Sensex ends 88 points higher; Tata Power, L&T, Bharti up 2-3%

3:45 pm Market closing: The Sensex ended with a gain of 88 points after a volatile session. The Sensex closed at 19983.61 while the Nifty was up 22.25 points to close at 5928.40. About 1257 shares have advanced, 1126 shares declined, and 147 shares are unchanged. Capital goods and realty stocks added strength to the indices while metals and technology stocks were under pressure. Hindalco , SBI , Cipla , Tata Steel and Coal India were top losers in the Sensex.

On the gaining side were Tata Power, Bharti Airtel , L&T, ICICI Bank and ITC are major gainers in the Sensex. 3:30 pm Concern: Investors pulled out more than USD 12 billion from equity funds focused on emerging markets including India in the July-September quarter on concerns over the US Federal Reserve's plan to curtail stimulus drive as well as tensions in Syria, says a report. According to funds tracking company EPFR Global, USD 12.18 billion has flown out of emerging markets equities funds during the third quarter of 2013. It noted that emerging markets equity funds posted back-to-back quarterly outflows for the first time since the second half of 2011

3:20 pm Buzzer: Shares of Jet Airways fall around 3 percent as the Etihad deal is facing another road block. In response to a public interest litigation by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, the Supreme Court has sought Centre's response on the approval given to Jet-Etihad Airways deal. In his plea, Swamy had said that India-UAE bilaterals were tweaked only for the Jet-Etihad deal.

The Sensex has managed to stay above over 20,000-level amid volatility.  The Sensex is up 128.74 points at 20023.84, and the Nifty is up 34.30 points at 5940.45. About 1220 shares have advanced, 1054 shares declined, and 134 shares are unchanged. Investors are buying shares of Tata Power Company with the stock rallying 3.3 percent.

CLSA has fixed a target price on the stock at Rs 123 per share. The brokerage house feels that the Deepak Parekh Committee report, if approved, will be a big positive for the company. "50 paise/kWh compensation will add Rs 17 per share plus value for Mundra," says CLSA. Larsen and Toubro are on buyers' radar after the company announced bagging new orders worth Rs 1605 crore across various business segments.

The stock jumped around 2 percent on the BSE. Out of the total orders, its buildings and factories division won an order valued Rs 445 crore from Hospital Services Consultancy Corporation (India) Limited for construction of a super specialty cum new ward at Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi. Other gainers in the Sensex are Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank and ITC. Meanwhile, Hindalco, Cipla, Coal India, Sesa Sterlite and Hero MotoCorp are dragging.

02:59pm Midcaps & Smallcaps The broader markets are also trading higher with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gaining around 0.5 percent. Among midcaps, Punj Lloyd shares surged nearly 12 percent followed by Dewan Housing , Arvind , DB Realty and Mcleod Russell with 6-7 percent gains. However, Era Infra, MindTree , Jubilant Life, United Phosphorous and Alembic Pharma lost 3-5 percent. In the smallcap space, Hinduja Global and Banco Products are locked at 20 percent upper circuit. IL&FS Engineering, CCL Products and Kolte-Patil rallied 8-10 percent, but Suashish Diamond, Surana Industries , Hanung Toys and Banas Finance fell 5-6 percent.

02:50pm Global Update Faint signs of movement in a US fiscal standoff helped the dollar edge away from an eight-month low on Tuesday but failed to provoke much reaction in world share and oil markets. A White House spokesman said on Monday it would accept a short-term increase in the nation's borrowing authority to avoid a default. An influential Senator was also said to be floating a plan to cut federal spending and reform the US tax code as part of a broader deal. As the partial US government shutdown runs into a second week, investors still believe that Republicans and Democrats will reach a deal on the budget as well as the debt ceiling, but are wary of the risk that it may not happen, reports Reuters. European markets are marginally weak while Asian markets closed higher after recovery in afternoon trade.

02:40pm Stocks In News Shares of IVRCL rallied nearly 7 percent after the company announced that its water division has bagged orders worth Rs 1,423.4 crore. Apollo Tyres gained further on Tuesday as the cracks appear to be deepening in the Apollo-Cooper Tire deal. In a reaction to Apollo's request for a cut in takeover deal price, US-based Ccooper tire told CNBC-TV18 on Monday evening that it do not think that share price reduction is warranted. However, it says it is looking forward to closing the deal and will continue to work toward resolving the issues in China.

The stock gained 1 percent on top of a 5 percent rally in previous session. Videocon Industries rose 3.5 percent as the company is looking to divest 26 percent stake in its telecom arm, which is valued at Rs 15,000 crore by analysts. Founder Venugopal Dhoot also confirmed that foreign players have approached the company. IL&FS Engineering and Construction shares surged 10 percent ahead of the board of directors meeting on Wednesday. The board will consider the issue of equity shares to existing shareholders on rights basis.

02:30pm FIPB to meet to consider Tata-SA JV The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) will consider a proposal from Singapore Airlines to set up an airline in the country in a joint venture with the Tata Group on October 18, according to the regulator's website. Tata and Singapore Airlines plan to form a full-service airline based in New Delhi, the companies said last month. The two will initially invest a combined USD 100 million to start the carrier, with Tata Sons owning 51 percent and Singapore Airlines the rest, reports Reuters.

02:19pm Equity benchmarks maintained positive trend in afternoon trade with the Sensex gaining more than 100 points supported by ITC and ICICI Bank . The Sensex is up 112.96 points at 20008.06, and the Nifty is up 28.50 points at 5934.65. India's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank and capital goods major L&T are the major gainers among frontliners, rising 2.7 percent each. Bharti Airtel and Jindal Steel gained more than 2 percent. Tata Power , one of the largest private power producers, rallied 2.6 percent after its subsidiary Tata Power Renewable Energy signed share purchase agreement for acquisition of 100 percent shareholding in AES Saurashtra Windfarms in Gujarat. State Bank of India , Axis Bank , Infosys and YES Bank are the most active shares on exchanges.

2:00 pm FII view:  Infosys , which is set to announce its second quarter numbers on Friday, is expected to post more stable margins over the next two-three years, says Adrian Lim, Aberdeen Asset Management. The company has been lagging in earnings and sales growth over the last two-three years, but there are some fundamental shifts within that stock, he says. On the overall market, he is overweight on India. But a more benign operating environment and clearer signs of bottoming out and recovery would encourage him to take larger positions within the market.

1:45 pm Buzzer: Videocon Industries jumped 8 percent intraday on stake sale buzz. According to a CNBC-TV18 exclusive, the company is in talks with one European and two US telecom companies for a stake sale in its telecom arm. In 2010, the consumer electronics major had said that it was looking for foreign entities for a 26 percent stake sale in its telecom subsidiary Videocon Telecommunications. Analysts have valued Videocon's telecom business at around Rs 15,000 crore. Sources say the 26 percent stake sale is likely to get around Rs 3,000-5,000 crore.

1:30 pm Outlook: Credit rating agency CRISIL in its latest report has warned that India Inc's credit quality is on a slippery wicket . President Ramraj Pai told CNBC-TV18 that for consecutive four quarters, the number of downgrades has been outpacing upgrades. Pai who is also the author of this report attributes demand slowdown and liquidity as they key reasons for Indian Inc pain. ''The problem of liquidity accounts for almost 90 percent of the downgrades. Sectors like power, transport and real estate are getting impacted by these two key issues,'' he added. Further, he highlighted that some companies have also been upgraded, but the reason to upgrade them are more company-specific than industry specific. During the first half of the fiscal, the agency downgraded as many as 478 companies compared to the 417 upgrades, it said.

The market is going through a volatile session. The market erased most of its gains after surging in early trade on RBI's surprise move to address liquidity crunch. The Sensex is up 88.17 points at 19983.27, and the Nifty is up 23.05 points at 5929.20. About 1123 shares have advanced, 991 shares declined, and 118 shares are unchanged. Jet Airways is down over 3 percent after the Supreme Court sought the Centre's response on a plea by Subramanian Swamy seeking stay on the approval given to Jet-Etihad Airways deal.

The SC has not stayed the deal itself but sought the response in four weeks. In his plea, Swamy had said that India-UAE bilaterals were tweaked only for Jet-Etihad deal. Meanwhile, Bank Nifty which had surged in early trade is off day's high. JP Morgan believes the best way to play the rate cut is through YES Bank and IDFC , primarily because of valuation support. YES Bank is the biggest banking gainer.

12:59pm IFCI looks for re-entry into CDR cell Delhi-based financial company IFCI is looking at a re-entry into the corporate debt restructuring (CDR) cell. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, MD & CEO SB Nayar says: "If and when they (corporates) apply for restructuring, I would like to be a part of that and also get the same advantage which the banks get."  IFCI had changed its business model. It had become active more on the short-term funding side. Most CDR exposure (of lenders) pertains to the long-term. Hence, it decided to move out of CDR cell last year. Nayar says the company exited CDR as the management was confident of outside settlements.

In terms of business, Nayar expects loan growth to be better than last year as the IFCI's balance sheet had shrunk. ''So we are able to get some good corporates to come -- who were not dealing with IFCI earlier, now to come into IFCI. But resources raising is the problem for all non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) now because the bank got tied up - we have our own access to any fund other than the bank fund. So bank funds are not easy to come by these days. We are very confident; in fact, we have already started growing our loan book,'' he told CNBC-TV18.

12:50pm Market Update The market maintained momentum in afternoon trade, though it came off its day's high. The Sensex is up 97.07 points at 19992.17, and the Nifty is up 25.70 points at 5931.85. On the global front, European markets opened weak, tracking fall in US equities as the US government shutdown continues.

12:40pm Laggards Coal India topped the selling list, falling another 1.4 percent on top of a 3 percent correction seen in previous session. The likely dilution of stake by the government is a cause of concern for the stock. Offer for sale remains near-term deterrent for the stock, says Morgan Stanley in its today's report.

The brokearge house has an overweight rating on the stock, but cut its target price on the stock to Rs 396 from Rs 415. Among others, HDFC, TCS , HDFC Bank , Bajaj Auto , Sesa Sterlite, Hindalco Industries , Cipla , Tata Steel and Hero Motocorp are down between 0.3-1 percent.

12:30pm Earnings season to start with Infosys on Friday Infosys, India's second largest software services exporter, will announce its July-September quarter earnings on Friday. Experts expect IT companies to report strong earnings during the quarter on rupee depreciation.

The stock is up 0.3 percent. Infosys is expected to post more stable margins over the next two-three years, says Adrian Lim, Aberdeen Asset Management. The company has been lagging in earnings and growth assumptions for sales over the last two-three years, but there are some fundamental shifts within that stock, he says.

He would like to see some stability and some consistency in decision making going forward, on the back of reshuffling of leaders within the senior management of the team. Apart from Infosys, Aberdeen Asset Management also has TCS as one of its top ten holdings. He feels both these companies offer slightly different take on the software engineering business, but both are good companies with strong and deep talent pools. He advises investors to hold them over the long-term.

12:18pm The market erased more than half of its gains in noon trade on profit booking in metals stocks. Index heavyweights HDFC, Reliance Industries and TCS are also under pressure. The Sensex is up 70.58 points at 19965.68, and the Nifty is up 21.45 points at 5927.60 after losing 185 points and 54 points from day's high, respectively. Bankex too shed more than 250 points from its day's high, which is up 1.1 percent to 11602. India's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank gained more than 2 percent followed by its rival State Bank of India with 0.5 percent gains.

However, HDFC Bank shed all its gains, falling 0.2 percent and HDFC slipped 0.4 percent. Top IT services exporter TCS fell 0.44 percent on profit booking. Meanwhie, Tata Power shares gained 1.6 percent as its subsidiary has signed share purchase agreement for wind farm in Gujarat. Videocon Industries , which holds spectrum in 7 circles and operates in 4 circles, is looking to divest 26 percent stake in telecom subsidiary, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting sources. It is learnt that the company is in talks with 1 European and 2 US telecom companies for stake sale. The stock gained 4 percent.

11:50 am Market outlook: Nilesh Shah of Axis Capital sees reasonable possibility for Nifty to hit 6,100-6,200, but the current momentum should not be taken for granted because the market has not priced in US shutdown. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, he said, RBI's decision to further slash marginal standing facility rate (MSF) is a positive for short-term. "The market has now gained some amount of confidence that RBI will take corrective actions whenever it's necessary," he added. Meanwhile, Shah recommends staying away from public sector lenders with a long-term perspective. He prefers investing in private sector banks over PSBs.

11:45 am Buzzer: Coal India shares fell another 1.9 percent intraday on Tuesday after losing 3 percent in earlier session on news of likely dilution of stake by the government in December. Offer-for-sale remains near-term deterrent for the stock, says Morgan Stanley in its report.

The brokearge house has an overweight rating on the stock, but cut its target price on the stock to Rs 396 from Rs 415. Morgan Stanley says volume growth is likely to perk up in FY15 and expects production CAGR of 6.7 percent in FY13-FY16. According to the report, FY14 dividend per share of the company is likely to rise to Rs 23.80.

11:30 am Update: The World Bank plans to cut USD 400 million from its budget as part of a sweeping reorganization to make the global development lender more efficient and responsive, the bank's chief financial officer said, reports Reuters. The savings, which have not yet been publicly disclosed, are part of the World Bank's first major strategic realignment in 17 years. The USD 400 million figure will be presented to the World Bank's member countries later this week during its annual meetings, along with a new strategy to focus the institution on its poverty-fighting goals.

Active buying in rate sensitive counters has maintained momentum in trade today. The Sensex is up 176.50 points or 0.89 percent at 20071.60, and the Nifty is up 49.85 points or 0.84 percent at 5956.00. About 1061 shares have advanced, 645 shares declined, and 101 shares are unchanged. ICICI Bank , Bharti Airtel , L&T, Tata Motors and Tata Power are big gainers in the Sensex. On the losing side are Coal India, Hindalco , Cipla , Reliance and Tata Steel .

Asian markets recover from the day's low despite worries over the US shutdown. The HSBC Chinese services PMI fell to 52.4 in September vs 52.8 in August. The rupee is marginally higher against the dollar on upbeat market sentiment after the RBI's 50 bps cut in marginal standing facility (MSF) rate last evening. Bond prices too surge on this news. Appetite has improved due to lower short term rates and better liquidity conditions.

10:55am Gainers & Losers ICICI Bank , Bharti Airtel and L&T are the top gainers in the Sensex, rising 2.7 percent followed by Tata Motors with 2 percent gains. However, index heavyweight Reliance Industries lost 0.2 percent on profit booking. Coal India lost another 1.6 percent on top of a 3 percent loss in previous session after a news that the follow-on public offer for 5 percent stake is likely to be launched in December.

10:50am Buzzers Shares of Tata Steel gained another one percent Tuesday on top of a 4 percent rally seen in previous session. Investors continued buying in steel maker's shares after Barclays upgraded the stock to overweight from equalweight. The brokerage house also raised its target price on the stock from Rs 264 to Rs 358. Barclays says it is the top pick amongst steel producers, citing early signs of a demand rebound in Europe. According to the brokerage house, key positives are improving volume growth visibility and sale of non-core assets.

10:40am Rupee Update The rupee appreciated by 12 paise to 61.67 against the US dollar. The Reserve Bank's decision on reducing marginal standing facility (MSF) rates , thereby easing liquidity crunch, takes away dollar demand from oil companies, but the longer-term worries on 10-year bond yields still remain, says Ananth Narayan of Standard Chartered. On his expectation from the central bank, Narayan says one cannot count on too much policy reforms given the fact that elections are around the corner. He further expects the rupee to hold steady at the current levels.

10:27am The market gave thumbs up to the RBI's move on Tuesday with the equity benchmarks surging more than a percent. The Sensex is up 242.62 points at 20137.72, and the Nifty is up 73.35 points at 5979.50. Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by 831 to 337 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Nilesh Shah of Axis Capital sees reasonable possibility for Nifty to hit 6,100-6,200, but the current momentum should not be taken for granted because the market has not priced in US shutdown. RBI's decision to further slash marginal standing facility rate (MSF) is a positive for short-term, he said. ''The market has now gained some amount of confidence that RBI will take corrective actions whenever it's necessary,'' he added. Banks stocks are on fire today with the BSE Bankex surging more than 3 percent after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reduced the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate by 50 bps to ease liquidity pressure. Banks welcomed the move as the overnight borrowing rate dropped to 9 percent from 9.5 percent.

YES Bank and IndusInd Bank gained the most among largecaps, rising 6-7 percent followed by Kotak Mahindra Bank and Axis Bank with 3.5 percent gains. India's largest lenders State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank , Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda rallied between 2-3 percent. The MSF cut will ease short-term rates and companies are likely to borrow from the commercial paper (CP) market instead of banks.

9:55 am  Update on NSEL crisis: The economic offence wing of Mumbai police was unable to find nine defaulters on the addresses they had furnished with beleaguered bourse National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) in its ongoing probes into a crisis involving payment worth Rs. 5,600 crore, reports PTI. The investigators today wrote to the Registrars of Companies (RoC), highlighting the irregularities that led to the scam. Swastik Overseas Corporation, Loil Health Foods, Yathuri Associates, Ark Imports, Whitewater Foods are among the firms that could not be found at the addresses they had furnished to the NSEL, the official said.

9:45 am FM's views: India must tackle a jump in spending on fuel and food subsidies sooner rather than later, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said, part of a series of steps aimed at stabilising the economy to be announced ahead of an election due within seven months. "We've done a lot of things, but we have to do many more things, and I think we will do them in the next few weeks and months, both by the government and by the central bank," Chidambaram told Reuters in an interview on Monday.

9:30 am FII view: Ridham Desai of Morgan Stanley says the market is unsure of which style to reward in the context of the economic environment and what may be in the price. "This explains the simultaneous gains of quality, cyclicals, momentum & small caps and the underperformance of growth and beta. Market participants should care about alpha or picking stocks and not style," he adds. Mahesh Nandurkar of CLSA is expecting revenue growth for their coverage universe to improve sequentially to 13 percent helped by a base effect in autos & metals and surge in IT & pharma. Pre-exceptional earnings growth is seen at 7 percent. "However, we expect domestic oriented companies to report an earnings decline of 1 percent. We remain overweight on exporters and select cyclicals and underweight staples and banks," he said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

The market opened on a strong note boosted by banking stocks. The Sensex is up 223.77 points or 1.12 percent at 20118.87, and the Nifty is up 67.90 points or 1.15 percent at 5974.05. About 284 shares have advanced, 51 shares declined, and 6 shares are unchanged. Indian rupee has opened at 61.73 per dollar on Tuesday as against previous day's closing value of 61.79 to the dollar.

Pramit Brahmbhatt, CEO of Alpari India feels the rupee will be under some more pressure today owing to choppy equities. "With US budget uncertainties continuing and no major domestic results due till end of the week, rupee will track international developments for further cues," he adds. Banks are seeing buying interest as Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cut the marginal standing facility (MSF) by 50 basis points to ease the liquidity crunch. Banks cheered the move as overnight borrowing rate dropped to 9 percent. Banking Secretary Rajiv Takru said that the cut in MSF will aid the economy. This RBI measure was announced post market hours.

ICICI Bank , SBI , HDFC Banks gain around 2-3 percent each while YES Bank is up 7 percent. Globally, the trend looks weak; US markets fell about 1 percent across the board, with the Dow hitting a one-month low, as the risk of a potential u-s default grows. Also leading European markets ended lower. Asian markets too tracked overnight losses and were trading on a subdued note today morning.

In the currency space, the dollar edged lower sub 80 levels and near an eight-month low as a US budget deadlock showed no sign of breaking. Investors are seen flocking to perceived safe havens like the Yen and the Swiss Franc. The yen has strengthened this morning to 96.7/USD levels, driving the dollar to it weakest since mid-August against the Japanese currency. In commodities, Brent crude trended lower as the partial US government shutdown stirred fears about demand, undercutting supportive news about a production cut in the Gulf of Mexico.

From precious metals space, gold prices moved higher on safe-haven appeal. Even though the response from gold and other financial markets have so far been mild to the deadlock in Washington, analysts say that bullion should benefit from the huge uncertainty related to a possible US default if congress fails to raise the US debt limit by October 17.