Sensex, Nifty flex muscles with hefty gains; BHEL up 3%

4:00 pm Market opinion: Rural demand for consumer goods has been growing for some time now and a good monsoon will only boost the rural economy further by 1-2 percentage point, says Sanjay Singh, Director, Standard Chartered. The main slowdown which is in urban areas won't see any change. Rural segment sales contributes 35% to aggregate sales in FMCG sector.

In the largecap FMCG space, he likes both ITC and Hindustan Unilever ( HUL ), but prefers ITC over HUL. In the midcap space, he is bullish on Britannia on the back of soft agri commodity prices. Standard Chartered has buys only on two of the 15 stocks it covers.

3:50 pm Market closing: The market puts up a spectacular show to end November on a strong note. The Sensex closes up 257.02 points or 1.25 percent at 20791.93. The Nifty ends at 6176.10, up 84.25 points or 1.38 percent. About 1452 shares have advanced, 1016 shares declined, and 181 shares are unchanged.

3:40 pm World news: Standard & Poor's removed one of the euro zone's few remaining triple-A credit ratings on Friday, cutting the Netherlands to "AA+" while rewarding Spain for moves to reform public finances with an improved stable outlook.

S&P said the Dutch decision, which leaves Germany, Luxembourg and Finland as the only countries in the currency bloc with the top credit rating, was due to a worsening of growth prospects. Both Moody's and Fitch still rate the Netherlands as triple A.

3:30 pm RBI measures: Hopes are rising RBI could further remove emergency cash-tightening measures set over the summer as the rupee stabilises.

Analysts say the RBI could soon raise the amount banks can borrow from its liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) or the term repo facilities by relaxing the cap on borrowing up to 0.5 ercent of deposits.

The market puts up a strong show on the last trading day of November and the first day of a new series.

The Sensex is up 264.33 points or 1.29 percent at 20799.24, and the Nifty is up 84.80 points or 1.39 percent at 6176.65. About 1374 shares have advanced, 1008 shares declined, and 152 shares are unchanged.

Bank Nifty outperforms (up over 2 percent) with Bank of Baroda , SBI , Bank of India and ICICI Bank leading the charge.

Sesa Sterlite and BHEL gain over 4 percent. Cipla , SBI and ICICI Bnak are top gainers. On the losers side are M&M, Wipro and NTPC .

Most of Asian markets closed flat or negative today. The Nikkei was down half a percent but the yen stayed weak above 102 against the dollar.

03:00pm Market Update
Equity benchmarks continued to be firm. The Sensex gained 232.25 points or 1.13 percent to 20,767.16, and the Nifty rose 75.35 points or 1.24 percent to 6,167.20.

Among midcaps, Jubilant Life, Sadbhav Engg, Jaypee Infra, Trent and Era Infra Engg rallied 5-8 percent whereas JK Cement , Hathway Cable, EID Parry , Shree Renuka and Rajesh Exports lost 2-3.5 percent.

02:55pm Sugar stocks in focus

The panel on sugar headed by agriculture minister Sharad Pawar will meet on December 6 to discuss relief measures for sugar mills.

Chief ministers of affected states, finance minister, oil and food ministers will also be part of meeting.

Shares of Bajaj Hindusthan , Balrampur Chini Mills and Shree Renuka Sugars declined 2-3 percent.

02:45pm Alphageo spikes 5%
Alphageo (India) has secured a contract for acquisition of 2D and 3D seismic data from GAIL (India) for an estimated contract value of Rs 30.37 crore.

02:35pm Allahabad Bank does not have exposure to Jharkhand, Bihar SEBs

The Committee on Economic Affairs yesterday cleared a proposal to allow state electricity boards of Jharkhand, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh to convert their outstanding loans till March 2013 into bonds as part of an amendment to the discom debt restructuring package.

Shubhalakshmi Panse of Allahabad Bank is not worried. She says the bank does not have any term loan exposure to Jharkhand and Bihar. And while the bank has a very small exposure of Rs 28.08 crore to Andhra Pradesh, it is a performing asset and a very recent loan of a small quantum.

02:25pm Power Grid FPO to open on December 3

The floor price will be finalised today by an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM). CNBC-TV18 learns from sources that the demand for the issue has been strong so far and no major discount is expected on the offer price.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18 about the issue, CMD RN Nayak said, this FPO is for 17 percent company equity and includes 13 percent fresh issue of equity shares. ''With this, the government of India holding of 69.42 percent will come down to 57.89 percent,'' he added.

The final FPO price is expected to be announced on December 2, he said.

02:15pm The market is on strong footing in afternoon trade on Friday with the both equity benchmarks consistently holding up 1 percent level.

The Sensex soared 267.50 points or 1.30 percent at 20,802.41, and the Nifty surged 86.20 points or 1.42 percent at 6,178.05. About 1345 shares advanced while 936 shares declined on the BSE.

Jaiprakash Associates is the top gainer in the Nifty, rising more than 9 percent followed by NMDC , BHEL , Bank of Baroda and Sesa Sterlite with 4-5 percent gains.

State Bank of India and Cipla rallied 3 percent each while ICICI Bank gained nearly 3 percent. Index heavyweight ITC jumped over 2 percent.

Among others, Infosys , TCS , HDFC, HDFC Bank , L&T, Hindustan Unilever and Bharti Airtel climbed between 1-1.5 percent whereas M&M, Wipro and NTPC are the only losers in the Sensex.

In the broader space, PI Industries gained 2.5 percent after CRISIL upgraded rating on loan facilities of the company. Rating agency upgraded rating from A+ to AA- on long term bank loan facilities and in case of short term loan, rating was upgraded from A1 to A1+.

2:00 pm FPO Update: The follow on public offer (FPO) for state-owned Power Grid will open for subscription on December 3. The floor price will be finalised today by an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM). CNBC-TV18 learns from sources that the demand for the issue has been strong so far and no major discount is expected on the offer price.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18 about the issue, CMD RN Nayak said, this FPO is for 17 percent company equity and includes 13 percent fresh issue of equity shares. ''With this, the government of India holding of 69.42 percent will come down to 57.89 percent,'' he added.

The final FPO price is expected to be announced on December 2, he said.

1:50 pm Commodity check: Brent futures held near USD 111 a barrel on Friday and were set to post the biggest monthly gain since August as prolonged unrest in Libya kept supply worries to the fore.

More than 40 people were killed in an explosion at an army depot in southern Libya after locals tried to steal ammunition, the latest in a series of clashes highlighting the government's inability to restore order. But steady progress in settling the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme have kept gains in check.

1:40 pm FII view: Emerging markets specialist Maria (Masha) Gordon of Pimco says profit growth in EMs compared to their developed counterparts over the past three years has been "anemic".

However, the past quarter or so has seen some sort of a stabilisation on earnings front. "Investors took that as an encouragement to step back and to take advantage of cheaper valuations. However, to take the markets higher, we need to see a stronger growth stimulus in EMs and that is probably unlikely to happen in coming years," she told CNBC-TV18 in an interview.

For India specifically, Gordon says, the street is looking at a 15 percent earnings growth.

1:30 pm Exclusive: Zuari Agro's Saroj Poddar rules out making a hostile takeover for Mangalore Chemicals. He says he will sell his stake in MCF to the highest bidder if a joint venture with Vijay Mallya's UB Group is not forthcoming. He also adds that he has received no offers as yet, and hopes to close a deal either way by January-February 2014.

The market continues stability as metals, banks and power companies lead the way. The Sensex is up 235.69 points or 1.15 percent at 20770.60, and the Nifty is up 77.55 points or 1.27 percent at 6169.40. About 1288 shares have advanced, 852 shares declined, and 157 shares are unchanged.

Sesa Sterlite, SBI , BHEL , ICICI Bank and GAIL are top gainers in the Sensex while Wipro , M&M and Tata Motors drag.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18 interview, Ratan Tata admits positioning the Nano as the world's cheapest car instead of a smart city car was a mistake. He still hopes that a re-launch with a new image could help the car's popularity.

Buying interest is seen in midcap stocks led by strength SRF , Atlanta , Gujarat Natural and Educomp.

Meanwhile, the Planning Commission's Montek Singh Ahluwalia says the economy will fare better in the second half of the year. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, he promises that fiscal deficit will not be allowed to exceed targets despite lower revenues.

01:00pm Market Update
The market is strong in afternoon trade as the Sensex rose 248.80 points or 1.21 percent at 20,783.71, and the Nifty climbed 80.90 points or 1.33 percent to 6,172.75.

Most active shares are HDFC, SBI , YES Bank, Ashapura Mine , Vakrangee , Jaiprakash Associates , ICICI Bank and Bharti Airtel .

12:50pm Market Expert
Market expert Sandip Sabharwal is confident that the market will touch a new high in December. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, he said, historically, December has been a positive month for equities and most of the events are likely to be positive, so the bulls will play for an upside. "In case things go contrary to expectations, then bulls will just leave the market subsequently," he added.

Investors will be closely watching key data like the US jobs report due next week, which will decide US Fed's future action on its stimulus plan. Back home, results of state assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Delhi will be declared on December 8.

12:40pm Steel Strips Wheels on fire

Shares of Steel Strips Wheels ( SSWL ) gained more than 5 percent amid hefty volumes after the company has received an export order from SSangYong Motors Company (SYMC), Korea.

"The order is for supplying Car Wheels Rims to Korea. The order size will be approximately USD 5 million and will be served for a minimum of 5 years," the company said in its release.

12:30pm Saroj Poddar will sell its stake in MCF

Ruling out the possibility of a hostile takeover for Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilisers (MCFL), Zuari Agro's Saroj Poddar reiterated that he will sell his stake in MCF to the highest bidder if a joint venture (JV) with Vijay Mallya's UB Group is not forthcoming.

''Zuari bought these shares after talking to Mallya. We in principle had agreed that the UB Group and Zuari will work on MCFL as a JV. It is true that Mallya at the annual general meeting of MCFL indicated that he has no intention of doing a JV,'' Poddar told CNBC-TV18 in an interview.

Poddar, who holds over 16 percent in MCF, said that he was interested in both, the JV and buying out Mallya's MCF shares. Deepak Fertilisers has also been jostling to take over the Rs 3000-crore company.  However, no offers by them have been received by Zuari yet, he added.

He expects significantly higher premium for the stake sale and hopes to close a deal either way by January-February 2014.

12:20pm Alstom T&D up 4% on top of a 5.6% rally in previous session

Share sale through institutional placement programme (IPP) is taking place today for one day. The company has fixed price band for the issue at Rs 159-174/share.

Alstom aims to raise Rs 294 crore through this issue by selling upto 1.6 crore shares that represents nearly 7 percent stake.

12:10pm Aditya Birla Group scouts for partner for banking foray

Aditya Birla Group is looking for a partner for its banking foray, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting unnamed sources.

It is learnt that the company is seeking minority partner with expertise to expand operations in banking. The group has hired senior banking officials to gear up banking foray, sources say.

Capital investment not an issue for AB Group's banking foray. Sources say AB Group will initially invest up to Rs 750-800 crore in its banking arm.

12:00pm Bulls continued to be in charge of Dalal Street in noon trade with both equity benchmarks rising more than a percent supported majorly by banks.

The Sensex rose 230.17 points to 20,765.08, and the Nifty climbed 74.70 points to 6,166.55. Advancing shares outpaced declining ones by a ratio of 1261 to 736 on the BSE.

Krishna Kumar Karwa, MD, Emkay Global Financial Services expects 10 percent upmove in the market over next six months.

"If there is a positive flavour in the segment (refers to win of National Democratic Alliance) then yes, 10 percent uptick from these levels, which could be anywhere between 6,500 to 6,700 odd is not far away because markets always are forward looking and sentiment is important," he reasoned.

ICICI Bank, ITC , HDFC Bank , HDFC, State Bank of India , TCS , Infosys , Reliance Industries and ONGC are the leaders among largecaps.

Sesa Sterlite is the major gainer in the Sensex, rising nearly 4 percent followed by State Bank of India with 2.7 percent gains.

11:50 am Stock in news: Reliance Power shares are on buyers' radar after the company announced that pre commissioning activities began for its concentrated solar power (CSP) project in Rajasthan's Jaisalmer district. The stock gained 2.6 percent in intraday trade on Friday.

The 100 MW solar power project, which is being built at a cost of Rs 2,100 crore, is set to be commissioned during March 2014.

11:40 am Market outlook: Analyst Sandip Sabharwal is confident that the market will touch a new high in December. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, he said, historically, December has been a positive month for equities and most of the events are likely to be positive, so the bulls will play for an upside. "In case things go contrary to expectations, then bulls will just leave the market subsequently," he added.

Investors will be closely watching key data like the US jobs report due next week, which will decide US Fed's future action on its stimulus plan. Back home, results of state assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Delhi will be declared on December 8.

11:30 am Buzzer: Shares of NHPC gained more than 2 percent in early trade on Friday as the offer for buyback of up to 1,23,00,74,277 fully paid up equity shares opened today.

The buyback offer will close on December 12. The buyback will be on a proportionate basis from all the equity shareholders of the company through the tender offer process, the company said in its release.

The state-owned hydroelectric power company has fixed buyback offer price at Rs 19.25 apiece and the maximum offer size is approximately Rs Rs 2,367.9 crore. That represents 8.89 percent of total paid-up equity share capital and free reserves as of June 30, 2013.

The market seems to be roaring just ahead of gross domestic product (GDP) data due later in the day. The Sensex is up 260.68 points or 1.27 percent at 20795.59, and the Nifty is up 80.40 points or 1.32 percent at 6172.25.

About 1222 shares have advanced, 515 shares declined, and 88 shares are unchanged.

With a gain of 3.5 percent Sesa Sterlite is the top stock in Sensex. GAIL , SBI , ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank are other major gainers. Tata Motors is the only loser in the Sensex.

Caution rules the roost in the currency markets ahead of GDP data. The rupee racks up modest gains as global dollar weakness offsets month-end dollar demand from importers.

The momentum in the bond markets continues as prices rise on continued buying by PSU banks. Dealers shore up positions on hopes that second quarter GDP numbers could surprise on the positive side.

Asian equity markets trade mixed on profit-booking in the absence of a lead from Wall Street and to square off positions towards the end of the month. US markets were shut for the Thanksgiving holiday yesterday and will observe a half-day session today.

Crude prices trade mostly unchanged in holiday-thinned trade but prices were set to post their third straight monthly drop amid rising stockpiles in the world's top oil consumer. Gold, meanwhile, has eased a tad and is headed for its biggest monthly drop since June.

11:00am Reliance Power up 2%
Reliance Power said pre-commissioning activities began for its 100 MW solar project in Jaisalmer. The said project will be commissioned by March, 2014.

The 100 MW solar power plant is being build at a cost of Rs 2,100 crore, adjacent to the 40 MW solar photovoltaic project commissioned by company last year, the company said in its release.

10:55am NHPC buyback begins
Shares of NHPC gained more than 2 percent in early trade on Friday as the offer for buyback of up to 1,23,00,74,277 fully paid up equity shares opened today.

The said buyback offer will close on December 12. The buyback will be on a proportionate basis from all the equity shareholders of the company through the tender offer process, the company said in its release.

State-owned hydroelectric power company has fixed a buyback offer price at Rs 19.25 apiece and the maximum offer size is approximately Rs Rs 2,367.9 crore that represents 8.89 percent of total paid-up equity share capital and free reserves as of June 30, 2013.

"The maximum amount utilised for the buyback will not exceed 10 percent of the paid up equity share capital and free reserves of the company as per the audited accounts of the company as on June 30," the company said.

10:50am Montek says economy in a far better shape than earlier

Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia does not expect a marked improvement in Q2 GDP over the first quarter. He, however, expects the second half of the fiscal year to be better than the first half due to good monsoon and better global scenario. He says: "If H2 GDP is over 5 percent, then FY15 should see over 6 percent GDP figure." He is confident that FY14 will end with improvement in sentiment.

According to him, the economy is in a far better shape than it was a few months ago. Concerns on current account deficit too have abated, he says. He is confident of not allowing the fiscal deficit to exceed the 4.8 percent target, despite lower revenues. The government is mulling re-calculation of expenditures, but not cuts, he adds.

He expects the general elections to push real recovery to the next fiscal. He says it will be a major achievement if growth is back to 7-8 percent by the end of 12th Plan period, which he thinks is achievable.

10:45am Q2 GDP to be announced today evening

India's second quarter GDP, ie: output growth in the July-September quarter is due at today evening. A CNBC-TV18 poll of economists has pegged the number at 4.7 percent.

If that happens then it will appear that Q1 would have been the worse because it came in at 4.4 percent in the first quarter. This 4.7 percent comes off a low base, of just 5.2 percent, in the year ago quarter.

The breakup: agriculture, which comprises 17-18 percent of the GDP, is expected to have grown at 3.1 percent. This is largely the rabi of the previous year; kharif output is not there up until September. So this is really the previous years rabi, which was a good harvest.

10:40am Market Update
The first day of December series is very strong for the market as the Sensex is up 282.59 points or 1.38 percent at 20,817.50, and the Nifty is up 88.50 points or 1.45 percent at 6,180.35.

Major largecaps extended gains; ITC , HDFC Bank and State Bank of India rallied 2 percent each while ICICI Bank rose nearly 3 percent. Infosys , HDFC and TCS climbed over 1 percent.

10:30am Tech Mahindra in focus
The board of directors of Tech Mahindra and Mahindra engineering Services (MES) approved a proposal to merge MES with Tech Mahindra.

MES is an engineering consultant and services provider catering to automotive, aerospace, defense and manufacturing Industries. It has more than 1300 employees and reported revenues of Rs 250.6 crore for FY13.

The exchange ratio for the merger is five shares of Tech Mahindra for every 12 shares of MES. The entire process may take around 8-9 months. Tech Mahindra shares rose 0.7 percent.

10:20am Market Expert
While there are expectations of an equity market rally on BJP's win in the forthcoming elections, Badrish Kulhalli Fund Manager – Fixed Income, HDFC Life feels that bond market will cheer only if it is confident that the new government will tackle key concerns like high inflation and fiscal deficit, irrespective of which party wins.

In an interview to moneycontrol.com, he said one should expect the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to announce one more 25 bps rate hike before FY14 ends to combat high inflation. In October, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan raised repo rate by 25 bps to 7.75 percent and rolled back MSF rate by 25 bps to 8.75 percent. CRR was unchanged at 4 percent. ( Read More )

10:10am IL&FS Transportation gains 2%

Elsamex SA, a wholly owned subsidiary of IL&FS Transportation Networks in Spain, has received a contract from State Road Agency of Ukraine worth of Euro 50.5 million (approximately Rs 427 crore).

10:00am The market is on strong footing in morning trade with the Sensex climbing over 200 points on the back of heavyweights and financials.

The Sensex is up 236.22 points or 1.15 percent at 20,771.13, and the Nifty is up 75.10 points or 1.23 percent at 6,166.95. Three shares advanced for every share declining on the BSE.

Amit Trivedi of investworks.in says the broad range for the market is around 6,000 on the lower side and 6,300 on the higher side.

Not a single stock is in the red on the Sensex and Nifty. Country's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank gained more than 2 percent while its rivals State Bank of India and HDFC Bank rose over 1.7 percent.

Index heavyweights ITC, Reliance Industries and HDFC advanced 1.9 percent, 0.7 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.

Among others, Cipla , Sesa Sterlite, BHEL and GAIL rallied 2 percent each.

9:55 am Update:Canada has sold a large embassy building in London's luxury Mayfair district to Indian developer Lodha Dwellers for USD 530 million (or around Rs 3,300 crore at Rs 62 per US dollar), the Canadian foreign ministry said, reports Reuters.

Canada wanted to dispose of the large six-storey building in Grosvenor Square because it plans to consolidate all diplomatic activities in another official Canadian property on Trafalgar Square. Canada was advised by Savills PLC.

Foreign embassies are abandoning London's premier addresses such as Mayfair and Kensington as the world of diplomacy changes in the face of security risks and new technology.

9.42 am Market check: The market is on a roar pocketing over 200-points gains in early morning trade. The Sensex is up 240.35 points or 1.17 percent at 20775.26, and the Nifty is up 75.65 points or 1.24 percent at 6167.50. About 806 shares have advanced, 247 shares declined, and 34 shares are unchanged.

Sesa Sterlite, ICICI Bank , Cipla , GAIL , SBI are up around 2 percent in the Sensex.

9:30 am Market opinion: Neelkanth Mishra of Credit Suisse expects another 4-5 percent cut to FY14 Nifty consensus earnings per share (EPS) and meaningful downside revisions to FY15 expected EPS growth as well. "We expect cuts to come from financials, materials and industrials and stay underweight on these sectors. We advise selling Larsen and Toubro , Tata Steel , SBI and buying Godrej Consumer , Emami , Bharti Airtel , TCS and HCL Technologies ," he said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

Chris Wood of CLSA warns the market continues to focus on tightening in financial conditions triggered by 'tapering'. "But the real threat to US equities is when the economy fails to re-accelerate and when the Fed is forced to admit yet again that its forecast road map is wrong, and that it is necessary to continue quantitative easing or even extend it," he added.

The market kicked-off December series on a positive note with the Sensex rising 100 points and the Nifty reclaiming the 6100 level supported by financials, FMCG and oil & gas stocks.

The Sensex is up 101.86 points at 20636.77, and the Nifty is up 31.80 points at 6,123.65. Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of 477 to 109 on the BSE.

Gross domestic product (GDP) data for the July to September quarter is due today. According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, it is likely to be at 4.7 percent vs 4.4 percent a quarter ago. A number closer to 5 percent is likely to cheer the equity and rupee markets though it could keep the fears of a rate hike alive.

Start crushing sugarcane or face the music says the UP government as it stays firm on the state advised price for sugarcane but offers meagre tax sops. A disappointed industry says relief measures will only cover 10 percent of their losses and refuses to restart operations. Sugar stocks look weak in morning trade.

ICICI Bank, Cipla, Sesa Sterlite, SBI and Tata Power are top gainers in the Sensex.

Indian rupee opened with a marginal gain of 11 paise at 62.30 per dollar on Friday as against previous day's closing of 62.41.

Tushar Poddar of Goldman Sachs expects 3-month, 6-month and 12-month dollar-rupee rate at 64/USD, 65/USD and 65/USD, respectively.

He sees risks on both sides of forecasts. "Domestically, potential upside risks would be a jump in investment activity after elections, and/or a sharper-than-expected fall in inflation. Downside risks include the possibility of an unclear verdict in the elections which would exacerbate investor uncertainty," he adds.