Sensex rises 157 points, Nifty ends F&O expiry at 7946

3:30 pm Market closing: Equity benchmarks rebounded on last trading day of the year 2015, rising 0.6 percent led by HDFC group, technology and FMCG stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 157.51 points to 26117.54 and the 50-share NSE Nifty climbed 50.10 points to 7946.35. The market breadth remained positive throughout session as about 1460 shares advanced against declining 1176 shares on the BSE.

HDFC extended rally in late trade, up 2.4 percent followed by Coal India, Infosys, Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel, Zee Entertainment and GAIL while Axis Bank, Hero Motocorp, Dr Reddy's Labs, ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro, PNB, Vedanta, Yes Bank and Ambuja Cements were under pressure.

3:10 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks extended gains in late trade with the Sensex rising 156.49 points or 0.60 percent to 26116.52.

The 50-share NSE Nifty touched 7950 for the first time since December 2, up 47.85 points or 0.61 percent to 7944.10.

About 1458 shares have advanced, 1127 shares declined, and 255 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

2:58 pm Cadila Concall: Cadila Healthcare received a warning letter from the US health regulator for two Gujarat units on Thursday. "The company has received a warning letter issued by the US Food and Drug Administration relating to its Moraiya formulation facility and Ahmedabad oncology API facility (Zyfine)," the Gujarat-based pharma company said in its filing to exchanges.

Pankaj R Patel, CMD, Cadila Healthcare, said there are no data integrity issue as far as the Moraiya facility is concerned. He said the company plans to give additional information to the US FDA to address the Moraiya issue.

He also added that nine site transfers have been completed from the Moraiya facility.

For the Zyfine facility, Cadila has already identified problems; and has undertaken required action against employees. Zyfine site has not supplied to the US; and is under remediation, said Patel.

2:30 pm Gold Update: Gold was little changed on the last trading session of the year, but looked set to post its third straight annual loss, undermined by a robust dollar and prospects of higher US interest rates.

Investors have sold off the metal, down about 10 percent for the year, on fears that higher US interest rates would dent the appeal of non-interest-paying bullion.

Other precious metals have also been hit by the strength in the dollar and slump in gold, and were headed for sharp annual declines.

Spot gold edged up 0.1 percent to USD 1,062.20 an ounce. Volumes were thin ahead of the new year holiday on Friday.

It slid to a near-six-year low of USD 1,045.85 earlier in December.

2:00 pm Market Check
The 50-share NSE Nifty managed to hold 7900 level amid consolidation ahead of expiry of December futures & options contracts today, up 22.10 points to 7918.35.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 63.35 points to 26023.38. The market breadth remained positive as about 1423 shares advanced against 1123 declining shares on the BSE.

Petronet LNG and GAIL rallied 2-3 percent after Qatar has agreed to lower the gas price for India, and waive off a USD 1.5-billion penalty for lower offtake.

LNG prices are expected to fall by USD 5.50 per mmBtu after Qatar agreed to reflect the slump in energy rates in its India gas deal. India is to buy an additional 1 million tonnes per annum of LNG from Qatar at a new pricing formula.

Petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan says restructuring of RLNG agreement will save Rs 12,500 crore.

1:30 pm 2016 outlook: India beats China on GDP growth in 2015; may grow 7-7.5% in 2016

1:00 pm Market Check
The market remained rangebound in afternoon trade with the Sensex rising 18.69 points to 25978.72 and the Nifty up 8.75 points to 7905.

HDFC, Infosys, HDFC Bank, GAIL, Bharti Airtel and Coal India were leading gainers, up 0.7-2 percent while ITC, Axis Bank, ONGC, Tata Motors, HUL and Adani Ports fell 0.5-1 percent.

Jet Airways, SpiceJet, Cadila Healthcare, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Kaveri Seed, Interglobe Aviation and Axis Bank were most active shares on exchanges.

Asian markets had an uninspired finish on the final trading day of 2015, as investors kept an eye on oil prices for further clues going into 2016, after a turbulent year for stocks.

The Australian market, which closed early, shed over 2 percent for the year as lower commodity prices hit many stocks on the main index. In China, markets were mostly down as both the Shanghai and the Shenzhen Composite ended in the red.

The 50-share NSE Nifty continued to hold 7900 level ahead of F&O expiry today. Technology and select banking & financials supported the market while FMCG and infra were under pressure.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 44.12 points to 26004.15 and the Nifty gained 17.60 points at 7913.85. The market breadth was positive as about 1325 shares advanced against 1006 declining shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

HDFC topped buying list on Sensex, up more than a percent while ONGC lost 1.5 percent.

Meanwhile, Brent crude continued to be hovering around USD 37 level, rising 0.5 percent to USD 36.65 a barrel while NYMEX crude gained 0.25 percent at USD 36.69 a barrel.

Equity benchmarks continued to be flat with a positive bias on final trading day of the year, supported by index heavyweights HDFC Bank, HDFC, Infosys and Reliance Industries.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 54.27 points to 26014.30 and the 50-share NSE Nifty climbed 14.60 points to 7910.85. The market breadth remained positive as about 1277 shares advanced against 889 declining shares on the BSE.

Shares of HDFC Bank, HDFC, Infosys, TCS, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel and Wipro fell 0.2-0.9 percent while ONGC lost 1.4 percent followed by Lupin, L&T, ITC, Axis Bank and HUL.

Cadila Healthcare plunged more than 15 percent on getting a warning letter from the US health regulator for two Gujarat plants.

10:40 am Buzzing: Shares of Cadila Healthcare crashed 15 percent intraday to hit a 52-week low of Rs 327.40 on Thursday, reacting to a warning letter from the US health regulator for two units.

"Company has received a warning letter issued by the US Food and Drug Administration relating to its Moraiya formulation facility and Ahmedabad API facility (Zyfine)," says the Gujarat-based pharma company in its filing to exchanges.

In its clarification note, it says there are no products in the US market which use API of Zyfine facility.

The company further says it is working hard to ensure that commitments made to USFDA are fully completed, adding it will continue to take all necessary steps to ensure that US FDA is fully satisfied with remediation of these two facilities.

10:25 am Mobile subscribers: India's mobile phone subscriber base peaked to more than 1 billion users for the first time, data released by the telecom regulator showed, making India the only country after China to achieve that milestone.

Total wireless subscribers in Asia's third-largest economy rose to more than 1 billion at the end of October from 996.7 million at September-end, the data showed.

Mobile subscriptions in India have surged in recent years, helped by the launch of cheaper smartphones and record low call rates as a result of a cut throat competition among mobile phone operators to expand customer base.

10 am Market Check: The market continued to be volatile ahead of expiry of December Nifty futures and options contracts. The Sensex rose 11.44 points to 25971.47 and the Nifty advanced 3.50 points to 7899.75.

The broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.3 percent each. The market breadth was also positive as about 1116 shares advanced against 631 declining shares on the BSE.

Asian markets were treading water, with investors eyeing oil prices for further clues after a turbulent year for stocks. The Australian market, which closed early, shed over 2 percent for the year as lower commodity prices hit many stocks on the main index.

Oil prices opened the final trading session of 2015 in a downbeat mood after record US crude inventories reinforced concerns over a global supply glut that has pulled down prices by a third over the past year. Crude inventories in the United States, the world's largest petroleum producer, rose 2.6 million barrels last week, the US Energy Information Administration said.

9:35 am F&O additions: Leading bourse National Stock Exchange (NSE) will introduce four companies, including Jet Airways and Godrej Consumer Products , in the future and option segment from Friday.

Besides, Container Corporation and Torrent Pharma would also be the part of the derivative segment. Futures and options contracts on these four additional securities would be available for trading with effect from January 1, NSE said in a circular.
 
At present, there are over 200 securities available in the F&O segment for trade. For inclusion in the derivatives segment, the stock's market wide position limit (MWPL), which is the total number of contracts a trader may have active at one time for a given underlying, should be Rs 300 crore among other criteria.

9:15 am Market Check
The market started off last day of the year on a positive note. The Sensex rose 36.08 points to 25996.11 and the Nifty gained 9.25 points at 7905.50.

Coal India, Dr Reddy's Labs, Infosys, Tata Steel, Hindalco and Idea Cellular were early gainers while ONGC, NTPC, ICICI Bank, HUL, Adani Ports, PNB, Power Grid Corporation and BPCL lost ground.

The Indian rupee opened lower by 6 paise at 66.45 per dollar on Thursday against previous day's closing value of 66.39 a dollar.

Mohan Shenoi of Kotak Mahindra Bank feels currency markets are likely to see thin volumes with no major activity on the last day of 2015.

According to him, markets are likely to operate in 2016 with an assumption of 3-4 US Fed rate hikes which should continue to result in dollar strength.

He says USD-INR pair is expected to trade today in a range of 66.30-66.50/dollar.

The US dollar rallied against commodity currencies such as Russian Ruble after declining oil prices weighed on the currencies of oil-dependent economies, while short-covering kept the euro afloat.

Asian markets traded flat today, the final trading session of 2015. The Japanese and South Korean markets remain closed today. On Wednesday, the Nikkei 225 rounded off a 9.3 percent gain for 2015. Stock markets in Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and New Zealand will also shut earlier than usual. The ASX 200 index was up 0.08 percent at 5,324 with both energy and materials sectors in the red.

Meanwhile, in the US, stocks closed lower in low volume trade as a decline in oil prices weighed on Wednesday. The Dow Jones industrial average ended down more than 110 points as selling accelerated into the close. In the Europe too equities finished trade lower  as investors fretted over renewed weakness in global commodity markets. The downward momentum in oil markets hit European energy stocks.