Super day: Sensex up 359 points, Nifty ends tad below 7850

3:30 pm Market close: The market ended with strong gains. The Sensex ended up 359.40 points or 1.4 percent at 25841.92 and the Nifty is up 110.95 points or 1.4 percent at 7842.75. About 1782 shares advanced, 925 shares declined and 184 shares were unchanged. Bajaj Auto, GAIL, Infosys, HDFC and Vedanta were top gainers while Dr Reddy's Labs, Sun Pharma, Coal India and Axis Bank.

3:10 pm Coal auction: The fourth round of coal mines auction will be notified on Friday, Coal Secretary Anil Swaroop told media. This time eight blocks will be auctioned, and due date for bids is fixed for December 31, Swaroop said.

"Commencement of sale of tender document will start from December 31 while the vesting order by the nominated authority to successful bidders will be issued by March 10," the secretary said.

The government has already mobilised over Rs 3 lakh crore in the first three rounds of coal auction and allotment.

2:55 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks continued to see buying interest as the Sensex up 316.40 points or 1.24 percent to 25798.92 and the Nifty up 95.80 points or 1.24 percent to 7827.60.

About 1692 shares have advanced, 937 shares declined, and 191 shares are unchanged on the BSE. 

2:40 pm Punj Lloyd bags order: Punj Lloyd has received two rural electrification contracts worth Rs 483 crore from NTPC for Puri and Koraput districts of Odisha under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutkaran Yojna of 12th plan.

Scope of work includes supply and erection for rural electrification work for construction/augmentation of substations, installation of distribution transformers and providing service connections to BPL consumers around the district.

2:25 pm Aviation stocks in focus: Jet Airways, SpiceJet and Interglobe Aviation extended rally, up 6-8 percent.

2:15 pm Gainers and Losers
HDFC, Reliance Industries, Infosys, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, L&T, SBI and Vedanta gained 1-3 percent.

Dr Reddy's Labs remained under pressure, down 3 percent as the drug major is caught in a probe concerning possible violation federal security laws. Lundin Law PC has announced that it is investigating claims against Dr Reddy’s Laboratories concerning possible violations of federal securities laws. Sun Pharma fell over a percent.

2:00 pm Market Check
Equity benchmarks maintained northward journey in afternoon trade, rising more than a percent higher led by banking & financials, oil, technology, auto and infra stocks after FOMC minutes.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 339.59 points or 1.33 percent to 25822.11 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 96.85 points or 1.25 percent to 7828.65. About two shares advanced for every share declining on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Asian equities closed higher, boosted by a positive reaction from Wall Street overnight to the release of Federal Reserve's October meeting minutes that signaled a likely interest rate hike in December.

The Federal Open Market Committee's October minutes showed most members felt that economic conditions for a rate hike would be met by the next time the committee met in December. This was despite continued volatility being seen across global markets as a result of geopolitical issues, dampened commodity prices and an economic slowdown in China.

1:50 pm Management comments: DRL, in a press statement, said, “Dr Reddy’s has always adhered to all disclosure requirements both of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SECs) and Indian Stock Exchanges; including accounting practices as per the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the Indian Accounting Standards. The company has no further comment on what might be advertorial Press releases by law firms and refutes all allegations.”

1:30 pm Buzzing: Financial services group Religare Enterprises has decided to exit mutual fund business with sale of its controlling 51 per cent stake in Religare Invesco AMC to the foreign partner Invesco. While a number of foreign fund houses have exited the Indian mutual fund industry - the latest being Goldman Sachs - there have not been many cases where Indian entities have sold the asset management business.

Religare did not disclose the exact reasons for the sale, but sources said it could be due to promoters wanting to monetise some assets to meet other financial obligations.

The shares of Religare reacted negatively to the announcement of the deal with a fall of nearly 2 per cent this morning. While the Indian mutual fund industry has been growing steadily, Religare Invesco has not seen any major upsurge in its asset under management in the recent past.

Bulls seem to be in full steam gushing with gains. The Sensex is up 344.76 points or 1.3 percent at 25827.28 and the Nifty is up 103.15 points or 1.3 percent at 7834.95. About 1670 shares have advanced, 802 shares declined, and 193 shares are unchanged.

Bank Nifty, IT and Auto stocks are the best performers today. Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, ICICI Bank, Reliance and Maruti are top gainers in the Sensex. Among losers are Dr Reddy's Labs, Sun Pharma and Coal India.

Oil prices rose in Asian trade today as Europe struck back against the Islamic State (IS) group after the Paris attacks and after a mild rise in US stockpiles, analysts said. The Federal Reserve's broadly upbeat summary of the US economy also lifted confidence, with most markets in Asia advancing following a rally on Wall Street.

European countries have elevated their security alert levels as French and Russian air strikes pound an IS stronghold in Syria and French security forces mount operations against remnants of a group that carried out last week's deadly attacks.

12:59 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks remained strong as the Sensex surged 304.73 points or 1.20 percent to 25787.25 and the Nifty spiked 91 points or 1.18 percent to 7822.80.

About 1630 shares have advanced, 815 shares declined, and 191 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

12:45 pm HT Media in News: Media firm HT Media today said it will transfer its multi-media content management undertaking to its wholly-owned subsidiary HT Digital Streams on a slump exchange basis.

"The board of directors of the company... has accepted the recommendations of the audit committee for transfer and vesting of its multi-media content management undertaking to and in HT Digital Streams Ltd as a "going concern" on a slump exchange basis with issue of fully paid-up equity shares of the transferee company to the company," HT Media Ltd said in a BSE filing.

12:30 pm Religare exits MF biz: Financial services group Religare Enterprises has decided to exit mutual fund business with sale of its controlling 51 percent stake in Religare Invesco AMC to the foreign partner Invesco.

While a number of foreign fund houses have exited the Indian mutual fund industry - the latest being Goldman Sachs - there have not been many cases where Indian entities have sold the asset management business. The shares of Religare reacted negatively to the announcement of the deal with a fall of nearly 2 percent.

12:15 pm Interview: Despite IT major and competitor Infosys guiding for lower margins in the third quarter of the current fiscal, Tech Mahindra is confident of its business doing well on back of global operations.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Vineet Nayyar, Vice-Chairman of the company says that Q3 is seeing positive orders traction and business is expected to do well in the second half of the year.

Nayyar says that business in Europe is down, but the company will benefit from the low costs. In Australia and US, he says the demand is good. Middle East and Asia, which forms a small part of the overall business, are highly competitive, he adds.

12:00 pm Market Check
The market continued to be strong in noon trade, supported by short covering in beaten down stocks like banking & financials, technology, auto and infra. However, Coal India, Dr Reddy's Labs, Sun Pharma and Hindalco were only losers on Sensex.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 287.91 points or 1.13 percent to 25770.43 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 84.60 points or 1.09 percent to 7816.40. The BSE Midcap rallied 0.8 percent and Smallcap gained 1 percent.

The market breadth also remained strong as about 1615 shares advanced against 704 advancing shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Hero Motocorp and Bajaj Auto topped buying list on Sensex, up 2-3 percent followed by HDFC and Infosys with over 1.8 percent upside.

11:55 am Interview: Despite IT major and competitor Infosys guiding for lower margins in the third quarter of the current fiscal, Tech Mahindra is confident of its business doing well on back of global operations. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Vineet Nayyar, Vice-Chairman of the company says that Q3 is seeing positive orders traction and business is expected to do well in the second half of the year. Nayyar says that business in Europe is down, but the company will benefit from the low costs. In Australia and US, he says the demand is good. Middle East and Asia, which forms a small part of the overall business, are highly competitive, he adds.

11:45 am Buzzing: Shares of Amtek Auto rallied 8 percent intraday as a media report indicated that the auto ancillary company might garner Rs 6,000 crore by selling its German forging company. "Debt-ridden Amtek Auto might end up selling Tekfor, the German forging company it acquired in 2013, for Rs 6,000 crore. The Delhi-based automobile component maker is looking to receive bids from about a dozen bidders next month," a media report said. The firm, which appointed Morgan Stanley to identify buyers, is holding road shows for potential suitors in cities of Japan, China, Europe and the US, it added. On November 2, Amtek Auto already said Tekfor Group was one of the overseas companies on company's radar for sale, adding it appointed Morgan Stanley as advisors to assist in the group’s debt reduction plan.

11:30 am Guidance lowered: Kaveri Seed has lowered its FY17 guidance on cotton seeds and also its volume guidance to 7-7.7 million packets from 8-8.5 million packets.

C Mithun Chand, Wholetime Director, Kaveri Seed in an interview to CNBC-TV18 said the reasons for lowering guidance were poor monsoons, lower cotton acreages, subdued crop prices and lower sales. "FY16 has been a tough year for the whole industry," he said.

Monsanto had taken 9 seed companies to court demanding trait fee on use of proprietary Bollgard-II BT knowhow on cotton hybrids.

On the issue of ‘Trait Fee’ he clarified that the company has cleared all the dues to Monsanto till 2015, although they have claimed for a refund since 2011. “We have a strong case to fight,” said Chand. However for FY16, they still have a dispute to the tune of Rs 66 crore and if the ruling goes in favour of Monsanto then the company will have to pay the amount, said Chand.

After initial weakness, the market has catapulated into higher terrain. The Nifty is sitting above 7800, up 75.30 points or 0.9 percent. The Sensex is up 250.96 points or 0.9 percent at 25733.48. About 1514 shares have advanced, 583 shares declined, and 151 shares are unchanged.

Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, ICICI Bank, Maruti and Infosys are top gainers while Dr Reddy's, Sun Pharma, Hindalco, Coal India and NTPC are down.

Gold prices moved up by 0.33 percent to Rs 25,177 per 10 grams in futures trade today as speculators enlarged positions, tracking a firm global trend. A

Analysts said speculators enlarged their positions on the back of firm global trend where precious metal rose from a five-year low, mainly influenced gold prices at futures trade.

10:40 am Market Update: Equity benchmarks extended rally with the Sensex rising 253.84 points or 1 percent to 25736.36 and the Nifty climbing 74.70 points or 0.97 percent to 7806.50.

About 1469 shares have advanced, 535 shares declined, and 124 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

10:30 am Interview: The government on Wednesday fixed a maximum marketing margin that firms can charge on selling natural gas to fertiliser and LPG companies. The fixed rate is decided on Rs 200, a 12.5 percent cut from the current rate of Rs 225.

The new rate is meant to enhance transparency and provide an element of certainty for future investments in gas infrastructure sector, the government statement said.

Lauding the move, Kapil Mehan, MD & group CEO of Zuari Agro Chemicals says that regulating marketing margins is a positive for the Urea industry.

The move will improve cash flows of companies. However, he adds, that this would not have much impact on the margin for companies.

10:15 am Market Expert: Investors attending the Macquarie Conference are a bit circumspect of the ground situation, partly due to earnings growth in the domestic scene and partly due to geo political concerns in the international arena. That said, there are no two thoughts that India is seen as an island of stability and interest in India continues to grow which is evident by the high number of attendees at the Macquarie India Conference.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Sandeep Bhatia, Head Of Equity, India at Macquarie Securities Group said the market is seeing a lead-and-lag phenomenon, where bottom up stock picking approach should be preferrred.

10:00 am Market check
Equity benchmarks continued to see buying interest led by short covering on positive global cues. The Sensex rallied 158.48 points or 0.62 percent to 25641 and the Nifty rose 47.10 points or 0.61 percent to 7778.90.

The broader markets also gained strength with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.5 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively. The market breadth too was positive as about 1316 shares have advanced against 446 declining shares on the BSE.

Index heavyweights like ICICI Bank, Infosys, HDFC Bank, HDFC, Reliance Industries, ITC and L&T continued to support market in morning trade, up 0.7-1.4 percent.

Auto stocks were also in demand as Maruti Suzuki, M&M, Bajaj Auto and Hero Motocorp gained 1-2 percent after Hero says retail sales crossed record 10 lakh units in festive season, up 11 percent year-on-year.

Dr Reddy's Labs topped selling list, down 4.6 percent as the drug major is caught in a probe concerning possible violation of federal security laws. Lundin Law PC has announced that it is investigating claims against Dr Reddy’s Laboratories concerning possible violations of federal securities laws.

Sun Pharma, Lupin, ONGC, NTPC and Tata Motors lost marginally.

9:55 am Pharma news: Pfizer's talks to acquire Allergan in a USD 150 billion deal that would see the US drug giant redomicile in Ireland accelerated on Wednesday, as the US Treasury prepared to clamp down further on such tax inversions. Pfizer is negotiating a price of USD 370 to USD 380 for each Allergan share, a person familiar with the discussions said, asking not to be identified because the talks are confidential.

9:45 am Buzzing: Shares of Dr Reddy's tanked 7.5 percent intraday as the drug major is caught in a probe concerning possible violation of federal security laws. Lundin Law PC has announced that it is investigating claims against Dr Reddy’s Laboratories concerning possible violations of federal securities laws. The investigation is related to allegations that certain statements issued by DRL were false and misleading concerning the company’s financial performance.

On November 6, 2015, the company said that it received a warning letter from the US Food and Drug Administration over inadequate quality control procedures at three manufacturing plants in India. Since then, the compnay has been under pressure.

9:30 am FII view: Aditya Narain, Citi says the market, with significant earning cuts has reset lower. With its drivers well into transition and coming together, he sees a recovering growth cycle, rising earnings and a well-valued market ahead.

He revises Sensex target to 29,300 for June 2016 against 35,000 earlier and introduce a December 2016 target of 32,000, benchmarked off a 1-year forward P/E of 16x.

"Our sector overweights are financials, energy, pharma, autos, cement and utilities," Narain says.

The market has opened higher after a sharp slide yesterday. The Sensex is up 165.64 points or 0.6 percent at 25648.16 and the Nifty is up 48.50 points or 0.6 percent at 7780.30. About 658 shares have advanced, 89 shares declined, and 24 shares are unchanged.

Hero MotoCorp, Maruti, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Auto and Vedanta are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are GAIL and M&M.

The Indian rupee has opened higher in early trade. It has gained 19 paise at 66.10 per dollar versus 66.29 Wednesday.

Mohan Shenoi, Kotak Mahindra Bank says minutes of the October FOMC meeting clearly indicate that Fed will commence the rate hiking cycle in December.

Since the minutes were in-line with market expectations further dollar strength against major currencies was limited, he adds.

The dollar hit a seven-month peak against a currency basket after minutes of the last Fed policy meeting suggested that a December rate increase was on the cards.

Asian equities opened higher after US markets reacted positively to the release of Federal Reserve's October meeting minutes that signaled a likely interest rate hike in December.

US markets all ended in positive territory, with the Nasdaq Composite outperforming to close 1.79 percent or 89.19 points higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 247.66 points or 1.42 percent higher while the S&P 500 finished 1.62 percent or 33.14 points up.

The Federal Open Market Committee's October minutes showed most members felt that economic conditions for a rate hike would be met by the next time the committee met in December. This was despite continued volatility being seen across global markets as a result of geopolitical issues, dampened commodity prices and an economic slowdown in China.