Nifty ends at 8551, Sensex up 140 points; HUL tanks 5% post Q3

03:30 pm Market closing
The market managed to hold on to its gains till the end, supported by capital goods and pharma stocks. The Sensex ended up 140.12 points at 28262.01 and the Nifty was up 36.90 points at 8550.70. About 1670 shares advanced, 1304 shares declined and 296 shares were unchanged.

Wipro gained 5 percent, followed by GAIL, BHEL, Axis Bank and Bharti Airtel. HUL shed 5 percent after it showed dismal volume growth in Q3. Hero, TCS , HDFC and SBI were other Sensex laggards today.

03:10 pm Buzzing
Shares of M&M Financial slipped 8 percent intraday on Monday after it posted dismal December quarter earnings last week. Higher-than-expected non-performing loan provisions dragged its December quarter net profit 17 percent year-on-year to Rs 136 crore.

Not at all impressed by the earnings; Deutsche Bank says there is intense focus on NPL recoveries and M&M Fin is not chasing growth, hence have cut FY15E/FY16E net profit estimates by over 13 percent and target price by 7 percent  to Rs 270 per share.

ICICI Securities has also downgraded the stock to reduce from hold as asset quality remains a concern. It has also slashed target price to Rs 245 per share.

02:59pm HUL Q3 profit jumps 18% to Rs 1252 cr
Hindustan Unilever's (HUL's) third quarter net profit jumped 17.9 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,252 crore, mainly led by income from land sale.

The bottomline came in higher than expectations of Rs 1,091 crore while the topline missed the projected poll forecasts, which was pegged at Rs 7,963 crore, according to analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

The FMCG major also disappointed on volume growth front, which stood at 3 percent, much lower compared to forecast of 5-6 percent and 4 percent in Q3FY14.

02:45pm FII View
Global cues seem to be the key trigger for the markets this week with a lot of events lined up. Geoff Lewis, JPMorgan AMC speaks to CNBC-TV18 about the significance of these events on world markets. The first event is GDP number from China, and Lewis believes it will be in the expected range of 7-7.5 percent.

The next event is ECB meet where analysts expects Mario Draghi to announce a QE package that will stem the fall of eurozone prices. Lewis however feels that Draghi won't announce an aggressive QE scheme. Most analysts fear that if the size of QE is not sizeable, then eurozone may enter a deflationary spiral from which it would be tough to wriggle out.

He sees huge inflow of foreign money into Indian equities in the coming days, despite headwinds like appreciating dollar and the trickle down impact of weak commodity prices. Lewis says India will not face the wrath of global liuidity crunch primarily due to the domestic economics (that is on the mend) and a take off in US economy.

02:30pm Info Edge in News
Info Edge's third quarter net profit jumped 16.3 percent sequentially to Rs 38.6 crore supported mainly by other income. However, lower revenue and operational performance restricted profit growth.

Net sales fell 1.2 percent to Rs 145.7 crore in the third quarter of current financial year 2014-15 from Rs 147.5 crore in previous quarter.

Operating profit declined 14.3 percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 36 crore and margin slipped 370 basis points to 24.9 percent in the quarter gone by.

Other income of the company rose 132 percent sequentially to Rs 25.5 crore in October-December quarter.

02:00pm Market Check
The market gained strength in afternoon trade as the Nifty scaled past 8550 supported by banks, capital goods, oil & gas, healthcare and select auto stocks.

The Sensex rose 203.25 points to 28325.14 and the Nifty jumped 53.40 points to 8567.20. The BSE Midcap Index gained 0.6 percent and Smallcap up 1 percent. About 1687 shares have advanced, 1152 shares declined, and 282 shares are unchanged on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Vetri Subramaniam of Religare Invesco told CNBC-TV18 that the current valuations are not cheap post the big rally. He expects corporate earnings growth for the December quarter to be in single digits. He is unlikely to see capex revival in a hurry.

It's a mixed bag for global markets today, China suffered a big setback, down 8 percent after the regulator cracked down on margins, punishing a dozen brokerage firms for violating margin trading rules. However, European markets rose ahead of ECB policy on Thursday. There are expectations of an announcement of a 500 billion euro bond buying program.

Wipro surged 6 percent as the company reported stronger than expected results with a constant currency growth of 3.7 percent - the highest in the last 12 quarters. GAIL India gained 4 percent after CMD BC Tripati told CNBC-TV18 that the company won't have to pay subsidies in the second half of this financial year.

ICICI Bank, L&T, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Sun Pharma and Bharti Airtel rallied 1.5-3 percent while HDFC, TCS, Infosys, SBI, HUL, Hero Motocorp and Bajaj Auto fell 0.5-2 percent.

In the currency space, the rupee recovered to 61.66 against a close of 61.86 on Friday, rising to a one month high on persistent dollar selling by exporters and banks.

1:50 pm Outlook: Geoff Lewis, JPMorgan AMC sees huge inflow of foreign money into Indian equities in the coming days, despite headwinds like appreciating dollar and the trickle down impact of weak commodity prices. Lewis says India will not face the wrath of global liuidity crunch primarily due to the domestic economics (that is on the mend) and a take off in US economy.

The next event is ECB meet where analysts expects Mario Draghi to announce a QE package that will stem the fall of eurozone prices. Lewis however feels that Draghi won't announce an aggressive QE scheme. Most analysts fear that if the size of QE is not sizeable, then eurozone may enter a deflationary spiral from which it would be tough to wriggle out.

1:30 pm Downgrade: Bank of America Merrill Lynch has downgraded Bharat Electronics (BEL) to underperform from buy after it saw a sharp 48 percent outperformance versus its peers in the last three months. The brokerage's target price at Rs 2720 per share remains unchanged. ''We now expect BEL to underperform as investors look beyond the 23 percent FY14-17E order CAGR toward earnings growth, which should be subdued, at a 9.5 percent CAGR in FY15-17E. Our FY17 estimates are 7 percent below consensus,'' it says in a report.

BEL has been enjoying investors' favouritism as defence remained a key focus area under the new government led by Narendra Modi. The company has bagged orders worth Rs 11300 crore since November 2014 and BoA ML expects approval for a further Rs 4200 crore in 1H15.

The market is still holding gains as the Sensex is up 164.17 points or 0.6 percent at 28286.06. The Nifty is up 42.20 points at 8556.00. About 1673 shares have advanced, 1108 shares declined, and 284 shares are unchanged.

Capital goods and oil & gas stocks are lending major support to the indices. Wipro remains to be the top gainer in the Sensex while GAIL, Axis Bank, BHEL and Bharti Airtel are other gainers. On the losing side are HUL, Hero, TCS, HDFC and Infosys.

China stocks suffered their biggest one-day percentage drop in more than six and a half years, dragged down by record tumbles in financial stocks as authorities battled excessive market speculation.

Regulators cracked down on margin trading, which has been blamed for fuelling a wave of speculation over the past three months. Bank stocks were hit after the banking regulator issued draft rules to tighten supervision of entrusted loans, a kind of shadow banking. The banks sub-index plummeted 9.97 percent and the financial sub-index sank 9.62 percent.

11:50 am MF expert: The big challenge for the market is that even though the macro situation will continue to improve, further upside in share prices will depend on the growth in corporate earnings, says Vetri Subramanium, Chief Investment Officer, Religare Invesco Mutual Fund. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, he says valuations are no longer cheap even if they may not be absurdly expensive. So there is unlikely to be a further expansion in price to earning (PE)multiple, and market performance will be related to earnings growth. Putting this in perspective, Subramanium said last year's 30 percent rally in benchmark indices was driven two-thirds by PE expansion and one-third by earnings growth.

11:40 am FII view: Prabhat Awasthi, Nomura says the December 2015, the Sensex target of 33,500 implies 20 percent potential upside.

''Our bullish stance on the Indian market for this year is based on our high-conviction view that the improvement in India's macro environment over the past year is durable and will improve further,'' he adds.

''The lagged effect of the much-needed complete overhaul of the political economy is a significant tailwind. The extent to which this is not yet priced in will provide upside to multiples, thus adding to market returns over and above earnings growth, in our view,'' says Awasthi.

11:30 am Buzzing: Shares of Oberoi Realty rose 5 percent intraday after it reported 16 percent increase in the consolidated net profit at Rs 79.23 for the quarter ended December 31, 2014 on higher sales.

It had posted a net profit of Rs 68.06 crore in the year-ago period.

Total income rose to Rs 219.6 crore in the third quarter of this fiscal from Rs 185.95 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year, Mumbai-based Oberoi Realty said in a filing to the BSE.

Net sales increased by 28 percent to Rs 215.73 crore in October-December period as against Rs 169 crore in the year- ago period. Oberoi Realty has completed more than 35 projects across Mumbai.

The Indian market is supported by firm global cues. The Sensex is up 189.96 points or 0.7 percent at 28311.85 and the Nifty is up 51.65 points or 0.6 percent at 8565.45. About 1627 shares have advanced, 781 shares declined, and 256 shares are unchanged.

Wipro, GAIL, Axis Bank, BHEL and Cipla are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are HUL, Hero, TCS, Infosys and Bajaj Auto.

Oil prices edged lower in Asia as a rally late last week fizzled out owing to lingering concerns about weak demand and a global supply glut, analysts said. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in February eased three cents to USD 48.66 in late-morning trade and Brent crude for March fell 41 cents to USD 49.76. Prices rebounded Friday after the International Energy Agency said there were signs "the tide will turn" in the battered market following recent falls to near six-year lows.

10:59am Market Update
The Sensex rose 202.53 points to 28324.42 and the Nifty climbed 54.85 points to 8568.65. About 1624 shares have advanced, 722 shares declined, and 257 shares are unchanged on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

10:55am Air India in News
State-owned carrier Air India is to cuts its costs by Rs 1,400 crore (USD 227 million), or about 6 percent of its total outlays, in the next financial year after the government asked the loss-making airline to improve its finances.

Air India, which controls close to a fifth of India's domestic air travel market, has been losing money for years and has long been criticised for its high costs. In 2012, the government handed the company a USD 5.8 billion bailout package.

The airline said in a statement late on Sunday that it would identify "surplus staff", freeze contractual hiring and discontinue flights which are not meeting fuel cost targets, to reduce its variable spending of 140 billion rupees by a tenth.

Restrictions on staff travel and hospitality have also been introduced, Air India said, reports Reuters.

10:30am FII View
Prabhat Awasthi, Nomura says the December 2015 Sensex target of 33,500 implies 20 percent potential upside.

"Our bullish stance on the Indian market for this year is based on our high-conviction view that the improvement in India's macro environment over the past year is durable and will improve further. The lagged effect of the much-needed complete overhaul of the political economy is a significant tailwind. The extent to which this is not yet priced in will provide upside to multiples, thus adding to market returns over and above earnings growth, in our view," he adds.

10:00am Market Check
Equity benchmarks maintained early gains with the Sensex rising 188.91 points to 28310.80 and the Nifty climbing 50.75 points to 8564.55.

The broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 1 percent each. Nearly three shares advanced for every share declining on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Wipro surged 7 percent as the company reported stronger-than-expected results with a constant currency growth of 3.7 percent which is the highest in the last 12 quarters and better than peers. JP Morgan says attractive valuations (14.6x FY16 & 12.9x FY17 EPS) could still give more than 15 percent potential stock return over CY15.

HCL Technologies gained 2.5 percent ahead of board meet on January 28-30 to consider bonus issue. GAIL India surged 3 percent after the management told CNBC-TV18 that the company won't have to pay subsidies in the second half of current financial year 2014-15.

However, HUL declined 1.5 percent, retreating from its life-time highs ahead of its earnings today. A CNBC-TV18 poll expects around 10 percent revenue growth of Rs 7,963 crore, operating margins of 17.8 percent and 5-6 percent volume growth YoY in Q3.

9:50 am Exclusive:  After the government hiked excise duty last week, it is now mulling reimposing customs duty on crude oil in Budget FY16.

While it had scrapped the duty in 2010, the government actually imposed the duty at 5 percent which was again taken back in July 2011 when the oil prices were very high.

With oil prices being where it is, the case is bright in terms of getting to bring the duty back. The only question now remains that whether it will be 2.5 percent or 5 percent duty. A 2.5 percent custom duty on crude oil would essentially mean that petrol, diesel would be kept at 5 percent and Naphtha, ATF would be kept at around 10 percent because there has to be a duty differential of at least 2.5 percent between crude and the petroleum products.

9:40 am Result analysis: Brokerages do not seem to be so excited about Wipro going ahead. Both JP Morgan and Bank of America Merrill Lynch have a neutral rating on the stock with target price of Rs 640 and Rs 600 per share respectively.

According to JP Morgan, sustaining reasonably elevated multiples requires a consistency of growth, which Wipro has not exhibited so far.

However, BoA ML remains cautious on the growth outlook, pending improvement in the company's client-mining efforts and also feels that near term, relatively higher exposure to the energy and telecom verticals may impact growth.  Barclays maintains equalweight on Wipro with a target of Rs 600 per share as it feels higher-than-expected revenue growth or margin expansion to drive it.

Credit Suisse maintains underperform rating on the stock but feels gradual improvement in momentum and attractive valuations can be triggers.

9:30 am Poll: Hindustan Unilever's (HUL) reported profit is expected to increase 2.7 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,091 crore in the quarter ended December 2014, according to the average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

Adjusted profit after tax may jump 14.3 percent to Rs 1,091 crore during the same period. In Q3FY14, profit included an exceptional credit of Rs 23 crore along with few more adjustments.

Total income from operations is seen going up 10.2 percent to Rs 7,963 crore in the third quarter of current financial year 2014-15 from Rs 7,223 crore in same quarter last fiscal. Operating profit may surge 15.6 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,418 crore and marign may see expansion of 80 bps at 17.8 percent in the quarter gone by.

The market has started the week with a bang. The Sensex is up 174.17 points or 0.6 percent at 28296.06 and the Nifty is up 36.25 points or 0.4 percent at 8550.05. About 522 shares have advanced, 133 shares declined, and 230 shares are unchanged.

Wipro gains 6 percent while Hindalco, HDFC Bank, Sesa Sterlite and ONGC. Dr Reddy's Labs and M&M are among losers in the BSE.

The Indian rupee continued its upward momentum on Monday as it opened higher by 23 paise at 61.64 per dollar versus 61.87 Friday.

Agam Gupta of Standard Chartered said, "The inflows into India remain strong. Government-owned banks will probably be aggressive buyers of dollar at 61.60- 61.65/dollar level while exporters will continue to sell into any upticks." The euro slips against the dollar as the European Central Bank gears up for fresh stimulus.

In the US stocks rallied on Friday to close higher for a first session in six, as energy led gains with US crude rising and as investors considered a mixed bag of economic reports.

In Europe, equities closed mostly higher, but Swiss stocks weighed on wider benchmarks. However, the Swiss benchmark stock index closed over 5 percent lower on Friday, with a stronger currency making a country's exports more expensive

In the morning Asian markets showed gains with Nikkei up over a percent following a positive handover from Wall Street on Friday.

Japanese and Korean markets were both trading with sharp gains in the morning on the back of a strong US lead.

In terms of economic data Chinese new home prices fell 4.3 percent in December from a year ago but the volume of sales hit their highest levels for the year last month.

From the commodity space, oil prices jumped more than 5 percent on Friday, boosted by the response to a bullish report on US consumer sentiment. Nymex trades around USD 48. While Brent crude is back above USD 50 per barrel. Gold continues to gain, as investors sought safety from volatility in wider markets