Sensex rises 213 points, Nifty ends above 9200; banks, IT lead

3:30 pm Market Closing: Benchmark indices closed higher for first time in last four trading sessions, with the Sensex gaining more than 200 points, backed by ITC, Infosys, ICICI Bank and HDFC.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 212.61 points at 29,788.35 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 55.55 points at 9,237.00.

About 1708 shares advanced against 1156 declining shares on the BSE.

3:11 pm Rupee outlook: The appreciation in the rupee is likely to continue for some time and it is expected to average at 66.2 against the US dollar in the current financial year.

Since the start of this year, the rupee has had a steady appreciation in line with other emerging market currencies, Kotak Institutional Equities said in a research note.

It said the India rupee (INR) has outperformed most of the emerging market pack as, in addition to global ones, domestic factors like strong political mandate for BJP in UP elections, passage of GST bill and a hawkish RBI stance have boosted the rupee.

However, it added, the short-term strength may give way to weakness in latter half of 2017-18 as much of the move has come on the back of record flows, which are unlikely to continue through the year.

2:51 pm Market Update: Benchmark indices extended rally in afternoon, with the Sensex rising 195.22 points to 29,770.96 and the Nifty up 50.85 points at 9,232.30.

2:35 pm Management Speak: In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Himanshu Shah, Head-Finance of Asian Granito India spoke about the promoters hiking their stake in the company and the sector overall.

He said the promoters acquired 5 percent stake in the open market in Q4FY17.

Speaking about business, he said that anti-dumping duty is positive for vitrified tiles segment. Shah is also optimistic on the margin front because of better product mix.

2:20 pm Job losses in telecom: Riddled with crippling debt and a tough operating environment, telecom companies have been laying off employees over the last six months. While bigger players like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India are managing to cut losses through consolidation, it is the smaller companies that are suffering the most.

According to CNBC-TV18 sources, nearly 3400 job losses have been reported in the last six months by telcos to cut down on costs and support falling margins. Read the full report here.

2:05 pm Market Check: Benchmark indices held on to its morning gains, while the Nifty held on to 9200-mark.

The Sensex was up 176.42 points at 29752.16, while the Nifty was up 42.10 points at 9223.55. The market breadth was positive, but narrow, as 1,637 shares advanced against a decline of 1,133 shares, while 111 shares were unchanged.

ITC, ICICI Bank and Power Grid were top gainers on both the indices, while Adani Ports, Tata Steel and Tata Power were top losers.

1:36 pm Spending on H1-B visa: Indian IT companies over the past one year have been facing tough time because of factors such as tightened H1B visa norms in the US, Brexit and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation.

In a bid to safeguard the interests of companies, industry body National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) spent USD 440,000 (approx Rs 2.8 crore) in 2016 to lobby with the US Congress. The amount is the highest ever spent by the body since 2003, the time it began pushing for more liberal regulations for Indian IT engineers, according to opensecrets.org.

1:15 pm Market Check: Benchmark indices were trading steady after a positive opening on Tuesday.

The Sensex was up 172.06 points at 29747.80, while the Nifty up 38.90 points or 0.42% at 9220.35. The market breadth was positive, but on the narrow side as only 1,647 shares advanced against a decline of 1,050 shares, while 111 shares are unchanged.

ITC and Infosys were top gainers on both the indices, while Adani Ports, Tata Steel and Tata Power were the top losers.

Investors turned cautious on Adani Power and Tata Power, following an order from the Supreme Court in the compensatory tariff case. The apex court on Tuesday set aside the electricity regulator's order that allowed companies to charge compensatory tariff due to rise in costs of coal.

The development sent Adani Power?s stock deep into red, with the stock falling over 17 percent intraday. Meanwhile, Tata Power plunged 7 percent intraday.

1:03 pm Earnings estimates: Suhas Harinarayanan of JM Financial says earnings for Nifty is estimated to grow at 13.4 percent YoY in Q4FY17 led by financials , healthcare, and utilities even as telecom and consumer discretionary drag the earnings down.

Ex-financials, the growth is a negative 2.5 percent highlighting the significant impact of the low base in corporate banks since the base quarter had the impact from the asset quality review (AQR), he adds.

A shrinkage of EBITDA margins by 217 bps is likely to cap EBITDA growth at 4.6 percent though PAT margin is expected to marginally rise by 22 bps (ex-fin PAT margins shrink by 149 bps).

12:54 pm EPF deduction: In an attempt to add subscribers aggressively and widen its ambit, Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) in its meet tomorrow (April 12) will likely raise the minimum salary threshold for employees' provident fund (EPF) deduction to Rs 25000 from current Rs 15000, reports CNBC-TV18, quoting sources.

Currently, EPF deductions only happen if the basic salary is upto Rs 15000.

With this development, EPFO expects to add 2.5-3 crore additional subscribers to its total base of 17 crore employees in the country, say sources.

12:40 pm Interview: Low cost housing has got a substantial boost from the government and up to Rs 12 lakh of home loans have received interest subvention.

Talking about the benefits of this scheme, V Raghu, ED of Repco Home Finance said about 80 percent of company's book is covered under the affordable housing scheme.

The annual household income covered under the scheme is between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 18 lakh per annum.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, he said for FY18 the assets under management (AUM) growth is expected to be around 20 percent.

12:25 pm Auto sales data: Domestic passenger vehicle sales registered a growth of 9.96 percent at 2,82,519 units in March, from 2,56,920 in the same month last year.

Domestic car sales were up 8.17 percent at 1,90,065 units as against 1,75,709 in March last year, according to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).

Motorcycles sales last month were at 9,15,199 units as against 9,46,754 a year earlier, down 3.33 percent. Total two-wheeler sales in March were up marginally at 14,71,576 units compared to 14,67,710 units in the year-ago month.

Sales of commercial vehicles were up 9.26 percent at 87,257 units in March, SIAM said. Vehicle sales across categories logged a growth of 1.33 per cent at 18,80,352 units, from 18,55,623 in March 2016, it added.

12.10 pm Market Check: Broader markets continued to outperform benchmarks in noon, with the Nifty Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.6 percent each on positive breadth.

Both Midcap and Smallcap indices also outperformed in the year so far as they gained around 22 percent each in 2017 against 12 percent rally on the Nifty.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 171.14 points at 29,746.88 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 40.90 points to 9222.35. About two shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE.

ITC was leading contributor to Sensex' gains, up more than 2 percent followed by Infosys (ahead of earnings), ICICI Bank, HDFC and Reliance Industries whereas Adani Ports topped selling list, down more than 3 percent.

Adani Power crashed 16 percent and Tata Power was down nearly 4 percent as in a compensatory tariff case, the Supreme Court has set aside CERC order of higher tariff for both companies.

11:30 pm Buzzing Stock: Shares of Reliance Power added more than 1 percent intraday Tuesday as it has signed agreements with Bangladesh Power Development Board.

The company has signed agreements with Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDP) for phase I of 750 MW LNG based combined cycle power project at Meghnaghat near Dhaka in Bangladesh.

These agreements include a power purchase agreement (PPA) and implementation agreement (IA) for the proposed integrated combined cycle power project.

11:05 am Market Check: Benchmark indices held on to its gains after the Sensex rose over 100 points in the opening trade.

The Sensex was up 171.56 points at 29747.30, while the Nifty was up 45.80 points at 9227.25. The market breadth was healthy as 1,683 shares advanced against a decline of 720 shares, while 99 shares were unchanged.

ITC, Infosys and Tata Power were top gainers on both the indices, while Tata Steel, NTPC and Zee Entertainment were the top losers.

Vedanta share price fell more than 6 percent intraday Tuesday as the stock adjusted for second interim dividend announced by the company last month.

The board of directors of the company, on March 30, had approved the second interim dividend of Rs 17.70 per share (i.e. 1770 percent on face value of Re 1 per share) for the financial year 2016-17.

Billionaire Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta has fixed April 12 as the record date for payment of interim dividend.

10:44 am Mutual Fund View: Kotak Mahindra AMC observed that the cycle of easy money-making was now over. The market will be volatile in the near-term. Investors could invest in a systematic investment plan (SIP) and for a longer term and diversify the allocation, too, Nilesh Shah, Managing Director, Kotak Mahindra AMC, told CNBC-TV18 in an interview.

In the information technology (IT) space, Shah sees headwinds as well as slower global growth. IT firms are sitting on cash and not willing to return cash to the investors, he told the channel.

10:24 am Buzzing Stock: Vedanta share price fell more than 6 percent intraday Tuesday as the stock adjusted for second interim dividend announced by the company last month.

The board of directors of the company, on March 30, had approved the second interim dividend of Rs 17.70 per share (i.e. 1770 percent on face value of Re 1 per share) for the financial year 2016-17.

10:00 am Market Check: Benchmark indices extended gains in morning, with the Nifty reclaiming 9200 level, backed by Reliance Industries, Infosys and banks stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 120.70 points at 29,696.44 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 25.75 points to 9,207.20.

Reliance Industries rebounded with more than 1 percent gain and Infosys also gained further, up 1.5 percent ahead of earnings.

Banking & financials strengthened further as ICICI Bank and SBI were up over a percent.

The broader markets continued to outperform benchmarks, with the Nifty Midcap and Smallcap indices gaining 0.7 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively.

About five shares gained for every two shares falling on the BSE.

9:50 am Buzzing: Vedanta share price fell more than 6 percent intraday as the stock adjusted for second interim dividend announced by the company last month.

The board of directors of the company, on March 30, had approved the second interim dividend of Rs 17.70 per share (i.e. 1770 percent on face value of Re 1 per share) for the financial year 2016-17.

Billionaire Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta has fixed April 12 as the record date for payment of interim dividend.

The company said total amount of dividend payout including that to Cairn shareholders was Rs 6,580 crore.

9:33 am Market Outlook: Sanjeev Prasad of Kotak Institutional Equities says valuations of the Indian market look reasonable on a top-down basis but the valuations of individual stocks are super expensive or fairly valued in most cases.

He further says the high weightage of low P/E PSU banks, commodity stocks and utilities in the broader market indices pulls down the overall valuations.

It may be tempting to derive solace from top-down market valuations but it would be more rewarding to disregard indices and focus on bottom-up challenges, he adds.

9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks started off day on a mildly positive note, with the Nifty inching towards 9200 level despite weak global cues, backed by Infosys and banks. However, Reliance Industries and FMCG stocks capped gains.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 31.01 points at 29,606.75 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 5.15 points at 9,186.60.

Infosys was the leading gainer among largecaps, up over a percent ahead of Q4 earnings due on Thursday. A CNBC-TV18 poll expects a 3.7 percent fall in profit and 0.2 percent decline in dollar revenue QoQ.

Vedanta fell 6 percent as the stock adjusted for dividend.

The Indian rupee opened lower by 9 paise at 64.65 per dollar today against previous close of 64.56.

Bhaskar Panda of HDFC Bank says in US, non-farm payroll number was below market expectations but unemployment rate was lower. The dollar index is hovering just below 101.

He expects the USD-INR pair to trade in a range of 64.45-64.65/dollar.

The dollar edged lower as concerns over tensions with North Korea and Syria weighed on US treasury yields and offset expectations of US interest rate hikes.

Asian equities were under pressure, following a lower close on Wall Street as geopolitical tensions continued to weigh.