Nifty ends at 7899, Sensex up 258 points; bank, pharma surge

3:30 pm Market check: It was a superub rally ahead of Federal Reserve meeting. The Sensex was up 258.04 points or 1 percent at 25963.97, and the Nifty ended up 70.05 points or 0.9 percent at 7899.15. About 1252 shares advanced, 1411 shares declined, and 120 shares were unchanged.

Banks and pharma lend support with big gainers like Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma, Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Auto. Among the losers were L&T, BHEL, Dr Reddy's Labs, Coal India and HUL.

3:10 pm Market outlook: The Indian equity market is likely to take a rate hike by the US Federal Reserve positively, believes Vikas Khemani of Edelwiess. He believes the market will react to a rate hike only for the first few hours of trading because most of it has already been factored in.

Of the two results, Khemani says the best outcome is if the Fed gives a dovish commentary, alongwith a 25 basis points (bps) rate hike; but a hawkish commentary and no rate cut will be the worst outcome from the 2-day FOMC meet.

Interest rates in the US have been close to zero since the financial crisis. If the Fed hikes rates, it could be the first in a string of small increases

2:59 pm Market Update: The Sensex rose 231.86 points or 0.90 percent to 25937.79 and the Nifty jumped 60.35 points or 0.77 percent to 7889.45.

About 1236 shares have advanced, 1317 shares declined, and 124 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

2:50 pm Buzzing: Shares of JMC Projects shot up more than 19 percent intraday on securing orders worth Rs 702 crore in Bihar and Karnataka.

The civil engineering and EPC company has received orders for Bhagalpur Water Supply projects worth approximately Rs 199 crore and building for Central University of Bihar at Gaya approximately Rs 152 crore.

It also bagged orders for Karnataka State Highways improvement project Rs 181 crore and two building projects in Bangalore worth approximately Rs 170 crore.

JMC Projects (India) is a subsidiary of Kalpataru Power Transmission.

2:40 pm Tata Steel in News: Tata Steel has got the Environment Ministry's approval for more than doubling the capacity of its Jamshedpur-based cold rolling mill at an investment of Rs 126 crore.

The plant's capacity will go up to 0.8 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) from the existing 0.3 MTPA. The domestic steel giant, which is among the top-ten global steel companies, will manufacture hot rolled skin passed pickled and oiled (HRSPO) coils and hot rolled pickled and oiled (HRPO) coils here.

In January, an Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Environment Ministry had recommended giving environment clearance (EC) to Tata Steel's proposal to expand its capacity at Cold Rolling Mill complex located in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand.

"The Environment Ministry has considered the Tata Steel's application based on the recommendation of the EAC and decided to grant the final EC yesterday," a senior Environment Ministry official said. The EC has been issued to the company subject to some conditions, the official added.

2:30 pm MMTC to aid Goa mining industry: Plagued by crisis due to the ongoing slowdown, Goa's mining industry has got a saviour in the Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation (MMTC), which has offered support to help sell iron ore in the international market.

The industry, which is expected to start fresh extraction from next month, has been wary of its prospects due to high prices in the the global market and subdued low grade ore demand.

"MMTC, being a pioneer in export of various minerals for the last five decades, has volunteered its service to assist the Goa government to dispose of the large chunk of iron ore lying along various operational areas of mines, jetties and the port," according to an official release today.

The company is a canalised agency of the central government for higher grade iron ore (+64% Fe). MMTC CMD Ved Prakash, along with other officials, had met the Chief Minister yesterday in this connection.

2:20 pm Oil Update: Oil prices rose today after an unexpected US stockpile drawdown and higher gasoline prices, but concerns remained about a global surplus, falling Asian demand and whether the US Federal Reserve would raise interest rates.

Front-month US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures traded up 55 cents at USD 45.14 per barrel. Brent was up 45 cents at USD 48.20 a barrel.

The prospect of falling US oil production as prices skim six-year lows has narrowed the gap between benchmark US and Brent crude futures.

The Brent-WTI spread between the two prompt months shrank on Tuesday to around USD 1.45 a barrel, the narrowest since January, when WTI briefly cost more than Brent. The spread was around USD 2.60 on Wednesday.

2:00 pm Market Check
The market remained strong in afternoon trade on positive global cues ahead of Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting tonight. The Sensex climbed 293.53 points or 1.14 percent to 25999.46 and the Nifty jumped 78.55 points or 1 percent to 7907.65.

Bharti Airtel (2.9 percent), Bajaj Auto (2.8 percent), Hero Motocorp (2.6 percent) and Axis Bank (2.5 percent) are the top gainers in Nifty. Among the losers are BHEL (-0.7 percent), Larsen (-0.4 percent) and Dr Reddys Labs (-0.2 percent).

Investors did not show much interest for midcap and small cap shares, with the respective indices on the BSE down 0.1 percent and 0.1 percent respectively.

Indiabulls Housing (-4 percent), HPCL (-4 percent), Emami (-3 percent), Container Corp (-3 percent) and UPL (-3 percent) were the big losers in the midcap space. Other notable laggards included Bharat Forge (-2 percent), Eicher Motors (-2 percent), Reliance Capital (-2 percent), Oil India (-2 percent) and Havells India (-2 percent).

Amtek Auto plunged 9 percent after Standard & Poor's downgraded subsidiary Amtek Global Technologies' senior secured term loans worth 235 million euro and a 30 million euro revolving credit facility to CCC+ from B+ and placed on credit watch.

European shares were trading firm with France's CAC up 58 points or 1.3 percent at 4627, Germany's DAX up 87 points at 10275, and UK's FTSE up 49 points at 6186.

1:55 pm Environmental nod: Tata Steel has got the Environment Ministry's approval for more than doubling the capacity of its Jamshedpur-based cold rolling mill at an investment of Rs 126 crore.

The plant's capacity will go up to 0.8 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) from the existing 0.3 MTPA. The domestic steel giant, which is among the top-ten global steel companies, will manufacture hot rolled skin passed pickled and oiled (HRSPO) coils and hot rolled pickled and oiled (HRPO) coils here.

In January, an Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Environment Ministry had recommended giving environment clearance (EC) to Tata Steel's proposal to expand its capacity at Cold Rolling Mill complex located in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand.

1:45 pm Govt's infra push: The central government launched the Shyama Prasad Rurban Mission, which seeks to deliver project-based urban infrastructure and amenities in rural areas.

The scheme, announced in the Budget last year, and entailing a cost of Rs 5,000 crore, has 12 key constituents, such as piped water, waste management, lighting and education among others, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said at a press conference.

"The budgetary provision for the scheme has been provided for," he said.

Prasad also made a few other announcements, key being the government had decided to increase the number of working days under MNREGA from 100 to 150 in order to alleviate the economic stress arising out of the second straight year of drought ravaging the country.

1:30 pm Interview: The constant rupee depreciation this year will not have much positive impact on the revenue, Ganesh Ayyar, Chief executive Officer (CEO) & Executive Director (ED) of Mphasis said. Rupee has depreciated nearly 4.4 percent since the end of Q1.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Ayyar said that benefits of rupee depreciation, if any, will be passed onto the shareholders of the company. Long hedge fund policy of the company will reduce any pricing pressure, he said.

The company's focus is on improving margins that will be marginally aided by fall in rupee, he said adding that the company's traditional as well as digital business has been growing well. In Q2 and Q3, the direct international business will grow faster than the market with new orders, ascertains Ayyar.

The market is surging ahead as world patiently waits for Federal Reserve monetary policy decision on interest rates. The Sensex hit 26000 and is now up 292.19 points or 1.1 percent at 25998.12. The Nifty is up 81.70 points or 1 percent at 7910.80.
About 1291 shares have advanced, 1061 shares declined, and 110 shares are unchanged.

Bankex outperforms with a gain of 1.5 percent from previous close. Bharti Airtel, Hero MotoCorp, Axis Bank, Vedanta and Bajaj Auto are top gainers while BHEL, HUL and Dr Reddy's labs are down.Bankex outperforms with a gain of 1.5 percent from previous close. Bharti Airtel, Hero MotoCorp, Axis Bank, Vedanta and Bajaj Auto are top gainers while BHEL, HUL and Dr Reddy's labs are down

Tracking a firm trend in Asia, crude oil futures prices rose Rs 36 to Rs 3,039 per barrel today as speculators widened positions. Marketmen said the rise in crude oil futures was largely in tune with a firm trend in Asian trade as the market awaits a Fed decision on interest rates and stockpile data from the United States.

12:58 pm Market Update: The Sensex gained 297.94 points or 1.16 percent at 26003.87 and the Nifty rose 83.65 points or 1.07 percent to 7912.75.

About 1286 shares have advanced, 1059 shares declined, and 114 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

12:50 pm Fed rate hike possible?: Keith Parker, Barclays says solid US Retail sales pushed equities and rates higher ahead of the FOMC meeting today. He further says US economists expect the Fed to remain on hold at its meeting, deferring rate hikes while it assesses downside risks to the outlook after recent financial market stress.

He expects Fed Chair, Yellen to emphasise data-dependence but he believes concerns about external demand and inflation will delay hikes until March 2016.

12:45 pm PEBS bags order: Pennar Engineered Building Systems has secured new orders worth Rs 165 crore from marquee clients like Tata Projects, Reliance Jio Infocomm, Larsen & Toubro, International Cargo Terminal, Siemens, Biological E, UK Textiles, Kapil Power, Automotive India, among others.

12:40 pm Europe opens: European equities opened higher today, ahead of a two-day policy meeting of the US Federal Reserve in which it could decide to increase interest rates for the first time in nine years.

London's FTSE 100 index was 0.7 percent higher, the German DAX was nearly up 1 percent and the French CAC saw a 0.9 percent pop.

12:35 pm Shanghai closes: After fluctuating between modest gains and losses all day, China's Shanghai Composite index swung up to finish 4.9 percent higher at 3,152.6 at the end of Wednesday.

According to Reuters, this was the bourse's best single-day gain since August 27, with over 1,000 stocks closing up by the daily maximum allowable of 10 percent.

Meanwhile, share markets in the rest of Asia advanced, as the morale of investors got a boost from an overnight rally on Wall Street.

12:30 pm Buzzing: Shares of  CMI advanced 7 percent intraday. The company is setting up a new manufacturing facility at Bawal, Haryana to cater of growing demand for its products.

The company has acquired a fully developed with all facilities a manufacturing unit of Danish company FL Smidth Pvt. Limited at Plot No. 116-117, Sector-07, Phase-01, IMT Bawal, Rewari, Haryana-123501.

This manufacturing unit is spread over 1,01,115 sq. ft with built up area of 67,000 sq. ft having all the necessary clearances and facilities for industrial production.

The company is planning to invest approximately Rs 20 crore on the acquisition and setting up of the facility at Bawal. This investment is expected to significantly augment the production capacity of the company.

The company intends to start production in the new facility within this financial year.

12:20 pm Nifty hits 7900: The market extended rally in afternoon trade with the Sensex rising 254.42 points or 0.99 percent to 25960.35 and the Nifty climbing 72.40 points or 0.92 percent to 7901.50.

About 1227 shares have advanced, 1052 shares declined, and 115 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

12:10 pm Interview: Sanjay Agarwal, MD & CEO, Century Plyboard said second quarter of the fiscal is likely to be better than the first quarter but could not commit on 17 percent revenue growth for FY16.

Performance in Q1 of FY15 was exceptional but Q3 and Q4 were subdued so the company has now renewed its focus to catch up on growth going forward.

Price increases would likely happen around October 1, he said.

He said if the new product plant in Chennai was a success, they would look at putting up a similar plant in the North.

The capacity utilisation for FY15 stood at 80-85, he said.

12:00 pm Market Check
Benchmark indices extended rally in last half an hour of trade following further upside in Asian peers ahead of Federal Reserve's two-day meet that will begin tonight. The BSE Sensex rose 210 points or 0.8 percent to 25916 and the Nifty climbed 56.95 points or 0.73 percent to 7886.05.

Axis Bank (2.5 percent), Hero Motocorp (2.5 percent), Bharti Airtel (2.2 percent) and Sun Pharma (2.2 percent) were top gainers in Nifty. However, losers were BHEL (down 0.8 percent), Larsen (down 0.6 percent) and HUL (down 0.5 percent).

In sectoral performance as reflected by the respective indices, healthcare (0.9 percent), bank (0.8 percent), metals (0.8 percent) and IT (0.7 percent) gained, while consumer durables (-0.9 percent) and capital goods (-0.4 percent) were under pressure.

Indiabulls Housing (down 4 percent), Container Corporation (-4 percent), Emami (-3 percent), Havells India (-3 percent) and UPL (-2 percent) were big losers in midcap space. Other notable laggards included GE Shipping (-2 percent), Motherson Sumi (-2 percent), Just Dial (-2 percent), Oil India (-2 percent) and Reliance Capital (-2 percent).

Gaining stocks outnumbered losers 1180:1025.

The rupee was quoting at 66.46 to the dollar, down 10 paise over its previous close. In other asset classes, gold was trading at USD 1105.4/ounce, up USD 0.10.

Among key Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 466 points or 2.2 percent at 21921, China's Shanghai was up 80 points or 2.67 percent at 3085, and Singapore's Straits Times was up 24 points at 2865. Japan's Nikkei 225 closed at 18171, up 145 points over its previous close, Korea's KOSPI closed at 1975, up 37 points or 2.0 percent, and Taiwan's Taiwan Index closed at 8333, up 73 points.

11:55 am Listing: Shares of Sadbhav Infrastructure Project (subsidiary of Sadbhav Engineering) listed at Rs 111 on the National Stock Exchange, higher by 7.8 percent over its issue price of Rs 103. In fact, it was better than expected listing because analysts were expecting to be bad debut due to its debt burden of Rs 6,600 crore.

The issue opened for subscription during August 31-September 2. The company raised Rs 492 crore through public issue that comprised of Rs 425 crore fresh issue and an offer for sale of up to 32.36 lakh shares by existing investors - Xander and Norwest.

11:45 am Stake sale: IFCI informed BSE that it has made partial disinvestment to the extent of 1.5 percent of its stake in NSE i.e. 6,75,000 (Six Lakh Seventy Five Thousand) equity shares, to certain buyer, at price of Rs. 3900/-per equity share, aggregating to Rs. 263.25 crores on September 15, 2015.

Speaking on the above development Malay Mukherjee, CMD, IFCI in an interview to CNBC-TV18 said the company had decided to sell the stake a year ago but were waiting for a good price. He said they would be divesting another one percent within the next one month.

The company will hold 4 percent stake in NSE post this 1.5 percent divestment.

11:30 am Market outlook: The Indian earnings story has been delayed inordinately and may take another two quarters at least to come through but markets will start discounting them before that, says Tushar Pradhan, CIO at HSBC Global Asset Management (India).

In an interview to CNBC-TV18 Pradhan said that investors with a two-year view should pile into economy facing stocks and that valuations of so-called "defensive" stocks, such as FMCG, were not really defensive. Speaking about the Federal Reserve's upcoming meeting where it will decide whether to hike interest rates for the first time in nine years, Pradhan said the US central bank should hike rates but do so with an unambiguous dovish language.

The market is holding its morning gains firmly. The Sensex is up 131.55 points or 0.5 percent at 25837.48 and the Nifty is up 30.05 points or 0.4 percent at 7859.15. About 1076 shares have advanced, 957 shares declined, and 77 shares are unchanged.

Hero MotoCorp, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel and Axis Bank are top gainers while BHEL, L&T, NTPC, Hindalco and Tata Steel.

Meanwhile, as all eyes are on the Federal Reserve move on rate hike analyts feel India is ready for it. Markets are poised for a relief rally even if the Federal Reserve hikes interest rates for the first time in nine years, and it is likely the US central bank will do it, to "call the bluff of scaremongers", believes Ajay Bodke of brokerage firm Prabhudas Lilladher.

Gold struggled to break out of a tight range near its one-month low , as investors waited to hear on the outlook of US interest rates from a Federal Reserve policy meet that kicks off later in the session.

Traders are waiting to see if the US central bank will raise rates this week for the first time in nearly a decade. The uncertainty over the timing of a rate hike has weighed on gold all year, sending it down over 6 percent. Higher rates could dent demand for non-interest-paying bullion, while boosting the dollar.

10:45 am Market Expert: Amar Ambani,Head-Research, IIFL clearly believes it is a buyers market for investors and should look at stocks beyond the index to make good returns.

However, traders will have to tread with a lot of caution in these volatile times because the volatility is likely to continue even for the rest of the year, says Ambani.

According to him on liquidity front too, things are not looking good and most of the savvy investors, HNIs and fund managers are unsure of what to do, especially when there has been considerably selling by foreign institutional investors.

10:30 am Interview: Railway projects in West Bengal stalled for the last 4 to 5 years are now being revived, says Texmaco Rail 's Executive Director (ED), AK Vijay.

Recent talks between the Railway Ministry and the West Bengal government have resulted in projects--including metro projects--getting active.

Talking to CNBC-TV18, Vijay says that the main focus is on developing railway infrastructure. Engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) projects will be the most profitable in future, he adds.

Vijay says on-ground work is visible in new tenders for projects. A tender for a locomotive project in Bihar, which was stalled for nearly six years, was recently re-floated, he adds.

Texmaco's new acquisitions, the most recent one Bright Power, are expected to bring in more business and eventual increase in revenues, Vijay says.

The company's current order book stands at Rs 2,600 crore of which Rs 1,300 crore worth orders are of its subsidiary, Kalindee Rail .

10:15 am Deutsche on Tata Motors: Deutsche Bank has downgraded Tata Motors to hold and slashed target price by 21 percent, citing weak volume & mix in China and concerns like higher incentives in US.

The brokerage says its downgrade is premised on a greater-than-expected delay in China volume ramp-up (down 33 percent year-to-date) for Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), likely deterioration in profitability of ex-China markets (US incentives up 50-100 basis points Y-o-Y in July/August), and faster-than-expected model mix deterioration.

Its forecasts continue to factor strong volume growth for JLR (FY15-18E CAGR of 13 percent) driven by new models. However, it believes that the impact on margins (down 290 basis points by FY18) and free cash flow will be stronger than earlier anticipated. Hence it cut earnings per share forecasts by 17-23 percent and target price by 21 percent to Rs 375.

10:00 am Market Check
Equity benchmarks continued to hold early gains, led by healthcare, banking & financials, technology and auto stocks. The Sensex gained 168.78 points at 25874.71 and the Nifty rose 41.75 points to 7870.85 ahead of Federal Reserve's two-day meet that will begin tonight.

The broader markets underperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.4 percent. About 1182 shares have advanced against 497 shares declined on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Sadbhav Infrastructure Project has listed at Rs 111 on the National Stock Exchange, higher by 7.8 percent over its issue price of Rs 103.