Nifty ends with modest gains; Auto sales revive

It was yet another day of consolidation for the market as Nifty kept drifting in the range of 5600-5650. Analysts "believe consolidation is an intermediate pause" in an otherwise medium term uptrend. Auto companies hogged limelight in today's trade after sales accelerated ahead at full speed at the onset the festive season.

A minor improvement in the manufacturing growth data also boosted the positive sentiment. Among the sectoral indices, Consumer Durables was the outperformer, up by 5.26%, followed by Auto sector which was up by 2.26%. Realty and Power were also up by more than a percent. FMCG witnessed profit-booking and was down by about a percent.

The Sensex closed at 18561.70 up 56.32 points or 0.30% and the Nifty ended at 5641.35 up 21.65 points or 0.39%. About 1643 shares advanced, 1141 shares declined, and 673 shares remain unchanged.

Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, Cipla, Wipro and Reliance Infra were top gainers. HUL, ONGC, ITC, GAIL and HDFC Bank were top losers.

Maruti Suzuki hits a new 52-wk high as its October sales accelerated 86 percent year-on-year to 1,03,108 units. Mahindra & Mahindra total automotive sales rose 29 percent year-on-year, to 53,438 units, its highest ever monthly sales, helped by strong demand for its passenger vehicles.

Reliance shares tanked as much as 2% in early trade after the India Against Corruption leader Arvind Kejriwal made allegations against Reliance Industries saying the company has blackmailed the government by reducing gas production. The company pared losses significantly following the recommendation of its share buyback programme from Thursday.

Earnings will remain in focus in the coming sessions. Apollo Tyres, Wipro, and Union Bank are some of the prominent stocks announcing their Q2 FY13 results tomorrow.

The BSE Sensex was marginally positive amid volatility, helped by auto, capital goods, telecom and healthcare stocks. Top telecom operator Bharti Airtel surged over 4 percent as the empowered group of ministers (EGoM) will consider 900 MHz refarming today.

CNBC-TV18 learns from sources that there will be some relief for Bharti, Reliance Communications, Vodafone and Idea Cellular as EGoM will approve partial refarming of 900 MHz. "All four telecom companies will retain 2.5 MHz of 900 band," say sources. Reliance Communications was up 1.7 percent and Idea went up 0.5 percent.

The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 39 points to 18,544.38 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 15.35 points to 5,635.05.

Commercial vehicle major Tata Motors jumped nearly 5 percent ahead of October sales data. Two-wheeler majors Hero Motocorp and Bajaj Auto gained 1.5 percent ahead of sales numbers for previous month.

Country's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank was up 0.6 percent while its rival State Bank of India rose 0.35 percent.

Drug producer Cipla extended gains to 3 percent while its rivals Sun Pharma and Dr Reddy's Labs were up 0.5-0.9 percent.

Engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro and power equipment maker BHEL moved up nearly 1 percent.

Shares of ITC, ONGC, GAIL and Hindustan Unilever were down 1-2 percent. Private sector lender HDFC Bank declined 0.75 percent and index heavyweight Reliance Industries was down 0.5 percent.

Godrej Properties rallied 5.5 percent after stronger-than-expected numbers in Q2. Consolidated net profit rose stronger-than-expected 67.6 percent year-on-year to Rs 32.6 crore in the July-September quarter of current financial year. Analysts on an average had expected net profit of Rs 24.6 crore for the quarter.

Indian equity benchmarks remained in a narrow range around their previous closing values. Shares of Reliance Industries, a flagship company of Mukesh Ambani group, pared losses to 0.6 percent from 2 percent following the company's share buyback programme.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 34.5 points to 18,539.87 and the 50-share NSE Nifty was up 13 points to 5,632.65.

The Bank Nifty gained over 0.5 percent as the country's largest lenders State Bank of India and ICICI Bank were up 0.4 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively.

Top commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors spiked 4 percent ahead of October sales numbers. Analysts on an average expect the company's total sales to grow by 9 percent year-on-year to 74,100 units but that is likely to fall marginally on QoQ basis.

Top telecom operator Bharti Airtel and software services exporter Wipro ( after demerger news ) rallied over 3 percent.

Utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra extended gains to 1.5 percent as its automotive sales in October jumped 29 percent YoY and 10.5 percent MoM to 53,438 units. Two-wheeler majors Hero Motocorp and Bajaj Auto were up over 1 percent ahead of monthly sales numbers.

Engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro rose 0.56 percent as its subsidiary L&T Construction has received orders worth Rs 1,063 crore in October.

FMCG majors ITC and Hindustan Unilever were down 1-2 percent. Shares of ONGC, Hindalco Industries and Sterlite fell 1 percent each.

Indian shares remained listless as both benchmarks were hovering around their previous closing values since opening. Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, Wipro, Power Grid and Cipla topped the buying list while ITC, HUL, Reliance Industries and ONGC were major losers.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 11.41 points to 18,516.79 and the 50-share NSE Nifty moved up 4.3 points to 5,624.

The government's recent reform measures notwithstanding, political challenges will limit upside in the market, says Dharmesh Mehta, Managing Director, Institutional Equities, Axis Capital.

Sentiment has certainly improved, Mehta told CNBC-TV18 in an interview, but cautioned that investors did not have the confidence yet to take macro calls, and preferred to look for specific stock ideas.

Country's largest commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors shot up 3.5 percent ahead of sales numbers for October while software services exporter Wipro rallied 3.5 percent too as the company decided to merge its lighting, consumer care, medical services and infrastructure business.

Titan Industries surged 7.5 percent and Tata Global Beverage rose 5 percent following good set of numbers in second quarter of FY13.

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel, state-owned electric utility Power Grid and drug producer Cipla were up over 2 percent.

Top car maker Maruti Suzuki jumped 1.6 percent to hit a new 52-wk high as its October sales accelerated 86 percent year-on-year to 1,03,108 units.

Two-wheeler majors Hero Motocorp and Bajaj Auto moved up over 1 percent. Shares of ITC and HUL were down 1.11 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively.

Index heavyweights Reliance Industries and Infosys went down 0.7 percent each.

In the second line shares, Tata Global Beverage, Prestige Estate, Aurobindo Pharma, Educomp Solutions and Infotech Enterprises gained 4-5 percent while Shoppers Stop, Gateway Distriparks, Motilal Oswal, Carborundum and Shriram City were down 2-4.5 percent.

Indian equity benchmarks continued to be directionless since early trade owing to lack of global and local cues. Gains in Wipro, Bharti, L&T, ICICI Bank and auto stocks counterbalanced by the weakness in Reliance Industries, Infosys, ONGC, HDFC Bank and FMCG stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 25 points to 18,480.75 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 7.55 points to 5,612.15. But the broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gaining 0.5 percent.

Commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors gained 3 percent ahead of sales numbers for October month. Top car maker Maruti Suzuki extended gains to 1 percent following auto sales numbers.

Two-wheeler manufacturer TVS Motor Company rose 1 percent as it has reported better-than-expected sales of 1.9 lakh units in October as against expectations of 1.71 lakh units.

Software services exporter Wipro rallied 3.5 percent as the company approved demerger of consumer care, lighting, infrastructure and medical services businesses and new entity will be called Wipro Enterprises.

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel, drug producer Cipla and two-wheeler major Hero Motocorp (ahead of sales numbers) were up 1 percent each.

FMCG major Hindustan Unilever extended losses to 3 percent while cigarette major ITC was down 1.6 percent.

Private oil & gas producer Reliance Industries fell over 1 percent on allegations (by India Against Corruption party leader Arun Kejriwal) of political linkages against Mukesh Ambani.

Aluminium major Hindalco Industries declined 1 percent on profit booking. Yesterday the stock rallied 5 percent following foreign clearance to Mahan coal block.

Advancing shares outnumbered declining by a ratio of 1189 to 765 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The NSE Nifty was flat to negative in early trade on Thursday, weighed down by Reliance Industries and HUL. ITC and Infosys too were under pressure. But the gains in Tata Motors, L&T and SBI capped the losses to large extent.

The 30-share BSE benchmark fell 43.69 points to 18,461.69 and the 50-share NSE benchmark was down 14 points to 5,605.85.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries was down nearly 2 percent in early trade following India Against Corruption leader Arvind Kejriwal hit out at the Mukesh Ambani yesterday saying RIL blackmailed the government by reducing gas production.

FMCG major Hindustan Unilever dropped 2 percent, continuing the fall since the announcement of disappointing volumes growth in Q2.

ONGC and GAIL remained under pressure with 0.5 percent losses. ITC, Infosys, HDFC Bank, Jindal Steel and Hindalco were under pressure.

Wipro rose 1.3 percent following the company approved demerger of consumer care and lighting business. The company will declare its second quarter numbers tomorrow morning.

Commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors and telecom operator Bharti Airtel gained over 1 percent.

Maruti Suzuki, Cipla, Dr Reddy's Labs and Tata Steel too were on buyers' radar.

In the second line shares, VIP Industries plunged 7.5 percent on disappointing numbers.

Hexaware fell 2 percent as its net profit declined to Rs 84.1 crore from Rs 89 crore QoQ.

Titan Industries up 3 percent following overall good set of numbers. Although sales came in below estimates at Rs 2,276 crore, but EBITDA margin expanded mainly due to material costs declining by 0.5 percent.

Power Grid was up over 2 percent as net profit surged to Rs 1,126 crore in the second quarter of FY13 from Rs 709 crore in a year ago period.

S Kumars Nationwide dropped 2 percent. Cinemax India rose 5 percent. SREI Infrastructure was up 1.7 percent.

Apollo Tyres gained 0.6 percent ahead of quarterly earnings tomorrow.