Axis Bank , L&T and Maruti are their preferred ideas.

Neelkanth Mishra of Credit Suisse feels that before the market could head down the quality curve, rate cut expectations got pushed out again. "Pre-elections, there can be another rally in rate sensitives, but we would remain sellers in such a rally, in particular in L&T, SBI and Tata Steel ," he added.

The market has opened slightly higher. The Sensex is up 78.23 points at 20412.50, and the Nifty is up 19.00 points at 6072.45. About 188 shares have advanced, 52 shares declined, and 9 shares are unchanged.

Tata Motors, BHEL , Tata Steel, Sun Pharma and ICICI Bank are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are NTPC , Bharti Airtel , ITC and Coal India .

The Indian rupee moved up marginally in the early trade. It opened higher by 6 paise at 62.37 per dollar against 62.43 Monday.

The dollar wallowed near a two-week low against a basket of major currencies early on Tuesday, following a subdued US session trade as markets hunkered down ahead of congressional testimony by new Federal Reserve Chief Janet Yellen. Outperforming the dollar and yen, the euro drifted up to near two-week highs of USD 1.3652 and 139.80 yen.

Ashutosh Raina of HDFC Bank said the US jobs data has disappointed which has been followed by very calm and quiet markets. "Markets await Yellen's first testimony today. All currencies are moving in a very narrow range, including dollar-rupee pair," he added. Raina expects the 62-63/USD range to continue.

Global investors are focused on Yellen's first testimony before Congress today. Markets are looking for clues as to whether monetary policy will remain supportive. Her testimony comes after a second month of soft jobs numbers. Yellen has been a supporter of the Fed's loose monetary policy and it is yet to be seen if she will be able to walk the fine line between reducing asset purchases and not spooking markets.

In commodities, crude prices slipped following a drop in heating oil prices as the possibility of milder weather next week curbed demand and raised the prospect of an end to a long winter.