Sensex ends up 290pts, Nifty above 8800; SBI, M&M gain 5-8%

3:30 pm Market closing

The market ended with some hefty gains boosted by banks, auto and pharma stocks. The Sensex ended up 289.83 points or 1 percent at 29094.93 and the Nifty was up 93.95 points or 1 percent at 8805.50. About 1450 shares advanced, 1436 shares declined and 198 shares were unchanged.

SBI surged 8 percent while M&M was up 5 percent. TCS, Coal India and Wipro are other gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are GAIL, BHEL, ONGC, HDFC Bank and Infosys.

03:00 pm Earnings: Indian Oil Corporation's (IOC) third quarter losses widened to Rs 3,285 crore from Rs 961.5 crore in the year-ago period due to higher inventory loss.

Net sales of the state-run oil marketing company declined to Rs 1.07 lakh crore during October-December quarter from Rs 1.17 lakh crore in the year-ago period.

Oil retailer IOC says gross refining margin for April-December period was negative USD 2.66 a barrel (against USD 4.97 a barrel in the year-ago period) mainly on account of inventory valuation loss of Rs 15,017 crore during the period.

02:50pm Germany GDP growth

Germany grew by a much stronger than expected 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014, with domestic demand lifting Europe's largest economy out of its mid-year lull to take growth for the whole year to 1.6 percent and raise hopes of a strong 2015.

Quarterly GDP beat not only the consensus forecast for 0.3 percent in a Reuters poll, but also all individual estimates. The overall growth rate for 2014 overshot the Statistics Office's January estimate of 1.5 percent.

Unadjusted data showed the economy grew by 1.6 percent on the year in the fourth quarter, also far exceeding the consensus forecast in a Reuters poll for 1.0 percent growth. Third-quarter data growth was confirmed at a previously reported 0.1 percent, reports Reuters.

02:30pm Sun Pharma gains ahead of Q3 nos

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries will announce its third quarter earnings on Saturday. According to a  poll, net profit of the drug maker may rise 7 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,638 crore during October-December quarter, impacted by lower operating performance.

Revenue is seen climbing 13.1 percent to Rs 4,879 crore in December quarter from Rs 4,312 crore in corresponding quarter of last fiscal.

During the quarter, its US subsidiary Taro Pharmaceutical Industries had reported a 28.7 percent growth in bottomline and 11.3 percent growth in revenue.

Hence, analysts expect US business growth to be similar to second quarter (largely led by Taro) at 13-15 percent Y-o-Y. However, ex-US revenue may be weak as drugs such as Doxycycline could continue recording a decline. In Q2FY15, US Business was up 14.8 percent Y-o-Y to USD 481 million.

Domestic sales growth, however, is expected to be maintained at around 19-20 percent in Q3. In previous quarter (Q2), domestic formulations were steady with a growth 21 percent at Rs 1,154 crore Y-o-Y (constituted 23 percent of sales).

02:00pm Market Check

The market continued to trade sharply higher with the Sensex rising 304.68 points or 1.06 percent to 29109.78 and the Nifty climbing 98.80 points or 1.13 percent to 8810.35. The broader markets gained too; the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rose 0.9 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.

About 1424 shares have advanced, 1344 shares declined, and 196 shares are unchanged on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Abhay Laijawala of Deutsche Equities is bullish on the market going into the Budget, saying sectors like infrastructure, banks & financials and urban consumption will be key beneficiaries.

Big boy SBI surged 7 percent after posting a stellar set of earnings in the third quarter. Asset quality remained stable as fresh slippages and restructuring came in lower than Q2 for India's largest public sector bank.

Another strong set of earnings came in from Mahindra & Mahindra. The stock traded 4 percent higher after its third quarter earnings beat estimates. An exceptional gain of Rs 300 crore aided profit.

State-run oil retailer Bharat Petroleum Corporation has turned profitable with the third quarter net profit at Rs 551 crore against loss of Rs 1,089 crore in same quarter last fiscal. Higher other income and lower finance cost boosted profitability. The stock gained 2.5 percent.

Global cues were strong today as most Asian markets posted gains. Europe too opened in the green extending yesterday's rally. Brent crude held above USD 59 a barrel, up almost 2 percent this week so far.

Sensex, Nifty open firm; SBI gains 2%, BHEL drags 5%

9:55 am Market outlook: Aggregate earnings of Sensex companies for FY16 is likely to see a downgrade, says Rajat Rajgarhia, MD-Institutional Equities, Motilal Oswal Securities.

On the positive side, earnings growth for next year could be in excess of 15 percent, says Rajgarhia in interview the sidelines of the Make in India conference hosted by Motilal Oswal.

He does not see any earnings recovery for the next couple of quarters, and sees FY15 earnings growing 5 percent against 10-11 percent estimated earlier.

At the broader level, earnings in the December quarter are down 3-5 percent, he says.

9:45 am Result poll: SBI will announce its third quarter earnings on Friday. Profit for the quarter is expected to jump 45.7 percent year-on-year to Rs 3,254 crore supported by treasury income, fee income and operating profit. The sharp rise in profitability is also on account of low base in the year-ago period. Profit in Q3FY14 fell 34 percent Y-o-Y to Rs 2,234 crore as provisions jumped 56 percent Y-o-Y to Rs 4,150 crore. Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest expended, may increase 8 percent to Rs 13,654 crore during October-December quarter from Rs 12,640 crore in same quarter last fiscal.

9:30 am Brokerages on BHEL: Most brokerages are negative on the stock and lowered target price. However, the stock closed with a gain of 5 percent in yesterday’s trade even after the earnings were announced before market closing.

Due to extremely weak December quarter, JP Morgan is underweight on BHEL, cutting target price by 25 percent at Rs 200. The brokerage has also reduced its FY15 and FY16 EPS estimates by 27 percent and 13 percent respectively on the back of severe execution challenges and possibility of deferral of order prospects. It states that either BHEL’s order book is slow moving or non-moving.

BHEL’s outstanding order book was at Rs 1,03,900 crore as on December 2014, increased marginally from Rs 1,03,700 crore in Q2FY15 and Rs 1,00,600 crore in Q3FY14.

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The market has opened higher. The Sensex is up 71.07 points at 28876.17 and the Nifty is up 29.95 points at 8741.50. About 464 shares have advanced, 144 shares declined, and 136 shares are unchanged.

SBI is up 2 percent while ICICI Bank, Hero, Dr Reddy's Labs, and Sun Pharma. BHEL is down 5 percent and Coal India, ONGC, Infosys and M&M are losers in the Sensex.

The Indian rupee gained in early trade. It rose 18 paise to 62.13 per dollar against 62.31 Thursday.The dollar drops across the board after weaker-than-expected US economic data.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity said, “Today local indices are expected to trade strong as Asian markets have already opened in green taking cues from the news of a ceasefire in Ukraine. Rupee is also expected to appreciate with the support of strong local equities. Range for the day is seen between 61.90-62.70/dollar.”

Meanwhile, Asia was mixed in morning trade as a stronger yen curbed risk appetite in Japan.

The stocks in the US closed sharply higher as investors cheered a cease-fire agreement between Russia and Ukraine, amid firming oil prices and strong earnings reports. The Nasdaq closed up 1.18 percent to 4,857 its highest level since march 2000.

On the economic data front in the US, retail sales for January came in weaker than expected, down 0.8 percent and near December’s 0.9 percent decline. Jobless claims were at 304,000 last week, more than expected and an increase of 25,000 from last week

In Europe equities ended higher with investors cheering a peace deal agreed between Ukraine and Russia. The German DAX - which is exposed to the Russian market - ended up 1.5 percent higher. A slew of corporate earnings also helped to boost sentiment in the region.

In commodities, Nymex Crude rose above USD 51 per barrel as news of deeper industry spending cuts and a sinking u-s dollar revived buying. Brent crude rises to USD 59 per barrel.

From precious metals space, gold remained largely unchanged, hovering around USD 1220 an ounce. The metal is headed for its third weekly drop.

Nifty races towards 8650, Sensex up over 200 pts; L&T gains

1:30 pm Buzzing: Shares of JP Associates fell over 3 percent intraday after its losses further widened in December quarter. Its net loss widened to Rs 116.09 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2014. The total income from operations during the quarter came down to Rs 2,583.35 crore, from over Rs 3,163.64 crore in the same quarter of the previous financial year.

Morgan Stanley says collapse in the real estate division led to weakness in revenue and margins. The EBIT margin fell 670 basis points Y-o-Y to 22.9 percent for the quarter, the lowest level in the last seven quarters.

Given the pain across divisions, the company reported its worst quarterly EBIDTA margins in a decade at 16.3 percent (down 720 bps Y-o-Y) in Q3 FY15, resulting in a decrease of 43 percent Y-o-Y in EBITDA.

Macquarie maintains underperform rating on the stock with a target of Rs 27.30. Despite recent steps by the company on de-leveraging, Macquarie believes much more needs to be achieved for the company to have a comfortable balance sheet position.

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Buying interest seems to continue in the market with Sensex gaining 227.34 points at 28582.96. The Nifty is up 73.10 points at 8638.65. About 1501 shares have advanced, 1011 shares declined, and 208 shares are unchanged.

L&T, ICICI Bank, Maruti, Axis Bank and NTPC are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are ONGC, BHEL, Bharti Airtel, M&M and Tata Motors.

Gold inched up as the dollar took a breather after recent sharp gains and as caution prevailed in financial markets regarding Greece's future in the euro zone. The uncertainty over Greece debt issues has somewhat helped gold in recent days, but the metal is still down nearly 4 percent so far this month as a strong dollar and expectations of an interest rate hike in the United States have hurt the metal. Economic and financial uncertainties tend to boost demand for gold, seen as a safe-haven investment. 

Sensex up over 100 pts, Nifty over 8550; SBI, Hindalco gain

9:50 am Buzzing: Shares of DLF skid 6 percent intraday after it posted disappointing December quarter results. The realty firm reported 9 percent decline in its consolidated net profit at Rs 131.79 crore for the quarter ended December on lower sales.

Its net profit stood at Rs 145.29 crore in the year-ago period. Income from operations fell by 5 percent at Rs 1,956.72 crore for the third quarter of this fiscal from Rs 2,058.42 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Besides lower sales, DLF's net profit fell because its other income dropped to Rs 123 crore during October-December quarter of this fiscal from Rs 531.78 crore in the year-ago period.

Finance cost, too, increased to Rs 648 crore from Rs 633 crore during the period under review.

9:40 am Delhi election results: AAP crosses the halfway mark, all set to form government in Delhi. AAP leads in 53 seats, BJP in 10 seats. Congress not ahead on even a single seat. t's day of hope, the passion is winning Delhi, says AAP leader Yogendra Yadav. AAP's SK Bagga leading in Krishna Nagar by 1065 votes against BJP's Kiran Bedi.

9:30 am FII view: Abhay Laijawala, Deutsche Equities says the brokerage believes that the recent trend of strong inflows into equity mutual funds is indicative of a long-pending shift in the nature of Indian households' savings, from physical assets to financial assets.

“As India's macroeconomic distortions correct, non-productive physical assets would continue to lose their allure, relative to financial assets,” he adds.

Deutsche believes that the financial sector should be the biggest beneficiary of this transition, says Laijawala. Hence the brokerage maintains financials as the biggest overweight in model portfolio.

9:22 am Market check: The market quickly recovered from early weakness. The Sensex is up 123.55 points at 28350.94 and the Nifty is up 36.95 points at 8563.30. About 695 shares have advanced, 450 shares declined, and 149 shares are unchanged. Hindalco is up 3 percent. Tata Motors, Tata Steel, SBI and Axis Bank are gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Dr Reddy's Labs, Tata Power, L&T, ONGC and Bharti Airtel.

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The market is weak as the Nifty opened below the 8500-mark but quickly pull up strength. The 50-share index is up 5.45 points at 8531.80. The Sensex is down 101.37 points at 28126.02. About 363 shares have advanced, 478 shares declined, and 151 shares are unchanged.

Hindalco, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Infosys and HUL are gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are L&T, Tata Power, ICICI Bank, Hero and NTPC.

The Indian rupee has opened flat at 62.15 per dollar on Tuesday against previous day's closing value of 62.17 a dollar.

The dollar slips somewhat after a payrolls-inspired rally ran out of steam. The dollar index is a tad softer but not far from an 11-year peak scaled last month.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity said, "We expect rupee to depreciate today as Asian markets have already opened on a weak note which will force local equities to trade low. Also, the gain in dollar may hurt the rupee. The USD-INR is expected to be in a range of 61.70-62.70/dollar."

Stocks in the US closed lower despite oil settling higher, as concerns about Greece continued to weigh. The CBoE VIX closed around 18 levels.

In Europe too equities closed lower, as negotiations over Greece’s bailout program continued and the crisis in Ukraine re-escalated

Greek stocks tumbled 5 percent and bond yields spiked after Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said his election pledge to restructure Greece’s debt was "irrevocable" in his inaugural speech

In commodities, crude prices dipped slightly with Brent crude trading below USD 58 dollars per barrel. Meanwhile, the OPEC has hiked its demand forecast for 2015, predicting that low prices would help boost demand later in the year. However, the organization still said that oil demand growth was "yet to show any signs of accelerating."

From precious metals space, gold prices remained largely unchanged at around USD 1240 an ounce.