Sensex flat; Bank Nifty at 1-month high, Asian Paints up 7%

4:00 pm FII view: Julie Dickson, Ashmore Investment Management believes now is a great time to invest in emerging markets. According to her, EMs like India, China, Brazil have already taken a huge hit this year and so, now there is fantastic opportunity to invest in them. "The cycle is going to continue in favour of emerging markets. I would tell investors get in while the going is good and get in while things are cheap," she says in an interview on CNBC-TV18. Meawhile, Dickson believes the delay in Federal tapering and the events in the US are likely to create some volatility and uncertainty in the short-term. Also, she expects investors, whether they are hedge funds, private individuals or even institutions to come back into the EMs.

3:50 pm Market closing: The market ended volatile trading session on a flat note. The Nifty ended above 6200, up 15.60 points at 6204.95. The Sensex closed up 11.00 points at 20893.89. About 1440 shares have advanced, 980 shares declined, and 156 shares are unchanged. Capital goods stocks were star of the day with L&T leading the pack with a gain of 6 percent on good September quarter results. Other big gainers include Maruti, Hindalco, Tata Steel and Sesa Sterlite. Meanwhile, technology, FMCG and realty stocks were major laggards of the day. Jindal Steel, ITC, TCS, BHEL and Bharti Airtel were top losers in the Sensex.

3:40 pm Analysis: Banks are becoming the main drivers of Indian shares, with the Bank Nifty up 11.8 percent in October as of Friday's close, compared with a 7.7 percent gain for the broader Nifty, reports Reuters. That marks a second consecutive month of gains. Analysts say gains in banking shares have also been spurred by an initial batch of earnings results in the sector showing stable margins and asset quality that met expectations. By contrast, gains in IT shares have been slower recently. The sector had been the key driver in markets.

3:20 pm FII View: The ongoing rally in global equities will lose momentum going forward, feels Mohammed Kazmi, Emerging Markets Research, RBS. The current phase of investor appetite for risk assets is will be only in the near-term, he says. However, emerging markets will continue to see inflows on the back of a pick up in global growth, Kazmi says. EM funds are starting to look as an attractive investment option, he tells CNBC-TV18. He also sees EM equities performing well despite the possible tapering of monthly asset purchase programme by the US Federal Reserve. However, fixed income instruments in EMs may be impacted due to the tapering, he adds.

3:10 pm Results: Asian Paints' consolidated net profit jumps to Rs 327 crore in the September quarter compared to Rs 239.1 crore year-on-year. Net sales, during the period, stood at Rs 3084 crore (Y-o-Y). Analysts on an average expect consolidated profit after tax to rise 9.3 percent year-on-year to Rs 261 crore in the quarter gone by, according to a CNBC-TV18 poll. The stock is up 7.5 percent on the BSE.

The market remained choppy in afternoon trade. The Sensex is down 13.99 points at 20868.90 while the Nifty is up 8.75 points at 6198.10. The broader markets continue to outperform benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising between 0.7-1 percent. Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by 1308 to 977 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Meanwhile, the rupee fell 21 paise to 61.48 against the US dollar. Ashish Parthasarthy, head treasurer, HDFC Bank expects rupee to be in 61-63/USD range for the next two months.  However, he says factors like oil demand and the sentiment around New Year, might swing the currency movement though the fear around the tapering of the monetary stimulus by the US Federal Reserve Bank is kind of gone away.

2:00 pm Result:  HDFC 's net profit jumped 10 percent to Rs 1266.33 crore in the July-September quarter as compared to Rs 1151.12 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal. During the period, its net interest income (NII) was at Rs 1579 crore. As of September 30, 2013, the loan book stood at Rs 1,84,886 crore as against Rs 1,55,128 crore year-on-year. Loans sold during the preceding twelve months amounted to Rs 3,792 crores. "The growth in individual loan book, after adding back loans sold is 29 percent (26 percent net of loans sold). The growth in the total loan book inclusive of loans sold is 22 percent (19 percent net of loans sold)," the company said in a release.

1:50 pm FII view: The ongoing rally in global equities will lose momentum going forward, feels Mohammed Kazmi, Emerging Markets Research, RBS. The current phase of investor appetite for risk assets is will be only in the near-term, he says. However, emerging markets will continue to see inflows on the back of a pick up in global growth, Kazmi says. EM funds are starting to look as an attractive investment option, he tells CNBC-TV18. He also sees EM equities performing well despite the possible tapering of monthly asset purchase programme by the US Federal Reserve. However, fixed income instruments in EMs may be impacted due to the tapering, he adds.

1:40 pm Results: Zee Entertainment Enterprises beat street with second quarter (July-September) results on every parameter. Consolidated net profit rose 26 percent year-on-year to Rs 236 crore, aided by other income and advertising and subscription revenues. Total income from operations grew 15.4 percent to Rs 1,101 crore in the quarter gone by. According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, analysts on an average had expected the Mumbai-based media conglomerate to report net profit of Rs 205 crore on revenues of Rs 1,050 crore.

1:30 pm Buzzer: Persistent Systems shares gained 4.6 percent in intraday trade to touch a record high of Rs 754.05 as it reported strong results in July-September quarter after dull June quarter. Profit after tax rose 6.5 percent sequentially (36.1 percent on yearly basis) to Rs 60.8 crore in the quarter gone by, led by strong IP business. "We are delighted with our excellent growth in revenue in the second quarter that has surpassed the overall industry growth rate," Anand Deshpande, chairman, managing director and CEO said.

1:20 pm Update: MCX Stock Exchange has begun search for a new managing director and CEO to head the bourse, whose group entities remain embroiled in a major crisis emanating from Rs 5,600-crore payment default at NSEL. MCX-SX was set up by Jignesh Shah-led Financial Technologies group, which has also promoted National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) and commodity bourse MCX, among others. In a public announcement, MCX-SX today invited application from "suitably qualified and experienced" candidates for the post of Managing Director and CEO. While renewing MCX-SX's licence for another one year, capital markets regulator Sebi last month asked the exchange to set up a panel of independent directors to oversee its operations in the wake of questions being raised about 'fit and proper' status of its promoters.

The market is losing ground dragged by technology stocks. The Sensex is down 70.09 points at 20812.80, and the Nifty slips 14.90 points to 6174.45. About 1200 shares have advanced, 890 shares declined, and 163 shares are unchanged. IT stocks are under heavy selling pressure led by TCS (down 3 percent) and Infosys while FMCG stocks are also weak ( ITC is down over 2 percent). Other losers in the Sensex are Jindal Steel and BHEL . However, capital goods stocks led by L&T (up 5.5 percent) and realty stocks are lending support to the indices. HDFC and Asian Paints will report numbers today. HDFC's net interest income is seen 16 percent higher year-on-year while low non interest income is expected to hurt the net profit. The markets will watch for the net interest margins. Asian Paints is expected to clock in about 12 percent growth in net sales but margins may remain subdued.

12:56pm Market Update The market fell marginally on profit booking. The Sensex is down 77.16 points at 20805.73, and the Nifty is down 14.55 points at 6174.80. Jindal Steel , TCS and ITC are the major losers among frontliners, falling 2-3 percent followed by BHEL , Infosys , HDFC, HDFC Bank and Bharti Airtel with 1-1.6 percent loss.

12:45pm Persistent Systems  hits record high Persistent Systems shares rallied 4.6 percent in intraday trade to touch a record high of Rs 754.05 on the BSE after reported strong results in July-September quarter. Profit after tax rose 6.5 percent sequentially (36.1 percent on yearly basis) to Rs 60.8 crore in the quarter gone by, led by strong IP business. "We are delighted with our excellent growth in revenue in the second quarter that has surpassed the overall industry growth rate," Anand Deshpande, chairman, managing director and CEO said. Rupee revenues rose 21 percent quarter-on-quarter (32.3 percent year-on-year) to Rs 432.37 crore while dollar revenues grew 8.6 percent Q-o-Q (14 percent Y-o-Y) to USD 68.45 million during September quarter, driven by intellectual property (IP) business. IP led revenue jumped 38 percent Q-o-Q to USD 13.10 million in second quarter.

12:35pm Stocks In News HDFC and Asian Paints will report second quarter numbers today. HDFC's NII is seen 16 percent higher year-on-year while low non interest income is expected to hurt the net profit. The market will watch for the net interest margin as it fell below 4 percent in June quarter. Asian Paints is expected to clock in about 12 percent growth in net sales, but margins may remain subdued. Unitech is up nearly 3 percent on newspaper reports that the company has leased 8,10,000 square feet of space in its under construction Gurgaon IT special economic zone to Accenture. The deal will give Unitech rental income of Rs 1000 crore over 15 years. Motherson Sumi rallied 3 percent as the company will consider a bonus issue on November 1.

12:25pm Results Impact Federal Bank surged nearly 10 percent after reporting strong Q2 earnings. Asset quality improved with gross bad loans falling and margins rising 20 basis points to 3.3 percent. The management in a boardroom said that they expect to maintain margins at current level. Petronet LNG lost 3 percent as second quarter earnings missed expectations with profit falling 19 percent sequentially. Nomura expects the company to also struggle in the third quarter as short-term LNG demand remains weak. Also the full quarterly impact of the Kochi terminal startup will be seen in third quarter.

12:12pm The market is directionless in noon trade Monday amid positive Asian cues. Major Asian markets like Shanghai, Nikkei and Hang Seng gained between 0.5-1.4 percent. The Sensex is down 36.12 points at 20846.77 and the Nifty is down 1.65 points at 6187.70. About 1171 shares advanced while 747 shares declined on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The market still has some juice left after the recent run up, feels Saurabh Mukherjea, CEO of Institutional Equities at Ambit Capital. He, however, cautions that investors should be choosy about what they buy from hereon. Mukherjea says much of the recent run up in share prices has to do with the market discounting a possible BJP victory in the 2014 general elections. "The elections are a long way away and there is many a slip between cup and lip. Negative news flow on that front, on the electoral front for the BJP could push the market back," he cautions. Mukherjea maintains the year-end target for the Sensex at 21,000. The Sensex may touch 25,000 over the next 1-2 years and retail investors can enter the market even now for the long-term, he says. He advises against investing in gold and realty now. Engineering and construction major L&T rallied 6 percent, reacting to second quarter earnings. Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Jefferies upgraded the stock. Deutsche Bank maintained its buy rating on the stock and has upped target price to 1,090 from Rs 965 earlier while Goldman Sachs increased consolidated earnings per share estimates for FY14-16 by up to 5 percent and upped target price to Rs 960. Among auto stocks, Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki gained 2-3 percent while in the metal space, Sesa Sterlite and Hindalco Industries jumped over 3 percent.

12:00 pm Market check: The Sensex is down 37.77 points at 20845.12, and the Nifty slips 2.50 points to 6186.85. About 1170 shares have advanced, 744 shares declined, and 138 shares are unchanged. L&T is up 6 percent on the BSE. Shares in Hindalco Industries gained 4.3 percent after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's office said he is satisfied with the outcome of the process of allocating coal blocks to certain companies.

11:50 am Buzzer: Shares of Federal Bank soared more than 19 percent in intraday trade on better-than-expected numbers in the quarter gone by. The private sector lender's second quarter (July-September) profit after tax rose 5 percent year-on-year to Rs 226 crore and net interest income increased to 8.4 percent Y-o-Y to Rs 548.4 crore. According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, analysts on an average had expected the bank to report net profit of Rs 162 crore and net interest income of Rs 528 crore for the quarter. Provisions fell 5 percent to Rs 128 crore in second quarter from Rs 134.5 crore in a year ago period while net interest margin climbed 17 basis points Y-o-Y to 3.30 percent.

11:40 am Update: JP Morgan assumes coverage of Cairn India with an "overweight" rating and a target price of Rs 400, from a "neutral" rating. Cairn offers high-margin production growth built around its key asset in the state of Rajasthan, but trades at a 50 percent discount to peers, the investment bank says.

11:30 am Market outlook: The market still has some juice left after the recent run up, feels Saurabh Mukherjea, CEO of Institutional Equities at Ambit Capital. He, however, cautions that investors should be choosy about what they buy from hereon. Mukherjea is advising investors to book profits in defensive sectors like IT, pharma and FMCG. He is negative on banks as well, as he expects the RBI to hike the repo rates once more, and this could hurt banks disproportionately. "I am focusing more on rotating it to small and midcaps and rotating it to cyclicals and stock specific bets. That is where the bulk of the upside now lies," he said in an interview to CNBC-TV18. Mukherjea maintains the year-end target for the Sensex at 21,000. The Sensex may touch 25,000 over the next 1-2 years and retail investors can enter the market even now for the long-term, he says. He advises against investing in gold and realty now.

11:20 am Brokerages views on L&T: There are upgrades by brokerages like Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Jefferies the stock. Deutsche Bank maintains buy rating on the stock and has upgraded target price to Rs 1,090 from Rs 965.  It says domestic revenue growth reversed its declining trend and operating cash flow turned positive in a challenging period. Goldman Sach has increased its consolidated earnings per share (EPS) for FY14e-16e up to 5 percent on improved order flow and execution. It has also hiked target price to Rs 960.

The market is consolidating with positive bias. The Sensex is up 12.95 points at 20895.84, and the Nifty up 10.70 points at 6200.05. About 1091 shares have advanced, 595 shares declined, and 100 shares are unchanged. Buoyed by September quarter results, L&T is the lead gainer in the Sensex, followed by Maruti, Hindalco, Tata Motors and Sesa Sterlite.  Top losers in the Sensex include TCS , ITC , Jindal Steel , HDFC and Bharti Airtel . Asian stocks kick off the week higher as investors take cues from the strong winds showing in the US and expectations on extended US monetary stimulus. Most Asian currencies were down against the US currency today as investors withdrew from emerging markets on caution ahead of the US non-farm payrolls data due tomorrow. Back home, the rupee fell marginally because of weaker Asian currencies and dollar purchases by banks and merchants for month-end import payments. Gilts are a tad higher on expectation that demand will remain strong due to absence of gilt auction this week.

10:59am Market Update The market remains choppy. The Sensex is down 10.96 points at 20871.93 while the Nifty is up 4.70 points at 6194.05. Among midcaps, Federal Bank rallied 9 percent post strong Q2 earnings. DB Realty , Sintex Industries , Sadbhav Engg and Punj Lloyd jumped 6-8 percent. In the smallcap space, Kewal Kiran , IFB Industries , Banco Products , Thomas Cook and HSIL advanced 7-9 percent.

10:55am L&T on fire Shares of L&T rallied over 5 percent on Monday, reacting positively to its September quarter results . Its net profit fell 14 percent year-on-year to Rs 978 crore, and sales rose a modest 10 percent to Rs 14509 crore. A CNBC-TV18 poll had estimated sales to grow 8.1 percent to Rs 14,266 crore. There are upgrades by brokerages like Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Jefferies on the stock. Deutsche Bank maintains buy rating on the stock and has upgraded target price to Rs 1,090 from Rs 965.  It says domestic revenue growth reversed its declining trend and operating cash flow turned positive in a challenging period. Goldman Sach has increased its consolidated earnings per share (EPS) for FY14e-16e up to 5 percent on improved order flow and execution. It has also hiked target price to Rs  960.

10:45am Cairn India gains 1% JP Morgan assumes coverage of Cairn India with an "overweight" rating and a target price of Rs 400 per share, from a "neutral" rating with a Rs 315 target price as of October 2011, reports Reuters. Cairn offers high-margin production growth built around its key asset in the state of Rajasthan, but trades at a 50 percent discount to peers, the investment bank report said.

10:35am UltraTech Cement recovers Shares of UltraTech Cement recovered on short covering. The stock fell around 5 percent in early trade on the BSE as its second quarter (July-September) earnings disappointed. During the period, its net profit fell 52 percent-higher-than-expected year-on-year to Rs 264.1 crore, impacted mainly by lower selling prices and subdued demand. "Cement demand remained sluggish on account of prolonged monsoon and low off take from the infrastructure and housing sectors," the company said in its release. Rupee depreciation and high diesel cost also have an impact on earnings. Net sales dropped 4.2 percent to Rs 4,502.1 crore in second quarter from Rs 4,699.4 crore in a year ago period.

10:25am HDFC to announce Q2 numbers today According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, analysts on an average expect profit after tax of HDFC to grow 10.5 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,272 crore and net interest income to rise 16 percent to Rs 1,607 crore in the quarter gone by. PAT will be affected by low non interest income, feel analysts. Watch out net interest margin of the company in September quarter, which fell below 4 percent mark in June quarter at 3.9 percent. Analysts expect asset quality to be maintained during the quarter while other income will be lower due to lower dividend income in the quarter gone by.

10:15am The market is completely listless in morning trade Monday after its a 467-point rally in previous session. Auto, metals, banks and capital goods stocks see buying interest while heavyweights are under pressure. The Sensex is down 7.91 points at 20874.98, and the Nifty is up 1.20 points  at 6190.55, but the broader markets outperformed benchmarks. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained nearly a percent as more than three shares advanced for every share declining on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Rajen Shah, Angel Stock Broking sees huge opportunity in the BSE midcap and smallcap space because a significant re-rating of that space is on the cards. "Some stocks like Asian Paints , TTK Prestige are quoting at very high price to earning (P/E) multiples of 40 times, 30 times respectively, whereas other stocks like Reliance Industries etc are quoting at low P/E valuations of 11 times FY15 earnings. The BSE midcap and smallcap stocks too are down 40-50 percent from the top," Shah elaborated. Maruti Suzuki topped the buying list among largecaps, rallying nearly 5 percent followed by L&T with 4 percent gains (after strong numbers in second quarter). Tata Motors , Hindalco Industries , Cipla and Mahindra & Mahindra surged 1.5-2 percent. However, TCS is the major loser, falling 2 percent while its rival Infosys declined 0.75 percent. HDFC and HDFC Bank lost nearly 1.5 percent. Index heavyweights Reliance Industries and ITC are down 0.3 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively.

10:00 Buzzer: Shares of UltraTech Cement fell around 5 percent intraday on the BSE as its second quarter (July-September) earnings disappointed. During the period, its net profit fell 52 percent-higher-than-expected year-on-year to Rs 264.1 crore, impacted mainly by lower selling prices and subdued demand. "Cement demand remained sluggish on account of prolonged monsoon and low off take from the infrastructure and housing sectors," the company said in its release. Rupee depreciation and high diesel cost also have an impact on earnings. Net sales dropped 4.2 percent to Rs 4,502.1 crore in second quarter from Rs 4,699.4 crore in a year ago period.

9:50 am Market outlook: Rajat Rajgarhia, head-Research, Motilal Oswal Securities believes investors take a stock specific view at this point. Speaking to CNBC-TV18 he says market is respecting the earnings momentum currently, so it will move wherever the earnings will do well, like technology, healthcare, telecom and consumer which have already done well. Rajgarhia further says that election momentum in the next one and half months at the state level will also push the market higher.

9:40 am Update: State-owned life insurer LIC has pared stake in IT major Infosys to 4.95 percent July-September by selling shares worth around Rs. 3,400 crore . The biggest institutional investor in the stock market had a 6.72 percent stake in Infosys during the April-June quarter. As on September 30, it fell to 4.95 percent as per the latest data available with the stock exchanges. During the January-March quarter, LIC's stake in the country's second largest software services exporter stood at 5.96 percent.

9:35 am Results: Asian Paints will be announcing its September quarter today. Its profit after tax is expected to increase by 9.3 percent, according to a CNBC-TV18 poll. Other companies which will announce second quarter results are HDFC, Karnataka Bank , M&M Financial, Zee Entertainment, Orbit Corporation , Dewan Housing , Geometric , JK Lakshmi Cements, Merck and Rallis India . 9:30 am FII view: Rakesh Arora of Macquarie feels quarterly results so far, have been largely supportive. "Most IT stocks broadly met high consensus expectations, but positive surprises were missing except in Infosys. Initial results from banks are encouraging and a rotation from IT to banks might be on the cards," he said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.  He continues to be buyers on all dips. Franklin Templeton believes positive global sentiment helped domestic equity markets rally towards the end of the week and large cap indices extended their YTD outperformance relative to mid/small cap stocks. "We believe that the pessimism around growth prospects is overdone and with the right policy mix, India should be able to take advantage of its long term advantages," it added.

The market has opened in the green terrain. The Sensex is up 64.94 points at 20947.83, and the Nifty up 12.65 points at 6202.00.  About 294 shares have advanced, 78 shares declined, and 22 shares are unchanged. L&T gains 3 percent on its September quarter results that were announced on Friday after market closed. Other gainers in the Sensex are Hindalco , GAIL , Tata Steel and ICICI Bank . Among the top losers are Coal India , HDFC Bank , TCS , M&M aand NTPC among others.  Meanwhile the rupee opened at 61.34 per dollar, down 7 paise from Friday's close of 61.27 per dollar. According to Agam Gupta of Standard Chartered, overall, currency markets are expected to remain in a range between 61.10-61.60/USD ahead of the crucial non-farm payroll data. The dollar fell to eight-and-a-half-month lows on expectations the US Federal Reserve may delay scaling back its monetary stimulus following this month's political battles over the budget. The euro-dollar rose to levels to 1.36, its highest levels since February and close to its 2013 peak of 1.371. In commodities, oil prices edge higher on strong, Q3 growth data from China, and a weakness in the US dollar which tends to push up commodities prices, with Brent at USD 110/bbl and Nymex at USD 101/bbl