Sensex, Nifty consolidate; HUL up 2%, ONGC falls 2%

The market is consolidating with the Nifty hovering around 8750 levels. IT stocks support while banks continue to weigh. The Nifty is up 27.50 points at 8751.20 and the Sensex is up 115.24 points at 28998.35. About 1237 shares have advanced, 1028 shares declined, and 197 shares are unchanged.

Wipro, Axis Bank, HUL and Infosys are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Tata Power, ONGC, GAIL, M&M and Sesa Sterlite.

Globally, Asian markets are mixed. China is higher as the People's Bank of China reduced the reserve requirement by 50 bps, the first cut in 2 years. However, volatility in oil prices and worries about Greek debt after the European Central Bank banned the use of Greek government bonds as collateral weighs.

Nifty ends below 8750, Sensex loses 117 pts; BHEL, SBI fall

03:30 Market close

The market ended in red. The Sensex is down 117.03 points at 28883.11 and the Nifty slipped 32.85 points at 8723.70. About 1332 shares have advanced, 1573 shares declined, and 236 shares are unchanged.

Axis Bank was down over 4 percent while BHEL, SBI, L&T and TCS were down 2-4 percent. On the gaining side were Hindalco, Tata Power, ONGC, Sesa Sterlite and Coal India.

03:15 pm Brokerages on TVS Motor

Shares of TVS Motor rallied 4 percent intraday though it missed street expectations on bottomline and operational front but topline was in line during October-December quarter. The two-wheeler maker’s net profit jumped 31.1 percent year-on-year to Rs 90.2 crore in Q3FY15 as against expected growth of 38 percent.

Brokerages remain bullish on the stock and suggest buying. Goldman Sachs reiterates buy rating with a target of Rs 345 per share. It reasons that Q3 margins were impacted by provisioning of Rs 16 crore pending government’s clarification on possible restriction on input VAT credit and the management is confident of 14-14.5 percent market share in Q4 (13.6 percent in Q3).

Macquarie maintains outperform rating with a target price of Rs 340 per share and expects it to register a 54 percent EPS CAGR over FY14-17E. It feels TVS Motor is well placed, given its high exposure to fast-growing segments like scooters (25 percent of revenues), premium motorcycles (11 percent), and exports (21 percent), along with a strong launch pipeline.

03:00 pm Result

Tata Power has turned profitable with consolidated net at Rs 198 crore during October-December quarter aganist loss of Rs 74.91 crore in the year-ago period.

The profit beat street expectations supported by forex gain while topline was in line. Profit was expected at Rs 134 crore for the quarter. Net sales increased 1.2 percent to Rs 8,806.6 crore in the quarter ended December 2014 from Rs 8,700 crore in same quarter last fiscal.

"Power business grew 9.8 percent year-on-year to Rs 6,545.7 crore with EBIT rising 5 percent but coal revenue fell 18 percent to Rs 2,104 crore with EBIT surging 17.4 times in Q3FY15," said the company in its filing.

02:30pm Raghuram Rajan says

Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan said that inflation was still a concern but added the deflationary global environment gave the central bank some elbow room with monetary policy.

"We still have concerns about inflation. Given the deflationary environment elsewhere, it's actually easier for us because we are not fighting inflation in an environment where inflation is picking up elsewhere," Rajan said in a conference call with analysts.

"So I think we are still in conventional monetary policy territory."

The comments come a day after the central bank held interest rates steady at 7.75 percent, leaving its next move probably until after the government presents its annual budget at the end of this month, reports Reuters.

02:00pm Market Check

The market remained lacklustre in afternoon trade as the Sensex hovered around 29000 level. HDFC twins, metals, healthcare and PSU oil stocks gained while banks, capital goods and auto stocks were under pressure.

The Sensex rose 7.09 points to 29007.23 and the Nifty fell 0.60 points to 8755.95. About 1372 shares have advanced, 1410 shares declined, and 239 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

There have been too many earnings disappointments for the December quarter, leading some investors to question if the India story has been hyped, says Manishi Raychaudhuri, MD and Asian Equity Strategist at BNP Securities.

In an interview says the Indian economy had already bottomed out four quarters ago and that growth prospects look much better compared to other economies. Falling commodity prices is one of the key cushions for the Indian economy, says Raychaudhuri.

ONGC was among the top gainers on the Nifty today, up 3 percent. The government is moving to iron out the subsidy sharing formula and fast track the ONGC divestment. Sources say, the oil ministry asked the government not to impose any subsidy burden on upstream companies if crude prices stayed at or less than USD 60 per barrel.

Cairn India gained 4 percent today in addition to 4 percent rally in previous session post 19 percent jump in crude oil prices in last 4 sessions. Canara Bank and Wockhardt rallied 3 percent and 7.5 percent post good third quarter earnings.

Global markets were a mixed bag today. Asian markets like Japan gained almost 2 percent while European markets like Germany fell 0.5 percent. In commodities, crude prices dropped around 2 percent after 4-day rally.   

Sensex, Nifty flat; Axis Bank dips again, Crompton tanks 6%

The market remained listless in morning trade. The Sensex rose 21.32 points to 29021.46 and the Nifty advanced 5.85 points to 8762.40. The broader markets too are flat in trade.

About 1083 shares have advanced, 808 shares declined, and 200 shares are unchanged on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

State-run oil & gas explorer ONGC rallied nearly 3 percent as government moves to iron-out the subsidy sharing formula and fast-track ONGC divestment. Oil ministry asked government not to impose any subsidy burden on upstream companies if crude prices stay at or less than USD 60 a barrel.

Sun Pharma climbed over 2 percent followed by HDFC, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Sesa Sterlite, Tata Steel and GAIL with more than 1 percent gain.

However, Axis Bank fell another 3 percent after lossing 5 percent in previous session. Its rivals ICICI Bank and State Bank of India lost further, down 1-1.6 percent. TCS declined 1 percent.

Hero Motocorp shed more than a percent on earnings miss. Revenue in Q3 fell 0.5 percent with margins contracting 100 basis points to 12 percent on higher promotion/branding costs. Goldman Sachs cut FY15-18 EPS by 5-14 percent and target price lowered to Rs 2529.

Crompton Greaves tanked 6 percent on disappointing results, both standalone and consolidated results show year-on-year pressure on the topline and there was continued weakness in subsidiaries. JP Morgan cut FY16/17e earnings by around 11 percent and lowered target price to Rs 195 from Rs 215.

Sensex, Nifty under pressure; Reliance, ONGC, Bharti up

1:55 pm SEBI: Capital markets regulator Sebi has sought clarification from the merchant banker of State Bank of Travancore on the firm's proposed Rs 485-crore rights issue. Without disclosing the details, Sebi said "clarifications (are) awaited from lead manager" for the proposed rights issue. In rights issue, shares are issued to existing investors based on their holdings at a pre-determined price and ratio.

According to the latest weekly update to the processing status of draft offer documents filed with Sebi, the regulator said clarifications are awaited on the proposed rights issue of State Bank of Travancore as on January 30 this year. The status is updated on a weekly basis by the regulator and the next update of the status, as on February 6, would be uploaded on Sebi's website the next working day. Sebi said it might issue observations on State Bank of Travancore document within 30 days from the date of receipt of satisfactory reply from the lead merchant bankers to the clarification or additional information sought from them.

1:40 pm Market outlook: The government needs to move faster on the divestment process, as institutional investors are concerned about the government’s approach to the fiscal deficit, feels Gautam Trivedi, MD & CEO, Religare Capital. In an interview, Trivedi says market is having high expectations from the Railway Budget as well as Union Budget. On the positive side, he says foreign investor interest remains strong even as domestic institutions have been booking profits. He expects corporate earnings to grow 10-15 percent this year. Trivedi is cautious on banks, particularly state-owned banks, as he feels the fourth quarter numbers could be even worse than the third quarter ones. HDFC Bank is his top pick in the banking space.

1:30 pm Result: NHPC disappointed street on Tuesday by reporting a 30.6 percent decline (year-on-year) in profit at Rs 180 crore due to higher interest cost.

Profit was expected at Rs 300 crore on revenue of Rs 1,378 crore for the quarter, according to the average of estimates of analysts.

Net sales of the state-run hydro power generation company grew 3.9 percent to Rs 1,167 crore during October-December quarter from Rs 1,123.4 crore in same quarter last fiscal.

Operating profit declined 10.1 percent on yearly basis to Rs 561 crore and margin slipped 740 basis points to 48.1 percent in the quarter gone by. Analysts had expected operating profit at Rs 757 crore and margin at 54.9 percent for the quarter.

Don't miss: PNB tanks 7% on Q3 NPA pinch; UBS downgrades to neutral

The market continues to be under pressure. The Sensex is down 173.79 points or 0.6 percent at 28948.48, and the Nifty is down 54.40 points or 0.6 percent at 8743.00. About 1156 shares have advanced, 1450 shares declined, and 259 shares are unchanged.

Sesa Sterlite, Reliance, Tata Motors, ONGC and Bharti are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Axis Bank, Bajaj Auto, M&M, HDFC and SBI.

Signalling strong demand for government bonds, overseas investors have put in bids worth Rs 813 crore, oversubscribing a Rs 310 crore auction for debt securities by more than two times.

The auction was held at 'nse-ebid' platform for allocation of investment limits in government debt securities worth Rs 310 crore (USD 50.2 million). The auction attracted bids for Rs 813 crore (USD 131.64 million), as per the bourse.

At the end of two-hour auction last evening, as many as 43 bids were made in the auction, of which 21 were declared successful. The debt auction quotas give overseas investors the right to invest in debt up to the limit purchased.

Foreign investors have so far put in over Rs 23,000 crore in the debt market in 2015. The equity market has also seen similar trends with overseas fund inflows of more than Rs 18,244 crore since the beginning of the year. 

Nifty ends below 8800; Axis up 5%, ITC & HUL fall 2%

03:30pm Market close

The market succumbed to profit booking pressures as the Nifty could not retain holding above the 8800-level. The 50-share index was down 11.50 points at 8797.40 while the Sensex slipped 60.68 points at 29122.27. About 1618 shares have advanced, 1298 shares declined, and 256 shares are unchanged.

Axis Bank gained over 5 percent, while Hindalco was 4 percent. Among the gainers were Wipro, L&T and GAIL. Bharti Airtel lost over 3 percent, Dr Reddy's Labs, HUL, ICICI and ITC were other laggards.

03:00pm Cut in sugare prices

Sugar prices eased by Rs 10 per quintal at the wholesale sugar market in the national capital today due to huge stocks position following ample supplies from mills against on subdued demand. Marketmen said besides falling demand from bulk consumers despite ongoing wedding season, mounting stocks in the market following persistent supplies from mills mainly put pressure on sweetener prices. Sugar ready M-30 and S-30 prices were lower by Rs 10 each to Rs 2,780-3,010 and Rs 2,770-2,990 per quintal.

02:50pm Will RBI cut repo rate tomorrow?

The Reserve Bank of India will announce its credit policy on February 3 after governor Raghuram Rajan surprised the street with an out of turn repo rate cut of 25 bps on January 15, 2015 on the premise that inflation number has come down and would remain largely range bound in the next few months.

Against this backdrop, is there a scope of further rate cut tomorrow?

A 55 percent respondents expect the RBI to announce three more rate cuts in 2015 taking repo to 7 percent by the end of the year; 35 percent expect only two more cuts this year while 10 percent see only one more cut coming their way.

A majority also said the RBI will lower its CPI forecast for March to under 6 percent while 35 percent expect RBI to keep March CPI forecast unchanged at 6 percent; only 20 percent see RBI cutting it to below 5.5 percent.

02:30pm Payment bank licence

Telecom investor Aditya Birla Nuvo and retailer Future Group were among the first big names to apply for licenses to run so-called payments banks, under rules meant to put basic banking within the reach of hundreds of millions.

Monday is the deadline for applications to run payments banks - which cannot lend - but also for permits to run small finance banks.

Indian authorities, including the RBI which will award the licenses, hope the permits will further financial inclusion, in a country where nearly half the population does not have access to formal banking.

Aditya Birla Nuvo, which is the biggest shareholder in India's third-biggest cellular carrier Idea Cellular Ltd , said it plans to own 51 percent of the payments bank, while Idea will own the remainder. Idea can later raise its holding to 60 percent.

Future Group, one of India's biggest retailers, also said it had applied on Monday for a payments bank permit.

Top Indian telecommunications carrier Bharti Airtel Ltd has said it would apply, reports Reuters.

02:00pm Market Check

The market remained volatile with a negative bias in afternoon trade while midcaps outperformed. The Sensex fell 107.51 points to 29075.44 and the Nifty declined 26.05 points to 8782.85.

However, the BSE Midcap Index gained 0.5 percent and Smallcap climbed 1 percent. About 1555 shares have advanced, 1231 shares declined, and 246 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

Ajay Argal of Barings Asset Management says he remains positive on Indian equities at current levels. Market is not very expensive from a 3-4 years time horizon, he adds.

Shares of ICICI Bank, ITC, HUL, Bharti Airtel and Dr Reddy's Labs slipped 2-4 percent whereas Axis Bank, L&T, Wipro and Hindalco gained 2-4 percent.

Auto sales for January showed weakness for 2-wheeler sector. Bajaj Auto reported a 9 percent drop in January auto sales while TVS Motor posted just a 1.1 percent Y-o-Y growth in sales. On the other hand, Maruti recorded a 14 percent jump in total sales led by the near doubling in export sales. Eicher Motors too gained post a 25 percent rise in total sales.

HCL Technologies added another 5 percent to Friday's rally as brokerages appeared bullish on the stock. CLSA raised target price to Rs 2,200 and expects to see continued earnings surprises & re-rating potential. Citi too raised the target to Rs 2,175 on their sole 'buy ' call in the Indian IT services space.

Sun Pharma and Ranbaxy traded at all-time highs. The US Federal Trade Commission has given a conditional nod to the USD 4 billion merger based on divestment of anti-bacterial drug. The merger now just needs approval from Punjab and Haryana High Court which will be hearing on the merger today.

In macro data, HSBC manufacturing PMI indicated the economy is expanding but at a slower pace with the figure slowing to a 3-month low of 52.9 in January 2015 against 54.5 in December 2014.

Nifty rise above 8800, Sensex flat; Axis & Wipro gain 3%

1:45 pm Market check: The market recovers a bit as the Nifty manages to rise above the 8800-level. The 50-share index is up 2.00 points at 8810.90. The Sensex is down 10.85 points at 29172.10.  About 1557 shares have advanced, 1163 shares declined, and 231 shares are unchanged.

Hindalco is up 4 percent while Axis Bank and Wipro gain 3 percent each. GAIL & L&T are up 1.5 percent.

1:30 pm FII View: Shane Lee Director, Economist & Strategist-Equity Research, CIMB says the expectations around India's growth is worrisome since the only way it can pick up is through investments, which at the moment looks sluggish.  Lee says he is overweight on financials and consumer discretionaries in India but  underweight on cement.  However, he says Indian equities may not repeat the tops achieved last year. He has kept a Nifty target of 5500 this year.

Speaking about US market, Lee said the US GDP numbers may force the Fed to push back its interest rate raising programme. However, a lot of capital flew into US bond market over the last few weeks.

Don't miss: Future Retail up 12% as it applies for payment bank license

Profit booking continues on Dalal Street dragging the indices sharply. The Sensex is down 190.68 points or 0.6 percent at 28992.27. The Nifty slips 50.20 points or 0.6 percent at 8758.70. About 1504 shares have advanced, 1152 shares declined, and 242 shares are unchanged.

Bharti Airtel, Dr Reddy's Labs and ICICI Bank are down 3 percent while Bajaj Auto and HUL are other losers in the Sensex. Among the gainers are Hindalco, Wipro, GAIL, Sun Pharma and TCS.