Sensex, Nifty snap 2-day fall; Bharti up 5%; L&T tanks 7%

03:30pm Market closing
Equity benchmarks bounced back after two-day fall. The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 96.19 points to close at 26087.42 while the 50-share NSE Nifty rallied 42.70 points to 7791.40 ahead of expiry of July derivative contracts.

About 1403 shares have advanced, 1488 shares declined, and 121 shares are unchanged.

Bharti Airtel topped the buying list, up 5 percent followed by Hero Motocorp, ICICI Bank, Hindalco, HDFC, Lupin, PNB, Kotak Mahindra Bank and DLF with 2-4.5 percent.

However, L&T dropped over 7 percent post weak earnings in Q1.

03:00pm Market Check
The market extended gains with the Sensex rising 100.69 points to 26091.92 and the Nifty rising 41.65 points to 7790.35. About 1302 shares have advanced, 1515 shares declined, and 111 shares are unchanged.

02:50pm Cadila Healthcare hits 52-week high
Pharmaceutical firm Cadila Healthcare has reported a 23.2 percent growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 240.2 crore in April-June quarter driven by strong sales growth in the US. Profit in the year-ago period was Rs 195 crore.

Consolidated revenue jumped 25.2 percent to Rs 2,050 crore in the quarter ended June 2014 from Rs 1,637 crore in same quarter last year. "Sales growth was buoyed by formulations business in the US, which grew by 88 percent during the quarter," said the company in its filing.

The stock gained 6 percent to touch a 52-week high of Rs 1195 on the BSE.

02:35pm Market Volume
Total market turnover is more than Rs 5 lakh crore ahead of expiry of July derivative contracts on Thursday.

02:25pm FII View
Veteran emerging markets investor Mark Mobius is extremely optimistic on Indian equities. In an exclusive interview to CNBC-TV18, he said the current bull run in the Indian market will be a prolonged one, however, cautions of intermediate corrections.

Though he prefers China in the emerging markets basket in the immediate term, he sees India outpacing China's growth rate in the long-term. He is hopeful of India clocking double-digit growth rate going ahead.

In terms of index returns, India is likely to outperform China in the next 12-18 months. He says, one can't rule out 20-30 percent growth in Indian equities over next few years.

02:15pm ICICI Bank Q1 expectations
Prabhudas Lilladher expects ICICI Bank to report a 2.5 percent degrowth quarter-on-quarter (growth of 13.8 percent year-on-year) in net profit at Rs 2586.9 crore.

Net interest income is expected to increase by 10.5 percent Q-o-Q (up 17.9 percent Y-o-Y) to Rs 11953.2 crore, according to Prabhudas Lilladher.

02:00pm Equity benchmarks recouped losses in afternoon trade with the Sensex reclaiming 26000 level, up 38.01 points to 26029.24. The Nifty climbed 16.20 points to 7764.90. About 1160 shares have advanced, 1559 shares declined, and 128 shares are unchanged.

Drug maker Dr Reddy's Laboratories met street expectations with the consolidated net profit rising 52.4 percent on yearly basis to Rs 550 crore driven by strong growth in US sales and also supported by emerging markets, Russia and domestic operations. Profit in the year-ago period was Rs 360.9 crore. Consolidated revenue grew 23.6 percent to Rs 3,517 crore in the quarter ended June 2014 compared to Rs 2,845 crore in same quarter last year. The stock gained over 2 percent.

Lupin surged 6 percent. Drug maker sharply beat street expectations on every parameter with the net profit growing 56 percent year-on-year at Rs 625 crore in the quarter ended June 2014 on account of hefty growth in US and Indian operations but impacted by higher tax expenses. Net profit in the year-ago period was Rs 401 crore. Net sales during the quarter grew 34.9 percent at Rs 3,340 crore compared to Rs 2,476.2 crore in the corresponding quarter of last fiscal.

01:55pm Vedanta Q1 earnings
Diversified miner Vedanta Resources Plc ground out a marginal increase in quarterly core earnings as its oil and gas and aluminium businesses offset a decline in zinc and copper.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to USD 1.04 billion for the quarter ended June 30 from USD 1.03 billion a year earlier.

Revenue increased 7 percent to USD 3.06 billion, reports Reuters.

01:40pm Lupin strong
Drug maker Lupin heavily beat street expectations on every parameter with the net profit growing 56 percent year-on-year at Rs 625 crore in the quarter ended June 2014 on account of hefty growth in US and Indian operations. Net profit in the year-ago period was Rs 401 crore.

According to CNBC-TV18 poll estimates, analysts had expected the company to report net profit of Rs 625 crore on revenue of Rs 3,075 crore for the quarter.

Net sales during the quarter grew 34.9 percent at Rs 3,340 crore compared to Rs 2,476.2 crore in the corresponding quarter of last fiscal.

Lupin reported 29 percent growth year-on-year at Rs 760 crore in its domestic business while its US business shot up 57 percent to Rs 1,605 crore in the quarter ended June 2014. Japanese business remained strong for the second consecutive quarter, growing 17 percent to Rs 341 crore.

01:25pm Bharat Forge shares in demand
Net profit of the forging company shot up 60 percent on account of strong sales and operational performance. Profit of the company increased to Rs 145 crore in the quarter ended June 2014 from Rs 90.6 crore in same quarter last year, which was far ahead of analysts' expectations of Rs 134.2 crore. Revenue grew 24.8 percent year-on-year, in-line, to Rs 988 crore during the quarter.

Operating profit (EBITDA) in Q1 jumped 44.4 percent at Rs 283 crore and margin expanded by 400 basis points at 28.7 percent compared to the year-ago period, which too were stronger than analysts' expectations of Rs 261.8 crore and 26 percent, respectively.

01:15pm FII View
Jyotivardhan Jaipuria Head of Research, Bank of America Merrill Lynch believes that Indian market is shaping up for a multiyear bull run, but may consolidate for now. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, said that Indian equities would remain rangebound with a bit of correction over the next few months.

After a lull of four-five years, the earnings cycle is likely to take off and earnings growth is expected to improve in coming quarters, he added. On the flipside, weak monsoon and inflationary concerns are key risks for the market.

01:00pm The market extended losses in afternoon trade with the Sensex falling 99.99 points to 25891.24 and the Nifty declining 29.65 points to 7719.05. The broader markets fell further too with the BSE Smallcap index losing 0.7 percent.

Decliners outnumbered advancers on the Bombay Stock Exchange by a ratio of 1602 to 977.
 
Commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors and top lender State Bank of India plunged 2 percent each. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries slipped 1 percent followed by HDFC, Tata Steel and BHEL with 0.5-1 percent.

Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro plunged 7.4 percent and Sesa Sterlite dropped 2.4 percent post Q1 earnings.

However, shares of ITC, ICICI Bank, Mahindra and Mahindra, Dr Reddy's Labs, HUL, Gail and Hindalco Industries gained 1-1.5 percent. Top telecom operator Bharti Airtel retained its top position in the buying list, up 4.6 percent.

In the broader space, Akzo Nobel tumbled 8.38 percent as it is quoting ex- dividend . It declared interim dividend of Rs 75/share and special dividend of Rs 60/share.

12:55pm  ICVL to buy Rio Tinto's coal assets
State-owned International Coal Ventures (ICVL) has signed an agreement to buy Rio
Tinto's coal assets in Mozambique for USD 50 million.

ICVL - a joint venture company of Steel Authority of India, Coal India, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam and NMDC - will buy the Tete East project and the Benga mine, which will give it
captive coal mines.

Rio Tinto had bought these assets as part of acquisition of Riversdale Mining Limited in 2011. The acquisition will be the first of ICVL since its inception in 2009.

"The sale is subject to certain conditions precedent and regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2014," Rio Tinto said in a statement
today, reports PTI.

12:45pm Interview
Praj Industries, a technology and engineering solutions provider for the production of bio-fuels and biochemicals has reported a subdued quarterly result for April-June period.

Gajanan Nabar, CEO & MD, Praj Industries' outlook remains cautiously optimistic as the company's revenue improved by 20 percent Y-o-Y with its emerging business contributing 40 percent in Q1. In an interview with CNBC-TV18, he adds that the company is not looking for huge capital infusion right now.

On the brewery front, he hasn't seen much investment in the last two years. However, he expects an improvement in investment in the forthcoming quarters.

12:30pm Bank of India under pressure
Public sector lender Bank of India reported a 16.4 percent decline (lower-than-expected) in net profit at Rs 805.7 crore in April-June quarter impacted by lower growth in net interest income, fall in other income and higher provision. Net profit in the year-ago period was Rs 964.2 crore. The street had expected bottomline of the bank at Rs 701 crore for the quarter.

Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest expended, grew 5.9 percent on yearly basis to Rs 2,686.5 crore in the quarter ended June 2014, which was significantly lower than analysts' forecast of Rs 3,070.6 crore. The stock declined nearly 3 percent.

12:15pm Brokerage on L&T
In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Abhineet Anand, capital goods analyst, Quant Capital says the broking firm has downgraded the stock from buy to accumulate and maintains a target price of Rs 1,686/share.

"We have downgraded stock from buy to accumulate meaning there is limited upside on the stock. As far as the EPS and price target is concerned, we haven't changed any of the numbers because our numbers are still quite conservative compared to what street has been putting up. So by that our FY16 EPS is Rs 60, which is around 15-20 percent below what the street is expecting," he adds.

12:00pm Equity benchmarks remained marginally under selling pressure in noon trade with the Sensex down 53.71 points at 25937.52, and the Nifty down 17.70 points at 7731. About 1017 shares have advanced, 1405 shares declined, and 111 shares are unchanged.

Larsen and Toubro topped the selling list, falling more than 5 percent followed by Sesa Sterlite with 3.5 percent after reporting weak set of results in the quarter ended June 2014. Citi downgraded L&T to a neutral and lowered target price by 4 percent to Rs 1722, saying Q1 raised multiple red flags and it removed the stock from Asia focus list.

Shares of Tata Motors, State Bank of India, Tata Steel, Tata Power and BHEL lost 1-2 percent whereas ITC, ICICI Bank, ONGC and Gail gained 1-2 percent.

Top telecom operator Bharti Airtel rallied nearly 5 percent on the back of strong Q1 driven by a big beat on India wireless business. CLSA maintains its high-conviction buy on the stock.

11:50am Piramal Enterprises in focus
Piramal Enterprises, controlled by billionaire Ajay Piramal, has announced a strategic investment alliance with Dutch pension fund APG Asset Management . The two companies together have committed an initial USD 375 million each for investments under the alliance.

This strategic investment alliance is to invest USD 1 billion in rupee denominated mezzanine instruments issued by domestic infra companies over a 3-year period, says Jayesh Desai, Head - Structured Investment Group, Piramal Enterprises in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

The alliance marks as one of the single largest private sector commitments to date by a foreign investor to infra sector in India with a target return of 17-20 percent, he says adding that the Piramal will be left with sufficient cash post the infusion.

11:35am Interview
Anil Ambani-led Reliance Power has acquired the 1800 MW hydroelectric power assets of Manoj Gaur-led JP Group worth over Rs 10,000 crore. On Sunday, a MoU was signed between Reliance CleanGen (RCL), a 100 percent subsidiary of Reliance Power, and Jaiprakash Power Ventures (JPVL), a subsidiary of Jaiprakash Associates (JAL), for the 100 percent acquisition by RCL of the entire hydroelectric power portfolio of JPVL.

JP Group intents on reducing debt through this deal, says Manoj Gaur, Executive Chairman, Jaiprakash Associates adding that no-one could have offered better value for assets than Reliance Power.

Reliance Power will buy all hydro assets for Enterprise Value (EV) of Rs 12,300 crore. However, the equity and debt components of the deal have to still be decided, he says in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

The divestment of hydro assets is not a negative for minority shareholders. In addition, no divergence has been done in the interest of majority & minority shareholders.

11:25am Flipkart in News
Flipkart has joined the big league of e-commerce with its latest round of fund-raising. The firm has managed to attract as much as a billion dollars from a clutch of existing investors, including Tiger Global, Accel Partners, Naspers, and a new investor in the form of Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC. With this latest round of fund-raising, Flipkart is valued at around USD 7 billion. This is more than double the valuation the company received in its last round of fund-raising in May.

11:15am CCEA on mineral royalty
Cabinet committee on economic affairs (CCEA) may take up royalty revision of 23 major minerals today, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting unnamed sources.

It is learnt that the government is set to increase royalty rates of 23 major minerals and mines ministry will soon float CCEA note on royalty rate revision.

Mines ministry proposed royalty rate on iron ore at 15 percent as against current rate of 10 percent, say sources.

11:00am The market remained rangebound with the Sensex slipping 35.27 points to 25955.96 and the Nifty declining 8.50 points to 7740.20. The broader markets fell marginally too. About 967 shares have advanced, 1201 shares declined, and 114 shares are unchanged.
 
Larsen and Toubro, Sequent Scientific, MCX India, Idea Cellular, Wockhardt, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, Infosys and SBI are most active shares on exchanges.

Veteran emerging markets investor Mark Mobius is extremely optimistic on Indian equities. In an exclusive interview to CNBC-TV18, he said the current bull run in the Indian market will be a prolonged one, however, cautions of intermediate corrections.

Though he prefers China in the emerging markets basket in the immediate term, he sees India outpacing China's growth rate in the long-term. He is hopeful of India clocking double-digit growth rate going ahead.

In terms of index returns, India is likely to outperform China in the next 12-18 months. He says, one can't rule out 20-30 percent growth in Indian equities over next few years.

10:59am Lupin Q1 Expectations
Drug maker Lupin will announce its first quarter (April-June) earnings today. According to CNBC-TV18 poll estimates, analysts expect profit after tax to increase 26 percent year-on-year to Rs 505 crore and revenue may rise 24 percent to Rs 3,075 crore during the same period.

Operating profit (EBITDA) is expected to jump 37.4 percent to Rs 810 crore and margin may expand 260 basis points to 26.4 percent compared to the year-ago period.

10:50am Indoco Remedies on buyers' radar
Indoco Remedies doubled its net profit to Rs 20 crore in the quarter ended June 2014 from Rs 9.2 crore in same quarter last year. Net sales jumped to Rs 198 crore from Rs 148 crore during the same period. The stock gained 6 percent.

10:45am CESC gains post Q1 earnings
CESC met street expectations with the first quarter (April-June) net profit rising to Rs 152 crore compared to Rs 131 crore in the year-ago period on strong revenue growth.

According to CNBC-TV18 poll estimates, analysts expect the company to report profit after tax at Rs 156 crore on revenue of Rs 1,486 crore.

Total income saw a sharp jump to Rs 1,863 crore from Rs 1,434 crore during the same period.

10:30am FII View
Veteran emerging markets investor Mark Mobius is extremely optimistic on Indian equities. In an exclusive interview to CNBC-TV18, he said the current bull run in the Indian market will be a prolonged one, however, cautions of intermediate corrections.

Though he prefers China in the emerging markets basket in the immediate term, he sees India outpacing China's growth rate in the long-term. He is hopeful of India clocking double-digit growth rate going ahead.

In terms of index returns, India is likely to outperform China in the next 12-18 months. He says, one can't rule out 20-30 percent growth in Indian equities over next few years.

Continuing his bullish tone, he said foreign fund flows into India could double if reforms are executed and some changes are made on FII limit front.

10:15am Dr Reddy's Labs Q1 expectations
Drug maker Dr Reddy's Laboratories (DRL) will announce its first quarter (April-June) earnings today. Analysts say after disappointing numbers in Q4FY14 (which was an operating miss with margin falling to 16.8 percent versus 22.2 percent Y-o-Y), the company is expected to show a good set of numbers during June quarter. The strong growth may be on account of gains in the US business as company gained market share in key products resulting in revenue and margin expansion.

DRL gained market share in 7 products in the US, hence that may be a key driver in June quarter and this market share increase may add USD 80-100 million of annualised sales (which was at USD 923 million in FY14), say analysts.

According to CNBC-TV18 poll estimates, analysts expect profit after tax of the company to increase by 54.4 percent year-on-year to Rs 557.5 crore and revenue to rise by 24.4 percent to Rs 3,540 crore in the quarter ended June 2014.

Operating profit (EBITDA) may double to Rs 826.1 crore in first quarter of current financial year from Rs 417 crore in same quarter last year and margin may expand to 23.3 percent from 14.66 percent during the same period.

10:00am The market continued to consolidate in morning trade with the Sensex declining 36.04 points to 25955.19 and the Nifty falling 14 points to 7734.70. About 802 shares have advanced, 894 shares declined, and 75 shares are unchanged.

Jyotivardhan Jaipuria, Bank of America Merrill Lynch expects earnings growth to improve in coming quarters. He believes that Indian market is shaping up for a big bull run.

In the near term, he expects the market to consolidate. "The market is seen rangebound with some correction over next few months. Weak monsoon and inflationary concerns are key risks for market," he adds.

Larsen and Toubro kept its top position in the selling list, down 7 percent followed by Sesa Sterlite with 2.7 percent post Q1 earnings. Shares of Tata Motors, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Steel and Tata Power declined 1-1.5 percent.

However, Bharti Airtel remained top gainer in the Sensex, up 4.8 percent followed by ITC with 1 percent after strong revenue growth in Q1 numbers. Shares of TCS, ONGC, M&M, Infosys, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, Gail, Dr Reddy's Labs and Cipla gained 0.5-1.8 percent.

09:55am L&T in News
Engineering major Larsen and Toubro (L&T) reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 967 crore for April-June quarter , up 110 percent over the same period last year. Consolidated quarterly sales stood at Rs 18,975 crore, up 10 percent Year-on-Year.

Market expert Inderjeet Singh Bhatia of Macquarie Research believes it is too early in the cycle to go negative on quality stock like L&T. However, the brokerage house has cut its target price marginally by around 2 percent to Rs 1,922 while maintaining an outperforming rating on the stock.

The first quarter is typically a seasonally weak quarter for L&T and due to Q1's lower contribution to overall results, he sees no risks to management guidance.

Hydrocarbon miss overshadowed strong infra performance in Q1. However, market competition will remain weak and in turn, help the engineering major gain market share, Bhatia says in an interview with CNBC-TV18. Further, the company will benefit from uptick in PSU capex.

09:45am Brokerage on Bharti Airtel
Macquarie maintains hold rating on the stock and target price (Rs 325). "Bharti remains preferred pick in the Indian telecom sector on account of its stronger cashflows and better competitive position," the brokerage said in its note.

09:35am Bharat Forge earnings forecast
Pune-based forging company Bharat Forge will announce its first quarter (April-June) earnings today. According to CNBC-TV18 poll estimates, analysts expect the company to report a 48 percent growth in profit at Rs 134.2 crore during the quarter compared to Rs 90.6 crore in corresponding quarter of last fiscal, primarily driven by substantial growth in exports.

Revenue may increase by 27 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,003 crore in the quarter ended June 2014 on account of 23 percent growth in export revenues but that may be slightly negated by 3.7 percent growth in domestic revenues.

09:25am Future Retail rights issue
Kishore Biyani-promoted Future Retail has filed initial papers with market regulator Sebi to raise up to Rs 1,600 crore through a rights issue.

As per the draft letter of offer of Future Retail filed with Sebi, the company would issue certain classes of shares to its public shareholders on a rights basis.

"Total proceeds from the issue of equity shares and class B shares would aggregate up to Rs 1,600 crore," Future Retail said in the document.

The funds from the issue would be utilised towards repayment/ pre-payment of certain borrowings availed by the company as well as for general corporate purposes, reports PTI.

09:15am After two-day fall, equity benchmarks opened flat on Wednesday. TheSensex declined 40.44 points to 25950.79 and the Nifty lost 2.50 points to 7746.20. About 306 shares have advanced, 187 shares declined, and 45 shares are unchanged.

Engineering and construction major Larsen and Toubro plunged nearly 8 percent post Q1 earnings. Sesa Sterlite and IDFC declined 2-3 percent on weak earnings in June quarater. HUL, Sun Pharma, BHEL, Ambuja Cements and DLF lost 0.4-1.3 percent.

However, Bharti Airtel and ITC gained 2-3 percent on strong earnings. M&M, Hero Motocorp, ONGC, Power Grid Corp and Asian Paints rose 1 percent.

The Indian rupee slipped in the early trade today. It has opened lower by 12 paise at 60.24 per dollar versus 60.12 Monday.

The dollar hovered at a six-month peak against a basket of major currencies.

NS Venkatesh of IDBI Bank expects the rupee to continue trading within a narrow range today at around 60.05-60.25/dollar. "Major weakness in rupee is being seen on account of month-end demand from oil companies. Overall rupee is expected to trade weak through the week," he adds.