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.