Sensex ends 94 points down; Maruti up 2%, Tata Steel falls

03:50 pm Market data:
Foreign flows are on watch after overseas investors sold Rs 396 crore worth of index futures on Monday, adding to Friday's selling of Rs 608 crore, exchange data shows.

Dealers say outstanding positions in index futures have reduced by 24,631 contracts implying foreign investors are seen unwinding some of the long positions in Nifty futures and Bank Nifty futures. The BSE Sensex rose 8.9 percent and hit a record high in 2013 despite slowing growth and sticky inflation on back of over USD 20 billion worth buying in stocks during the period.

03:40 pm Market closing:
The market ended on lower note even after recouping part of its losses in late trade. The Sensex ended down 94.06 points at 20693.24, and the Nifty closed at 6162.25, down 29.20 points. About 1273 shares have advanced, 1236 shares declined, and 466 shares are unchanged.

Smallcap stocks outperformed peers today as well while oil and gas, metal and realty stocks were selling pressure.

03:30 pm FII view:
US equity investors need to be cautious as valuations are no longer cheap, advises John-Paul Smith, Global Emerging Market Equity Strategist, Deutsche Bank. He expects to end 2014 with positive returns, but lower than 2013.

He expects emerging markets to do worse than developed markets and sees emerging market equities falling by about 10 percent in absolute terms in 2014. Smith expects volatility to continue this year too on the back of elections and also due to the structural problems plaguing the corporate sector in India - the high levels of debt in some key areas such as the utility and industrial sectors.

"There is also the question on whether we will see a shake up or the beginnings of a shake up in terms of ownership and control of some of the Indian corporates," he told CNBC-TV18. But on the plus side, he sees a decline in oil prices this year.

03:20 pm Interview:
DB Corp, also known as the Bhaskar Group, is planning to focus on Bihar where established players such as Dainik Jagran and Hindustan are already present. But Girish Agarwaal, Promoter Director, DB Corp believes that the newspaper will be the leader from day one itself on the circulation front.

He says based on the pre-launch surveys and number of copies already booked, the paper will be number one from day one. These copies have been booked for a one year period, he adds.

Agarwaal does not sound too hopeful of ad revenues increasing during the pre-election period. "Election advertising is not a big number anymore for the newspaper industry in India because whatever the growth of couple of percentage you get, similar amount goes down from other regular display advertising or regular government advertising," he adds. He, however, expects to deliver 17-20 percent growth in the third quarter too, keeping up with the previous quarters

03:10 pm Market check:
The Sensex is down 82.37 points at 20704.93, and the Nifty is down 25.20 points at 6166.25. About 1255 shares have advanced, 1151 shares declined, and 476 shares are unchanged.

Maruti Suzuki, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Labs are gainers.

02:57pm Shree Renuka Sugars in bull grip
Wilmar, a Singapore-based agribusiness group, will buy stake in Shree Renuka Sugars, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting sources.

Sources say the company will issue additional shares to Wilmar and promoters will not sell any stake in the company.

CNBC-TV18 learnt that the deal, which may be announced soon, may trigger a mandatory open offer.

Promoter holds 38.36 percent in the company as of September 30, 2013. The deal is expected to be at an enterprise value of Rs 10,000 crore.

Shree Renuka Sugars was trading at Rs 21.80, up 10.66 percent amid large volumes on the BSE.

02:50pm Europe Update
European stocks held steady near five and a half year highs on Tuesday, with Scandinavia providing many of the top gainers after much of the region was shut on Monday for a market holiday.

Stockholm-listed truckmaker Volvo was up 4 percent, with the exchange open for the first time since data showed that orders for heavy trucks in North America rose 50 percent in December compared to November.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 was flat at 1,309.03 at 0831 GMT, 0.6 percent off of its highest point since mid-2008, touched briefly on the first trading day of the year, reports Reuters.

02:40pm IOC, Engineers India under pressure
Economic Affairs secretary says the government will offload stakes in IOC and Engineers India in January, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting PTI.

The government will offload stakes in BHEL in February and Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) in March.

Secretary says stocks markets are doing well and there is no reason to delay divestments.

Engineers India was trading at Rs 158.85, down 0.38 percent and Indian Oil Corporation declined 1.05 percent to Rs 202.25.

02:30pm Claris Lifesciences extends upmove
The board of directors today has approved the buyback of upto 92.5 lakh shares of the company (representing 14.49 percent of the equity share capital) at a price of Rs 250 per share aggregating to Rs 231.25 crore through the tender offer.

The board also noted the intention of the promoter and promoter group of the company to participate in the proposed buyback.

The board has also declared interim dividend of Rs 9 per share and dividend will be paid to equity shareholders on February 04, according to filing to the exchange.

Claris Lifesciences was trading at Rs 206.30, up 4.14 percent amid hefty volumes on the BSE.

02:20pm MTNL in focus
Cabinet members will meet on January 9 to mull support package for telecom companies MTNL and BSNL, reports CNBC-TV18 sources.

It is learnt that both public sector undertakings will surrender 4G spectrum and government will refund amount to companies.

MTNL and BSNL had paid around Rs 16,000 crore for 4G spectrum. MTNL shares rallied 6 percent to Rs 16.96 apiece.

02:10pm The market recouped losses in afternoon trade supported by private banks, capital goods and healthcare stocks.

The Sensex declined 30.87 points to 20,756.43, and the Nifty fell 8.20 points to 6,183.25.

About 1183 shares have advanced, 1112 shares declined, and 502 shares are unchanged.

Tirthankar Patnaik of Religare Capital expects the market performance in 2014 to be a 3G story of general elections, growth and inflation, and global backdrop.

"While politics and QE3 remain relevant, it's inflation that will drive market. We value the market at 14x FY16 earnings to arrive at a March 2015 Sensex target of 22,500," he adds.

Country's largest private sector lenders ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank recovered smartly, gaining 0.6 percent each, but rivals Axis Bank and State Bank of India slipped 1.6 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively.

Capital goods majors Larsen and Toubro and BHEL extended gains to 1.4 percent and 2 percent, respectively.

Auto stocks gained around with the Maruti Suzuki surging over 2 percent while Tata Motors, M&M and Bajaj Auto gained marginally.

Among healthcare stocks, Sun Pharma and Dr Reddy's Labs climbed a percent each.

However, shares of Reliance Industries, Infosys, TCS, ONGC and Hindustan Unilever slipped 0.6-1 percent.

2:00 pm Buzzing: Tyre stocks gained on hopes of higher margins as the key Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract hit a five-week low on Tuesday, weighed down in part by weak Chinese service sector data.

Ceat Ltd gained 2.8 per cent, JK Tyre & Industries was up 2.1 per cent and Goodyear India Ltd advanced 1.3 per cent. Apollo Tyres Ltd surged 3 per cent, helped as well after Credit Suisse upgrades the tyre maker to "outperform" from "underperform," citing the end of talks over its proposed USD2.5 billion takeover of Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.

1:50 pm Result expectations: Seasonal impact of lesser working days and furloughs may result in moderate quarter-on-quarter revenue growth of 2-4 per cent for Indian IT firms, analysts said.

"We expect tier-1 IT aggregate growth to moderate to 3.2 per cent Q-o-Q, given seasonal impacts of lesser working days and year-end shutdowns/furloughs," Nomura Equity Research said in a report.

TCS and Wipro are expected to lead in terms of dollar revenue growth, while Infosys may lag, Nomura added. Cognizant, HCL Technologies and Tech Mahindra are likely to witness a decent quarter.

1:40 pm FII view: For emerging markets, 2014 will be much better than 2013, says Jeff Chowdhry, Head of Emerging Equities, F&C Investments. He says this year won't be dominated by tapering, but it is all about stock selection and liquidity in various markets.

The US 10-year bond yield is hovering around 3 percent, but it hasn't impacted fund flows into India. Chowdhry does not think the US economy is strong enough for yields to rise much from current levels or to the 4-5 percent level.

He feels the Indian market in 2014 will largely be driven by politics. High CAD continues to be a concern for the market. According to him, investors would like subsidies to be removed soon. He continues to like banking, especially private banks, IT and the pharma sectors in India.

1:30 pm  Stock in news: Investors continued to buy shares of Apollo Tyres as the stock gained more than 5 percent intraday on Tuesday. Brokerage house Credit Suisse has an outperform rating on the stock and raised target price to Rs 131 from Rs 89 apiece earlier, citing uncertainty over Cooper Tire transaction is over. According to the report, tyre companies witnessed strong margin expansion. With the falling rubber prices, the margin is expected to remain robust for tyre companies. The brokerage house says Apollo underperformed other tyre stocks; hence, it expects valuation gap to narrow.

The market is under pressure as investors turned cautious and booked profit in index heavyweights. The Sensex is down 98.33 points at 20688.97, and the Nifty slips 30.25 points at 6161.20. About 1084 shares have advanced, 1092 shares declined, and 501 shares are unchanged.

In some relief for Suzlon, sources tell CNBC-TV18 that FCCB holders are likely to come to a settlement soon. FCCB settlement will be a non-cash deal and the company is likely to issue five year fresh bonds worth over USD 500 million to bondholders.

Shree Renuka is up over 9 percent as promoters look to sell stake in holding company. The deal could trigger a mandatory open offer. Singapore based Wilmar International eyes stake in the company.

Gold extended its new year rally to a sixth session on Tuesday, pushing the safe-haven metal to near three-week highs with support from weaker equities and robust Chinese physical demand, reports Reuters.

US gold futures also steadied after unusually sharp movements in the previous session, when prices fell 3 percent for a brief period before recovering.

Spot gold has gained nearly 4 percent in the past six sessions, after a 28 percent drop last year, mainly due to weakness in stock markets and as funds reallocate positions at the start of the year.

12:59pm Andhra Bank talks to CNBC-TV18
Andhra Bank has successfully restructured about Rs 2,000 crore of its loans to Andhra power distribution companies, the bank's CMD CVR Rajendran told CNBC-TV18.

''50 percent of [the loan] is to be converted into long-term bonds issued at a rate of about 9.85 percent,'' Rajendran said.

The bonds were issued with a state government guarantee. However, similar instruments in the market have been yielding 9.30-9.35 percent, he said, adding that the sale of the bonds would not just result in reduced power exposure for the bank, but also result in profits.

Andhra Bank, which has exposure to Andhra state electricity board to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore, sees power tariff increasing post 2014 elections. The bank's exposure to Discoms stands at Rs 10,000 crore.

Andhra Bank has received Rs 200 crore from the government via allotment of 3 crore shares on a preferential basis, allotted at Rs 66.59 per share.

The bank posted a positive growth in its net interest income (NII) & net interest margin (NIM) in Q2.

For Q3, yield on investment is expected to normalise, hence NIM is expected to be subdued in the second half.

12:50pm Nikkei falls for second day
Japan's Nikkei share average fell for a second day on Tuesday after data showing a slowdown in growth in the US services sector made investors wary of taking on risk, while Fast Retailing Co sagged on weaker-than-expected monthly sales.

The Nikkei ended down 0.6 percent at 15,814.37 in choppy trade. During the morning session, it briefly flirted with positive territory.

Index-heavyweight Fast Retailing shed 1.0 percent and had the biggest downside impact on the Nikkei index, taking about 16 points from the index after its same-store sales at its Uniqlo clothing chain in December disappointed the market, reports Reuters.

12:40pm Suzlon Energy spikes 7%
Holders of Suzlon Energy's foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs), which defaulted on a USD 200 million payment in October 2012, are likely to agree to a settlement on the issue.

Sources told CNBC-TV18 that Suzlon's bondholders have decided not to move court in relation with the default after the energy firm agreed to issue fresh five-year bonds worth USD 500 million.

The company, which is reeling under a Rs 7,600 debt burden, was able to raise fresh capital at market rates, sources said.

Suzlon is yet to reply to queries sent by CNBC-TV18.

12:30pm MCX in focus
Shares of Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) gained 3.4 percent after Blackstone raised its stake in the company through block deal.

Blackstone GPV Capital Partners (Mauritius) VI FII increased stake in MCX by 2.79 percent stake to 4.79 percent from 2 percent on Monday. The firm purchased 14,22,245 equity shares at Rs 573 apiece via block deal that was worth Rs 81.5 crore.

Blackstone now is the largest non-promoter shareholder in MCX after IFCI and AGINYX Enterprises .

Forward Markets Commission (FMC) on December 18 had given approval to Blackstone GPV Capital to increase its stake in MCX upto 4.99 percent through secondary market transaction.

However, Merrill Lynch Holdings (Mauritius) offloaded its complete stake in the company. As on September 30, the firm was holding 2.79 percent in MCX.

12:20pm Apollo Tyres on buyers' radar
Investors continued to buy shares of Apollo Tyres as the stock gained more than 3 percent.

Brokerage house Credit Suisse has an outperform rating on the stock and raised target price to Rs 131 from Rs 89 apiece earlier, citing uncertainty over Cooper Tire transaction is over.

According to the report, tyre companies witnessed strong margin expansion. With the falling rubber prices, the margin is expected to remain robust for tyre companies.

The brokerage house says Apollo underperformed other tyre stocks; hence, it expects valuation gap to narrow.

12:10pm Ashok Leyland talks to CNBC-TV18
Although Hinduja group flagship Ashok Leyland is planning to pare down debt, it is not considering selling its family silver. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Vinod Dasari, MD Ashok Leyland says the CV maker plans to reduce its debt burden by optimizing resources, rationalizing working capital and through better planning and execution. "We are on track to bring it down by Rs 1000 crore," he told the channel.

However he expects to end the year with sales lower by 25 percent. "As of December, we are about 25-26 percent lower than last year. Even if this quarter matches next quarter, we will still be about 20-25 percent lesser than last year," he says.

Ashok Leyland plans to launch up to 18 different types of trucks this year under its new brand for commercial vehicles, 'Captain'. "During the calendar year 2014, we plan to launch a total of 18 different types of trucks for different applications under the Captain range," Dasari told reporters at the launch event.

12:00pm Equity benchmarks remained in bear grip with the Sensex falling about 100 points, weighed down by banks, oil and gas, and technology stocks.

The Sensex declined 98.70 points to 20,688.60, and the Nifty fell 29.80 points to 6,161.65. About 1037 shares have advanced, 963 shares declined, and 501 shares are unchanged.

Cautious on Indian equities, Andrew Holland of Ambit Capital sees the Nifty slipping to 5,800 level in the next few weeks, courtesy bank stocks. Holland is bearish on the banking sector and warns that the problems faced by lenders are not over yet. He prefers to short banks at this stage. On the upside, 6,400 is the level investors should expect driven by optimism related to Narendra Modi.

According to him, two key global concerns that are likely to hurt emerging markets this year would be slowdown in China and expectations of rising US interest rates. "The market seems prepared for the tapering but not so much for rise in US interest rates. It is going to be a tough first half for the global and Indian equity market," he told CNBC-TV18 in an interview.

Axis Bank, Tata Steel, Hindalco Industries and Tata Power are the biggest losers in the Sensex, falling between 2-3 percent.

Reliance Industries, Infosys, ICICI Bank, ONGC, Hindustan Unilever, State Bank of India and Wipro declined 1-1.5 percent.

However, Larsen and Toubro, BHEL, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Labs and Maruti Suzuki outperformed, rising 0.8-2 percent.

Financial Technologies, Aban Offshore, MCX India, Apollo Tyres, SBI, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank are the most active shares on exchanges.

11:50 am Opinion: Cautious on Indian equities, Andrew Holland of Ambit Capital sees the Nifty slipping to 5,800 level in the next few weeks, courtesy bank stocks. Holland is bearish on the banking sector and warns that the problems faced by lenders are not over yet. He prefers to short banks at this stage.

On the upside, 6,400 is the level investors should expect driven by optimism related to Narendra Modi. According to him, two key global concerns that are likley to hurt emerging markets this year would be slowdown in China and expectations of rising US interest rates. "The market seems prepared for the tapering but not so much for rise in US interest rates. It is going to be a tough first half for the global and Indian equity market," he told CNBC-TV18 in an interview.

11:40 am Stock in news: Holders of Suzlon Energy's foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs), which defaulted on a USD 200 million payment in October 2012, are likely to agree to a settlement on the issue. Sources told CNBC-TV18 that Suzlon's bondholders have decided not to move court in relation with the default after the energy firm agreed to issue fresh five-year bonds worth USD 500 million.

The company, which is reeling under a Rs 7,600 debt burden, was able to raise fresh capital at market rates, sources said.

11:30 am Market data: Foreign investors sold Rs 396 crore worth of index futures on Monday, adding to Friday's selling of Rs 608 crore, exchange data shows.

Dealers say outstanding positions in index futures have reduced by 24,631 contracts implying foreign investors are seen unwinding some of the long positions in Nifty futures and Bank Nifty futures. Overseas investors also sold cash shares worth Rs 319 crore on Monday in addition to Rs 139 crore of selling in the previous session, regulatory and exchange data shows.

11:20 am FII view: Market outlook: Tirthankar Patnaik of Religare Capital says market performance in 2014 to be a 3G story of general elections, growth, inflation and global backdrop. He values the market at 14x FY16 earnings to arrive at a March 2015 Sensex target of 22,500. His top large-caps picks include Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Sun Pharma, Lupin and Maruti.

H Nemkumar of IIFL feels 2014 will herald the beginning of a more broad-based market rally. ''Most macro variables, including real growth and current account, will turn for the better, inflation will likely peak in the early part of the year, and rate cycle will gradually become supportive. The momentum in earnings downgrade will reverse and there is a rising probability of an upgrade cycle kicking in. Thus, the environment will be supportive for a valuation re-rating,'' he said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

The market continues to slide further. The Sensex is down 91.19 points at 20696.11 and the Nifty slips 29.80 to 6161.65. About 897 shares have advanced, 853 shares declined, and 469 shares are unchanged.

Axis Bank, Tata Power, Hindalco, Tata Steel and ONGC are top losers in the Sensex. Among the gainers are BHEL, Maruti Suzuki, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Labs and L&T.

The rupee opened marginally weaker on slight dollar strength in Asia. Dollar and rupee moved in a narrow range ahead of the non-farm payroll numbers due on Friday.

Likewise, the bond markets too remained very stable as market is awaiting inflation numbers next week.

Crude prices gain as investors weigh mixed signals from libya, while cold weather across the central united states threatens production. Gold holds near three week highs supported by weaker equities and physical demand in china.

Asian stocks are higher with the exception of Japan but gains were capped on the back of weak US economic data and caution ahead of this week's key risk events.

10:50am Zuari keen to exit MCF by February
Saroj Poddar-promoted Zuari Fertilizers and Chemicals has extended his decision to wait out till February before exiting Vijay Mallya's Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers, sources told CNBC-TV18. In an interview to CNBC-TV18 last month, Poddar had indicated that his deadline to exit MCF would end in December.

Zuari Fertilizers raised its stake in MCF to 16.4 percent after rival Deepak Fertilizers shored up its stake to sub 25 percent in July.  In the last one year, Poddar has repeatedly said he was willing to sell Zuari's stake in MCF to Mallya but a lack of response from the latter prompted Poddar to set a deadline after which he was free to sell the shares to the highest bidder.

Meanwhile, it is understood that Mallya, who had announced his desire to buy back the holdings of Saroj Poddar, may not have the funds to do so. Deepak Fertilizers has long been wanting to buyout the Zuari stake in MCF, and sources say, it now readying funds for the same.

On December 26, Poddar resigned from Gillette India board to comply with Securities and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi's) public shareholding norms. He continues to be chairman of Zuari Agro

10:40am MCX-SX talks to CNBC-TV18
The board of MCX-SX would decide whether it would allow Financial Technologies to subscribe to its rights issue, MCX Vice Chairman Thomas Matthew said.

MCX-SX, India's third national stock exchange run by MCX, is looking to raise Rs 500-600 crore via the rights issue, Matthew told CNBC-TV18.

Financial Technologies, the anchor investor of MCX, is under fire for Rs 5,500 crore payment default at its subsidiary National Spot Exchange.

In the wake of the scandal, commodity derivates regulator Forward Markets Commission has ordered FT to cut its stake in MCX while markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India has been reportedly mulling a similar decision with regards to MCX-SX.

The stock exchange is owned about 90 percent by public sector banks and financial institutions, Thomas, however, said.

10:30am Market Expert
Tirthankar Patnaik of Religare Capital believes the market performance in 2014 will be a 3G story of general elections, growth and inflation, and global backdrop. "While politics and QE3 remain relevant, it's inflation that will drive market," he adds.

He values the market at 14x FY16 earnings to arrive at a March 2015 Sensex target of 22,500. "Top large-caps picks include Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Sun Pharma, Lupin and Maruti," he says.

10:20am Wockhardt gains ground
Shares of Wockhardt jumped over 5 percent intraday today as reports indicate that US regulator may visit its unit in Shendra for an inspection this month.

''If the company manages to get a go-ahead from the regulator for this plant in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra, it might result in resumption of supplies of several of their products, barred from the US last year,'' the report said.

The pharma company ran into trouble with US FDA on violation of various norms in its manufacturing units.  Its plants in Waluj, Chikalthana and Daman are under scanner.

Most Indian firms, which make nearly 40 percent of generic and over-the-counter drugs for the US market, are facing more regulatory woes. The stock was up 3.2 percent.

10:10am MCX in focus
Shares of Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) gained as much as 2.5 percent in morning trade after Blackstone raised its stake in the company through block deal.

Blackstone GPV Capital Partners (Mauritius) VI FII increased stake in MCX by 2.79 percent stake to 4.79 percent from 2 percent on Monday. The firm purchased 14,22,245 equity shares at Rs 573 apiece via block deal that was worth Rs 81.5 crore.

Blackstone now is the largest non-promoter shareholder in MCX after IFCI and AGINYX Enterprises .

Forward Markets Commission (FMC) on December 18 had given approval to Blackstone GPV Capital to increase its stake in MCX upto 4.99 percent through secondary market transaction.

However, Merrill Lynch Holdings (Mauritius) offloaded its complete stake in the company. As on September 30, the firm was holding 2.79 percent in MCX.

10:00am The market wiped out early gains amid volatility on Tuesday as investors looked cautious ahead of third quarter earnings and November industrial output data.

The Sensex fell 134.13 points to 20,653.17, and the Nifty declined 41.25 points to 6,150.20, but the broader markets outperformed benchmarks.

The BSE Smallcap gained 0.3 percent as advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of 814 to 702 on the BSE.

Banks are under pressure. Shares of Axis Bank fell the most among largecaps in the Sensex, losing 3 percent. Country's largest lenders State Bank of India , ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank dropped between 0.6-1.2 percent.

Shares of Reliance Industries, ITC, HDFC, Tata Motors, Infosys, TCS and Hindustan Unilever declined 0.5-0.9 percent. Wipro and ONGC dropped 1.6 percent each.

However, Maruti Suzuki bucked the trend with more than a percent gain. Dr Reddy's Labs and Sun Pharma too outperformed with marginal gains.

9:55 am Buzzing: Shares of Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) gained as much as 2.5 percent in morning trade on Tuesday after Blackstone raised its stake in the company through block deal.

Blackstone GPV Capital Partners (Mauritius) VI FII increased stake in MCX by 2.79 percent stake to 4.79 percent from 2 percent on Monday. The firm purchased 14,22,245 equity shares at Rs 573 apiece via block deal that was worth Rs 81.5 crore.

Blackstone now is the largest non-promoter shareholder in MCX after IFCI and AGINYX Enterprises.

9:50 am Market check: The market is losing gaisn quickly as Nifty tanked below 6200. The Nifty is down 28.65 points at 6162.80. The Sensex is down 93.42 points at 20693.88.

About 717 shares have advanced, 484 shares declined, and 417 shares are unchanged.

Axis Bank, Wipro, ONGC, SBI and Hindalco are major losers in the Sensex. Among the gainers are Maruti Suzuki, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Labs, ICICI Bank and Hero Motocorp.

9:40 am IT outlook: Global IT spending is expected to pick up pace this year and grow 3.1 percent to touch USD 3.77 trillion on the back of higher enterprise software and device sales, according to research firm Gartner. In 2013, the market grew 0.4 percent over 2012.

The total spending in 2013 is estimated at about USD 3.66 trillion, Gartner said in a statement today. Enterprise software spending growth is expected to be the strongest at 6.8 percent to touch USD 320 billion by 2014-end from USD 300 billion last year.

9:30 am Buzzing: Shares of Wockhardt jumped over 5 percent intraday as reports indicate that US regulator is may visit its unitin Shendra for an inspection this month.

''If the company manages to get a go-ahead from the regulator for this plant in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra, it might result in resumption of supplies of several of their products, barred from the US last year,'' the report said.

The market has opened on a positive note. The Sensex is up 72.26 points at 20859.56, and the Nifty is up 18.60 points at 6210.05. About 322 shares have advanced, 53 shares declined, and 390 shares are unchanged.

Maruti Suzuki, Coal India, L&T, Sun Pharma and HDFC Bank are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the early losers are ONGC, Bajaj Auto, Hindalco, TCS and Dr Reddy's Labs.

The rupee opened lower at 62.40 against US dollar versus previous day's closing value of 62.32 per dollar.

According to Ashok Gautam of Axis Bank, "The broad range for the dollar-rupee remains at 63.50-60.90/dollar. ''If the pair comfortably stays above 62.55-60/dollar levels in coming sessions, we could see it moving further up towards 63.50/dollar in the near future," he added

''If the pair fails to breach 62.55-60/dollar resistance levels it might move towards 61.75-80/dollar support levels," he said.

In the global markets, disappointing US economic data weighs on the dollar and the yen has strengthened to 104/dollar. US markets ended a quarter percentage lower as mixed economic data made investors cautious ahead of the jobs data this week. Stocks closed slightly lower, with the S&P 500 extending 2014 losses into a third session. The yield on the 10-year treasury note fell 4 basis points to 2.963 percent.

Crude prices gained marginally this morning after five consecutive sessions of losses, as investors weighed mixed signals from Libya, while cold weather across the central United States threatened production.

From precious metals space, gold held its ground near a three-week high in early trade as weaker equities and robust physical demand in China supported prices.