Nifty ends above 6300; L&T up 3% Coal India gains 2%

04:00 pm Fiscal deficit:
A day after Coal India decided to give Rs 19,600 crore bonanza to the government, the Finance Ministry deferred Rs 15,000 crore bond auctions citing improvement in cash position.

"On review of the government's cash position and funding requirement, it has been decided, in consultation with RBI, to defer the auction of dated securities amounting to Rs 15,000 crore scheduled to be held on January 17," the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

If the auction does not take place in the entire fiscal, the total market borrowing by the government would come down to Rs 5.64 lakh crore, from Rs 5.79 lakh crore as envisaged in the 2013-14 Budget. The net borrowing as per the budget was Rs 4.84 lakh crore.

03:50 pm Telecom Update:
Country's top telecom operators Vodafone and Bharti Airtel today applied for taking part in the spectrum auction scheduled for February 3, raising hopes that this round will see strong participation, reports PTI.

"Vodafone has filed the first application, followed by Airtel. We are expecting most of the companies to apply," an official source said. Today is the last date for submitting the applications and companies have the option to withdraw them by January 27.

In the last round of auction held in March 2013, none of the GSM operators had bid for radiowaves, citing high reserve or base price

03:40 pm Market closing:
It was a spectacular rally on Dalal Street with major support by rate sensitives as December wholesale price index (WPI) eased to a 5-month low. The Nifty ended above the 6300-level, first time after January. The Nifty closed at 6320.90, up 79.05 points. The Sensex gained 256.61 points at 21289.49. About 1352 shares advanced, 1276 shares declined, and 309 shares were unchanged.

Larsen, HDFC, Sesa Sterlite, BHEL and ICICI Bank are top gainers in the Sensex.

03:30 pm World news:
China called on the IMF to stick to a commitment to give emerging markets more power at the world body after US lawmakers set back historic reforms that would give developing countries a greater say.

The remarks by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei were an indirect criticism of the United States, the biggest and most powerful IMF member, where lawmakers failed on Monday to agree on key funding measures, though Hong did not mention the United States by name.

The proposed USD 1 trillion spending bill for the US federal government did not include funding for the International Monetary Fund.

03:15 pm Buzzing:
The Cabinet has extended until September a requirement for its two state telecommunication carriers to buy part of their equipment from state-run telecoms gear maker ITI, sending the company's shares as much as 13 percent higher, reports Reuters.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd - the two state carriers - will have to reserve 20 percent of their network rollout contracts for ITI, a government statement said, in a move aimed to prop up the money-losing gear maker.

For products made by ITI, the two carriers must buy at least 30 per cent of their requirement from the company.

03:05 pm Market Expert
While there is some positivity in the market currently, owing to RBI's measures to tame the rupee and the current account deficit (CAD), the Indian equity market will need moe macro positivity to rally significantly, says Dipen Shah, senior vice president and head- PCG Research, Kotak Sec.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Sheth says the ground level realities haven't changed and no new projects have been announced either.

''On the other hand if we look at the fiscal deficit, we have got fiscal deficit which is almost at the year target and to that extent we are expecting or the market is expecting some sort of cutback in the plan expenditure,'' adds Sheth.

02:55 pm Market extends rally post inflation ease
The wholesale price index (WPI) for December grew 6.16 percent, significantly lower than the previous month's figure of 7.52 percent, and economists' average expectation of 7.1 percent.

In conjunction with Monday's consumer inflation number, which stood at 9.87 percent, it confirms the hypothesis of RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan's, who chose to not pull the trigger on interest rates in December, expecting prices to fall.

The latest data has been driven largely by softening in vegetable prices as internals of the data release show prices of food articles falling 6.4 percent month-on-month while primary articles were down 5 percent.

Economists said the release likely rules out the possibility of an interest rate hike when the central bank meets on January 28. ''In fact, we could even see an interest rate cut in March if the trend continues,'' said Madan Sabnavis, Chief Economist, CARE Ratings.

Given continuing trend of falling vegetable prices this year, Sajjid Chinoy, Chief Economist, JPMorgan, said that he expects headline inflation to fall further.

The Sensex rose 261.43 points or 1.24 percent to 21294.31, and the Nifty climbed 80.85 points or 1.30 percent to 6,322.70.

02:40 pm Manappuram Finance up 4.5%, Muthoot Finance up 1%
ICRA today has revised the outlook on the outstanding long term ratings of Muthoot Finance (MFL) and Manappuram Finance (MFIN) from negative to stable.

"The revision in rating outlook of ICRA rated gold loan companies factors in a reduction in their risk profile following an improvement in their loan-to-value mix with a reduction in proportion of high-loan-to-value contracts, and also the reduction in delinquencies from their peak levels in March-April 2013, as a result of focussed recovery efforts since April 2013," ICRA report said.

02:30pm The 30-share BSE benchmark maintained its 200-point rally in afternoon trade supported by rate sensitive, FMCG and technology stocks.

The Sensex climbed 224.63 points or 1.07 percent to 21,257.51, and the Nifty rose 72.25 points or 1.16 percent to 6,314.10, but the broader markets underperformed benchmarks.

The BSE Midcap index is flat and the Smallcap gained 0.33 percent. About 1271 shares have advanced, 1234 shares declined, and 309 shares are unchanged.

Coal India, YES Bank, Infosys , Axis Bank , SBI , HDFC and ICICI Bank are most active shares on exchanges.

Shares of HDFC, ICICI Bank, Larsen and Toubro , Sesa Sterlite, Hero Motocorp , Coal India and Hindalco Industries gained 2-2.7 percent.

ITC , Reliance Industries , HDFC Bank , TCS , Tata Motors , Hindustan Unilever , State Bank of India , Mahindra and Mahindra , Maruti and Bajaj Auto added a percent each.

However, Ranbaxy Labs plunged 3 percent, continuing downtrend for the fourth consecutive session today. The stock plunged more than 12 percent from last Friday, especially after the company received form 483 with observations from US FDA on Toansa unit on January 11.

2:00 pm Result analysis:Vaibhav Agrawal of Angel Broking told CNBC-TV18, "There are couple of things about YES Bank. One obviously the big volatility which clearly impacted them and Q2 is behind, so there is an improvement in macro for them. The other thing is that their overall earnings trajectory and balance sheet growth has come down by almost 10-15 percentage points to what it was earlier. So that has been factored into the stock price as well and incrementally things are improving for the banks in terms of the environment, so at this point we believe it would make sense."

"We now have upgraded it to a buy recently and with these numbers we would maintain a buy on the stock with a target of about Rs 419 as of now," he added.

1:50 pm Expert's take on inflation: Economists said the release likely rules out the possibility of an interest rate hike when the central bank meets on January 28. ''In fact, we could even see an interest rate cut in March if the trend continues,'' said Madan Sabnavis, Chief Economist, CARE Ratings.

At the same time, tight monetary policy took a toll on the economy with gross domestic product growth recently falling to a decade low recently.

Given continuing trend of falling vegetable prices this year, Sajjid Chinoy, Chief Economist, JPMorgan, said that he expects headline inflation to fall further. But the economist pointed towards relatively high core inflation as well, which stood at 2.8 percent, ''which could become a spot of bother for the RBI''.

1:40 pm Results: Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services' third quarter (October-December) consolidated net profit jumped 20.76 percent year-on-year to Rs 15.7 crore, led by other income and exceptional gains.

However, consolidated net sales fell 15 percent to Rs 50.2 crore in the quarter ended December 2013 from Rs 59.2 crore in a year ago period.

Total expenses of the broking and financial services company declined to Rs 41.54 crore from Rs 46.49 crore and tax expenses fell to Rs 5.67 from Rs 6.28 crore during the same period.

Other income jumped to Rs 8.97 crore during December quarter from Rs 5.39 crore in corresponding quarter of last fiscal.

1:30 pm Boardroom: IndusInd Bank MD and CEO Ramesh Sobti feels the worst on costly funds is behind and things should start improving from the first quarter of next financial year. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, he said the corporate side of the loan book performed better than expectations.

''Our restructuring book remains small, around 31 bps of total, we do not see anything large blowing up in our face on the restructuring side,'' Sobti said, adding he expected the restructuring book to remain stable.

Sobti expects net interest margins for this quarter to be on the same lines or slightly better than those for the December quarter. ''The stressful part in cost of funding is behind, cost of deposits have started to come off, liquidity (in the system) too has improved, there should be more relief going forward,'' Sobti said.

The market manages to mainatin its momentum as macro data cheered up sentiment. The Sensex is up 160.38 points at 21193.26, and the Nifty is up 50.10 points at 6291.95.

About 1232 shares have advanced, 1183 shares declined, and 306 shares are unchanged.

ICICI Bank , L&T, Hero MotoCorp, Coal India and Hindalco are top gainers in the Sensex. Among laggards in the Sensex are Axis Bank , Tata Steel and Maruti Suzuki.

Brent crude edged down towards USD 106 a barrel as the prospect of a rise in Iranian oil exports weighed, while investors looked ahead to weekly oil inventories data from the United States to assess supply, reports Reuters.

Big powers and Iran have continued to move ahead on an interim deal that eases some sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme. Any signs that the initial deal might lead to higher Iranian oil exports will add to global supply and depress prices.

12:55pm Market Update
The Sensex trimmed gains from 254 points to 148.19 points at 21181.07 while the Nifty rose 44.70 points to 6,286.55. About 1211 shares have advanced, 1144 shares declined, and 295 shares are unchanged.

Axis Bank slipped into red while State Bank of India and HDFC Bank erased gains after YES Bank third quarter earnings.

12:50pm YES Bank announces Q3 earnings
YES Bank's third quarter net profit jumped 21.3 percent, higher-than-expected to Rs 415 crore while net interest income rose 14 percent, slightly below estimates, to Rs 665.4 crore.

According to CNBC-TV18 poll, analysts had expected net profit of Rs 376 crore and net interest income of Rs 679 crore for the quarter.

Net interest margin was unchanged at 2.9 percent in the quarter ended December 2013 compared to earlier quarter.

The stock is trading at Rs 350.25, up 1.14 percent on the BSE.

12:35pm FII View
Asian equities, including India, are in for better times in 2014, driven by a 10-12 growth in earnings, feels Manishi Raychaudhuri of BNP Paribas. ''However, there may not be any major re-rating,'' Raychaudhuri cautioned.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, he said there was little risk to earnings from currency volatility in this calendar.  Exports and rural consumption are the key themes BNP is bullish on for 2014.

The brokerage is advising its clients to add some high beta stocks to its portfolio. These include engineering, infrastructure and private sector banks. Within private sector banks, Raychadhuri advises avoiding those which are heavily dependent on wholesale funding.

12:25pm The market rallied to two-week high in noon trade on Wednesday with the Nifty surpassing the 6300 level decisively after WPI inflation eased to five-month low.

The Sensex jumped 229.65 points or 1.09 percent to 21,262.53, and the Nifty rose 68.30 points or 1.09 percent to 6,310.15. Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of 1311 to 974 on the BSE.

The rally in the market is in anticipation that the Reserve Bank of India may not consider rate hike on January 28 after fall in WPI as well as CPI inflation, experts say.

WPI inflation for December fell to 6.16 percent, the lowest level in last five months, compared to 7.52 percent in previous month as primary and food articles inflation fell sharply.

Food articles inflation dropped to 13.68 percent from 19.93 percent while primary articles inflation declined to 10.78 percent from 15.92 percent during the same period.

Every stock in the Sensex is in green with the rate sensitive stocks like ICICI Bank and Hero Motocorp topped the gainers list, rising over 2.5 percent.

Shares of Reliance Industries , HDFC, TCS , Larsen and Toubro , HDFC Bank, Tata Motors , State Bank of India, Sesa Sterlite, Hindalco and Cipla gained 1-2 percent.

However, Ranbaxy Labs , Lupin and Cairn India are the only losers in the Nifty.

12:00 pm Alert: December Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation eased to 6.16 percent month-on-month versus 7.52 percent. According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, it was expected to be at 7.1 percent.

11:50 am Politics: With general elections a few months away, political voices are getting louder on the need to tackle India's fragile economy. The industry, which has been enduring a rough ride, has been making a strong appeal to get key policy decisions off ground.

Responding to the Industry needs, which will help kick-off growth, BJP's national treasurer said simplification of tax system, time-bound implementation of projects, transparent process between ministries, and lowering of fiscal deficit are key points in the party's election manifesto.

11:40 am Market outlook: Asian equities, including India, are in for better times in 2014, driven by a 10-12 growth in earnings, feels Manishi Raychaudhuri of BNP Paribas. ''However, there may not be any major re-rating,'' Raychaudhuri cautioned.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, he said there was little risk to earnings from currency volatility in this calendar.  Exports and rural consumption are the key themes BNP is bullish on for 2014.

The brokerage is advising its clients to add some high beta stocks to its portfolio. These include engineering, infrastructure and private sector banks. Within private sector banks, Raychadhuri advises avoiding those which are heavily dependent on wholesale funding.

He is bearish on the metals space, and thinks it is still not a good time to buy Tata Steel shares despite the recent weakness.

11:30 am Market news: Software services exporter Infosys' weightage has increased to 8.69 percent in the Nifty, overtaking cigarette major ITC on Wednesday. ITC's weightage was 8.65 percent.

Infosys reached top of Nifty in weightage terms for the first time since March 2012, which has been on buyers' and brokerages' radar after announcement of third quarter (October-December) earnings on January 10.

India's second largest IT services exporter's consolidated net profit rose 19.4 percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 2,875 crore and revenue increased 0.47 percent sequentially to Rs 13,026 crore in the quarter ended December 2013.

Dollar revenue climbed 1.6 percent Q-o-Q to USD 2,100 million in the quarter gone by.

The market is making strong gains with support by infra, metals and banking stocks. The Sensex is up 195.51 points at 21228.39, and the Nifty is up 56.95 points at 6298.80.

Hero Motocorp , Hindalco , Cipla , Sesa Sterlite and HDFC are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the laggards are ITC, Axis Bank and Maruti Suzuki.

About 1309 shares have advanced, 837 shares declined, and 286 shares are unchanged.

The rupee was lower against the dollar taking cues from a weak euro and Asian currencies. Indian money markets were shut on Tuesday on account of Eid-e-Milad. Government bond prices rose reacting to the CPI data on Monday evening that was at a 3 month low and government deferring the Rs 15000 cr auction this week.

The dollar index strengthened with around a 1 percent rally against the yen but the dollar struggled against the euro.

Gold prices eased on the back of stronger equities while Brent crude was stable at USD 106 per barrel.

Asian markets bounced back, recovering from a sharp fall in the previous session as positive economic data from the US lifted sentiment.

10:55am Market Update
The market extended rally with the Nifty hitting the 6300 level supported by Reliance Industries , TCS , HDFC and ICICI Bank .

The Sensex rose 204.50 points or 0.97 percent to 21,237.38, and the Nifty climbed 59.90 points or 0.96 percent to 6,301.75. About 1305 shares have advanced, 668 shares declined, and 276 shares are unchanged.

Infosys beats ITC on Nifty weightage parameter today. Former has highest weightage of 8.69 percent in the Nifty followed by latter with 8.64 percent.

Infosys, which is on top of Nifty weights for the first time since March 2012, gained 0.84 percent to Rs 3,719.80 after hitting a fresh record high of Rs Rs 3,723.10.

10:40am Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services announces Q3 earnings
Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services' third quarter (October-December) consolidated net profit jumped 20.76 percent year-on-year to Rs 15.7 crore, led by other income and exceptional gains.

However, consolidated net sales fell 15 percent to Rs 50.2 crore in the quarter ended December 2013 from Rs 59.2 crore in a year ago period.

Total expenses of the broking and financial services company declined to Rs 41.54 crore from Rs 46.49 crore and tax expenses fell to Rs 5.67 from Rs 6.28 crore during the same period.

Other income jumped to Rs 8.97 crore during December quarter from Rs 5.39 crore in corresponding quarter of last fiscal.

Geojit BNP earned an exceptional gain of Rs 2.26 crore in the quarter gone by as its subsidiary recovered amount against the provision made for funded exposure of its clients who had trade relationship with National Spot Exchange.
 
The stock is trading at Rs 19.85, down 0.25 percent on the BSE.

10:30am FII View
Abhay Laijawala of Deutsche Equities is positive on market as he believes that record selling by domestic institutional investors is close to an end due to an end in redemption pressure on insurance companies. According to him, a pro-active approach from the RBI should lend stability to rupee.

"Risks to this hypothesis include fractured election mandate and and taper-related volatility, which could impact flows," Laijawal adds.

10:20am IndusInd Bank talks to CNBC-TV18 post Q3 earnings
IndusInd Bank MD and CEO Ramesh Sobti feels the worst on costly funds is behind and things should start improving from the first quarter of next financial year.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, he said the corporate side of the loan book performed better than expectations.

"Our restructuring book remains small, around 31 bps of total, we do not see anything large blowing up in our face on the restructuring side,'' Sobti said, adding he expected the restructuring book to remain stable.

Sobti expects net interest margins for this quarter to be on the same lines or slightly better than those for the December quarter.

''The stressful part in cost of funding is behind, cost of deposits have started to come off, liquidity (in the system) too has improved, there should be more relief going forward,'' Sobti said

Around 35% of IndusInd Bank's funds comprises of wholesale deposits.

The cost of wholesale deposits had surged in July-August last year when the RBI tightened liquidity to protect the rupee. Since then wholesale rates have been gradually easing. Sobti expects wholesale rates to be slightly cheaper this quarter. ''A slight improvement (cheaper funds)…but not very large, but we are on the way to more relief on the cost of funds,'' Sobti said.

10:12am The market maintained strong momentum ahead of WPI inflation that will be announced today. The Sensex rose 127.90 points to 21,160.78, and the Nifty climbed 38.25 points to 6,280.10. Two shares advanced for every share declining on the BSE.

December Wholesale Price Index (WPI) Inflation may ease to 7.1 percent month-on-month versus 7.52 percent last month led by primary and fuel inflation, indicates a CNBC-TV18 poll. However, range could be anywhere between 6.5-7.8 percent. The effect of down tick in vegetable prices on the CPI data is expected to replicate on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation data too.

The other important factor to watch out for is the core inflation data. In the previous month the core inflation data came in at 2.7 percent and month-on-month basis it has been inching up a little every month.

Coal India shares topped the buying list, rising 2.4 percent after announcement of special dividend of Rs 29 per share.

Hindalco rallied over 2 percent while major frontliners like Reliance Industries, TCS, ICICI Bank, HDFC and Bharti Airtel gained more than a percent while Infosys, L&T, HDFC Bank , Tata Motors and State Bank of India rose over 0.5 percent.

However, ITC, ONGC , Mahindra and Mahindra and Axis Bank are under pressure.

10:00 am Result Poll: Private sector lender YES Bank will declare its third quarter (October-December) earnings today. According to CNBC-TV18 poll, analysts expect a slower set of numbers from the bank as compared to previous quarters due to slower credit growth, lower non-interest income and higher provisions.

Earlier the management had said the bank's third quarter will be tougher than second quarter as additionally the December quarter saw the entire effect of the RBI rate hike, which may have impact on net interest margin Q-o-Q.

Net interest income is expected to be slow on account of slower loan growth and fee income. Analysts expect loan growth to be at 14-15 percent Y-o-Y, which is similar to Q2(grew 13.6 percent). The bank in an interview to CNBC-TV18 during third quarter said loan growth is expected to be 15-20 percent.

9:50 am Inflation poll: December Wholesale Price Index (WPI) Inflation may ease to 7.1 percent month-on-month versus 7.52 percent last month led by primary and fuel inflation, indicates a CNBC-TV18 poll. However, range could be anywhere between 6.5-7.8 percent. The effect of down tick in vegetable prices on the CPI data is expected to replicate on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation data too.

The other important factor to watch out for is the core inflation data. In the previous month the core inflation data came in at 2.7 percent and month-on-month basis it has been inching up a little every month. If core inflation remains stable or inches up marginally then that would be a little bit negative. It would increase the probability of Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) increasing policy rates because that would mean food inflation was the primary reason why the WPI inflation has eased off.

9:40 am FII view: Abhay Laijawala of Deutsche Equities is positive on market expecting that record selling by domestic institutional investors is close to an end due to an end in redemption pressure on insurance companies. "A pro-active approach from the RBI should lend stability to rupee. Risks to this hypothesis include fractured election mandate and and taper-related volatility, which could impact flows," he says.

Caesar Maasry of Goldman Sachs feels  a major theme for emerging markets (EMs) is 'macro rebalancing' of current accounts which includes, among other levers, the dynamic between external and domestic growth. "At the aggregate level, EM domestic growth appears to be slowing and export growth is recovering. We expect this macro trend to continue for the year, as our economists forecast domestic demand to slow in most EMs, but export growth to accelerate in every major EM," he adds.

9:30 am Big gain: Shares of Coal India jumped over 5 percent, hitting a two-month high in early trade on Wednesday. Investors are euphoric about the company as last evening it declared an interim dividend of Rs 29 per share, amounting to Rs 18,317 crore, for 2013-14.

The company will pay the dividend from January 25. The government will get Rs 16,485.71 crore for its 90 percent stake in the Maharatna company.

''Currently, Coal India January future is trading at a discount of  Rs12.85/share. The given discount was in anticipation of the dividend expected during the month. However, the total dividend exceeds 10 percent of the current market value. Hence, the futures and options segment is likely to react differently,'' says ICICI Direct in a report.

The market has opened in the positive terrain. The Sensex is up 89.23 points at 21122.11, and the Nifty adds 24.10 points at 6265.95. About 270 shares have advanced, 52 shares declined, and 182 shares are unchanged.

With a gain of 4 percent, Coal India is biggest gainer in the Sensex, followed by TCS , Sesa Sterlite and Cipla . Among the top losers are HDFC , GAIL , HUL , Infosys and ITC .

The rupee slipped in the early trade on Wednesday. It has opened lower by 13 paise at 61.65 per dollar as against previous day's closing value of 61.52 to the dollar. The dollar rallied over a percent versus the yen to 104 levels. The dollar index rose to 80.70.

Wall Street celebrates upbeat retail sales with the markets giving their strongest performance this Year. Europe closed flat while Asia is bouncing back with Japan's Nikkei gaining more than a percent.

In commodities, Brent Crude continues to hover around USD 106 per barrel. Nymex too trades in a tight band ahead of data on government petroleum inventories. And, from the precious metals space, gold slipped marginally to USD 1240 an ounce.