D-St on fire: Sensex soars 479 points, Nifty ends above 8300

03:30 pm Market close: The market was on fire fueled strongly by oil, FMCG and pharma stocks. The Sensex ended up 479.28 points or 1.8 percent at 27490.59 and the Nifty scaled the 8300-level. The 50-share index closed up 150.45 points or 1.8 percent at 8331.95. About 1954 shares advanced, 838 shares declined, and 153 shares were unchanged. ONGC was up 8 percent while Bajaj Auto, Cipla, M&M and BHEL were major gainers in the Sensex. Among the laggards were ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Tata Motors with marginal losses

03:20 pm Big fall: Shares of Shriram Transport slumped 16 percent intraday after it announced disappointing March quarter results. Its net profit declined 73 percent to Rs 84.23 crore in Q4 of FY15. During the period, its net interest income stood at Rs 1,105.57 crore against Rs 975.95 crore year-on-year.

Morgan Stanley has also downgraded the stock to underperform from equalweight. The brokerage has slashed target price to Rs 900 per Rs 1230 per share. Non-performing loan (NPL) ratio at the equipment finance subsidiary is likely to almost double in F1H16, after increasing 5 times in Q4 FY15. A weak monsoon could delay growth and asset quality recovery in the parent vehicle financing business. We view risk-reward as poor with valuation above mean, it says in a report to clients.

03:05pm Market Update: The Sensex jumped 475.77 points or 1.76 percent to 27487.08 and the Nifty rose 148.60 points or 1.82 percent to 8330.10. About 1890 shares have advanced, 821 shares declined, and 152 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

02:50pm IPOs in focus: PNC Infratech's up to Rs 488-crore initial public offer (IPO) will open on Friday, making the infrastructure firm sixth company to hit the capital markets this year. The Agra-based firm's issue will open on May 8 and closes on May 12, PNC Infratech said in a statement.

The company, which specialises in construction of highways, bridges, flyovers and airport runways, is making a public issue of up to 12,921,708 equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each including a share premium per equity share.

The price band is fixed from Rs 355 to Rs 378 per equity share. The infrastructure-firm would raise around Rs 488 crore at the upper end of the price band and Rs 456 crore at the lower end.

Meanwhile, apparel and lifestyle accessories firm Numero Uno Clothing has approached capital markets regulator Sebi to float an initial public offer (IPO). The proposed public issue comprises fresh issue worth Rs 65 crore and an offer for sale up to 84 lakh from its promoter and AA India Development Capital Fund.

02:30pm Brent crude update: Brent crude edged towards USD 67 a barrel today, reversing earlier losses after weak Chinese data reinforced views that stimulus measures would be rolled out for the world's second largest economy.

China, the world's second-largest oil consumer, posted its biggest drop in factory activity in a year to 48.9 in April, a private business survey showed on Monday.

The sub-50 point level indicates a contraction compared with the previous month.

The data came on the heels of a top government think tank's forecast that China's economic growth could slow further to 6.8 percent in the second quarter.

Oil supplies from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which produces about 40 percent of oil supplies, climbed 0.2 percent to a more than two-year high in April, a Reuters survey showed.

02:00pm Market Check
The Sensex continued to rally more than 300 points and the Nifty gained more than 100 points led by banking & financials, FMCG, healthcare, select auto and oil stocks.

The Sensex jumped 341.71 points or 1.27 percent to 27353.02 and the Nifty rose 103.20 points or 1.26 percent to 8284.70. About 1839 shares have advanced, 789 shares declined, and 155 shares are unchanged.

In market opinion, Ridham Desai of Morgan Stanley says the government's biggest achievement in the last one year is control on inflation while Ramesh Damani says investors should continue focussing on buying good businesses.

The fiscal has started off on a strong note with auto sales growth across OEMs picking up in April. Maruti registered a solid 30 percent growth in sales while Bajaj Auto saw rise in sales for the first time in 4 months.

ONGC, Cipla and Bajaj Auto topped the buying list, up 5.5-6.5 percent followed by HDFC, Dr Reddy's Labs, Bharti Airtel, Hindalco, GAIL, ITC, Reliance Industries, Infosys and SBI with 1-2.5 percent upside. However, ICICI Bank and Tata Motors fell over a percent.

Future Retail and Bharti Retail have announced the merger of their retail businesses. They said the combined entity will have over 570 retail stores in 243 cities. The stock rallied 14 percent.

1:50 pm Market outlook: Economic momentum is not as strong as expected earlier and the market move in mid-term will depend on various factors, says Govindarajan Chellappa, MD, Head of India Research, and senior equity research analyst at Jefferies LLC. According to Chellappa, though certain stocks continue to trade at attractive valuations, yet FY16 is unlikely to be as strong as had been forecast six months ago. He sees a cut in FY16 earnings from the current estimates. Foreign investors are only concerned about direction of policy reform, says Chellappa, adding that divergent trend of accelerating urban demand and weak rural demand is seen. He forecasts earnings growth of 14 percent for FY16 and 16 percent for FY17.

1:30 pm Buzzing: Shares of BHEL rose 2.5 percent intraday. The company has successfully commissioned a 195 MW thermal unit in Bihar. It says that this is the first 195 MW unit to be commissioned by BHEL at the 2X195 MW Muzaffarpur Thermal Power Station (TPS) Plant of Kanti Bijlee Utpadan Nigam (KBUNL), a joint venture of NTPC and MSPGCL, Bihar. The second 195 MW is expected to be commissioned in FY2015-16. Earlier, in the first week of March 2015, a 660 MW supercritical thermal unit was commissioned by BHEL at Barh in Bihar.

The market is still on its northwards journey as the Sensex is up 343.83 points or 1 percent at 27355.14. The Nifty is up 107 points or 1 percent at 8288.50. About 1790 shares have advanced, 711 shares declined, and 139 shares are unchanged.

ONGC, Bajaj Auto, M&M, Cipla and Hindalco are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the top losers are Tata Motors, L&T, Wipro and ICICI Bank.

Meanwhile, both Future Retail and Future Consumer Enterprise are up 15 percent each on hopes of a possible merger with Bharti Retail.

Meanwhile, Hartmut Issel, Head of Equity & Credit for Asia Pacific at UBS continues to feel India is on track and bases the premise of his optimism on oil prices. Issel, who is also CIO, the Wealth Management at UBS says low oil prices may have been good for the economy but also impacted corporate profits. A lot of earning downgrades is a result of that factor, Issel says.

He says oil prices have since moved up and expects that to firm up a bit more resulting in wiping out the main source of downgrades. Once that is taken care of, Issel sees the domestic story picking up again.

12:55pm Market Update: The Sensex spiked 318.15 points or 1.18 percent to 27329.46 and the Nifty jumped 100.65 points or 1.23 percent to 8282.15. About 1795 shares have advanced, 694 shares declined, and 140 shares are unchanged on the BSE. 

12:45pm Chinese economy: China's economy is expected to slow further to 6.8 percent in the second quarter from a six-year low hit in the first, a top government think tank said in a research report that underscored the need for more stimulus to shore up faltering growth.

The forecast by the State Information Centre backed last month's move by China's central bank to cut the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves, the second industry-wide cut in two months, to combat slowing growth.

"China's economic growth will slow in the second quarter (of this year), impacted by structural reform," the think-tank said in its research report published in the official China Securities Journal on Monday.

The think tank operates under the purview of China's top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission.

China's economy grew an annual 7.0 percent in the first quarter, its slowest pace in six years. Recent data have also failed to impress, with analysts speculating that authorities will have to inject more stimulus to prevent a sharper downturn.

12:25pm FII View: Nomura believes India is best emerging market turnaround story and sees the pullback as a good opportunity to buy. It expects India's GDP growth to overtake China over next year.

12:00pm Market Check
Equity benchmarks rallied more than 1 percent and the broader markets also gained in-line with frontliners. The Sensex surged 339.41 points to 27350.72 and the Nifty jumped 106.65 points to 8288.15.

About 1744 shares have advanced, 619 shares declined, and 135 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

Auto stocks reacted to their sales numbers for April. Maruti gained more than a percent after an almost 30 percent jump in total sales with export sales up 56 percent. Mahindra and Mahindra rallied 3.7 percent as its de-growth has been arrested in April and strong sales growth continued for Ashok Leyland that rose nearly 3 percent.

From the 2-wheelers space, Bajaj Auto topped the buying list, rising over 5 percent after reporting a sales growth of 1.8 percent. Rajiv Bajaj told CNBC-TV18 that there has been a 400 basis points improvement in domestic market share to 19 percent and are targeting 23-24 percent market share by end of FY16. TVS Motor and Hero Motocorp too traded in the green.

Cipla climbed 3.4 percent as Teva conference call revealed that Nexium generic drove a large part of the revenue and gross profit growth. The call highlighted that Teva could log gross profit of USD 110-130 million in Q1CY15.

Aditya Birla Nuvo spiked 10 percent while Pantaloons surged 20 percent as the Aditya Birla Group decided to bring its 2 retail brands Mudra Garments and Pantaloons under one roof to unlock value. The new entity will be called Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail.

11:55 am Market outlook: Economic momentum is not as strong as expected earlier and the market move in mid-term will depend on various factors, says Govindarajan Chellappa, MD, Head of India Research, and senior equity research analyst at Jefferies LLC. According to Chellappa, though certain stocks continue to trade at attractive valuations, yet FY16 is unlikely to be as strong as had been forecast six months ago. He sees a cut in FY16 earnings from the current estimates. Foreign investors are only concerned about direction of policy reform, says Chellappa, adding that divergent trend of accelerating urban demand and weak rural demand is seen. He forecasts earnings growth of 14 percent for FY16 and 16 percent for FY17.

11:30 am Buzzing: Shares of ONGC and Oil India rose 4-5 percent intraday as the government has decided to scarp fuel subsidy-sharing. According to media reports, the government will bear the entire burden of fuel subsidy for the state-owned oil marketing companies for 2015-16. "This would make divestment of ONGC attractive and could quicken the process as investors have often raised queries over subsidies. It will improve the bottom lines of exploration and production companies such as Oil India , ONGC and GAIL," the report says. Meanwhile, oil marketing companies ( HPCL , BPCL and IOC ) are also on buyers radar after prices of petrol were hiked by Rs 3.96 per litre and diesel by Rs 2.37 on weak rupee and high global crude prices.

The market continues its momentum boosted by pharma, oil, banks and FMCG stocks. The Sensex is up 295.98 points or 1 percent at 27307.29 and the Nifty is up 91.25 points or 1 percent at 8272.75. About 1645 shares have advanced, 523 shares declined, and 119 shares are unchanged. 

ONGC and Cipla are up 4 percent while Hindalco, M&M and Bajaj Auto are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, L&T and Wipro.

Oil prices fell in Asia as dealers eyed lacklustre manufacturing data from China, which raised concerns about weak demand from the world's top energy consumer, analysts said.
Analysts said oil prices were tracking losses in Asian equity markets in reaction to data from global banking giant HSBC showing China's manufacturing activity slipped to a 12-month low in April.

HSBC said its final purchasing manager's index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector fell to 48.9 in April, weakening from 49.6 in March, and the weakest since 48.1 in the same month last year. The index, compiled by information services provider Markit, tracks activity in China's factories and workshops and is regarded as a barometer of the health of the Asian economic giant.

10:50am Market Update: The Sensex jumped 320.59 points or 1.19 percent to 27331.90, and the Nifty rallied 94.90 points or 1.16 percent to 8276.40. About 1642 shares have advanced, 486 shares declined, and 113 shares are unchanged on the BSE. 

10:20am FII View: Chris Wood, CLSA said Greed & Fear is going to make some small adjustments in the Asia Pacific (ex-Japan) relative-return portfolio this week.

The weightings in India and Vietnam will be increased by 1 percentage point each, with the money being raised by shaving 1 percent point each from Hong Kong and Indonesia, he added.

10:00am Market Check
The market remained strong in morning trade, rising over a percent led by short covering in banking & financials, FMCG, healthcare, select auto and oil stocks.

The Sensex climbed 284.54 points to 27295.85 and the Nifty jumped 79.45 points to 8260.95. Nearly four shares advanced for every share declining on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 0.5 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.

ONGC and Oil India gained 3.5-4 percent after finance ministry official said the government will bear entire fuel subsidy from now and upstream oil companies will not have to share fuel subsidies anymore. They see fuel subsidy for entire fiscal at Rs 40,000 crore.

9:50 am Auto sales: Top car makers Maruti Suzuki , Hyundai and Honda have begun the new fiscal on a high note by posting robust sales in April, riding mainly on new models. However, Mahindra & Mahindra could manage just 1 percent increase in sales and General Motors India saw its sales decline during the month.

Maruti Suzuki India said its domestic sales increased by 27.3 percent during the month to 1,00,709 units against 79,119 units in April 2014. Sales of mini segment cars, including, Alto and WagonR, rose 35.9 percent to 35,403 units compared with 26,043 units in the year-ago month, while the compact segment sales comprising Swift, Estilo, Ritz, Dzire rose by 8.7 percent to 42,297 units in April this year as compared to the same period of the previous fiscal.

9:45 am Market surges: The Sensex is up 356.74 points or 1 percent at 27368.05 and the Nifty is up 104.80 points or 1 percent at 8286.30. About 1368 shares have advanced, 296 shares declined, and 94 shares are unchanged.

M&M, ONGC, Dr Reddy's Labs, Hindalco and Maruti Suzuki are top gainers in the Sensex.

9:35 am Market check: The market is a in high spirits after a long weekend. The Sensex is up 338.10 points or 1 percent at 27349.41 and the Nifty is up 97.75 points or 1 percent at 8279.25. About 1202 shares have advanced, 256 shares declined, and 92 shares are unchanged.

ONGC, M&M, Hindalco, Maruti Suzuki and Hero Motocorp are major gainers in the Sensex.

9:25 am Big buzzers: Shares of Pantaloon Fashion & Retail (PFRL) jumped 20 percent, hitting upper circuit at Rs 136.60 per share. Aditya Birla Nuvo (ABNL) also surged 9 percent intraday as group company Aditya Birla merged its apparel businesses into a Rs 5,290 crore entity named Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail.

Under the scheme of arrangement approved today by the boards of respective companies, the apparel businesses of group holding company ABNL)= and of another group firm Madura Garments Lifestyle Retail Company (MGLRCL) would be demerged into listed firm PFRL.

According to the swap-ratio recommended by two independent valuers - Price Waterhouse and Co LLP and Bansi Mehta and Co - shareholders of ABNL will get 26 new equity shares of PFRL for every 5 equity shares held in ABNL, pursuant to the demerger of Madura Fashion.

The market kickstarts May series on a strong note. The Nifty is up 48.55 points or 0.6 percent at 8230.05. The Sensex is up 185.04 points or 0.7 percent at 27196.35. About 418 shares have advanced, 84 shares declined, and 68 shares are unchanged.

Maruti, Dr Reddy's Labs, BHEL, Hindalco and Tata Motors are top gainers in the Sensex. Bharti Airtel is down 2 percent.

Among global markets, in the US, stocks closed about 1 percent higher on Friday, recovering from Thursday's sell-off, as investors eyed higher treasury yields and looked for signs of economic growth. US treasury yields continued to gain, with the 10-year briefly topping 2.12 percent, nearly an eight-week high.

On the economic data front, expansion in the US manufacturing sector weakened in April as growth in output and new orders fell. The final US manufacturing purchasing managers' index fell to 54.1 in April from 55.7 in March. Also, construction spending data for March showed a decline of 0.6 percent.

Asia is flat in quiet trade this morning with the Japanese, Malaysian and Thai markets shut today.

In the currency space, dollar is off lows, staging a bit of a comeback as sterling comes under pressure. Indian money market is shut on account of Buddha Purnima.

Among commodities, Nymex crude oil futures dipped from 2015 highs and towards USD 59 a barrel in early trading, after posting the biggest monthly gain in six years in April. Brent and US crude rallied between 20 and 25 percent in April.