Sensex, Nifty end flat; Maruti & Sesa lose 2-3%, pharma up

03:50 pm FMCG sees cut: Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) have reduced their exposure in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies such as Colgate, Dabur and Emami during the January-March period of FY'14 as compared to the preceding quarter.

On the other hand, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were mostly buyers in the consumer sector.

Of the 16 FMCG firms that were analysed, 11 companies saw a decline in their respective overseas investors' holding in the three months ended March 30 over the preceding quarter, while four witnessed an increase in FIIs stake, according to a report by A C Choksi Share Brokers.

Besides, FIIs stake in ITC remains unchanged in January-March quarter from the preceding three months. Giving reasons for avoidance of FMCG stocks by FIIs, market experts said these counters have become very expensive in terms of valuation.

3:40 pm Market closing: After a volatile trading session, both the benchmark indices end flat with the Nifty below 6700. The Nifty was down 1.60 points at 6694.80 while the Sensex was down 13.91 points at 22403.89.

About 1407 shares advanced, 1304 shares declined, and 120 shares were unchanged.

Tata Power and L&T lost 3 percent, while L&T, Hindalco and Maruti were other laggards in the Sensex. Among the gainers are Tata Power, Infosys, Wipro, Dr Reddy's Labs and TCS.

3:30 pm Macro outlook: Care Ratings expects India to clock 5.2-5.5 percent growth in FY15. In an interview to CNBC-TV18 Madan Sabnavis said that this FY15 GDP growth target is based on the assumption that India will receive a normal monsoon season this year.

However, a bad monsoon and destroyed Kharif crop could drag the GDP to the lower end of this range. Further, exports growth is seen at 8-9 percent driven by recovery in developed markets. While this 8-9 percent growth is not a major recovery, but it will aid our current account deficit, he adds. Meanwhile, he feels a lot of rupee appreciation is driven by sentiment. He says the Indian currency is likely to hover in 61-62/USD range.

3:20 pm World markets: Global markets traded cautiously as uncertainty ahead of US employment figures and tensions in Ukraine pushed the yield on 10-year German Bunds to their lowest in a year.

The move into the relative safety of government bonds, also including higher-yielding peripheral euro zone paper that pushed returns on Spanish 10-year debt to a multi-year low, came despite upbeat corporate merger and acquisition activity and earnings.

The big data focus is the US April nonfarm payrolls report. Economists predict jobs growth of 210,000 and a fall in the unemployment rate to 6.6 percent.

But first quarter US growth estimates are being cut following weak construction data on Thursday to the point that the world's largest economy might actually have contracted.

It is a volatile trading day, as the market fails to find any trigger. The Sensex is down 18.21 points at 22399.59, and the Nifty is down 2.60 points at 6693.80. About 1364 shares have advanced, 1258 shares declined, and 129 shares are unchanged.

Tata Power, Infosys, Coal India, HDFC and Dr Reddy's Labs are top gainers. On the losing side are Tata Steel, L&T, Hindalco, Maruti and Sesa Sterlite.

Europe is trading mixed. In an important economic data, euro zone manufacturing activity accelerates in April, showing a strong start to Q2.

HCC gains as the company posts standalone profit of Rs 24 crore versus loss of Rs 50 crore year-on-year.

The rupee is off three-week high, trading at 60.21/22, down from its intraday high of 60.09, a level last seen on April 10. The pair closed at 60.31/32 on Wednesday.
Dealers cite dollar buying from state-owned banks. One trader said oil marketing companies were also spotted buying dollars. The pair seen in 60.10-60.50 range ahead of a key US employment report.

02:55 pm IT stocks on buyer's radar
IT stocks were on buyer's radar today. Heavweights like TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL Tech were up over 1 percent each.

02:50 pm HCC surges 6% on strong operating performance in Q4
Construction major HCC's bottomline has turned in green in the fourth quarter. The company reported standalone PAT of Rs 24.4 crore compared to loss of Rs 50.3 crore. Total income for the fourth quarter was at Rs 1158 crore compared to Rs 983 crore, a year ago. The biggest positive was improvement in operating margins by 590 basis points at 15 percent.

02:40 pm PTC India up 6% on strong March quarter earnings
Shares of PTC India Financial Services (PFS) soared 6 percent intraday on Friday as it reported a 91 percent increase in its net profit at Rs 46.36 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2014. Read more

Stocks that have gained the most in last one hour are Transformers (gains 9%), Aarti Drugs (gains 8%), Shreyas Shipping (gains 5%) and Aarti Industries (gains 5%)

02:20 pm Saw market share jump to 20% in Apr vs 17% in Dec: Rajiv Bajaj, Bajaj AutoBajaj Auto 's April performance year-on-year remained flat, with the company reporting total sales at 3.3 lakh units, a marginal 4 percent fall when compared to the year-ago period.The company saw its market share improve to 20 percent in April versus 17 percent in December. Read full interview

It was a dull trading session for the market as Nifty continued to trade in a narrow band of 30 points. Auto sales numbers for April suggest that the economy has not picked up yet and demand still remains subdued.

The Sensex was up 8.09 points or 0.04 percent at 22425.89, and the Nifty was up 2.60 points or 0.04 percent at 6699.00. About 1313 shares advanced, 1216 shares declined, and 122 shares were unchanged.

Top losers in the Nifty were Jindal Steel (down 6.76 percent), Tata Steel (down 2.3 percent), Hindalco (down 2.2 percent), Maruti Suzuki (down 1.95 percent) and Larsen (down 1.89 percent).

Lupin (up 2.76 percent) was the top gainer in the Nifty followed by NMDC (up 2.66 percent), Tata Power (up 2.24 percent), Asian Paints (up 1.89 percent) and Coal India (up 1.83 percent).

2:00 pm Market check: The market is under pressure as Niftyslips below 6700 at 6696.40. The Sensex is up 2.33 points at 22420.13.  About 1296 shares have advanced, 1217 shares declined, and 128 shares are unchanged.

1:50 pm Boardroom: Non-banking finance company (NBFC) Dewan Housing Finance Ltd declared fourth-quarter earnings Thursday with profit after tax (PAT) rising 2 percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 141.2 crore while net interest income increased 8 percent to Rs 338 crore.

CMD Kapil Wadhavan expects the firm to continue to maintain its net interest margins and hold onto its asset quality in the current fiscal.

"We expect the disbursement growth to be fairly robust. We are projecting a 20 percent plus growth in disbursements for this entire financial year. So, as you know the first two quarters are generally slow quarters but then having said that we expect a similar kind of NII growth in terms of numbers," he said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

1:40 pm  Market outlook: Girish Pai, Director at Claritas Research feels the market is going to move in a very narrow range of plus or minus 2 percent. He is almost 60 percent certain that the NDA plus will win 230-240 seats. If the BJP along with its alliances gets around 272 seats, then he sees a fairly large upmove of 10-15 percent in the market. But there is also a 20 percent probability of the NDA plus not forming the government, then the market will see a 15-20 percent downside, he adds. He advises investor to be mildly overweight on cyclicals going into the binary event on or before May 13.

1:30 pm  Buzzing: Shares of IDBI Bank jumped over 5 percent intraday as it is is reacting positively to its March quarter results. Its March quarter operating profit rose 16 percent to Rs 1850 crore while net interest income grew 9 percent to Rs 1574 crore.

During the quarter, its asset quality improved with its net non-performing assets at 2.48 percent versus 2.93 percent on a quarterly basis.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, MS Raghavan, CMD of the company said that in FY14 it recovered NPLs worth nearly Rs 1,400 crore. FY14 has been one of the most stressful years. Restructured book came down for first time in past three years due to higher upgrades. Q4 saw fresh restructuring of around Rs 1,300 crore. Total slippages in FY14 stood at Rs 1,900 crore in Q4,'' he said.

1:20 pm FII view:  Investors would be better off increasing their cash holdings and then deploying it once the election results are out, says Andrew Holland of Ambit Investment Advisors.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18's Sonia Shenoy and Latha Venkatesh, Holland says nothing much has changed in India's business environment. The new government will have to take steps to improve the business environment.

Holland is bullish on capital goods, power utilities and auto components. He is bearish on state-owned banks as they will need massive capital infusion to fix their balance sheets wrecked by non-performing assets. In the capital goods space, Holland is bullish on ABB and Siemens , and among mid-cap IT stocks, he likes Tech Mahindra .

The market is flat as the Sensex is up 38.34 points at 22456.14, and the Nifty is up 13.95 points at 6710.35. About 1299 shares have advanced, 1080 shares declined, and 119 shares are unchanged.

Metals and infra stocks are heavy pressure. Tata Steel, Hindalco, L&T, Sesa Sterlite and M&M are major laggards in the Sensex. Among the gainers are Tata Power, HDFC, Infosys, Wipro and ONGC.

Asian shares end mixed with traders hesitant to make big bets ahead of US jobs report. Europe too opens mixed.

Maruti reports weak auto sales in April. All segments except compact car segment witness weak growth. M&M too disappoints with total sales falling 12 percent. Bajaj auto posts lacklustre sales and underperforms the industry. The company sees a big drop in three-wheeler sales on back of Egypt banning exports. While Hero Moto posts bucks the trend with total sales up 14 percent.

The CBI questions former coal secretary PC Parakh again today in connection with coal block allocation case. Parakh is alleged to have misused his official position in granting a coal block in Odisha to Hindalco.

Meanwhile, rising temperatures across the nation continue to be a cause for concern, with 34 deaths being reported in Odisha. Met predictions indicate that the mercury rise will worsen post May 5. Cities in north India are already recording temperatures in excess of 45 degrees. The national capital has seen temperatures above 42 degrees for the last couple of days.

1:00 pm Akshaya Tritiya: Which region is driving gold demand across the world?
China's demand for gold is the highest in the world followed by India, says a World Gold Council report. WGC expects China's annual demand for gold in the form of jewellery, coins and bars is set to hit "at least 1,350 tonnes by 2017". See Infographic

12:50 pm Volume Shockers
Midcap stocks like Time Techno, IFB Industries, UCAL Fuel, Cera Sanitary and eClerx Services saw multi-fold jump in trading volumes today.

12:40 pm Market Outlook: Hoard cash till poll results; bullish ABB, Siemens, says  Ambit Andrew Holland of Ambit Investment Advisors says nothing much has changed in India's business environment. The new government will have to take steps to improve the business environment. Read more

12:36 pm Buzzing Stock: Bata falls 6% on SSS growth woes; brokerages still bullish Shares of Bata India fell 6 percent intraday on Friday as it reported mute growth in March quarter earnings (Q1CY14). Its earnings were below estimates of most analysts on the street with same store sales (SSS) growth at 3-4 percent versus estimates of 4-5 percent. Read more

12:30 pm Shining smallcaps
Cera Sanitary was the top gainer in BSE Smallcap inde with gains of 20.00%. Future Life (up 19.95%), Astra Microwave (up 11.29%), Fulford (up 10.00% and Automotive Axle (up 8.73%) were other gainers.

12:23 pm The most active shares on NSE were Wockhardt, UPL, SBI, DLF and TCS.

The benchmark indices were trading flat on the auspicious day of Akshaya Tritiya. Selective buying was seen in pharma, IT and realty stocks. Capital goods and metal stocks were major laggards.

The Sensex was up 47.66 points or 0.21 percent at 22465.46, and the Nifty was up 15.25 points or 0.23 percent at 6711.65.

About 1278 shares advanced, 971 shares declined, and 111 shares were unchanged.

Top gainers in the Nifty were NMDC (up 2.76 percent), Tata Power (up 2.56 percent), Lupin (up 2.22 percent), BPCL (up 2.09 percent) and Ambuja Cements (up 1.82 percent)

Jindal Steel (down 5.82 percent), Tata Steel (down 2.72 percent), Hindalco (down 2.64 percent), Sesa Sterlite (down 1.97 percent) and Maruti Suzuki  (down  1.96 percent)

11:50 am Interview: Talking about Bajaj Auto's April sales, Rajiv Bajaj, MD said : ''The positive takeout from our point of view is that the month of March was the first month in almost all of last year when from being in the deficit of 10-15 percent Y-o-Y thanks to the launch of a New Discover, we have caught up on the Y-o-Y basis.''

He said in April despite a few hiccups in the exports market, Bajaj Auto managed to stay on par with the previous year. The company also saw its market share improve to 20 percent in April versus 17 percent in December.

11:40 am Udayan speaks: According to CNBC-TV18's Udayan Mukherjee, April can be largely termed as a month of consolidation rather than a month of correction.

''The Nifty and the Sensex have been flat; the broader market has not done too badly. So, I wouldn't read too much into it,'' he adds.

Market participants should brace for high lot of volatility on May 13-May 14 because the market understands that exit polls have a higher accuracy rate than opinion polls, he cautions. ''Therefore, you will see a lot of the May 16 move getting sort of priced in post the Exit polls.''

11:30 Buzzing: Shares of Bata India fell 6 percent intraday as it reported muted growth in March quarter earnings (Q1CY14). Its earnings were below estimates of most analysts on the street with same store sales (SSS) growth at 3-4 percent versus estimates of 4-5 percent.

Slower discretionary spending due to subdued consumer sentiment continued to impact SSS growth.

Investors are also disappointed that despite a low base last year, its net sales rose by 9.14 percent to Rs.495.12 crore year-on-year.

11:20 am HSBC PMI data: Factory growth showed no sign of acceleration last month as tepid demand restrained output even as price pressures eased, a business survey showed.

The HSBC Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), compiled by Markit and which gauges business activity in Indian factories but not its utilities, was at 51.3 in April, identical with the March level.

The new orders sub-index, which measures overall demand, slipped in April to 52.5 from 52.7 as demand from abroad waned. The export orders reading held above the 50-mark that separates growth from contraction but suffered its biggest one-month fall in nearly two years.

The market is going steady with the Sensex rising 65.54 points at 22483.34, and the Nifty up 17.95 points at 6714.35. About 1245 shares have advanced, 861 shares declined, and 110 shares are unchanged.

Tata Power, ICICI Bank, Infosys, TCS and Cipla are top gainers while Hindalco, M&M, Tata Steel, L&T and BHEL drag.

The rupee is higher on foreign banks' dollar sales. However, dollar purchases by importers restrict further rise. The dollar fell against a basket of currencies after the US GDP came much below estimates at 0.1 percent. The euro and the yen pared gains ahead of the US non farm payrolls data.

Gilts prices are up on sharp fall in us bond yields over Wednesday and Thursday. It may give up gains intraday due to heavy supply of bonds up for auction.

Crude prices dip with Brent below USD 108 per barrel on rising US supplies. Gold is steady after two consecutive sessions of losses.

Asian markets trade with caution.

11:00am Market outlook: JP Morgan Bullish on India
David Kelly, Chief Global Strategist, JPMorgan Funds believes the emerging markets could be under pressure in CY15, though he sees signs of an economic growth pick-up in India. He is optimistic on India going ahead and says India's problems are lesser than that of China. Full article

10:50am: S&P 500 stocks at 52-week high
Stocks like Atul, Amtek Auto, DCM Shriram, Glenmark Pharma, Kajaria Ceramic, Muthoot Finance, Petronet LNG are trading at 52-week high in trade today.

10:45am Gold versus Sensex
After outperforming equities a handsome margin in FY13, gold lost much of its 'safe haven' sheen last year, and ended up lagging the Sensex. Prospects for the yellow metal, in comparison to equities, do not look too bright this year too.

10:33am Trading in Gold ETFs was subdued in the first hour of trade but it is likely to pick up later. An extended trading session will be held on NSE for trading in Gold ETFs on the auspicious day of Akshaya Tritiya from 4.30 pm to 7 pm today.

The Nifty is trading flat on the first trading day of this month that will decide the formation of new government at Centre. The Nifty is now facing profit booking at higher levels as market is now awaiting poll election results outcome on May 16.

The Sensex was up 58.32 points or 0.26 percent at 22476.12, and the Nifty up 15.30 points or 0.23 percent at 6711.70. About 1054 shares advanced, 646 shares declined, and 88 shares were unchanged.

Auto companies reported decline in domestic sales in April as demand continued to be subdued due to overall unfavourable macro-economic conditions.

Top gainers in the Nifty were NMDC (up 3.00 percent), BPCL (up 1.90 percent), Asian Paints (up 1.86 percent), Tata Power (up 1.73 percent) and Infosys (up 1.36 percent).

Jindal Steel (down 2.06 percent), M&M (down 1.74 percent), Cairn India (down 1.6 percent), GAIL (down 1.43 percent) and Maruti Suzuki (down 1.27 percent).

MCX Gold June contract opened flat at Rs 28587 on Akshaya Tritiya day.

9:55 am Bond outlook: Dhawal Dalal, DSP Blackrock said, "Government bond prices are likely to trend higher in the near-term amid improvement in sentiment and healthy demand. Today's auction will likely undermine the bidding interest. We expect the benchmark 10-year yield to trade between 8.75 to 8.90 percent in the near-term amid absence of any negative triggers in the near term."

9:40 am FM's opinion: India's economy is likely to recover and achieve 6 percent growth in 2014-15 on the back of sound economic policies and a pick-up in investment, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said.

"If investments pick up...I think it's possible to aim and achieve a growth rate of 6 percent in 2014-15 even while I recognise that the international situation remains very, very tepid," he told the media at the Congress party headquarters.

He said if the new government "follows sound policies" and the 10-point agenda outlined in the interim Budget, 2014-15 would be considerably better than 2013-14. After growing at almost 9 percent in 2009-10, India's economic expansion eased to 6.7 percent in 2011-12 and to a decade-low of 4.5 percent in 2012-13. The economy is expected to grow at a slightly higher pace of 4.9 percent in the year ended March 2014.

9:30 am Auto sales: Major carmakers, including Maruti Suzuki India , Toyota Kirloskar Motor and General Motors India, reported decline in domestic sales in April as demand continued to be subdued due to overall unfavourable macro-economic conditions.

Other manufacturers Hyundai Motor India Ltd, Honda Cars India and Ford, however, reported increase in April sales on the back of their new models. The country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) reported 12.6 per cent decline in its April sales during the month at 79,119 units.

Sales of the company's bread and butter segment mini cars comprising M800, Alto, A-Star and WagonR declined by 25.4 percent to 26,043 units, while those of premium compact cars consisting of Swift, Estilo, Ritz rose by 9.9 percent to 23,659 units in April. MSI said sales of its popular compact sedan Dzire declined 17.7 percent during the month under review to 16,008 units, while sales of utility vehicles, including Gypsy, Grand Vitara and Ertiga, also declined by 5.8 per cent to 5,011 units in April.

After a mid-week holiday, the market opened on a higher note. The Sensex is up 75.79 points at 22493.59, and the Nifty is up 15.45 points at 6711.85. About 242 shares have advanced, 53 shares declined, and 13 shares are unchanged.

Hero MotoCorp, HDFC Bank, BHEL are top gainers in the Sensex. M&M, Maruti Suzuki, GAIL, ONGC and Hindalco are major losers.

The Indian rupee opened higher by 10 paise at 60.22 per dollar versus 60.32 Wednesday. The dollar struggled to make any headway, still languishing near a three-week trough against a basket of major currencies as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of a closely watched US employment report.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity India said that, "This week rupee appreciated backed by the corporate inflows. Today the currency is expected to depreciate on weak equities but the corporate inflows and exporters selling dollars may help rupee to trade firm. The range for the day is seen between 59.80 - 60.80/dollar."

Shifting focus to Asia, on the final day of the week with traders hesitant to make big bets ahead of Friday's US jobs report, volumes are likely to be thin due to the holiday period. Chinese financial markets remain shut until Monday, while both Japanese and South Korean markets will be shut on Monday and Tuesday for public holidays.

Asian shares were subdued and the dollar held modest gains against the yen in early trade on Friday as markets held their breath ahead of the US payrolls report later in the session - which could show the economy shaking off a severe winter. The Asian markets drew scant impetus from Wall Street, which closed little changed ahead of the jobs report. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.1 percent in early trading, while Japan's Nikkei stock average lost 0.2 percent.

In the US, stocks fluctuated, a day after the Dow Jones industrial average rose to a record finish as investors took a cautious approach a day before the April non-farm payrolls report.
The Nasdaq, however, climbed along with internet companies, which drew a lift after Yelp reported healthy revenue growth, with the online guide to local businesses surging nearly 10 percent.

Meanwhile, the US Federal Reserve concluded its two day policy meet. Fed chair Janet Yellen announced a fourth cut to the central bank's bond-buying programme. The monthly asset purchases will now come down to USD 45 billion. The Fed commentary indicated that inflation expectations are stable and the economy is likely to grow at a moderate pace.

In commodities, Brent oil was pressured by lackluster Chinese economic data and expectations for a rebound in Libyan oil exports while US crude also fell on news that stockpiles reached multi-decade highs.

From the precious metals space, gold prices remained flat after a 1 percent cut on, after the Federal Reserve announced a further cut in its stimulus programme and reiterated its confidence in the US economic outlook despite weak first-quarter growth.