Nifty still below 8350; FMCG up, infra stocks laggards

The market has erased its gains. The Sensex is down 14.34 points at 27854.29 and the Nifty is down 6.55 points at 8330.45. About 1275 shares have advanced, 1154 shares declined, and 89 shares are unchanged. 

Sun Pharma, ITC, Coal India, BHEL and Hero Moto are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are L&T, ONGC, GAIL, Tata Motors and Tata Steel.

The rupee strengthened by 17 paise to 61.45 against the dollar in early trade today at the

Interbank Foreign Exchange on increased selling of the US currency by exporters and banks amidst sustained foreign capital inflows. Forex dealers said besides increased selling of the

American currency by exporters and banks, the dollar's weakness against other currencies overseas, supported the rupee.

The rupee had dropped by 21 paise to three-and-a-half week low of 61.62 against the Greenback in the previous session on sustained dollar demand from importers.

Asian markets remain mixed as Nikkei trades with almost 1 percent losses while Shanghai and Hang Seng indices outperform. 

Sensex, Nifty end flat; HDFC Bank, Hero major laggards

03:30 pm Market closing

The market has ended flat. The Sensex is down 47.25 points at 27868.63 and the Nifty is down 1.30 points at 8337.00.  About 1445 shares have advanced, 1562 shares declined, and 103 shares are unchanged.

Dr Reddy's Labs,  Axis Bank, Sun Pharma, HUL and ONGC were top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers were BHEL, GAIL, Hero Moto, Sesa Sterlite and HDFC Bank.

03:10 pm Results

Public sector lender UCO Bank's second quarter net profit fell 74 percent year-on-year to Rs 103.5 crore dented by higher provisions and lower net interest income but was supported by higher other income. Profit was Rs 400.2 crore in the year-ago period.

Net interest income (NII - the difference between interest earned and interest expended) declined 11.9 percent to Rs 1,383 crore in the quarter ended September 2014 compared to Rs 1,570 crore in same quarter last year. However, other income (non-interest income) climbed 71.6 percent year-on-year to Rs 358.97 crore in the quarter gone by.

Provisions and contingencies jumped 23.3 percent Y-o-Y (up 80.9 percent sequentially) to Rs 935.3 crore in the second quarter of current financial year 2014-15.

Asset quality deteriorated sequentially. Gross non-performing assets (NPA) declined 12 basis points on yearly basis (up 89 bps quarter-on-quarter) to 5.20 percent while net NPA rose 2 bps year-on-year (up 82 bps quarter-on-quarter) to 3.15 percent during the quarter.

02:50pm Chambal Fertilisers hits 52-week high

Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals beat street expectations on all parameter except textile business. Net profit in July-September quarter climbed 22 percent year-on-year to Rs 115 crore on strong operational performance. Profit in the year-ago period was Rs 94 crore.

Profit was expected at Rs 95 crore on revenue of Rs 2,400 crore for the quarter, according to the average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

Net sales rose by 1 percent to Rs 2,507 crore in the quarter ended September 2014 compared to Rs 2,489 crore in same quarter last year.

Operating profit grew by 28 percent year-on-year to Rs 247 crore and margin expanded by 220 basis points to 10 percent during the quarter, which both were higher than analysts' estimates of Rs 203 crore and 8.5 percent, respectively.

The stock hit 52-week high of Rs 70 on the BSE, up by Rs 5 compared to Wednesday's close.

02:30pm Gold Update

Gold tumbled to a fresh 4-1/2 year low and looked set to post its third straight weekly drop on Friday, as the US dollar rallied on economic optimism and expectations the Federal Reserve could raise rates sooner rather than later.

A robust US nonfarm payrolls report later in the day could provide more evidence of a strengthening economy, influencing the Fed and possibly hurting gold, a non-interest-bearing asset.

BSE Sensex, Nifty flat; Coal India, Sesa, Bharti laggards

The Sensex is off the day's high after scaling the 28,000 mark. The Nifty is below the 8,350 levels. The midcap index continues to outperform after hitting a fresh record high in early trade. The Sensex is up 37.26 points at 27897.64 and the Nifty up 10.05 points at 8334.20. About 1600 shares have advanced, 1281 shares declined, and 105 shares are unchanged.

Coal India, Sesa Sterlite, Bharti Airtel, Hindalco and Tata Power are laggards while Sun Pharma, Axis Bank, SBI, Dr Reddy's Labs and ICICI Bank are top gainers in the Sensex.

Committing to more reforms and eliminating corruption, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said steps taken by the new government were aimed at creating fair and transparent business environment and ending crony capitalism.

The government was also looking at areas like labour reforms, privatisation of some state-owned companies and improvement of land acquisition laws, the Minister said, while adding that the reforms can't be just "one sensational idea".

    

"You can damage the economy by one bad idea.

Retrospective taxation is one bad idea that damaged the economy," Jaitley said while speaking at the India Economic Summit here.

Sensex, Nifty flat; Sesa up 2%, Ashok Leyland hits new high

03:30 pm Market closing

The market closed flat dragged by some bit of profit booking. The Nifty consolidated at around 8300. The 50-share index ended at 8324, up 1.95 points while Sensex was down 5.45 points  at 27860.38. However, small & midcaps rallied with some smart gains. Realty index was up 3 percent.

Sesa Sterlite, Axis Bank, HDFC, SBI and ICICI Bank were top gainers while Gail, M&M, Coal India, Maruti and Bajaj Auto were among the laggards.

3:00 pm China economy

China's economy lost further momentum heading into the fourth quarter as a cooling property market weighed on activity and export demand softened, surveys showed, putting Beijing's official target for the year at even greater risk.

Analysts had already expected full-year growth to miss the goal of around 7.5 percent, but many thought there may be some signs of stabilisation in the world's second-largest economy late in the year after a flurry of stimulus measures.

Instead, the surveys showed demand at home and abroad continued to cool and the labour market remained under stress, while adding to fears that many companies are being starved of credit as banks grow more reluctant to lend.

02:30pm Dabur India up over 1%

FMCG major Dabur India has reported a 15.1 percent growth in net profit at Rs 287.5 crore in September quarter compared to Rs 249.74 crore in same quarter last year.

Total income from operations grew by 10.3 percent to Rs 1,929.6 crore in the second quarter of current financial year 2014-15 from Rs 1,748.90 crore in the year-ago period driven by consumer care as well as foods businesses.

The company maintained its volume growth within the guidance of 8-10 percent. Volume growth for September quarter was 8.7 percent compared to 8.3 percent in previous quarter.

Bottomline was in-line while topline was slightly lower than analysts' expectations. Profit was expected at Rs 286 crore on revenue of Rs 1,991 crore for the quarter, according to the average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

02:00pm Market Check

The market remained flat with a negative bias as the Sensex and Nifty consolidated their gains after hitting record highs last week. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices continued to outperform benchmarks, up 1 percent each.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 47.59 points to 27818.24 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 13.25 points to 8308.95. About 1679 shares have advanced, 1145 shares declined, and 117 shares are unchanged.

 

Andrew Holland of Ambit Capital said he expects the Nifty to hit 9000 before the Budget and will not be surprised to see a 50 basis points rate cut in the first quarter of calendar year 2015.

Sesa Sterlite topped the buying list in the Sensex, up 2 percent followed by Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI and Reliance Industries with 0.6-1.5 percent while Gail India tanked 5.58 percent as CLSA downgraded the stock to sell from outperform. Mahindra and Mahindra, Coal India, Maruti Suzuki and NTPC lost 1.5-3 percent.

In macro data, the auto industry is in reverse gear as sales for the month of October missed expectations. The festive season failed to cheer, most auto makers like Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Hero Motocorp reported a drop in sales.

Ashok Leyland surged 2.5 percent to touch a record high of Rs 47.50 after reporting a 23 percent rise in total sales at 8,375 units in October year-on-year.

The currency was trading weak at 61.41 to the dollar on account of dollar buying from importers and gains in the dollar overnight. Gold, in the meantime, struggled near a four-year low, trading at sub USD 1170 an ounce.

Globally, equity markets were a mixed bag. Asian markets like Korea and Hong Kong were lower by 0.5 percent while China was higher after Chinese PMI data rose to 3-month high of 50.4. European markets, in the meanwhile, were trading flat today ahead of euro zone PMI data later today. 

Sensex, Nifty open at fresh high; Bharti up, autos fall

The market continues its uptrend on Monday. The Sensex is up 85.20 points at 27951.03 and the Nifty is up 26.10 points at 8348.30. About 533 shares have advanced, 155 shares declined, and 36 shares are unchanged. TCS, Bharti Airtel, GAIL, Wipro and BHEL are top gainers while Tata Motors, Hero, Bajaj Auto, and M&M are major laggards in the Sensex. The Indian rupee opened lower by 14 paise at 61.50 per dollar versus 61.36 Friday.The yen fell to a fresh seven-year low against the dollar, extending a massive selloff sparked by the Bank Of Japan's surprise decision to boost its already huge bond-buying stimulus. Agam Gupta of Standard Chartered said, "Nationalised bank demand will kick in at Rs 61.35/dollar and expect exporters to sell on spikes to Rs 61.60/dollar. US dollar supply will also continue from capital inflows as overseas investors remain bullish on India. In the US, stocks surged on Friday, lifting the Dow industrials and S&P 500 to record closes, after the Bank of Japan unexpectedly expanded stimulus, increasing hopes for the global economy. . Meanwhile in Asia, mood is relatively quiet with Japan closed for a holiday. Kospi is lower after a private gauge of manufacturing activity fell to a four-month low in October. China's official PMI fell to a five-month low for October as it came in at 50.8 from September's 51.1. Oil prices are soft in trade as another round of monetary stimulus from Japan pumped up the US dollar and pounded a crude market already suffering from robust supply. From the precious metals space, gold and silver sank to their lowest since 2010 as the USD surged against the yen and other major currencies.

Record closing: Nifty ends at 8322, Sensex soars 519 pts

03:30 Market closing:

The market ended at record closing levels with mighty gains. The Sensex was up 519.50 points or 1.9 percent at 27865.83 and the Nifty ended up 153.00 points or 1.9 percent at 8322.20. About 1770 shares advanced, 1214 shares declined and 128 shares were unchanged.

GAIL, Tata Power, HDFC, L&T and Tata Steel were top gainers in the Sensex. Deagged by Q2 results, Bharti and ITC were major losers.

03:15 pm Market check: 

 The Sensex is up 534.47 points or 1.9 percent at 27880.80 and the Nifty is up 153.55 points or 1.9 percent at 8322.75. About 1768 shares have advanced, 1203 shares declined, and 122 shares are unchanged. 

03:00 pm Results: Multiplex operator PVR today reported a decline of 66.60 per cent in its consolidated net profit to Rs 9.20 crore for the quarter ended September 30. The company had reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 27.55 crore for the July-September quarter of last fiscal.

However, PVR's total consolidated income from operations during the second quarter increased 9.41 per cent to Rs 400.20 crore as against Rs 334.45 crore in the same period a year ago, the company said in a BSE filing.

02:50 pm Market check:  

The market is on fire with the Nifty hitting 8300 and 27803.30. Currently, the Sensex is up 433.13 points or 1.6 percent at 27779.46 and the Nifty is up 124.75 points or 1.5 percent at 8293.95.  About 1764 shares have advanced, 1132 shares declined, and 126 shares are unchanged.

Gail,  HDFC, L&T, Tata Steel and Maruti are top gainers and Bharti, ITC and BHEl were among the laggards.

02:30pm Brokerages reaction on ITC earnings

FMCG major ITC announced its Q2 numbers that came inline with analysts’ expectations. The company’s net profit climbed 8.7 percent year-on-year to Rs 2,425 crore supported by other income and higher revenue.

While analysts say the numbers are on expected lines, Suruchi Jain of Morningstar believes the company should address the cigarette business’ fall in profitability. 

“The fact that they have started spending more on the FMCG front is bad for the company as that is utter bad use of capital. It has taken the company so long to start showing good results,” says Jain.

Jain believes the profits could reflect in the profit and loss accounts if the company stopped spending on FMCG.

Naveen Kulkarni, co-head-research, Phillip Capital says the company’s hotel and agriculture business EBITDA margins are highly uninspiring.

02:15pm HUL in News

More than 450 workers and their families staged demonstrations outside Hindustan Unilever headquarters in Mumbai on Friday. This protest is called by Hindustan Unilever Employees Federation. The workers are from the Amli and Dapada factories.

The workers are protesting on a whole host of issues including low wages. They claim that the wages received by them are not on par with those received by their peers at Nestle and Colgate. Workers further allege that no compensation was paid after an accident at the company's Kodaikanal factory in 2003.

Workers also say that all efforts to unionise are always met with hostile reaction from the management and alleged the management of creating sponsored unions with whom settlements are reached and these terms of settlements are forced upon the workers. The workers demand that this victimization must stop.

HUL management on its part told CNBC-TV18 that it has always encouraged unions and that it always leaves it upto the workers to decide whether to join a particular union. They say the company is following the due process for discussions with the unions and will continue to engage with the workers to resolve the issue. 

02:00pm Market Check 

The spectacular rally continued in afternoon trade with the Sensex rising more than 400 points and the Nifty inching towards the 8300-mark supported by banking & financials, oil & gas, technology and capital goods stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 423.86 points or 1.55 percent to 27770.19 and the 50-share Nifty jumped 123.85 points or 1.52 percent to 8293.05. Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of 1747 to 1110 on the BSE.

Christopher Wood, CLSA says India remains by far the most promising stock market story in Asia and emerging markets, and indeed the world, on a five-year view.

Gail India topped the buying list, rising over 7 percent after stellar performance in bottomline. Profit in September quarter more than doubled to Rs 1,303 crore compared to Rs 621.4 crore in previous quarter.

Large buying was seen in blue chip names like HDFC (up 4 percent), L&T (up 3 percent), SBI (up 2 percent), Infosys (up 2 percent), Reliance Industries (up 1.9 percent) and HDFC Bank (up 1.7 percent) while selling was seen in Bharti Airtel post a weak performance in the Africa business. In earnings today, ITC reported a decent quarter with a 9 percent growth in profits to Rs 2,425 crore in second quarter.

The biggest talking point globally is the 5 percent surge in the Japan's Nikkei after the Bank of Japan, in an unexpected move today, expanded the pace of its quantitative easing to 80 trillion yen against 50 trillion earlier. This sent the Japanese yen slumping to a 6-year low versus the dollar. 

Sensex, Nifty flex muscles with hefty gains; ITC falls

1:20 pm Results: Cigarette-FMCG-hotel major ITC matched street expectations with the second quarter net profit climbing 8.7 percent year-on-year to Rs 2,425 crore supported by other income and higher revenue. The profit in the year-ago period was Rs 2,230.5 crore. Net sales jumped 14.8 percent (lower than expected) to Rs 8,930 crore in the quarter ended September 2014 compared to Rs 7,776 crore in same quarter last year.

Profit was estimated at Rs 2,458 crore on revenue of Rs 9,063 crore for the quarter, according to the average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

Don't miss: Titan slips 7% on cautious growth outlook; analysts bearish 

Left over fire crackers of Diwali are still lighting up Dalal Street with some bumper gains. The Sensex is up 380.34 points or 1 percent at 27726.67 and the Nifty is up 110.75 points or 1.4 percent at 8279.95. About 1732 shares have advanced, 976 shares declined, and 105 shares are unchanged.

HDFC, Maruti, L&T, Tata Steel and Hindalco are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Bharti Airtel, HUL, ITC and ICICI Bank.

Japan's Nikkei stock average surged to a seven-year high and the yen tumbled to its lowest since early 2008 against the dollar on Friday as the Bank of Japan caught markets flat-footed with its surprise monetary easing decision.

The Bank of Japan surprised global financial markets by expanding its massive monetary easing as economic growth and inflation have not picked up as expected after a sales tax hike in April. The jolt from the BOJ, which had been expected to maintain its level of asset purchases, came as the government signalled its readiness to ramp up spending to boost the economy and as the government pension fund, the world's largest, was set to increase purchases of domestic and foreign stocks.

Record high: Sensex gains 300 pts, Nifty above 8250

10:55am Market Check

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 297.82 points or 1.09 percent to 27644.15 and the Nifty jumped 89.10 points or 1.09 percent to 8258.30. About 1595 shares have advanced, 654 shares declined, and 88 shares are unchanged.

HDFC, Maruti Suzuki, Hero Motocorp, SBI, ONGC, IDFC and HCL Technologies gained 2-2.5 percent.

10:45am Interview

Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) reported second quarter standalone net profit at Rs 6.8 crore versus Rs 31.6 crore in the year-ago period. But the previous year’s profit figure included a big other income figure of Rs 116 crore, which led to a bottomline profit of Rs 31.6 cr for Q2FY14.

Praveen Sood, CFO of HCC says the company is trying to maintain profitability at these levels. He hopes that the next two quarters will be as good as the last six quarters.

He says the profitability margins are coming from efforts to bring down costs. The company is not seeing any major push on the order inflow side and the good margins reported is despite that. Order inflows from the government side has not picked up yet, says Sood. He expects government order inflows to pick up only from next year.

He says: "Realised Rs 400 crore of claims in the last two quarters which helped push margins." He hopes to realise similar claim amounts in the second half of the year.

HCC has Rs 4,000 crore stuck in arbitration. He expects the government to pay its dues in the next few months.

The company is seeing order inflow momentum only in the road sector as of now. But sectors such as hydro and nuclear power saw no pick up in order inflows. Sood hopes to end year with Rs 14500-15000 crore order book position.

10:30am Market Update

The market remained at record high. The Sensex rose 260.01 points or 0.95 percent to 27606.34 and the Nifty jumped 77.60 points or 0.95 percent to 8246.80.

About 1537 shares have advanced, 595 shares declined, and 88 shares are unchanged.

Titan Company, Tech Mahindra, IDFC, SBI, Maruti Suzuki, Bharti Airtel, TCS and Shriram Transport were the most active shares on exchanges.

In the midcap space, Relaxo Footwear, Gujarat Pipavav, Sintex Industries, HCC and SKS Microfinance jumped 5-6 percent while SRF, Responsive Industries, eClerx Services, Hindustan National Glass and FAG Bearings lost 2-4 percent.

10:15am Market Expert

There is a confluence of positives in India right now and that’s the reason things are turning constructive for the Indian market, says Dipen Sheth of HDFC Securities.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Sheth says the Nifty is currently in a multi-year, multi-themed, multi-faceted bull run.

On his sectoral prefences, Sheth says he likes special restautants and great fine-dining franchises. He also believes the midcap space has a lot of talented companies that can be invested into right now.

10:00am Market Check

Equity benchmarks continued to trade around their record highs with the Sensex rising 235.50 points to 27581.83 and the Nifty climbing 68.20 points to 8237.40 following strong US cues.

The broader markets too gained momentum with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices adding 1 percent each. About three shares advanced for every share declining on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Technical Analysts Rajat Bose is bullish on the Indian market. He says that Nifty is in an uptrend and it could touch 8,250-8,300 going ahead. He recommends market participants to buy on dips.

Major largecaps like Reliance Industries, Infosys, HDFC, ITC, HDFC Bank, TCS, Larsen and Toubro, ONGC, State Bank of India and Axis Bank gained 1-1.6 percent.

Hero Motocorp, Tata Steel, Wipro, Tata Power, Dr Reddy's Labs, Coal India and Sesa Sterlite too climbed 1-1.6 percent.

However, Bharti Airtel (post Q2 earnings), Hindustan Unilever, ICICI Bank and Hindalco Industries were only losers in the Sensex. 

Record opening: Nifty hits 8200, Sensex strong; IT leads

9:50 am Result poll: Utility vehicle maker Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), which will announce its second quarter earnings on Friday, is expected to report a profit of Rs 946 crore as against Rs 989.5 crore in the year-ago period, according to the average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18. 

Revenue is likely to be Rs 9,292 crore during the quarter compared to Rs 8,929.5 crore in same quarter last year. Operating profit expected to be at Rs 1,167 crore as against Rs 1,144 crore and margin may be at 12.5 percent compared to 12.8 percent during the same period.

Results are not comparable on year-on-year basis due to merger of loss making truck business. The company will provide the merged entity comparable numbers in the press release as they do every quarter.

9:40 am Nomura report: The government's austerity drive announced today , would lead to a saving of up to Rs 40,000 crore or 0.3 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) but poses risks to growth, Japanese brokerage Nomura has said. "On our estimates this would amount to a saving of Rs 35,000 to Rs 40,000 crore or 0.3 percent of the GDP," it said in a note issued here today. The finance ministry issued a circular today instructing government departments to cut discretionary spending by 10 percent. As part of these measures, it banned first class travel by government officials, meetings in five-star hotels, purchase of cars and froze new appointments.

Nomura said that the move may have been initiated as a precaution against potential shortfall in capital receipts, mainly disinvestment proceeds, where the government target is to raise 0.5 percent of GDP or over Rs 43,000 crore.

9:30 am Marlet outlook: India has been one of the biggest outperformer among the emerging market basket and its macros are seeing a sudden improvement, says Sanjeev Prasad of Kotak Institutional Equities. And it is this positivity that makes Prasad confident of India logging in 7 percent growth in 2017. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Prasad says the new government has unleashed a lot of bold economic reforms in the past few days. “I expect the interest rates to come down sooner than is expected and India continues to grow fast,” he adds. On sectoral preferences, Prasad is bullish on private banks and autos and picks Maruti Suzuki and Hero MotoCorp as his best bets.

9:20 am Winners & losers: IT stocks are still leading the rally with Infosys, TCS and Wipro as major gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Bharti Airtel, HUL, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors and NTPC.

The market starts November series on a stellar note. The Nifty hit 8200 for the first time, up 32.15 points while the Sensex is up 92.73 points at 27439.06. About 499 shares have advanced, 91 shares declined, and 15 shares are unchanged.

Bhart Airtel, Infosys, ONGC, Cipla and Maruti are top gainers while Hindalco, HUL and Tata Motors are among the losers.

The Indian rupee opened marginally higher at 61.39 per dollar versus 61.45 Thursday.

The dollar held at four-week highs against a basket of major currencies, getting another boost from encouraging growth data a day after the Federal Reserve gave an upbeat assessment on the economy.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity said, "The positive sentiment in the equity market may support the currency. The rupee is expected to trade positively, though month-end dollar demand from oil importers will keep it under pressure. See the range for rupee between Rs 60.90-61.90/dollar."

Asian stocks rose on the final trading day of the week following positive US data overnight, with focus on developments in Japan.

US stocks jumped on Thursday with the Dow leading gains by over 1 percent following strong data releases. Third-quarter gross-domestic product (GDP) rose 3.5 percent, beating expectations, while a separate report showed that the underlying trend for first time weekly jobless claims is at its lowest level since 2000.

Brent crude was marginally lower as traders saw little chance of OPEC cutting output at its November meeting. From precious metals space, gold traded around USD 1200 an ounce its lowest level in nearly 4 weeks. 

Sensex surges 217 pts, Nifty ends at 8090 ahead of expiry

03:30 Market closing

The market ended with smart gains ahead of October F&O expiry tomorrow. The Nifty was up 62.85 points at 8090.45 while the Sensex ended up 217.35 points at 27098.17.

About 1589 shares advanced, 1374 shares declined, and 115 shares were unchanged.

Hindalco was up 6 percent while Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Infosys and Bajaj Auto were other major gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers were NTPC, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Labs, Bharti Airtel and SBI.

03:15 pm Buzzing

Investors of SRF are rejoicing as its shares hit record high at Rs 805.85, up 20 percent intraday. The manufacturer of chemical-based industrial intermediates reported a 60.87 percent increase in net profit at Rs 76.85 crore for the second quarter ended September 2014. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 47.77 crore for the corresponding quarter a year ago. Total income from operations during the quarter under review increased 9.98 percent to Rs 928.17 crore as against Rs 843.89 crore a year ago, SRF said in a filing to the BSE.

"The overall operations performed well this quarter. The company's strategy of growing the chemicals business is paying dividends. Our traditional business should pick once economy rebounds," SRF managing director Ashish Bharat Ram said.

02:50 pm LPG rate hike

Subsidised cooking gas (LPG) rates have been hiked by Rs 3 per cylinder after the government raised the commission paid to dealers.

The commission paid to dealers was last week hiked by Rs 3 per 14.2-kg cylinder to Rs 43.71. Consequently, retail selling price of subsidised LPG too have been increased in the same proportion, officials said.

Dealers' commission was last revised in December 2013 when it was hiked by Rs 3.46 per cylinder to Rs 40.71. The increase in commission - which as per practice is passed on to consumers - has been effected from October 23.

Subsidised LPG in Delhi now costs Rs 417 per 14.2-kg cylinder as against Rs 414 previously. In Mumbai, subsidised LPG will cost Rs 452 per 14.2-kg cylinder as against Rs 448.50 previously. Prior to the December hike in LPG rates, price of cooking gas was raised in October 2012 when because of an increase in dealers' commission the rates were raised from Rs 399 per cylinder to Rs 410.50.

02:30pm Moody's on domestic banks

International rating agency Moody's today retained its negative outlook on the domestic banking system, citing high leverage in the corporate sector that may prevent any meaningful recovery in asset quality.

"Our outlook for the country's banking system remains negative, as it has been since November 2011. The negative outlook reflects our view that high leverage in the corporate sector could prevent any meaningful recovery in asset quality, notwithstanding a moderate rebound in economic growth," the agency Moody's Investors Service said in a note issued from Singapore.

The report further said continuing poor asset quality, wherein the NPAs levels are set to touch 4.5 percent of the system, will require continued provisioning and strengthened capital buffers. After provisions, profitability of public sector banks will generate insufficient internal capital for loan growth, the report added.

The negative outlook pertains mainly to the public sector banks as they represent more than 70 percent of total banking system assets. These banks have experienced higher growth rates in non-performing and restructured loans, as well as greater weakening in profits, than their private sector peers, Moody's said.

The report says while these trends are unlikely to improve for public sector banks, in contrast, private sector banks have stronger margins, reserves, and capital levels, which serve as buffers against conditions that remain challenging.

On growth, which inched up to surprising 5.7 percent in the first quarter of the current fiscal after logging in sub-5 percent growth in the past two fiscals, Moody's said GDP will pick up moderately this fiscal, but remains constrained by the high interest rates due to inflation.

02:00pm Market Check

Equity benchmarks maintained morning gains supported by auto, metals, FMCG, oil and technology stocks. The Sensex rose 144.26 points to 27025.08 and the Nifty climbed 39.55 points to 8067.15.

About 1527 shares have advanced, 1297 shares declined, and 108 shares are unchanged.

Hindalco Industries, DLF, JSPL and Tata Steel topped the buying list, up 4-5 percent followed by Tata Motors, M&M and Bajaj Auto with 2-3 percent.

However, Dr Reddy's Labs reported a weak Q2 earnings as profit fell 16 percent year-on-year to Rs 574 crore while Grasim Industries reported pressure in its viscose staple fibre business, standalone profit dropped 28 percent to Rs 299 crore while Oriental Bank of Commerce shares lost 5 percent as bad loans increased in second quarter.

Global markets remained in fourth gear as investors are convinced that Fed will stay the course and end the third round of bond buying but also wait a “considerable time “ before hiking short term rates. Hong Kong closed up almost 300 points while European markets were trading with almost 1 percent gains.

Meanwhile, the NDA government today submitted a list comprising 627 names of Indians having accounts in foreign banks to the Supreme Court. 

Sensex, Nifty maintain uptrend; OBC, DRL fall post Q2 nos

The market maintains its uptrend with support from global cues. The Sensex is up 148.73 points at 27029.55 and the Nifty is up 37.05 points at 8064.65. About 1473 shares have advanced, 1225 shares declined, and 101 shares are unchanged.

Hindalco, Tata Motors, M&M, Tata Steel and Infosys are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are, BHEL, GAIL and Sun Pharma.

Dr Reddy's is under pressure on disappointing September earnings. Its topline missed estimates while margins declined on account of higher R&D spends. Oriental Bank of Commerce falls 4 percent on deteriorating asset quality in Q2.

The US Federal Reserve is expected to shutter its bond-buying programme, closing one controversial chapter in its crisis response even as it struggles to manage a full return to normal monetary policy.

The Fed is likely to announce at the end of a two-day meeting that it will no longer add to its holdings of Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities, halting the final USD 15 billion in monthly purchases under a program that at its peak pumped USD 85 billion a month into the financial system.

Sensex, Nifty strong; Tata Motors surges, Sesa declines

10:30am Oil Update

Oil prices rose in Asia today as dealers await the outcome of a US Federal Reserve meeting and the latest US supply report.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for December delivery rose 26 cents to USD 81.68 while Brent crude for December was up 20 cents at USD 86.23 in mid-morning trade.

A statement on the meeting's outcome will be released at 1800 GMT tomorrow.

The US central bank is expected to announce an end to its vast asset-buying programme, which was credited with propping up the world's biggest economy after the 2008 financial crisis.

Traders, having already discounted an end to the "quantitative easing" programme, are more interested in what bank policy makers say about the future direction of US interest rates.

Dealers meanwhile are also eyeing the latest US stockpiles report for clues about demand in the world's top crude consumer, reports PTI.

10:00am Market Check

Equity benchmarks maintained strong momentum in morning trade with the Sensex rising 163.50 points to 27044.32 and the Nifty climbing 45.85 points to 8073.45 supported by auto, FMCG, oil and banks stocks.

The broader markets gained too with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices adding 0.6 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively. Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of 1394 to 551 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors climbed nearly 3 percent after a 4 percent rally in its ADR on the NYSE. Mahindra and Mahindra jumped over 1.5 percent.

Two-wheeler maker Hero Motocorp gained 1.5 percent as RBI said FIIs/RFPIs can now invest up to 49 percent in company. Hero sees retail scooter sales at 90,000 units in October. "We are raising scooter production capacity to 1 lakh units/month by January and are confident of double digit growth in scooters this year," it added.

Sensex, Nifty sluggish; Reliance, Bharti, HUL fall 1-2%

It is another day of sluggishness on Dalal Street as the benchmark indices do not make any remarkable gain. The Sensex is up 42.91 points at 26795.81 and the Nifty is up 14.95 points at 8006.65.  About 1262 shares have advanced, 1295 shares declined, and 120 shares are unchanged.

GAIL, SBI, Sun Pharma, Tata Power and ICICI Bank are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Hero, Bharti Airtel, HUL, Bajaj Auto and Reliance.

Asian equities trade mixed. Investors tread cautiously ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting due to begin later today.

Brent crude extended its decline to a third day, dropping towards USD 85 a barrel, still under pressure from a Goldman Sachs report that slashed the investment bank's oil price forecasts amid a global supply glut.

Citing rising production and insufficient demand, Goldman Sachs on Sunday cut its forecast for Brent to USD 85 a barrel from USD 100 for the first quarter of 2015 and reduced its projection for US crude to USD 75 from USD 90.

Analysts from other major banks have also cut forecasts for 2014 and 2015 crude oil prices, citing global growth concerns, a strengthening dollar and ample supplies.  

Sensex, Nifty firm; SBI subsidiaries rally on SBM Q2 nos

10:30am Market Expert

Gautam Shah, associate director & technical analyst, JM Financial seems extremely bullish on Indian equities. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, he said that Indian equities have been resilient as there has not been even a 10 percent correction in the last 14 months. “This market has seen only time correction and no real price correction. The market set-up continues to be very constructive and the bull trend is definitely intact. So, these dips are healthy for the Nifty to continue its upmove,” he added.

Continuing his positive tone, he said that 8,050 level is short-term resistance for the Nifty and it is likely to hit new record high once this level is breached. Further, he sees the benchmark at 8,700-8,800 by this year-end.

Interestingly, October is a poor month for the Nifty historically, but this time the market has defied history and performed well, he said. However, sentiment and trends for the Nifty are usually upbeat in November and December.

Shah is also upbeat on the Bank Nifty. He has a near-term target of 17,000 for the banking index and eventual target of 19,000.

10:00am Market Check

Equity benchmarks maintained early gains with the Sensex rising 82.79 points to 26835.69 and the Nifty climbing 23.75 points to 8015.45. The broader markets gained marginally too with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices advancing 0.4-0.5 percent.

About 1118 shares have advanced, 675 shares declined, and 69 shares are unchanged on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Sun Pharma, SBI, ICICI Bank, Gail India, Wipro, Zee Entertainment and Tech Mahindra toppped the buying list with 1.5-2 percent gains followed by L&T, HDFC, Tata Motors, Cipla and Wipro with one percent upside.

However, Bharti Airtel, BHEL, Hero Motocorp, HUL, Reliance Industries, Lupin and Jindal Steel declined 1-3 percent.

State Bank of India's subsidiaries rallied sharply post strong profit numbers in Q2 by State Bank of Mysore (SBM). SBM rallied 15.5 percent as profits surged 3.4 times to Rs 102 crore from Rs 30.1 crore Y-o-Y on the back of lower provisions. The bank reported a 5 percent jump in net interest income at Rs 513.6 crore and asset quality trends were stable.

State Bank of Travancore gained 9.31 percent and State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur rose 8.09 percent.

Nifty ends below 8000, Sensex loses 98 pts; HUL falls 5%

03:30 pm Market closing

After remaining sluggish during the day, the market has ended on lower note. The Sensex was down 98.15 points at 26752.90 and the Nifty slipped 22.85 points at 7991.70. About 1257 shares advanced, 1610 shares declined and 106 shares were unchanged.

BHEL was up 5 percent, while Dr Reddy's Labs, Coal India, GAIL and L&T. HUL lost 5 percent while Tata Motors, ONGC, Tata Steel and Hindalco.

03:15 pm Kingfisher Airlines

City-based UCO Bank today said it has "identified" Vijay Mallya-owned Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) as a "wilful defaulter" and will be sending a notice to the defunct carrier. "We have identified KFA as a wilful defaulter. We are in the process of sending a notice to the company in this regard", a source in the bank told PTI. Other banks like State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank are also mulling this route. United Bank of India has already declared KFA a 'wilful defaulter' for defaulting a loan of Rs 350 crore.

Beside KFA, UCO Bank will also send a notice to the company which had furnished a corporate guarantee for availing a loan of around Rs 450 crore, the source said.

02:55pm Gold Update

Gold prices tumbled by Rs 350 to Rs 27,450 per ten gram in the national capital today following a long weekend and ending of festive season with demand drying up amidst a weak global trend.

Silver also eased by Rs 35 to Rs 38,200 per kg on reduced offtake by industrial units and coin makers.

Traders said fall in demand from jewellers and retailers due to end of festive season and a weak global trend where gold retreated from a six-week high as investors expected the Federal Reserve to end its bond-buying programme this week, eroding safe-haven demand, mainly pulled down precious metal prices here.

Gold in Singapore, which normally set price trend on the domestic front, lost 0.3 percent to USD 1,227.51 an ounce. In Delhi, gold of 99.9 and 99.5 per cent purity plunged by Rs 350 each to Rs 27,450 and Rs 27,250 per ten gram respectively. It had lost Rs 125 in the past two days. Sovereign followed suit and shed Rs 100 at Rs 24,200 per piece of eight gram, reports PTI.

02:30pm Interview

In an interview to CNBC-TV18 Ashok Hiramat, CMD, Astec Lifesciences, said that the company’s topline in the quarter gone by was marginally lower due to its focus on high value products. It also launched two new products where margins were better and these products contributed around 15 percent to sales in FY15, he added.

Astec Lifesciences foresees a topline growth of 20-25 percent in this fiscal and aims to maintain EBITDA margin in the range of 23-25 percent, he said.

02:00pm Market Check

It is a slow start to the post Diwali week as the 30-share BSE Sensex fell 90.62 points to 26760.43 and the Nifty declined 20.80 points to 7993.75.

Declining shares outnumbered advancing ones by a ratio of 1532 to 1195 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Adrian mowat of JPMorgan told CNBC-TV18 that he would add more money into India now. He downgraded Brazil to Neutral and recommended switching out of Brazil and into India. He expects another 20 percent returns on Indian markets in next 12 months.

Hindustan Unilever fell 4 percent after second quarter earnings. FMCG major met street expectations with the second quarter net profit rising 8.1 percent year-on-year to Rs 988 crore supported by exceptional gain and higher revenue growth. Profit in the year-ago period was Rs 913.8 crore.

Meanwhile, global markets have been mixed today. European markets traded with gains of over 0.5 percent while Asian markets like Hong Kong and Shanghai fell more than 0.5 percent. All eyes are on FOMC and Bank of Japan meetings lined up later this week.

In more from the commodity markets today, Brent crude continued to lose after falling for five straight weeks. Goldman Sachs cut its Brent crude price forecast to USD 85 a barrel versus USD 100 earlier predicting supply growth from non-OPEC producers will outpace demand.