Sensex ends flat ahead of Infy Q2 nos & IIP data; autos up

3:40 pm Buzzer: Shares of Tata Motors are in top gear on Thursday, rallying 5.6 percent intraday to touch a record high of Rs 373.80. Its UK subsidiary Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) announced its best ever September retail sales on Thursday. Luxury car maker JLR, reported record retail sales of 43,181 units during the month gone by, a growth of 17 percent year-on-year and 55 percent sequentially. Jaguar and Land Rover brands received strong response during the period with the China region sales growing 46 percent, Asia Pacific 29 percent, UK rising 11 percent, Europe up 8 percent, North America up 6 percent, and other overseas markets up 15 percent, the company said in its filing.

3:30 pm FII view: Breaching fiscal deficit target is unlikely to change India's rating, Atsi Sheth of Moody's Investors Service told CNBC-TV18 in an interview . Like most experts, Sheth also expects FY14 CAD to be lower than FY13. Meanwhile, Moody's has a negative outlook on Indian banking sector and cautions that asset quality weakening is a cause of concern for the sector. Recently, PMEAC chairman Dr C Rangarajan also said, with trade deficit for September falling to USD 6.76 billion from USD 17.15 billion a year ago, FY14 CAD may be even lower than projected USD 70 billion . The data also showed that exports in September rose 11.15 percent to USD 27.68 billion. According to him, the export data reflects a gradual pick-up in global demand.

It has been a very subdued day as investors looked a bit cautious ahead of the Infosys September quarter results tomorrow. The Sensex is up 26.13 points at 20275.39, and the Nifty up 11.25 points at 6018.70. About 1345 shares have advanced, 937 shares declined, and 162 shares are unchanged. Tata Motors, Tata Steel , M&M, Maruti Suzuki and Sesa Sterlite are top gainers in the Sensex. On the losing side are Tata Power , Hindalco , GAIL , HDFC Bank and HUL .

Shares of IL&FS Engineering and Construction Company are locked at 10 percent upper circuit on Thursday after the board approved rights issue of the company. "The board of directors on Wednesday approved the issue of equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each to the existing equity shareholders on rights basis, up to Rs 300 crore, at a price of 7.5 percent less than the closing price of the share at NSE on October 09," the company said in its filing. Crude oil rose to USD 110 per barrel on Thursday as the kidnapping of Libya's prime minister delayed the prospect of a further recovery in production from the North African nation. Gunmen from a former rebel faction kidnapped Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan on Thursday in reprisal for the government's role in the US capture of a top al Qaeda suspect, reports Reuters.

02:58pm Crude update Crude oil rose to USD 110 per barrel on Thursday as the kidnapping of Libya's prime minister delayed the prospect of a further recovery in production from the North African nation. Brent futures were USD 1.01 higher at USD 110.07 per barrel at 0817 GMT. Gunmen from a former rebel faction kidnapped Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan on Thursday in reprisal for the government's role in the U.S. capture of a top al Qaeda suspect, reports Reuters.

02:50pm Kalpataru rallies on bagging order Investors are buying shares of Kalpataru Power Transmission after the company secured orders worth over Rs 620 crore on Thursday. The stock rallied 7.5 percent in intraday trade. Out of total orders, the big order is worth Rs 463 crore for supply and installation of 171 kms, 400 KV D/C transmission line from Tamil Nadu Transmission Corporation. It also received order from HPCL worth Rs 94 crore for installation of 160 kms cross-country LPG pipeline. During the period of six months ending September 2013, Kalpataru bagged orders worth Rs 1,750 crore and expects the momentum to continue in the next six months period of the financial year 2013-14, says Ranjit Singh, MD.

02:40pm Only buyers in IL&FS Engineering Shares of IL&FS Engineering and Construction Company are locked at 10 percent upper circuit on Thursday after the board approved rights issue of the company. "The board of directors on Wednesday approved the issue of equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each to the existing equity shareholders on rights basis, up to Rs 300 crore, at a price of 7.5 percent less than the closing price of the share at NSE on October 09," the company said in its filing.

02:30pm Gainers & Losers Ranbaxy Labs and Tata Motors are the biggest gainers in the Nifty, rising 3 percent each followed by State Bank of India , M&M, Maruti, Sesa Sterlite, Tata Steel , NTPC and JSPL with 1-1.5 percent gains. However, HDFC Bank , Tata Power and Hindalco Industries topped the selling lost, falling 2 percent each. Shares of Reliance Industries , ITC , TCS , ICICI  Bank, HDFC and Hindustan Unilever slipped 0.4-0.9 percent

02:24pm The 50-share NSE benchmark continued to hold the 6000 level amid choppy trade as investors awaited September quarter results of country's second largest software services exporter Infosys and industrial output data that will be declared on Friday. The Sensex is up 19.23 points at 20268.49, and the Nifty is up 13.10 points at 6020.55 while the broader markets outperformed benchmarks.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rose over 0.7 percent in afternoon trade as advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by 1317 to 901 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Ambareesh Baliga of Edelweiss Financial Services expects the volatility to continue for the next couple of months till the elections. "This is clearly a traders market and not investors market. When there is momentum it is always better to trade on the long than on the short side unless one sees signs of a breakdown. We are suggesting that one should book out to a certain extent, keep a bit of cash, use volatility," Baliga explains.

2:00 pm: Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram has said the country still has the potential for achieving a growth rate of more than five percent this fiscal year, a day after the IMF drastically scaled down India's growth rate to a mere 3.8 percent. "India has generally surprised critics. I think at the end of the year you will see that we will surprise them again," Mayaram said. "The fact is that one needs to look at hard numbers. We believe and we still believe that we have in the current fiscal we have the potential of going beyond five per cent," he said.

1:45 pm Management talk: The Mozambique gas field stake sale will help cut debt by Rs 15000 crore, says Venugopal Dhoot, chairman and managing director, Videocon . Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Dhoot says the stake sale will result in a comparatively healthy balance sheet and a good asset cover. ''We will have a shareholders meeting and we will do whatever will be decided by the shareholder and our board of directors. It is too early to announce what we will do with our money but one thing is definite that the money will be kept as a fixed deposit in the bank so that our net debt can be reduced substantially,'' adds Dhoot.

1:30 pm Buzzer: Shares of Ashok Leyland rallied 5 percent in intraday trade on Thursday after more than Rs 41 crore worth of shares change hands via a block deal on the Bombay Stock Exchange. In morning trade, nearly a percent equity (or 2.6 crore shares) of Ashok Leyand changed hands at a price of Rs 15.90 via a block deal. Meanwhile, earlier this month the company reported its September sales at 7232 units, down 32 percent compared to 10620 units in a year ago period.

Trading in Dalal-Street is subdued as investors gear up for Infosys September quarter results and August industry output data. The Sensex is up 30.45 points at 20279.71, and the Nifty is up 15.35 points at 6022.80. About 1227 shares have advanced, 856 shares declined, and 139 shares are unchanged. Tata Motors , Tata Steel , Jindal Steel , Sesa Sterlite and NTPC are major gainers in the Sensex. While, Tata Power , GAIL , HDFC Bank , Sun Pharma and ITC are laggards.

Krishna Kumar Karwa of Emkay Global says there is room for correction at the 6000 to 6100 range and hence he remains cautious on the market. "If you look at the whole IT pack, most of the stocks have delivered 30-40 percent returns in last quarter. So our view is that momentum is there with the sector and it will continue to do well. However, there will be a pause post results because the expectations have got built up too high," he said. Asian markets lose ground as investors keep an eye on US talks to end the political impasse. Obama is scheduled to meet the Republican party lawmakers at the White House tomorrow as he steps up his personal engagement with lawmakers over the government shutdown and raising the debt ceiling by October 17.

12:50pm Big block deal in Ashok Leyland Nearly a percent equity (2.6 crore shares) of Ashok Leyand changed hands at a price of Rs 15.90 via block deal on the Bombay Stock Exchange, which was worth Rs 41.34 crore. Current market capitalisation of the company stands at Rs 4,390.12 crore.

12:40pm Stocks In News IL&FS Engineering is locked at 10 percent upper circuit after the company announced to raise up to Rs 300 crore through rights issue. Videocon Industries shares gained a percent after Venugopal Dhoot of Videocon said the money from stake sale in Mozambique gas filed (Rs 15,000 crore) would be used for retiring debt. Hence, the net debt will come down to Rs 10,000 crore from Rs 25,000 crore, he adds. Dhoot says the company will pay off liberal dividend to shareholders. Meanwhile, He also expects to raise another Rs 4,000-5,000 crore from telecom stake sale. Earlier, he had confirmed that the company is in talks with investors for stake sale in telecom company.

12:33pm MCX & Financial Technologies on buyers' radar Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) shares gained 5 percent after a stock and currency exchange partly owned by the company announced changes to its management and board. MCX-SX, in which MCX owns a 4.99 percent stake, said late on Wednesday that Chief Executive Joseph Massey and key director Jignesh Shah had resigned, adding that India's market regulator had appointed a director on its board, reported Reuters.

12:13pm The market remained volatile in noon trade as it is waiting for Infosys' September quarter earnings. In fact, the quarter gone by should be very strong for all technology companies led by combination of improving demand, seasonal strength and significant rupee weakness, feel experts. India's second largest software services exporter, will kick-off the July-September quarter earnings season on Friday. Analysts on an average expect profit after tax of the company to rise by 10.2 percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 2,614 crore during the September quarter, according to CNBC-TV18 poll. The stock gained 0.6 percent.

12:00 am Exclusive interview: Puting the blame on delay in decision-making, former finance minister Yashwant Sinha says the new government that will come to power next year, will inherit an economic situation worse than 1991 and 1998. India's macros have been hard hit due to policy paralysis. Due to delayed decision making, projects worth Rs 15 lakh crore are held up, he added. Meanwhile, BJP is likely to release its manifesto for 2014 elections soon. If voted to power, its first priority would be to end policy paralysis, assured Sinha.

11:45 am Buzzer: Tata Steel is up 2 percent after reports indicate that the company might sell assets worth USD 1.2 billion. Sources say Adani Group is said to be the frontrunner to buy out both Tata Steel and Larsen & Toubro's stake in Dhamra port. This would aid in deleveraging Tata Steel's debt ridden balance sheet which has a debt amounting to approx Rs 65,000 crore.

11:30 am Earnings Poll: Infosys, India's second largest software services exporter, will kick-off the July-September quarter earnings season on Friday. Analysts on an average expect profit after tax of the company to rise by 10.2 percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 2,614 crore during the September quarter, according to CNBC-TV18 poll. Revenues are seen going up by 13.4 percent to Rs 12,781 crore in second quarter of FY14 from Rs 11,267 crore in previous quarter while dollar revenues may grow 2.6 percent Q-o-Q to USD 2042 million.

The market is struggling to hold ground. The Sensex is down 108.99 points at 20140.27, and the Nifty is down 26.70 points at 5980.75. About 1017 shares have advanced, 627 shares declined, and 107 shares are unchanged. Asian markets are mostly mixed today as investors are watching US talks. The Nikkei is trading at 1-month highs. Crude was a shade lower with Brent holding at USD 109 and Nymex at USD 101. Gold prices test USD 1300/oz levels. Currencies saw the dollar strengthen from the 8-month lows to 80.41 with the euro retreating to 1.34 and the yen at 97.7. Back home, the rupee was sharply lower tracking a weak euro and other Asian peers on the back of the dollar strength. Government bonds too trade lower tracking weakness in the rupee as FOMC minutes showed that members supported a roll back in QE3 before the end of the calendar year.

10:55am Videocon Management Interview Venugopal Dhoot of Videocon expects money from the sale of sake in Mozambique gas filed in 2 days. He says the money of Rs 15,000 crore will be used for retiring debt. Hence, the net debt will come down to Rs 10,000 crore from Rs 25,000 crore, he adds. Dhoot says the company will pay off liberal dividend to shareholders. Meanwhile, He also expects to raise another Rs 4,000-5,000 crore from telecom stake sale. Earlier, he had confirmed that the company is in talks with investors for stake sale in telecom company.

10:45am Movers & Shakers Metals stocks are in bull grip with BSE Metal Index rising 1.3 percent. Sesa Sterlite and Tata Steel are top gainers in the Sensex with 2 percent gains followed by Hindalco and Jindal Steel with more than a percent gains. Shares of Tata Motors , M&M, Maruti, Cipla and Hero Motocorp rallied more than a percent while HDFC Bank is the top loser, falling 1.3 percent. Reliance Industries , ICICI Bank , TCS , ITC , HDFC and Sun Pharma declined 0.3-0.9 percent. The Sensex is down 26.58 points at 20222.68, and the Nifty is down 1.25 points at 6006.20.

10:35am Market Expert Currently, Credit Suisse Global Investment is underweight equities mainly on the back of political uncertainty in Washington, the resultant pause in growth momentum and also the lingering tapering issue. "If all those worries get resolved, then we would move to a more positive stance and we will have done that by end of this year and as we go into 2014, we would hope to be overweight in stock markets on the back of a gentle acceleration in growth around the world and gradual rise in corporate earnings and we would balance that with a more cautious position on fixed income," Keating says. He says 2014 will be a year for stock markets with Europe beginning to come from behind and EMs having some brief period of catch-up but in a pretty selective way as investors really look conditions genuinely improving.

10:20am Midcap Buzzers MCX and Financial Technologies rallied 4-5 percent after a management rejig at MCX. Joseph Massey has resigned as MD and CEO while Jignesh Shah resigned as VC and shareholder director with immediate effect. Thomas Mathew has been nominated as public interest director. There could be a rejig even in the board of Financial Technologies, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting government sources. Tata Coffee , Gujarat State Petronet , CARE and Whirlpool gained 4-5 percent. Among smallcaps, IL&FS Engineering, AGC Networks , Tara Jewels , Sanghvi Movers and JK Paper surged 7-10 percent.

10:11am The market is volatile in morning trade Thursday after a 266-point rally on the Sensex in previous session. It seems to be waiting for earnings season that will be started with Infosys on Friday. Volatility in Nifty is likely to continue as markets remain below 6,174-6,239 resistance zone, says Laurence Balanco of CLSA.

The Sensex is down 20.10 points at 20229.16, and the Nifty is down 2.60 points at 6004.85, but the broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gaining 0.5 percent each. Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by 805 to 333 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Infosys gained 0.5 percent ahead of its September quarter earnings. The quarter gone by is likely to be very strong for all technology companies due to sharp rupee depreciation, feel experts. The rupee fell more than 6 percent during the quarter and it had touched a record low of 68.84 to the dollar on August 28. The domestic currency today fell 29 paise to 62.22 against the US dollar.

10:00 am Exclusive interview: Uday Kotak, MD, Kotak Mahindra Bank pegs gross domestic product (GDP) growth around 4-4.5% for FY14. In the second half of the year, he cites two positives for growth. One, good agriculture growth backed by good monsoon. Two, the likelihood of significant election spending which could add to growth. In the next few months, he expects the long-term rat on government securities to be between 8-9 percent and short-term rates between 8-8.5 percent. "There is not much room for us to drop rates because we did not increase rates against a 300 basis points increase either," he said in an interview.

9:50 am Inflation poll: India likely saw little respite from high inflation levels in September as prices of food and imports continued to climb despite a relief rally in the battered rupee, a Reuters poll found. The poll of 24 analysts showed wholesale prices likely rose 6 percent last month, slightly below a six-month high of 6.1 percent in August. Consumer prices likely rose 9.60 percent from August's 9.52 percent. Both sets of figures will be released late on Monday.

9:45 am Buzzers: After the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) issued show cause notice to Financial Technologies and directors of NSEL Jignesh Shah, Joseph Massey and Shreekant Javalgekar, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Wednesday has stepped in The decision came after MCX-SX shareholders met at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) conveyed under the directions of Sebi. Sebi also appointed Thomas Mathew as the public interest director on the board of MCX-SX. The board of MCX-SX now has five directors including U Venkataraman, whole time director who would be assisting the Special Committee of public interest directors in running the day to day affairs of the stock exchange. Meanwhile, according to CNBC-TV18 sources, Financial Technologies board have to be restructured and is awaiting final probe reports. Both MCX-India and Financial Technologies are up 5 percent each on the BSE.

9:30 am FII views: Laurence Balanco of CLSA feels that volatility in the Nifty is likely to continue as th market remains below 6,174-6,239 resistance zone. "The minor head and shoulder topping pattern formed above the flat 200 DMA remains dominant short-term topping pattern. A close below 5880 would imply an initial downside target of 5513," he said in an interview to CNBC-TV18. Prabhat Awasthi of Nomura is hopeful that India's macro landscape is likely to improve for rate cyclicals as the market revives expectations of a rate cutting cycle on improving current account deficit numbers and potential delay of Fed taper. "However, on valuations of 13.2 times, we do not see much comfort given the negative outlook on growth. Upside from export growth would be the possible exception on that negative outlook," he adds.

The market has opened on a flat note. The  Sensex is down 23.25 points at 20226.01, and the Nifty down 6.40 points at 6001.05. About 203 shares have advanced, 109 shares declined, and 15 shares are unchanged. Jindal Steel , Tata Steel , Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki and Wipro are lead gainers in the Sensex. Among the laggards are GAIL , ICICI Bank , Coal India and HDFC twins. Indian rupee slipped 25 paise in opening trade on Thursday at 62.20 per dollar as against previous day's close of 61.95 per dollar. Himanshu Arora of Religare feels the rupee may continue its mild weakness and lose more steam against the dollar. "Ongoing stalemate in the US is expected to further dampen sentiment," he adds.

According to him, the range for the day is seen between 61.70-62.35/USD. The Dow and the S&P 500 narrowly avoided a three-day losing streak in a volatile trading session but the ongoing anxiety over the political gridlock in Washington kept a damper on gains. The Nasdaq though slipped about half a percent suffering its worst three-day losing streak in more than three months. And after trading sideways for the last two weeks, the 10-year US treasury yields also jumped to 2.66 percent.

In the currency space, the dollar regained some footing as hopes grew of a break in the US fiscal standoff with Washington finally showing signs of pulling the world's biggest economy from the brink of an historic debt default. In commodities, Brent trades closer to USD 109 a bbl and Nymex has slipped to USD 101 a bbl closer at a 3-month low after data showed that crude inventories shot up nearly 7 million barrels last week, their largest weekly gain since September 2012. From precious metals space, gold prices drop close to USD 1,300 an ounce as the dollar bounced from an eight-month low and on signs the Federal Reserve may trim its stimulus measures this year.