Market ends at highest closing level of 2014, pharma leads

3:50 pm IT raid: The Income-Tax department has 'surveyed' the office of nation's largest oil producer Cairn India in connection with transfer of assets by its erstwhile UK promoter, Cairn Energy plc to the Indian entr, reports PTI.

The Gurgaon office of Cairn India was 'surveyed' by IT department officials yesterday for a short duration, informed sources said.

The survey was to establish if any capital gains tax was due on the 2006 transaction when Cairn Energy had transferred shares of the Indian assets that were held in a subsidiary incorporated in Jersey, a tax haven, to newly incorporated Cairn India.

Sources said IT Department is investigating the asset transfer under Section 9 of the Income-Tax Act, which deals with income deemed to accrue or arise in India.

3:40 pm Market closing: Both the Nifty and Sensex ended at highest closing level of 2014. The Sensex was up 86.55 points at 21337.67, and the Nifty added 25.15 points to end at 6338.95.  About 1376 shares have advanced, 1271 shares declined, and 235 shares are unchanged.

Pharma stocks led the market with Sun Pharma gaining 3 percent. Tata Steel , Hindalco , Bharti Airtel and NTPC are other winners of the day. SBI , L&T, Hero Motocorp , Axis Bank and ITC are other laggards in the Sensex.

3:30 pm Macro outlook: The Reserve Bank of India is likely to keep benchmark rates unchanged in its policy review next week and even in the one in March, feels Brijen Puri, Head of Markets, JPMorgan. In a discussion on CNBC-TV18, he said he expected the yield to be in the range of 8.50-8.75 percent, and did not see it climbing to 9 percent near-term.

The spike in bond yields today reflects concerns over the recommendations of the Urjit Patel report, said A Prasanna, chief economist at ICICI Securities.

Among other things, the panel has recommended that retail inflation be taken as the benchmark while setting policy rates. A section of economists feels this could result in interest rates staying higher for longer.

3:20 pm Earnings: Personal care products manufacturer Dabur India's third quarter consolidated revenues grew 16.7 percent, higher than analysts' expectations, to Rs 1,909 crore compared to a year ago period, supported by strong growth in international business.

"Net sales growth was driven by strong volume growth across key categories of health supplements, air care, hair care, oral care, skin care and foods," the company said in its filing.

Net profit rose 15 percent year-on-year to Rs 243 crore, but that was squeezed due to weak operational performance and was lower than street forecast. Higher employee cost and advertising expenses also affected the profitability.

3:10 pm Davos special: Developing economies will feel some impact from the US Federal Reserve's winding down of its stimulus but India is better prepared than last year, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said.

First signals from the Fed last May that it would begin to scale back - or "taper" - its extraordinary economic stimulus measures prompted many investors to pull funds out of emerging markets seen as risky, hitting asset values.

"We were concerned in May. But now I think we have done a lot of preparatory work," Chidambaram told reporters on the sidelines of the Davos economic forum on Wednesday.

"There will be some consequences in developing and emerging economies but I think we are better prepared for the taper than when we were surprised in May."

3:00 pm Results: Zee Entertainment Enterprises' third quarter revenues rose 26.6 percent year-on-year to Rs 1188 crore, driven by a strong growth in advertisement revenues and a healthy increase in subscription revenues. However, a 32.5 percent rise in expenditure squeezed margins and limited Y-o-Y growth in net profit to 10.5 percent to Rs 213.6 crore. Operating margins for the quarter fell to 24.5 percent from 27.8 percent.

The company attributed the pressure on margins to losses in the sports business due to a ''heavy event calendar.''

Advertising revenues were up 34.3 percent to Rs 684.3 crore and subscription revenues by 11.4 percent to Rs 456.5 crore. Of total subscription revenues, domestic accounted for Rs 322.2 crore or 71 percent.

The market is listless in trade due to lack of trigger this week. In fact, investors are cautious ahead of RBI policy on January 28.

The Sensex rose 29.19 points to 21,280.31, and the Nifty advanced 9.80 points to 6,323.60. About 1278 shares have advanced, 1234 shares declined, and 232 shares are unchanged.

BHEL , Just Dial, Aurobindo Pharma , Info Edge , Axis Bank, Infosys and ITC are most active shares on exchanges.

Ashok Leyland gains after management says that third quarter was the worst and it expects things to improve going ahead. Torrent Pharma hits a 52-week high on strong 41 percent jump in profitability.

Bharti also jumps as the company is looking to sell its Africa tower business on a country-by-country basis, with a valuation of USD1.8 billion.

The 10-year bond yields rise the most in two months after the RBI panel report while the rupee continues its falling streak for fourth straight day.

2:00 pm Coal update: India's coal imports rose 21 percent to 152 million tonnes last year as power producers bought more due to low prices and a domestic shortage, research firm OreTeam said, adding that shipments could rise to 170 million tonnes this year.

Bureaucratic, environmental and legal delays in adding new mines and expanding existing ones have made India the No. 3 importer of coal, behind China and Japan, even though it sits on what BP Plc ranks as the world's fifth-largest reserves.

Most of the imports come from Indonesia, South Africa, Australia and Canada. India shipped in a total of 126 million tonnes of power-generating thermal coal, steelmaking coking coal and processed coking coal, or metallurgical coal, in 2012.

1:50 pm Market outlook: The range-bound Nifty is absorbing all sorts of selling pressure at this time, but will see a sharp rise if the index sees a monthly close above 6357, says Regan F Homavazir, Associate VP - Technical Research, Darashaw.

His long-term target for the Nifty is at 7500. He advises investors to buy Emami , which has a target of Rs 770 per share. He is also betting on United Spirits with a long term target of Rs 5040 per share. In the IT space, Homavazir is positive on Wipro with a target of Rs 717 per share.

1:40 pm Concall:  Ashok Leyland reported a net loss of Rs 167 crore for the December quarter - the third successive quarter of losses-as the ongoing economic slowdown continued to hurt demand for commercial vehicles. With this, the company has now reported a net loss of Rs 334 crore on sales of Rs 6715 crore for the 9-month period till December.

In a conference call with analysts, the management said the industry may have bottomed out and things were expected to start looking up from this quarter. The company's market share in the bus segment fell to 34.9 percent from 43.4 percent, and the management attributed to it some key clients deferring their orders.

1:30 pm Results: Housing Development Finance Corporation ( HDFC ) matched street expectations with the third quarter net profit rising 12 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,278 crore.

According to CNBC-TV18 poll, analysts had expected net profit of Rs 1,281 crore. In the quarter gone by, total income from operations grew nearly 15 percent to Rs 6,020 crore while total expenses rose 15 percent to Rs 4,273.2 crore compared to a year ago period. Tax expenses climbed 18.5 percent to Rs 480 crore during October-December quarter.

The market continues to remain flat. Nifty holds 6,300 levels, up 11.00 points at 6324.80. The Sensex is up 41.91 points at 21293.03. About 1201 shares have advanced, 1133 shares declined, and 232 shares are unchanged.

Metal stocks gained while FMCG stocks dragged. Broader markets outperform benchmark indices. Tata Steel , Sun Pharma , Hindalco , Bharti Airtel and Cipla are top gainers in the Sensex. Among top losers are ITC , Tata Power , Hero Motocorp , HUL and Coal India .

Bonds trade sharply lower after RBI-appointed Urjit Patel panel recommends CPI inflation as new nominal policy anchor.

Brent futures rose above USD107 a barrel on as outlook reports indicated global oil demand will rise more quickly this year as economic growth in industrialised countries accelerates.

The economic growth will absorb more supply even as US shale oil output reaches record highs, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday. The same day, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised its global growth forecast for the first time in nearly two years, saying advanced nations could pick up the mantle of growth from emerging markets.

12:59pm Torrent Pharma surges 8%
Shares of Torrent Pharma jumped 8 percent as investors are lapping up the stock on its strong December quarter results backed by revenue growth in overseas market.

On a consolidated basis, the Ahemedabad-based company posted net profit of Rs 158 crore in Q3 from Rs 112 crore year-on-year. Net sales grew to Rs 1015 crore (including operationg income), up 27 percent from Rs 797 crore (YoY).

The company declared an interim dividend of 100 percent or Rs 5 per equity share of Rs 5 each.

The company's overseas revenue grew by 41 percent to Rs 637 crore. "In the international operations, US Businesses reported growth of 61 percent, Europe (including Heumann) grew by 59 percent, Brazil operations' growth was 26 percent and rest of the world, including Russia, CIS, Mexico and Canada grew by 9 percent," the company statement said.

12:52pm Nikkei closes higher
The Nikkei stock average eked out modest gains on Wednesday, with Tokyo Steel Manufacturing Co jumping after a robust earnings report.

The Nikkei ended 0.2 percent higher at 15,820.96 after trading as low as 15,631.41 following a BOJ decision to keep monetary policy steady. A trader said some investors had been hoping that the BOJ might further ease this time.

The BOJ also maintained its upbeat inflation forecasts, suggesting that no imminent monetary easing is on the horizon as the country's economic recovery broadens.

The broader Topix index was up 0.3 percent at 1,299.63, with 2.66 billion shares changing hands, the most this week.

The JPX-Nikkei Index 400, a recently introduced gauge comprised of companies with a high return on equity and robust corporate governance, added 0.3 percent to 11,728.57.

Tokyo Steel, an electric furnace steelmaker, climbed 5 percent after returning to profit for the first ninth months of the business year on firm domestic demand and cost cuts. Peer Kyoei Steel gained 3.2 percent and Tokyo Tekko Co Ltd added 1.5 percent, reports Reuters.

12:42pm Suven Life on buyers' radar
Shares of Suven Life Sciences rallied as much as 7.8 percent intraday on Wednesday on getting approval from US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for Pashamylaram unit.

"After the inspection and the review, USFDA has classified Suven facility at Pashamylaram as acceptable for manufacture and supply of active pharmaceutical ingredients (bulk drugs), intermediates and formulations under current good manufacturing practice (cGMP)," the company said in its filing.

Hyderabad-based healthcare company said so far it has filed 29 drug master files (DMFs) and 1 Abbreviated New Drug Application  (ANDA) from this facility which is FDA complaint under cGMP and continued after renewal inspection.

12:32pm L&T to announce Q3 earnings today
According to CNBC-TV18 poll, analysts expect reported profit after tax of the engineering and construction company to rise 0.7 percent on yearly basis to Rs 1,130 crore while adjusted PAT may grow 15.5 percent to Rs 1,130 crore.

Analysts believe the start of execution of several large orders received in the past two-three quarters will translate into double digit revenue growth for the company. The street had expectations that the revenue growth may see a marginal pick up in October-March period of current financial year 2013-14.

In the quarter gone by, revenues are likely to increase 13 percent to Rs 17,430 crore from Rs 15,429 crore in a year ago period.

Order Inflows
Analysts said the engineering company needs to book Rs 54,000 crore worth of orders in October-March period to meet its guidance of 20 percent growth in FY14 (Rs 1,05,600 crore) compared to earlier year (Rs 88,000 crore).

They believe the third quarter order inflow will remain robust led by large Middle East order wins. So they expect 15 percent Y-o-Y growth in order inflow at Rs 22,500 crore as against Rs 19,545 same period last year.

In Q3, so far L&T's has announced orders worth Rs 12,700 crore.

12:22pm Infosys sees strong India story post polls
Foreign investors have continued to focus on India, and they are concerned about the problems being faced by India as they see great opportunity here says S Gopalakrishnan, president, CII & vice chairperson, Infosys.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Davos 2014, the spotlight of the World Economic Forum, Gopalakrishnan believes will be on equality equity.

''There is inequality going up in many parts of the world, unemployment is very high in many parts of the world especially with youth, sustainability is a challenge with climate change. So, this is an opportunity to address some of these issues in this year's forum,'' highlights Gopalakrishnan.

On India, Gopalakrishnan said things on the ground were improving gradually, and that he expected the situation to get even better after the upcoming Parliament elections.

12:12pm CRISIL sees India growing 6%
Rating agency CRISIL sees India's economy growing 6 percent in 2014-15 on implementation of stalled projects, debottlenecking of the mining sector and a recovery in industry on higher external demand. CRISIL has estimated GDP growth for this fiscal at 4.8 percent, and said the low base would also be one of the key factors making net year's number look better.

''We also expect some rebound in services growth in 2014-15 led by higher exports as well as a positive rub-ff from higher industrial growth.

Finally, we assume a normal monsoon year, which will cushion growth and help in taming inflation,'' the CRISIL report said.

But the rating agency sees enough factors that could upset its calculations.

12:02pm The market is directionless in noon trade as the Sensex rose just 0.78 points to 21251.90, and the Nifty gained 0.15 points at 6,313.95. About 1140 shares have advanced, 1028 shares declined, and 208 shares are unchanged.

The range-bound Nifty is absorbing all sorts of selling pressure at this time, but will see a sharp rise if the index sees a monthly close above 6357, says Regan F Homavazir, Associate VP - Technical Research, Darashaw. His long-term target for the Nifty is at 7500.

FMCG stocks are under pressure; ITC is biggest loser in the Sensex, falling 1.6 percent followed by Hindustan Unilever with 1 percent loss.

Among others, State Bank of India , Larsen and Toubro , HDFC , ONGC , ICICI Bank and Axis Bank too are weak.

However, Bharti Airtel gained nearly 2 percent on reports that it is going to split its Africa tower business sale. According to CNBC-TV18 sources, the country's largest telecom company is likely to split its Africa tower business sale on a country-by-country basis.

Sun Pharma , Tata Steel , Cipla and Tata Steel climbed over 1.5 percent.

12:00 pm Stock in news: Shares of Suven Life Sciences rallied as much as 7.8 percent intraday on Wednesday on getting approval from US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for Pashamylaram unit.

"After the inspection and the review, USFDA has classified Suven facility at Pashamylaram as acceptable for manufacture and supply of active pharmaceutical ingredients (bulk drugs), intermediates and formulations under current good manufacturing practice (cGMP)," the company said in its filing.

11:50 am Outlook: Rating agency CRISIL sees India's economy growing 6 percent in 2014-15 on implementation of stalled projects, debottlenecking of the mining sector and a recovery in industry on higher external demand. CRISIL has estimated GDP growth for this fiscal at 4.8 percent, and said the low base would also be one of the key factors making net year's number look better.

''We also expect some rebound in services growth in 2014-15 led by higher exports as well as a positive rub-ff from higher industrial growth.

Finally, we assume a normal monsoon year, which will cushion growth and help in taming inflation,'' the CRISIL report said.

11:40 am Buzzing: Shares of Bharti Airtel jumped over 2 percent intraday on Wednesday on reports that it is going to split its Africa tower business sale. According to CNBC-TV18 sources, the country's largest telecom company is likely to split its Africa tower business sale on a country-by-country basis.

It is looking at a valuation of roughly USD 1.8 billion for the Africa tower business, and first on the list, will be the Nigeria towers. The valuation of the Nigeria towers is pegged at around USD 500-550 million. The proceeds from the sale will be used to pare off Bharti's huge Rs 60,000 crore debt. The market had been anticipating this sale for quite some time. Bharti was not getting the right valuation for its towers.

11:30 am Macro economy outlook: The Urjit Patel report will form the backbone of how the Reserve Bank will be thinking about the monetary policy, believes Samiran Chakraborty, Head of Research, Standard Chartered Bank .

"Of-late the RBI has been saying that the steps taken in the past monetary policy works with two-three quarters lag, so it is quite possible that there is a disinflation process going on with negative output gap, which will possibly lead to consumer price index (CPI) headline heading towards 8 percent mark, which they want to achieve over 12 month period," he says in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

The report recommends that RBI adopt a new CPI as the anchor for policy. It says that inflation target must be set at 4 percent plus or minus 2 percent and the inflation aim must be set in a frame of a two year horizon. It sees the need to reduce CPI inflation to 6 percent in 24 months. The panel also suggests that the government must bring down the fiscal gap down to 3 percent by FY17.

The market is consolidating with Nifty at 6323.05, up 9.25 points. The Sensex is up 34.30 points at 21285.42. About 1094 shares have advanced, 908 shares declined, and 218 shares are unchanged.

Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel , NTPC , Cipla and Hindalco are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the major losers are ITC , HUL , L&T, SBI and ONGC .

The rupee is slightly down on dollar purchases by some state-owned banks. However, technical support for rupee at around 62/per dollar levels is restricting further fall.

Government bond prices fall sharply in reaction to the Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Urjit Patel-led committee's recommendation that the central bank should adopt the headline consumer price index (combined) as a nominal anchor for policy communication.

Gold is trading near its lowest level in a week today after posting a nearly 1 percent drop on tuesday. Brent is marginally higher.

Asian markets trade mixed with China leading the way. Japan is in focus as the Bank of Japan meet concluded where the policy was unchanged with the GDP growth forecast for FY15 lowered to 1.4 percent from 1.5 percent.

10:59am FII View
Neelkanth Mishra of Credit Suisse said all on-the-ground feedback suggests momentum favours the BJP.

"But in the last two decades, swings of large magnitude have been rare. We remain convinced that a more than 220 or a less than 160 verdict for the BJP is unlikely. Market thus may not be volatile around election results," he added.

10:49am Movers and Shakers
Shares of HDFC Bank , Bharti Airtel , Tata Steel , Wipro , NTPC , Hindalco Industries and NTPC gained between 1-2 percent.

Reliance Industries , TCS , Infosys , Tata Motors , ICICI Bank and HDFC climbed marginally while ITC topped the selling list, falling 1.6 percent.

Larsen and Toubro , State Bank of India , Hindustan Unilever , ONGC , Bajaj Auto and Hero Motocorp are other losers.

Info Edge , Aurobindo Pharma , Just Dial, Biocon , MCX India, TCS, Infosys and HCL Technologies are most active shares.

10:39am Dabur to announce Q3 earnings today
According to CNBC-TV18 poll, analysts expect consolidated profit after tax of the Ayurvedic and natural health care manufacturer to jump 18.4 percent to Rs 250 crore compared to a year ago period. They feel the higher tax rate may have some impact on profitability of the company.

Revenues may get benefitted from recovery in international business (especially US-based Namaste Labs). Hence, international segment revenues are expected to be higher by 20 percent year-on-year, including exchange translation gains of around 11 percent.

Total revenues may grow 14.9 percent to Rs 1,880 crore in the quarter ended December 2013 from Rs 1,636 crore in corresponding quarter of last fiscal.

10:29am Infosys talks to CNBC-TV18
Foreign investors have continued to focus on India, and they are concerned about the problems being faced by India as they see great opportunity here says S Gopalakrishnan, president, CII & vice chairperson, Infosys.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Davos 2014, the spotlight of the World Economic Forum, Gopalakrishnan believes will be on equality equity.

''There is inequality going up in many parts of the world, unemployment is very high in many parts of the world especially with youth, sustainability is a challenge with climate change. So, this is an opportunity to address some of these issues in this year's forum,'' highlights Gopalakrishnan.

On India, Gopalakrishnan said things on the ground were improving gradually, and that he expected the situation to get even better after the upcoming Parliament elections.

10:19am Torrent Pharma hits record high
Shares of Torrent Pharma jumped 12.5 percent intraday, hitting a record high of Rs 534.80 on Wednesday. Investors are lapping up the stock on it strong December quarter results backed by revenue growth in overseas market.

On a consolidated basis, the Ahemedabad-based company posted net profit of Rs 158 crore in Q3 from Rs 112 crore year-on-year. Net sales grew to Rs 1015 crore (including operationg income), up 27 percent from Rs 797 crore (YoY).

The company declared an interim dividend of 100 percent or Rs 5 per equity share of Rs 5 each.

10:09am The market continued to be rangebound as investors are looking for RBI policy and further earnings. The Sensex rose 1.70 points to 21252.82 while the Nifty fell 1.70 points to 6,312.10.

The broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gaining 0.3 percent each. Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of 866 to 649 on the BSE.

Bharti Airtel is top gainer in the Sensex, rising 2 percent as sources say the company will split its Africa tower business and sell that on a country-by-country basis.

However, Larsen and Toubro is marginally weak ahead of its third quarter earnings due today. Analysts expect reported profit after tax to rise 0.7 percent on yearly basis to Rs 1,130 crore while adjusted PAT may grow 15.5 percent to Rs 1,130 crore.

9:50 am Buzzing: Shares of Torrent Pharma jumped 12.5 percent intraday, hitting a record high of Rs 534.80. Investors are lapping up the stock on it strong December quarter results backed by revenue growth in overseas market.

On a consolidated basis, the Ahemedabad-based company posted net profit of Rs 158 crore in Q3 from Rs 112 crore year-on-year. Net sales grew to Rs 1015 crore (including operationg income), up 27 percent from Rs 797 crore (YoY).

The company declared an interim dividend of 100 percent or Rs 5 per equity share of Rs 5 each.

9:40 am Poll: Larsen and Toubro (L&T) will declare its third quarter (October-December) earnings today. According to CNBC-TV18 poll, analysts expect reported profit after tax to rise 0.7 percent on yearly basis to Rs 1,130 crore while adjusted PAT may grow 15.5 percent to Rs 1,130 crore.

Analysts believe the start of execution of several large orders received in the past two-three quarters will translate into double digit revenue growth for the company. The street had expectations that the revenue growth may see a marginal pick up in October-March period of current financial year 2013-14.

In the quarter gone by, revenues are likely to increase 13 percent to Rs 17,430 crore from Rs 15,429 crore in a year ago period.

9:30 am Relief: India is likely to clock an economic growth rate of 4.6 percent this financial year and the expansion may improve to 5.4 percent in 2014-15, the International Monetary Fund said.

Additionally, the IMF expects the world economy to grow by more than previously expected this year.

In an update to its "World Economic Outlook", the IMF predicted global economic growth of 3.7 percent in 2014, an upgrade on the 3.6 percent growth it forecast last October.  "Financial conditions in advanced economies have eased since the release of the October 2013 WEO (World Economic Outlook) - with little change since the announcement by the US Federal Reserve on December 18 that it will begin tapering its quantitative easing measures this month. This includes further declines in risk premiums on government debt of crisis-hit euro area economies," the IMF said on Tuesday.

The market looks fatigued in morning trade with the Sensex down 53.47 points at 21197.65. The Nifty is down 17.60 points at 6296.20. About 311 shares have advanced, 259 shares declined, and 128 shares are unchanged.

Axis Bank , Tata Motors , ICICI Bank , BHEL and Sun Pharma are major laggards while Bharti Airtel , Tata Steel , TCS and NTPC are top gainers in the Sensex.

Indian rupee opened flat at 61.90 against US dollar on Wednesday versus previous day's closing value of 61.89 per dollar. NS Venkatesh of IDBI Bank expects the rupee to open mildly weak because of demand from oil companies. In addition, most Asian currencies are trading weak against the dollar, which will also be an overhang, he adds.

According to him, the rupee is expected to open at 61.94/dollar levels and trade in the range of 61.75-62/dollar.

Meanwhile, the yen is on the back foot early this morning with investors unwilling to take aggressive bets ahead of the outcome of the Bank of Japan policy meeting.

In the global space, markets ended mixed on Tuesday in the United States. S&P 500 rose and the Dow knocked after results from Verizon Communications, The Travelers Companies and Johnson & Johnson. The CBOE Volatility Index rose 2.5 percent and the 10-year treasury note edged higher to 2.831 percent.

Asian traders are on central bank watch with policy decisions due from the Bank of Japan and the Bank of Thailand. Asian markets were trading mixed this morning. Shanghai Composite gained 0.63 percent, Seoul Composite was down 0.13 percent and Taiwan Weighted rose 0.15 percent.