Nifty ends above 8100, Sensex flat; RIL, HDFC twins up 1-2%

3:30 pm Market closing: After a sluggish day, the market ended on lower note. The Sensex was down 23.78 points at 26813.42 and the Nifty slipped 4.45 points at 8130.65. About 1270 shares advanced, 1388 shares declined and 162 shares were unchanged. Reliance, HDFC twins, Wipro and HDFC Bank were top gainers in the Sensex. Tata Steel, Vedanta, ONGC, ICICI Bank and Bajaj Auto were major laggards.

3:10 pm Bad loans? Infrastructure companies have been overleveraging due to shortfall in equity, which they were supposed to get from the market or the projects they had invested in, RK Bansal, ED, IDBI Bank told CNBC-TV18.

"Stress in infrastructure has not increased, but it is continuing due to delayed fructification of investments," Bansal said. Talking about the Jaypee Group, he said they haven't been able to pay investors because of delayed cash generation from their invested projects.

2:50 pm Market recovers: The Sensex is down 38.14 points at 26799.06, and the Nifty is down 9.50 points at 8125.60. About 1159 shares have advanced, 1418 shares declined, and 149 shares are unchanged. Reliance is up 2 percent, Wipro, Axis Bank and HDFC twins are up around 1 percent.

Tata Steel is down 3 percent, Vedanta, ICICI Bank, ONGC and Tata Motors are major laggards in the Sensex.

2:30 pm Monsoon update: People can expect relief from the scorching heat soon as the Indian Meteorological Department has predicted that monsoon will hit Kerala within the next 48 hours. The Met Department had earlier said that the southwest monsoon would set over Kerala on May 30, plus or minus four days. The Southwest Monsoon had advanced over the Bay of Bengal by May 21. However, its progress has been sluggish because of anti-cyclone in the Arabian Sea.

The market is reeling under pressure as the Sensex is down 214.37 points or 0.8 percent at 26622.83. The Nifty is down 55.95 points or 0.7 percent at 8079.15. About 987 shares have advanced, 1517 shares declined, and 136 shares are unchanged.

Wipro, Reliance, L&T and Axis Bank are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Tata Steel,Vedanta, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma and Tata Motors.

Sanjay Sinha, founder, Citrus Advisors, expects the Nifty to sink below 8,000 in next three to four months due to dismal corporate performance and reduced spending by the government last year.

The major elements to look out for in coming months are monsoons, crude prices and international scenario. He said the crude prices will appreciate by another 10 percent and the impact of monsoons is yet to be seen. In international scenarios, he is worried about the Fed rate cut and the Greece economy. Fed rates will come to play from September to December this year, he said.

01:20pm Tech Mahindra outperforms: Credit Suisse said valuations are attractive. The stock fell 15 percent YTD and traded at 12x FY17 estimates (ex-treasury), a 25-35 percent discount to top peers. "While the bounceback from the weak 4Q FY15 numbers will likely be gradual, Tech Mahindra is poised for some reasonable revenue growth and attractive earnings growth over the next two years," said the brokerage.

The stock gained more than 1 percent today.

01:00pm Market Check
The market extended losses in afternoon trade, dragged by banks, FMCG, auto and metals stocks. The Sensex lost 172.64 points to 26664.56 and the Nifty declined 45.85 points to 8089.25.

About 1080 shares have advanced, 1316 shares declined, and 142 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

Sanjay Sinha, founder, Citrus Advisors, expects the Nifty to sink below 8,000 in next three to four months due to dismal corporate performance and reduced spending by the government last year.

The major elements to look out for in coming months are monsoons, crude prices and international scenario, Sinha told CNBC-TV18.

ICICI Bank, Tata Steel and Vedanta topped the selling list, down 2.8 percent each followed by Tata Motors, ITC, Sun Pharma and ONGC with 1-2 percent loss.

However, Reliance Industries, Infosys, L&T and Axis Bank gained more than half a percent. Wipro jumped over 2 percent as company and COMPAREX entered into partnership agreement for Microsoft licensing solution provider business.

12:45pm CRISIL on inflation: Consumer inflation can be limited to 5.8 percent by January if the government takes proactive steps to limit the impact of weak monsoon on food prices, D K Joshi, Senior Director and Chief Economist, CRISIL told CNBC-TV18. He said he was hopeful as the government had so far showed the ability to control food prices.

CRISIL has cut forecast for agriculture growth this year to 1.5 percent from 3 percent earlier.

Joshi said the services sector was expected to grow 9.8 percent this year, and that a recovery in consumption could be delayed.

12:25pm Market Expert: Sanjay Sinha, founder, Citrus Advisors, expects the Nifty to sink below 8,000 in next three to four months due to dismal corporate performance and reduced spending by the government last year.

The major elements to look out for in coming months are monsoons, crude prices and international scenario, Sinha told CNBC-TV18.

He said the crude prices will appreciate by another 10 percent and the impact of monsoons is yet to be seen. In international scenarios, he is worried about the Fed rate cut and the Greece economy. Fed rates will come to play from September to December this year, he said.

12:00pm Market Check
The market remained choppy in trade. The Sensex fell 85.01 points to 26752.19 and the Nifty declined 20 points to 8115.10. Auto, FMCG, metals, power and Tata Group stocks saw selling pressure in afternoon trade. ICICI Bank continued to be the biggest contributor on selling side on Sensex, down 2.3 percent.

Global cues remained weak. Asian markets traded lower with the Shanghai index losing more than 4 percent intraday. The u-s 10-year yield spiked to the highest since November 2014. Brent crude prices traded around USD 63 per barrel after a near 3 percent cut seen overnight.

The rupee weakened to around a 3-week low, breaching past 64 a dollar pressured by FII selling and weakness in emerging market currencies on account of the global bond sell off.

There was no respite for Nestle that fell 4 percent. Investors continued to sell the stock on the back of more states banning Maggi, Uttarakhand being the latest. Barclays cut target price on the stock to Rs 5149, saying high valuations are likely to be challenged by potential near-term disruptions.

Eicher Motors declined over 5 percent after Volvo completely exited the stock via block deals. Bank of India was also under pressure, falling over 3 percent after S&P lowered bank's standalone credit profile to BB+ from BBB.

11:45 am Pension scheme: A United Kingdom trade union comprising smaller unions Community, GMB, UCATT and Unite have voted in favour of a strike against Tata Steel over a pension scheme. Of the 85 percent members of the four unions, 96 percent voted in favour of strike. A ballot of over 17,000 steel workers was sought over a dispute over the existing British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS) being replaced with a "money purchase" pension scheme. The scheme primarily hikes the retirement age from 60 to 65.

The Unions will send the formal notice to the company within 3-4 days time and Tata Steel management will be given one week before it takes a final decision on the strike.

This is not only the biggest employee action in the UK steel sector in the last three decades, it can significantly hit Tata Steel's Europe operations that contribute to a whopping 60 percent of total volumes for the steel major.

11:30 am International market: The big spike in US bond yields, which is at 7-year high, is a matter of concern for markets globally. Indian market, which has already fallen for the last two days, stand to get impacted by this rise in bond yields. Nick Parsons, Head Research (UK and Europe) at National Australia Bank says it is true that funds are moving away from emerging markets, but that does not mean India will underperform significantly.

Asked if India's loss will be China's gain, Parsons said investment in China is only momentum based, not fundamental based. "So far there is no noticeable flow of funds from India to China," he informed CNBC-TV 18 in an interview. He said yields are rising on account of reversal in the process of deflation.

The market is still sluggish. The Sensex is down 0.31 points at 26836.89 and the Nifty is up 0.70 points at 8135.80. About 1142 shares have advanced, 906 shares declined, and 127 shares are unchanged.

Infosys, SBI, Wipro, Axis Bank and L&T are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Hero Motocorp and Sun Pharma.

Oil prices fell in Asia after a rise in US output to more than 30-year highs fanned fears over a global supply glut, ahead of the OPEC cartel's meeting that is expected to see it maintain generous production levels.

Analysts said dealers are concerned that producers are not pulling back on output despite an oversupply that has seen prices slump almost 50 percent over the past year.

At its last meeting in November, the cartel, which pumps around 30 percent of the world's oil, kept its official production target of 30 million barrels per day, in a move seen as trying drive high-cost US shale oil producers out of the market.

That decision initially contributed to prices slumping to six-year lows in January but some analysts say the strategy, backed by OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia, has paid off as US shale oil producers have been squeezed and crude has recovered in recent months.

10:45am India-US tie up in defence: India and the US signed a new strategically important 10-year defence framework pact envisaging joint development and manufacture of defence equipment and technology including jet engines, aircraft carrier design and construction. Both sides also finalised two project agreements for hi-tech mobile power source and next generation protective suits for chemical and biological warfare.

The framework agreement, which was decided during the visit of US President Barack Obama to India in January and focuses on issues ranging from maritime security and joint training, was inked by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and visiting US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter.

"Raksha Mantri and Secretary Carter signed the 2015 Framework for the India-US Defence Relationship, which builds upon the previous framework and successes to guide the bilateral defence and strategic partnership for the next ten years," an official statement by the Defence Ministry said.

10:30am Market Expert: Fears of bad monsoon and no prompt action by the government are the main reasons for big sell off in the debt and stock markets, Ambareesh Baliga, market expert, told CNBC-TV18.

Balinga said the selling pressure could aggravate if the market felt the government was not acting decisively enough to solve the problems in the economy. 

He said the market could fall steeply if the Nifty slipped below 8000 as it was seen to be a major support level. In a falling market, the best strategy was to be in cash, Baliga said.

10:00am Market Check
The market remained marginally under pressure due to selling in FMCG, metals and power stocks. Private sector lender ICICI Bank topped the selling list on Sensex, down 2.4 percent.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 44.14 points to 26793.06 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 13.60 points to 8121.50. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices slipped around 0.4 percent each.

About 742 shares have advanced, 942 shares declined, and 111 shares are unchanged on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors extended its losses, down nearly 2 percent followed by further weakness in ITC, Sun Pharma, ONGC, HUL, Hero Motocorp, Hindalco, Vedanta, Tata Steel and NTPC with loss of 0.8-2 percent.

However, Infosys gained 1 percent. Angel Broking said reports suggested that Infosys is said to be confident of beating Nasscom's guidance for FY2016 (which is expected to be USD Y-o-Y growth of 12-14 percent) on back of improved percentage of deals won in the last 10-12 weeks. The brokerage has maintained its buy rating with a price target of Rs 2,630.

Axis Bank rose 1 percent too after RBI said FIIs can invest in bank as shareholding is below threshold limit. Wipro was up 1 percent.

9:55 am More foreign money: Reserve Bank of India allowed foreign investors to buy further shares in private lender Axis Bank as the stipulated limit has gone below the threshold. The foreign shareholding by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs)/Registered Foreign Portfolios Investors (RFPIs) in Axis Bank Ltd has gone below the threshold limit, RBI said in a notification.

"Hence the restrictions placed on the purchase of shares of the above company are withdrawn with immediate effect," RBI said. For the quarter ended March 2015, FIIs held 46.64 per cent in Axis Bank, according to data available on BSE.

9:45 am Buzzing: Wind turbine maker, Suzlon Energy gained nearly 4 percent intraday on the back of bagging new order from ReNew Power.

Suzlon Group has won another order for 90.30 MW turnkey project from its existing customer, ReNew Power. Suzlon will install its S97 90m WTGs with rated capacity of 2.1MW at Ellutla site Ananthpur district, Andhra Pradesh.

Suzlon is witnessing strong traction in order inflow and this recent 90 MW order from ReNew Power, bolsters its new order intake in Q1 FY 2016 to over 190 MW from leading IPPs.

The order of 90 MW from ReNew Power in Andhra Pradesh in the fourth repeat order from ReNew and the second order in the Q1FY16, as per company filing on the BSE.

9:30 am Market outlook: Ridham Desai, Morgan Stanley says the market will likely regain its ability to predict the future better than any particular group of market participants and stay ahead of the consensus view on earnings.

In that context, it is interesting that the pace of downward earnings revisions is now sitting at a level that points to positive reversal in market performance, he added.

According to him, the risk is that real rates rise further and prove punitive to growth.

The market has opened in red once again. The Sensex is down 50.31 points at 26786.89, and the Nifty slips 17.15 points at 8117.95. About 398 shares have advanced, 213 shares declined, and 76 shares are unchanged.

ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, HDFC, HUL and Hindalco are among laggards while Cipla, Axis Bank, Vedanta, Dr Reddy's Labs and Bajaj Auto are top gainers in the Sensex.

The Indian rupee slipped in early trade today. It has opened lower by 19 paise at 64.09 per dollar against 63.90 Wednesday.

Mohan Shenoi of Kotak Mahindra Bank said, "Weak equity and bond markets in India are resulting in dollar buying by custodial banks resulting in pressure on rupee. However, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) action is tempering the rupee weakness. Expect the rupee to trade in a range of 63.80-64.25/dollar today."

Globally, US markets ended higher as investors found encouragement in signs of economic growth. Meanwhile, European markets ended with modest gains as the European Central Bank (ECB) held rates steady in a policy announcement devoid of any surprises. Asian markets are positive in early trade.

In other asset classes, the dollar traded flat against euro after the US Federal Reserve said US economic growth remained tepid.

Crude oil traded flat recovering from previous losses as investors ignored a fifth straight weekly decline in US crude stockpiles to focus instead on a big build in distillates, including diesel, as the peak season for US road travel got under way.

And precious metal gold recovered marginally from the three-and-a-half-week lows.

Back home, listed company Vedanta India has spent over USD 300 million to buy a 5 percent stake in Cairn India from promoter.