Sensex surges 311 points, Nifty ends above 7800; banks lead

3:30 pm Market closing: Equity benchmarks snapped thre-day losing streak on Thursday. The Sensex gained 311.22 points or 1.22 percent at 25764.78 and the Nifty rose 106 points or 1.37 percent to 7823, led by short covering in banking & financials, metals and auto stocks.

The broader markets rallied more than 1 percent. The market breadth was also strong. About 1703 shares have advanced, 980 shares declined, and 137 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

Tata Steel, Vedanta, Axis Bank, HDFC, Hindalco and Cairn India topped the buying list, up 3.5-6 percent.

However, Idea Cellular underperformed, down 3.3 percent. BPCL, Bosch, Lupin, Hero Motocorp and Sun Pharma were down 0.5-1 percent.

3:15 pm Bond: Indian companies raised over Rs 46,000 crore through private placement of corporate bonds in August, making it the highest fund raising in the last four months.

Most of the funds have been raised mainly for business expansion and to support working capital requirements.

According to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) data, companies garnered a total of Rs 46,564 crore from debt on a private placement basis in August, higher than Rs 27,920 crore raised in the preceding month.

This was the highest level of fund raising by companies since April, when they had raked in Rs 84,807 crore. In comparison, firms had mobilised Rs 32,875 crore in August last year. In terms of numbers, 272 issues were made last month as compared to 325 in July.

3:00 pm Market Update: The Sensex gained 327.13 points or 1.29 percent at 25780.69 and the Nifty rose 109.05 points or 1.41 percent to 7826.05.

About 1695 shares have advanced, 913 shares declined, and 116 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

2:45 pm Macquarie on ICICI: Macquarie has maintained outperform rating on ICICI Bank with a target price of Rs 455 apiece, citing stable profitability and earnings growth going ahead.

After its management meet, the brokerage says management has reiterated that incremental stress creation in FY16 should be lower Y-o-Y (around Rs 13,800 crore in FY15).

"Growth continues to be led by retail loans, primarily mortgages, and should remain so near-to-medium term. Corporate credit remains lacklustre and to highly rated corporates (implying lower yields). Efficiency improvement remains a high priority and should see ICICI Bank sustain its profitability," it explains.

2:30 pm Amtek under pressure: Amtek Auto caught in bear grip again, falling nearly 24 percent to Rs 37 on heavy selling pressure.

The stock lost 79 percent in 2015. The first time ever loss in the quarter ended June 2015 and removal of stock from NSE F&O segment with effect from November series caused selling pressure.

Metalyst Forging, Castex Technologies (erstwhile Amtek India), JMT Auto and Rolltainers plunges 5 percent each.

2:20 pm Rupee at 68/$?: The rupee will touch 68 to the US dollar by end of this year, Richard Yetsenga, Global Head – Financial Markets Research at ANZ Research tells CNBC-TV18. He says weakness in emerging market (EM) currencies will continue in the near term and sees the dollar strengthening.

On the impending rate hike by the US Federal Reserve, Yetsenga says the ''Fed doesn't know what they want to do.''

The Fed might go for a 25 basis points (bps) rate cut if the US market remains stable till the meeting that is scheduled for second week of September, he adds.

He sees the developments in China hampering the global economy, and says emerging markets as an asset class is being viewed negatively by global investors. 

And while emerging markets will continue to sell off near term, India is better placed compared to its peers, Yetsenga says.

2:00 pm Market Check
Equity benchmarks extended rally in afternoon trade with the Sensex surging 360.86 points or 1.42 percent to 25814.42 and the Nifty rising 124.05 points or 1.61 percent to 7841.05. Short covering (as well value buying) and positive European cues pushed the market higher.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices, too, traded in line with benchmarks, up 1.5 percent each. About 1720 shares have advanced against 813 shares declined on the BSE.

Banking & financials, auto, capital goods, cement and metals stocks took the lead.

Tata Steel and Vedanta topped the buying list, up nearly 5 percent. HDFC (up 4.2 percent), HDFC Bank (up 1.6 percent), Tata Motors (up 3.8 percent), L&T (up 2 percent) and Axis Bank (up 3.5 percent) were the biggest contributors' to Sensex rally.

However, Lupin and Hero Motocorp underperformed, falling half a percent each.

1:50 pm interview: Chinese steel companies are dumping steel into India at prices 25 percent below those quoted by domestic players, R K Goyal, Managing Director, Kalyani Steels , tells CNBC-TV18. He says the price cut by NMDC is a step in the right direction, and that his company's capacity utilisation currently is 70 percent.

1:30 pm Good news: Prices of high end homes in markets like Mumbai have room to correct, and can correct, says HDFC CEO Keki Mistry in an interview to CNBC-TV18. However, he does not see much scope for reduction in prices of homes in the mid and low end segments. Mistry says the RBI may have leeway to cut interest rates by 50-75 basis points over the next one year, but much will also depend on how global events play out.

"My sense is given how low inflation is and given more importantly how the global economy is poised where there seems to be very limited chance of any sharp increase in oil prices or commodity prices, given all those factors my sense is that there is room to cut rates and quantum of rate cuts is very difficult to say but I would say 50-75 basis points with a 12 month view but this is obviously dependent on global events settling down," he says.

The market is going strong with support from banks, capital goods, metals and auto. The Sensex is up 283.85 points or 1.1 percent at 25737.41 and the Nifty is up 95.00 points or 1.2 percent at 7812. About 1630 shares have advanced, 839 shares declined, and 90 shares are unchanged.

Tata Steel, Vedanta, HDFC, Tata Motors and BHEL are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Lupin, Hero, Sun Pharma, TCS and Infosys.

Recent volatility in global financial markets shows how rapidly risks can spill over from one economy to the next, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said.

World stock markets and the currencies of many emerging markets have seen large swings since China's decision last month to devalue its currency.

12:55 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks maintained uptrend with the Sensex rising 232.13 points or 0.91 percent to 25685.69 and the Nifty climbing 76.40 points or 0.99 percent to 7793.40.

About 1615 shares have advanced, 817 shares declined, and 79 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

12:45 pm Market Expert: Irrespective of whether the Indian equity market is in a bull phase or a bear phase, investors should stick to price points, says Gaurav Mehta of Ambit Capital.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Mehta says that in the days to come the 30-share index Sensex can correct to 23,000- 24,000 and the Nifty at 7200.

"For the retail investor, the important point to remember is it is times like these when there is panic, when there are fire-sales happening in several good quality stocks, you create a long-term portfolio," he explains.

12:40 pm Europe Update: European markets opened higher ahead of the European Central Bank (ECB)'s latest monetary policy decision.

London's benchmark FTSE 100 index moved 71 points higher at 6,155, Germany's Dax was 88 points up at 10,026, and France's CAC opened 45 points up at 4,600.

12:35 pm Interview: Coal India has reported a better than expected offtake in August. It produced 36.21 million tonne in August against a target of 37.65 MT.

Bipin Kumar Saxena, director marketing, Coal India, says the year-end production target continues to be 550 million tonne.

However, this will require production to be around 49 million tonne per month. Saxena says the production run rate will increase post the monsoon season.

12:20 pm CBDT on MAT: Days after the government decided to exempt foreign funds from tax on profits earned before April 1, the CBDT today issued a circular asking its fields officers to keep in abeyance pending assessments and not to recover any outstanding demand.

To resolve a dispute that had shaken investor confidence, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said the government will not to retrospectively impose Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) on capital gains made by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs).

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in a circular said it has been decided to carry out appropriate amendment to the Income Tax Act "so as to prescribe that MAT provisions will not be applicable to FIIs/FPIs not having a place of business/permanent establishment in India, for the period prior to April 1, 2015."

Jaitley had exempted future profits made by foreign funds from levy of MAT in the Budget for 2015-16.

12:00 pm Market Check
Equity benchmarks continued to see short covering and little bit of value buying as well. The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 263.71 points or 1.04 percent at 25717.27 and the 50-share NSE Nifty climbed 89.60 points or 1.16 percent to 7806.60, led by banking & financials, capital goods, auto and metal stocks.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rallied too, up over 1.2 percent in noon trade. The market breadth remained positive as about 1600 shares have advanced against 660 shares declined on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

There has been calm across Asia, as China and Hong Kong markets shut today. Japan's Nikkei gained 0.5 percent while Straits Times and Taiwan Weighted rose 0.8 percent each. European markets are likely to open higher ahead of the ECB policy decision due later today.

Investor, Marc Faber said data suggests economic growth in China is worse than 4 percent. He expects volatility in global markets to continue for next 6 months. On India, he said an economic slowdown in China will definitely impact India.

Ambuja Cements topped the buying list on Nifty, up over 4 percent after Nomura upgraded the stock to buy with target price of Rs 253 per share. It believes cement demand growth in non-south regions is likely to be strong.

11:50 am Rupee call: The rupee will touch 68 to the US dollar by end of this year, Richard Yetsenga, Global Head - Financial Markets Research at ANZ Research tells CNBC-TV18. He says weakness in emerging market (EM) currencies will continue in the near term and sees the dollar strengthening.

On the impending rate hike by the US Federal Reserve, Yetsenga says the "Fed doesn't know what they want to do."

The Fed might go for a 25 basis points (bps) rate cut if the US market remains stable till the meeting that is scheduled for second week of September, he adds.

11:30 am Buzzing: Shares of Jet Airways rose 4 percent intraday on Thursday as as it plans to merge its loss making subsidiary JetLite with itself. This move comes in eight years after the JetLite acquisition. Post merger, Jet Lite will operate as a separate division of the Naresh Goyal-promoted airline company.

Jet Airways had bought Sahara Airlines in April, 2007, for Rs 1,450 crore after an arbitration award. It later renamed Sahara Airlines as JetLite and operated it as a low-cost arm till November last year.

The market is still holding its feet strongly. The Sensex is up 232.29 points or 0.9 percent at 25685.85 and the Nifty is up 75.55 points or 0.9 percent at 7792.55. About 1542 shares have advanced, 492 shares declined, and 60 shares are unchanged.

Tata Steel, BHEL, Axis Bank, Tata Motors and Vedanta are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are GAIL, HUL, Lupin, Coal India and Reliance.

Oil prices fell in Asia followed a mixed US petroleum report that showed an increase in reserves but a dip in production. Prices turned sharply lower Tuesday and have been edging down since after weak manufacturing data from China and the US clouded the outlook for demand growth in the two biggest energy consumers.

10:50 am Buzzing: Shares of HCL Technologies gained 1.8 percent intraday after Manchester United, the most popular football team, announced global partnership with the IT services company.

As part of this partnership, HCL and Manchester United will work together to explore and unveil a number of digital initiatives to transform the experience of the Club's 659 million global followers.

HCL said it will create a state-of-the-art United Xperience Lab to be housed within the iconic Old Trafford stadium.

"With the introduction of the United Xperience lab at Old Trafford, we hope to demonstrate best practices within the industry to generate new ideas that leverage the latest technology available in the evolving digital landscape. Through digital transformation we hope to change the way in which our fans experience and interact with Manchester United," said Manchester United's group managing director, Richard Arnold.

10:35 am Services economy improves: The seasonally adjusted Nikkei Business Activity Index rose from 50.8 in July to 51.8 in August, pointing to a faster, although modest, expansion in output.

"Economic conditions in the Indian services economy improved in August, with a faster rise in new work encouraging Indian services firms to increase activity at a quicker pace," said Nikkei Markit.

That said, in both cases rates of growth were modest and below their respective longrun trends. This led firms to leave payroll numbers unchanged. Moreover, the degree of positive sentiment regarding the 12-month outlook for activity dipped to a survey low. Meanwhile, price indicators pointed to relatively weak cost and charge inflation, it added.

10:20 am Market extends rally: The Sensex rose 279.89 points or 1.10 percent to 25733.45 and the Nifty climbed 91.05 points or 1.18 percent to 7808.05.

About 1453 shares have advanced, 395 shares declined, and 45 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

10:15 am Oil Update: Oil prices fell in Asia today followed a mixed US petroleum report that showed an increase in reserves but a dip in production.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for October delivery fell 45 cents to USD 45.80 while Brent crude for October slipped 38 cents to USD 50.12 in late-morning trade.

Prices turned sharply lower Tuesday and have been edging down since after weak manufacturing data from China and the US clouded the outlook for demand growth in the two biggest energy consumers.

They had surged more than 25 percent over the three days before that. The US Department of Energy's petroleum report for the week to August 28 yesterday showed commercial crude stocks rose 4.7 million barrels to 455.4 million barrels, sitting near eight-decade highs.

The increase was much bigger than the 900,000 barrels on average expected surveyed by experts Bloomberg News.

10:00 am Market Check
The market is surging ahead firmly as the Sensex is up 263.07 points or 1 percent at 25716.63. The Nifty is up 86.60 points or 1 percent at 7803.60.
About 1303 shares have advanced, 358 shares declined, and 40 shares are unchanged.

Tata Motors, Tata Steel, M&M, Hindalco and ICICI Bank are top gainers while HUL, Coal India, TCS, GAIL and Lupin are among laggards.

Meanwhile, monsoon rains are likely to be below the prior forecast of 88 percent of the long-term average, the weather office chief said, which could make it the driest year since 2009 and worsen rural distress by cutting farm output.

The July-September rains irrigate nearly half of India's farmlands, bringing relief to millions of poor farmers who till small plots of land to sustain their families.

This would be the second straight year of drought- or drought-like conditions for only the fourth time in 115 years, which is another setback for Prime Minister Narendra Modi struggling to win over political opposition to pass reforms and unshackle Asia's third-largest economy.

9:50 am Monsoon deficiency: While monsoon is expected to be 23 percent deficient in September, the overall average rainfall will be 88 percent long period average (LPA), plus or minus 4 percent, says DS Pai, Director, India Met Department (IMD). In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Pai says the north-eastern and southern parts of India will be most hit due to the lack of rainfall. But this absence of rainfall will not impact crop production significantly. Pai says crops in Maharashtra and Karnataka will be most impacted due to lack of rainfall. These states produce cash crops like sugarcane and cotton.

9:40 am Auto industry outlook: The Indian auto industry is expected to grow as much as four times from its current value to hit 18.9 trillion rupees (USD 285 billion) by 2026, assuming the economy grows at 7.5 percent over the next decade, a government report said on Wednesday.

The report, published by the department of heavy industries, said the auto sector would account for more than 12 percent of India's gross domestic product (GDP) and 40 percent of its manufacturing sector by that date.

9:30 am IMF bets on India: Near-term growth prospects remain favourable in India but some macroeconomic imbalances still exist, International Monetary Fund said ahead of the meeting of finance ministers from G-20 countries in Turkey. "In India, while near-term growth prospects remain favourable and external vulnerabilities have decreased, some macroeconomic imbalances remain," IMF said in its report 'Global prospects and policy challenges' meant for the G-20 meeting of finance ministers in Ankara.

The market has started off Thursday's session on a strong note, led by short covering following weakness in previous three consecutive sessions. The 30-share BSE Sensex rallied 161.13 points or 0.63 percent to 25,614.69 and the 50-share NSE Nifty climbed 56.85 or 0.74 percent to 7,773.85.

ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, L&T, Infosys and HDFC are leading contributors to Nifty.

The Indian rupee has opened lower by 6 paise at 66.25 per dollar today against previous day's closing of 66.19.

Mohan Shenoi of Kotak Mahindra Bank said, "Currency markets remain volatile as concerns about China continue to impact all markets. ECB rate setting meeting later today and US Payroll data tomorrow will determine the near-term direction of the market."

"With RBI presence in the market, USD-INR is expected to trade today in a range of 66-66.40/dollar," he added.

On the global front, the US market rallied over 1 percent to end near session highs. Nasdaq outperformed, pulling out of correction territory.

Asian markets, too, are positive on a strong positive US handover. The Nikkei was up almost 1.5 percent in early trade but still down 4 percent for the week.

European Central Bank (ECB) decision is due today. No major policy changes are expected to be announced by the central bank's president Mario Draghi, but he may stress that extra support in the future is possible.

In other asset classes, the dollar gained as global stock markets steadied and US hiring data encouraged speculation that the Federal Reserve policymakers will raise interest rates later this month.

Nymex crude prices rose over 2 percent overnight to USD 46 per barrel, recovering some earlier losses as refined products' data supported prices. Brent is currently trading above the USD 50 mark. And precious metal gold continued to trade around USD 1130 per barrel.