Sensex sees biggest weekly gain in 2016, Nifty ends above 7200

It was a consolidation session for the market on Friday but the week was strong as equity benchmarks saw biggest weekly gains in 2016 on short covering and globally rally & oil recovery.

The market gained for third consecutive session today with the 30-share BSE Sensex rising 59.93 points to 23709.15. The 50-share NSE Nifty closed above 7200 level, up 19 points to 7210.75, supported by technology & oil and select banks & auto stocks.

Experts say the market may continue to consolidate in near term, though rally may be seen in long term.

India is currently caught amid global volatility , says Manishi Raychaudhuri of BNP Paribas. At the same time, quarterly results have disappointed and economic revival is not translating into corporate earnings, he says.

However, he expects to see a 20 percent upside in the market by December 2016 and sees Sensex at 29000.

For the week, the Sensex and Nifty rallied 3 percent each, the biggest weekly upside in current calendar year and also the biggest since October 2015.

The broader markets underperformed benchmarks today with the BSE Midcap down 0.12 percent and Smallcap rising 0.16 percent. The market breadth was positive as about 1303 shares advanced against 1198 advancing shares on the BSE.

Punjab National Bank topped the buying list on Nifty, up 5 percent on a media report that the bank may consider selling stake in subsidiaries for raising funds.

Tata Steel gained 1 percent as sources told CNBC-TV18 that the Tata Group company is going to undergo massive consolidation & debt reduction drive that will bring down its debt by 10-15 percent by end Of CY16.

Larsen & Toubro was up 0.2 percent on getting orders worth Rs 1,404 crore in power transmission & distribution and heavy civil infrastructure segments.

Country's largest bank SBI rallied 3 percent as it raised Rs 3,000 crore through bonds issue.

In aviation, SpiceJet surged 4 percent after it recorded highest passenger load factor (92.1 percent for January) among all airlines in India. Jet Airways gained nearly 3 percent after a media report suggested that Etihad Airways is set to raise its stake in company to 49 percent from 24 percent.

Fortis Healthcare climbed nearly 12 percent as reports suggested that PE players like Baring, Bain are in race to buy stake in SRL Diagnostics. TeamLease Services recovered 24 percent from day's low to gain 1 percent as the company denied any rumour of service tax notice and expects margin expansion going ahead.

Among others, ICICI Bank, Hero Motocorp, Tata Motors, M&M, Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel, NTPC, ONGC and Wipro gained 1-3 percent while Maruti Suzuki, Axis Bank, Dr Reddy's Labs, Coal India and BHEL fell 1-2 percent.

3:30 pm Market closing: The Sensex ended up 59.93 points or 0.2 percent at 23709.15 and the Nifty was up 19 points or 0.3 percent at 7210.75. About 1298 shares have advanced, 1200 shares declined, and 148 shares are unchanged.

SBI, Hero, Bajaj Auto, NTPC and Bharti Airtel were top gainers while Maruti, BHEL, Coal India, Axis Bank and Dr Reddy's were losers in the Sensex.

2:59 pm Market Update: The Sensex gained 101.08 points or 0.43 percent at 23750.30 and the Nifty rose 26.60 points to 7218.35, driven by SBI (up 3 percent), ICICI Bank (up 1.7 percent), Infosys (up 0.75 percent), Tata Motors (up 1.6 percent) and Hero Motocorp (up 3 percent).

2:40 pm Cadila Healthcare in news: Zydus Cadila has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to market Doxycycline Capsules USP, 50 mg, 75 mg, and 100 mg.  The drug falls in the anti-bacterials segment.
 
With this first approval, the group will now commence supplies to the US market from its formulation manufacturing facility located at the SEZ in Ahmedabad.
 
The group now has 102 approvals and has so far filed over 280 ANDAs since the commencement of the filing process in FY 2003-04.

2:20 pm FII View: India is currently caught amid global volatility, says Manishi Raychaudhuri of BNP Paribas. At the same time, quarterly results have disappointed and economic revival is not translating into corporate earnings, he says.

However, he expects to see a 20 percent upside in the market by December 2016 and sees Sensex at 29000.

Talking about the global market scenario, he says economists were initially of the view that the US Federal Reserve will raise rates thrice in 2016, but now they feel that it may not raise rates even once in 2016 and 2017. He also feels the European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of Japan (BoJ) will stick to their monetary expansion plans. The Fed may join them too, he adds.

2:00 pm Market Check
The 50-share NSE Nifty reclaimed 7200-mark amid volatility in afternoon trade. Select banks, auto and technology stocks continued to support market while HDFC group, FMCG and pharma stocks were under pressure.

The Sensex rose 34.21 points to 23683.43 and the Nifty advanced 5 points to 7196.75 while the broader markets were marginally in red.

The market breadth remained weak as about 1238 shares declined against 1096 advancing shares on the BSE.

Recently listed TeamLease Services and Quick Heal Technologies were most active shares on exchanges. TeamLease rebounded sharply, up 2.5 percent after losing more than 18 percent intraday. Quick Heal gained 5 percent after hitting 52-week low of Rs 242.

1:45 pm Banks view: With many PSU banks' profitability taking a big hit, their credit profile will come under pressure unless they are adequately capitalised, Fitch Ratings today said. It said its estimated capital requirement of USD 140 billion for the system may have to be reassessed, given the losses. "The stand-alone credit profile of many Indian public sector banks should come under pressure unless there is meaningful action to restore capital adequacy," Fitch said.

1:30 pm Exclusive: TeamLease Services has not received any notices from the service or income tax authorities, clarified the company's Chairman and Co-founder Manish Sabharwal, in an interview to CNBC-TV18. The clarification followed fall of over 10 percent in the stock price stoking rumours of a tax or regulatory notice. Sabharwal said there is no change in the company's business or financials since filing of the red herring prospectus (RHP) and all tax audits have been completed as per regulations. On concerns over company's low margins, Sabharwal said it is essentially a high-volume but low-margin business and the focus is on maintaining high revenue growth and being frugal with capital to improve the return on equity.

The market seems to be resting ahead of the weekend but the Nifty has not yet touched 7200. The 50-share index is down 23.20 points or 0.3 percent at 7168.55 while the Sensex is down 69.75 points or 0.3 percent at 23579.47.

SBI, M&M, Hero Motocorp, ICICI Bank and Bajaj Auto are top gainers while BHEL, Maruti, Coal India, HDFC and Axis Bank are losers in the Sensex.

Asian shares slipped from near three-week highs on Friday as a rally in oil prices reversed and investors remained cautious about the outlook for the global economy. Japan's Nikkei dropped 1.4 percent as the yen firmed, but ended the week up 6.8 percent. MSCI's emerging market index hit a six-week high overnight on hopes that oil prices were stabilising, but the positive sentiment didn't flow through to US shares.

12:58 pm Market falls: Equity benchmarks fell again amid consolidation. The Sensex declined 63.96 points to 23585.26 and the Nifty fell 20.25 points to 7171.50.

The market breadth was weak as about 1238 shares declined against 976 advancing shares on the BSE.

12:40 pm Asia Update: Asian shares slipped from near three-week highs on Friday as a rally in oil prices reversed and investors remained cautious about the outlook for the global economy.

Europe also looks set for a lacklustre start, with financial spreadbetters predicting Britain's FTSE 100 and Germany's DAX will open little changed.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.6 percent, but gains in previous sessions left it on track for a weekly gain of 4.1 percent.

Japan's Nikkei dropped 1.4 percent as the yen firmed, but ended the week up 6.8 percent.

12:20 pm Ex-SBI chairman on NPA: The problem of non-performing assets in public sector banks has grown to an alarming level mainly because of the lack of pro-active measures from the RBI in the initial stages, ex-SBI Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri tells CNBC-TV18.

He says the RBI should have introduced a uniform provisioning standard long back when it saw that some banks were treating a loan as NPA while some other banks were treating the same loan as a performing asset.

"RBI should have moved towards uniform provisioning across banks 2-3 years back," Chaudhuri says.

"Most of the accounts are in consortium; there are multiple lenders. So how can the same loan be standard in one place and sub-standard in the other," he says.

12:00 pm Market Check
Equity benchmarks as well as broader markets continued to consolidate today after rising sharply in previous two consecutive sessions. The Sensex declined 5.44 points to 23643.78 and the Nifty slipped 3.15 points to 7188.60.

Select banks and auto stocks gained while FMCG, pharma and HDFC group stocks were under pressure.

Amit Rathi, MD at Anand Rathi financial services says, the Nifty looks close to its bottom and it may see 15-20 percent upside over the next year to around 8000 levels.

Punjab National Bank gained nearly 5 percent on a media report that the bank may consider selling stake in subsidiaries for raising funds. However, oil marketing companies saw selling pressure with BPCL down 3 percent.

11:55 am Buzzing: Shares of Punjab National Bank (PNB) gained 4.9 percent intraday on a media report that the bank may consider selling stake in subsidiaries for raising funds. "We have so many investments, we have to take a call at the appropriate time. The bank may consider sale of certain important core assets. We are trying to get their valuations first. We need to decide what to dispose, how much it will fetch," PNB's Managing Director Usha Ananthasubramanian said on Thursday. PNB has subsidiaries like, PNB Housing Finance, PNB Gilts, and PNB Investment Services.

11:45 am Interview: Berger Paints' growth in the last three months has been better year-on-year (YoY) says, Abhijit Roy, MD and CEO of the company. The company's high-end products have done better than the economy segment in Q3, he says. While urban demand is seeing a pick-up in the decorative segment, rural is still stagnant, Roy tells CNBC-TV18. So, it would be difficult to attain 20 percent volume growth in the near-term, he says, adding, margins will remain at around 16.2 percent in the fourth quarter. Further, Roy says good monsoon and implementation of the pay commission will have a positive impact on the paint industry.

11:30 am Market outlook: India is currently caught amid global volatility, says Manishi Raychaudhuri of BNP Paribas. At the same time, quarterly results have disappointed and economic revival is not translating into corporate earnings, he says. However, he expects to see a 20 percent upside in the market by December 2016 and sees Sensex at 29000. Talking about the global market scenario, he says economists were initially of the view that the US Federal Reserve will raise rates thrice in 2016, but now they feel that it may not raise rates even once in 2016 and 2017. He also feels the European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of Japan (BoJ) will stick to their monetary expansion plans. The Fed may join them too, he adds.

The market is flat but the Nifty is at a kissing distance of 7200. The 50-share index is up 1.70 points or 0.02 percent at 7193.45. The Sensex is up 16.14 points at 23665.36.About 1066 shares have advanced, 858 shares declined, and 123 shares are unchanged.

M&M, SBI, ICICI Bank, NTPC and Hero MotoCorp are top gainers while Maruti, Coal India, HDFC, HUL and Axis Bank are losers.

Gold prices rose by Rs 86 to Rs 29,649 per 10 grams in futures trading today as speculators raised their bets amid a firming trend overseas.

Analysts said a firming trend in the global markets where the precious metal advanced further on sustained demand for a safe-haven assets as financial markets were roiled by further volatility in equities and oil, influenced gold here.

Globally, gold surged 1.85 per cent to USD 1,230.70 an ounce in New York yesterday.

10:58 am Market recovers: Equity benchmarks recouped early losses. The Sensex rose 12.68 points to 23661.90 and the Nifty advanced 0.60 points to 7192.35.

The market breadth also turned more positive as about 1013 shares advanced against 870 declining shares on the BSE.

10:40 am PNB in News: As part of efforts to raise capital, Punjab National Bank is weighing the options of diluting stake in some of its subsidiaries and selling off real estate assets.

"We have so many investments, we have to take a call at the appropriate time. The bank may consider sale of certain important core assets. We are trying to get their valuations first. We need to decide what to dispose, how much it will fetch" PNB Managing Director Usha Ananthasubramanian told PTI.

PNB has subsidiaries like, PNB Housing Finance, PNB Gilts, and PNB Investment Services.

10:20 am Budget expectations: Sanjeev Prasad of Kotak Institutional Equities says the Indian government will have to balance a few conflicting issues in the FY17 Union Budget.

According to him, on the fiscal side, it will have to pursue fiscal consolidation to bring down India's high fiscal deficit and also provide some fiscal stimulus given a subdued economy and in case of taxation, it will have to target simplification of direct and indirect taxation policies and generate additional revenues concurrently.

10:00 am Market Check: The market continued to see profit booking amid consolidation today after rallying for previous two consecutive sessions. The Sensex declined 35.83 points to 23613.39 and the Nifty fell 15.05 points to 7176.70.

HDFC, HDFC Bank, Lupin, Maruti Suzuki, Axis Bank, Adani Ports and Coal India were under pressure, falling 1-2 percent while ICICI Bank, SBI, M&M, Bharti Airtel and Bajaj Auto outperformed, up 1-2 percent.

Global markets' weakness dampened sentiment. Major markets in Asia were mostly down, with the Japanese market falling behind its regional peers. Nikkei fell 2 percent followed by Shanghai and Hang Seng with half a percent loss.

Oil futures fell 1 percent in Asian trade as a record build in US crude stocks stoked concerns about global oversupply, outweighing moves by oil producers including Saudi Arabia and Russia to cap oil output.

9:55 am Budget: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is likely to slash corporate tax rate by about one percent and may put an end date for certain exemptions availed by the industry, in his Budget for 2016-17, tax experts said.

"To begin with, one percent cut in the corporate tax rate, gradual phasing out of accelerated tax depreciation and a sunset clause for the tax deductions, coupled with reduction in MAT, will set the tone for this year's Budget," KPMG (India) Partner Tax Vikas Vasal said.

Jaitley in his last Budget had announced phased reduction in corporate taxes over four years to 25 percent from present 30 percent, and also simultaneous withdrawal of exemptions.

Economic Laws Practice Partner Rohit Jain said since the government is pushing domestic manufacturing, in the next Budget it would be a challenge to do away with exemptions.

9:45 am Buzzing: Shares of Gayatri Projects rallied 5 percent intraday after its subsidiary signed 8-year power purchase agreement with Telangana power distribution companies.

"Thermal Powertech Corporation India (TPCIL) has signed a long term power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Telengana power distribution companies," the Hyderabad-based infrastructure & construction company said in its filing.

TPCIL is a joint venture between Gayatri Energy Ventures (a wholly owned subsidiary of Gayatri Projects) and SembCorp Utilities, which owns & operates a 1320 MW coal-fired power plant in Andhra Pradesh.

9:30 am FII view: Mahesh Nandurkar, CLSA feels several high-frequency economic indicators have worsened since early December.

According to him, notable trend reversals are for industrial production, foreign trade, 2-wheeler & 4-wheeler demand, petro products demand and tax growth while the silver lining is improvement in the WPI which is partly reflected in nominal GDP improvement in the December quarter.

With the WPI likely to turn positive later in 2016, nominal numbers and reported corporate performance should improve, he feels.

Nandurkar still believes that a broader economic improvement requires capex revival, which in turn is dependent on a property market recovery which is about 12 months away.

The market has opened lower once again. The Sensex is down 57.93 points or 0.2 percent at 23591.29 and the Nifty is down 39.30 points or 0.5 percent at 7152.45. About 211 shares have advanced, 286 shares declined, and 24 shares are unchanged.

Bajaj Auto, Wipro and Reliance are top gainers while BHEL, Hindalco, L&T, Tata Steel and HDFC are losers in the Sensex. Jet Airways is up 3 percent.

Major markets in Asia were mostly down with the Japanese market falling behind its regional peers. Chinese markets started the day lower as well, with the Shanghai composite down 0.38 percent while the Shenzhen composite fell 0.20 percent.

Oil prices were mixed overnight after government data showed a rise in US crude stockpiles, contradicting an earlier industry report that said inventories fell by 3.3 million barrels in the week to February 12.