Sensex up 106 points, Nifty ends at 7650; Axis Bank down 2%

3:30 pm Market closing: The market has ended higher after a volatile session. The Sensex wass up 105.92 points or 0.4 percent at 25150.35 and the Nifty was up 39.60 points or 0.5 percent at 7650.05.About 1498 shares have advanced, 1141 shares declined, and 210 shares are unchanged.

Hindalco, Coal India, M&M, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Steel were top gainers while Axis Bank, Tata Motors, Bharti Airte, ONGC and L&T were top losers in the Sensex.

2:58 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks remained volatile. The Sensex rose 98.86 points to 25143.29 and the Nifty advanced 22.55 points to 7633.

About 1388 shares have advanced, 1173 shares declined, and 195 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

2:45 pm Buzzing: Shares of IL&FS Engineering and Construction Company rallied 11 percent intraday on getting metro rail link contract in Gujarat.

"IL&FS Engineering has received a letter of acceptance from Metro-Link Express for Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad Company for a total value of Rs 374.64 crore," the company said in its filing to exchanges.

Project is to be completed in 120 weeks from the date of issue of letter of acceptance.

The company is currently executing three metro rail projects worth more than Rs 700 crore in Bengaluru for Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation, in Gurgaon for Rapid Metro Rail Project and in Kolkata for Rail Vikas Nigam.

2:35 pm Europe Update: European equities were higher as investors looked ahead to the US Federal Reserve's meeting this week. France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE were up more than 0.5 percent.

The main focus for investors this week is the US central bank, which is widely expected to raise interest rates for the first time in seven years. The Fed is expected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday and only very gradually thereafter.

2:20 pm FII View on Fed: Chris Wood, CLSA says a Federal Reserve rate hike now looks finally set to happen on December 16 following last week's US employment and wage data.

According to him, if the Federal Reserve does start to tighten, it will become critical to monitor the credit markets.

He says it will also be interesting to see how emerging market currencies behave into and after the presumed rate hike.

Emerging market currencies have been relatively resilient of late as the macro speculators have focused on the short Euro trade, he feels.

2:00 pm Market Check: The market continued to consolidate after a 2 percent loss seen in previous week. The Sensex rose 14.44 points to 25058.87 and the Nifty gained 14.55 points at 7625.

The broader markets continued to outperform benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices up 0.2-0.4 percent. The market breadth was positive as about 1437 shares have advanced and 1073 shares declined on the BSE.

Shares of Infosys, HUL, Coal India, Tata Steel, Hindalco Industries and BHEL rallied 2-3 percent while Tata Motors, TCS, Axis Bank, ONGC and Bharti Airtel fell 1-1.5 percent.

1:45 pm Market outlook: There is a risk-off approach to the global market and this week will reflect just that, says Vineet Bhatnagar of PhillipCapital. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Bhatnagar says the Nifty, however, should find good support at 7500-7530. On sectoral bets, Bhatnagar says the Bank Nifty should trade steady at 15500-15800, adding that despite current weakness in some private names, banking sector would be relatively performing well from a one-year horizon. Bhatnagar further adds that 2016 is still expected to be the year for equities among most institutional investors.

1:30 pm Macro data: The country's wholesale inflation, which has been in negative territory for thirteen months now, eased a bit, with the wholesale price index coming in at -1.99 percent in November compared to -3.81 percent in October and versus a forecast of -2.59 percent. However, analysts said the easing was largely because of the base effect and added that the inflation print continues to paint a worrying picture of weakness led by the global commodity rout. Beneath the headline numbers, inflation for fuel and power group stood at -11.09 percent year-on-year versus -16.32 percent in November. Fuel and power has a 14.91 percent weightage in the WPI basket.

The market is holding gains as the Sensex is up 103.95 points or 0.4 percent at 25148.38. The Nifty is up 39.65 points or 0.5 percent at 7650.10. About 1485 shares have advanced, 953 shares declined, and 179 shares are unchanged.

Hindalco, Tata Steel, HUL, Coal India and Vedanta are top gainers while Tata Motors, ONGC, Axis Bank, TCS and Bharti Airtel are losers in the Sensex.

Indian traders fear that an interest rate rise from the US Federal Reserve this week could cause a destabilising spike in bond yields, and are calling on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to intervene by buying bonds via open market operations (OMO).

Banks are the main buyers of government bonds but are already holding large amounts of them to meet reserve requirements, so their purchases are waning.

At the same time, foreign investors are pulling out of many emerging markets at the moment, so there is less demand from them. Foreign investors have pulled USD 1.7 billion out of India in November, the highest withdrawals since August.

12:55 pm Market gains further: Equity benchmarks extended gains in afternoon trade with the Sensex rising 101.77 points or 0.41 percent to 25146.20 and the Nifty climbing above 7650, up 35.60 points or 0.47 percent to 7646.05.

About 1433 shares have advanced, 954 shares declined, and 171 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

12:45 pm Asia Update: Asian equities traded mostly lower today, as investors remain focused on the mid-week decision from the US Federal Reserve. The Chinese market bucked trends and traded up, boosted by upticks in shares of brokerages and banks.

The Australian market lost ground on the back of low commodity prices, with bank and resources plays firmly in the red. The main ASX 200 index closed down 100 points, or 2.01 percent, at 4,928 with energy and materials sectors down 3.27 and 2.16 percent respectively.

China's Shanghai Composite index recovered from day's low to close 2.5 percent higher at 3520.

12:35 pm Buzzing: Reliance Communications' shares climbed 3.5 percent intraday on likely sharp reduction in consolidated debt post stake sale in tower business.

Brokerage CLSA has upgraded the stock to outperform from underperform and increased target price to Rs 90 from Rs 75 earlier, citing debt reduction.

In a client note, the brokerage says impending tower asset sale would lower its consolidated debt by a significant around 60 percent, adding potential sale of its fibre assets will reduce debt further.

Reliance Communications (RComm) recently signed a non-binding term sheet with Tillman Global Holdings LLC and TPG Asia Inc for selling tower assets. This non-binding exclusivity agreement will be valid till January 15, 2016.

12:20 pm Banks merger: India's central bank supports mergers among commercial lenders but they have to be focused and strategic, a deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India said today.

SS Mundra, speaking at a business school in Mumbai, warned that merging a weak bank with a strong bank might weaken the stronger lender.

"I would believe merger for the sake of merger really would not serve the intended purpose," he said.

India has more than two dozen state-run banks which dominate its banking landscape. The government has said it will not force consolidation, but several weaker banks are expected to merge with rivals.

12:00 pm Market Check
The market continued to consolidate with a positive bias. The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 54.22 points to 25098.65 and the 50-share NSE Nifty advanced 22.70 points to 7633.15.

The BSE Midcap outperformed benchmarks, rising 0.6 percent. The market breadth gained strength as about 1358 shares advanced against 920 declining shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

WPI inflation for November came in at negative 1.99 percent against negative 3.81 percent in preceding month and a CNBC-TV18 poll forecast of negative 2.59 percent. September WPI inflation has been revised to negative 4.59 percent from negative 4.54 percent earlier.

Vegetable inflation increased during the month to 14.08 percent from 2.56 percent in previous month and non-food articles inflation also rose to 6.33 percent from 5.10 percent in same period. Manufactured products inflation for November came in at negative 1.42 percent against negative 1.67 percent in preceding month.

11:55 am  Even as gold as an asset class has had a lucklustre run over the past couple of years, the gold loan segment remains vibrant, says one of the India's largest lenders in the gold loan space.

"We see about 10 percent growth in AUM next year," George Alexandar Muthoot, MD of Muthoot Finance, told CNBC-TV18 in an interview, adding that the non-banking financial company was changing its business model a bit. "We are now encouraging customers to move from the traditional bullet repayment structure to a regular structure."

11:45 am Interview: The government should consider a floor price mechanism across the entire chain of steel products, than imposing safeguard duties on some products, Seshagiri Rao,Joint Managing Director & Group CFO, JSW Steel tells CNBC-TV18. He says steel imports have risen 34 percent in the first eight months of this fiscal, and safeguard duties have not helped much. The government should take some urgent steps to prevent the steel sector from collapsing, says Rao. He says domestic steel producers are hurting from Korean and Japanese firms cutting their product prices.

11:30 am Reforms? Finance Minister Arun Jaitley ruled out including the GST rate in the Constitution Amendment Bill saying tariffs can't be cast in stone. He said the Congress, which has opposed the GST Bill over three main demands, should accept the UPA Finance Minister P Chidambaram's proposal for a GST Council or its appointed forum for resolving tax disputes, instead of its demand for a Supreme Court judge being the adjudicating authority. Speaking at the Aaj Tak Agenda programme, Jaitley said the Congress was changing stance everyday as it believes none other than persons from one family have the right to rule the country. "Why don't you say directly that we want to stall country's progress. For the Congress, except one family, no one else can rule. This is the basic point," he said.

The market has slightly recovered with support from pharma and metals. The Sensex is up 43.64 points or 0.2 percent at 25088.07 and the Nifty is up 18.15 points or 0.2 percent at 7628.60. About 1314 shares have advanced, 844 shares declined, and 170 shares are unchanged.

Tata Steel, HUL, BHEL, Sun Pharma and Vedanta are top gainers while Tata Motors, M&M, ONGC, TCS and Bharti Airtel are losers in the Sensex.

Gold ticked up but was under pressure from a Federal Reserve policy meeting this week when the US central bank is expected to raise interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade.

In its last policy meeting of the year on December 15-16, the Fed is seen raising rates by a quarter of a percentage point.

Investors fear higher rates could dent demand for non-interest-paying bullion, while boosting the dollar. Gold has already slid 9 percent for the year, its third straight annual decline, in anticipation of a rate hike.

10:58 am Market Update: Equity benchmarks rebounded in morning trade with the Sensex rising 54.63 points to 25099.06 and the Nifty climbing 22.55 points to 7633.

About 1312 shares have advanced, 797 shares declined, and 150 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

10:40 am Gold Update: Gold ticked up today, but was under pressure from a Federal Reserve policy meeting this week when the US central bank is expected to raise interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade.

In its last policy meeting of the year on December 15-16, the Fed is seen raising rates by a quarter of a percentage point.

Investors fear higher rates could dent demand for non-interest-paying bullion, while boosting the dollar. Gold has already slid 9 percent for the year, its third straight annual decline, in anticipation of a rate hike.

Spot gold had risen 0.2 percent to USD 1,076.20 an ounce, after gaining 0.3 percent on Friday.

10:20 am Market Expert:
There is a risk-off approach to the global market and this week will reflect just that, says Vineet Bhatnagar of PhillipCapital. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Bhatnagar says the Nifty, however, should find good support at 7500-7530.

On sectoral bets, Bhatnagar says the Bank Nifty should trade steady at 15500-15800, adding that despite current weakness in some private names, banking sector would be relatively performing well from a one-year horizon.

Bhatnagar further adds that 2016 is still expected to be the year for equities among most institutional investors.

10:00 am Market Check
The market recouped early losses with the Nifty getting back above 7600 level, driven by banks, capital goods and pharma stocks. The broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.5 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 25.73 points to 25018.70 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 1 point to 7611.45. The market breadth was positive as about 1030 shares advanced against 875 declining shares on the BSE.

Shares of Infosys, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma, HUL, Maruti, Lupin and GAIL gained 0.5-1 percent while Tata Motors, TCS, M&M, Bharti Airtel and ONGC fell 1-3 percent.

9:55 am Buzzing:  Shares of Tata Consultancy Services fell 2 percent intraday  after brokerages raised concerns on loss due to Chennai floods. On Friday, the country's largest software services firm said that floods in Chennai are expected to have a "material impact" on TCS current quarter revenues.

Nomura has maintained neutral rating on TCS but slashed target price to Rs 2500 from Rs 2670 per share. It sees moderate second half of FY16.  As per its estimates, its FY16 dollar revenue growth is seen at 7.8 percent from 8.4 percent earlier.

IIFL also sees an overall revenue to be impacted by 1 percent due to the Chennai floods.

9:45 am Poll: The November Consumer Price Index (CPI) data that will be released today post market hours is expected to inch up as opposed to October. The consumer inflation has been rising for the past three months from 3.7 percent in July 2015 to 5 percent in October of 2015. November's expected CPI is likely to inch around 5.38 percent due to base effect of a lower October CPI (3.3 percent).

The core CPI is likely to come between 4.41 to 4.62 percent. Now the reason why we are expecting this inch up to continue will be one because of the base impact the CPI November of 2014 was 3.3 percent and food inflation was around 1.2 percent so because of that additionally because of pulses inflation which could possibly contribute or continue to rise would be one of the key reasons or the constituents in terms of what we could expect for the CPI data to inch up.

9:30 am Oil price outlook: Oil prices, which have declined from a peak of about USD 120 per barrel since last year, today inched closer to USD 35 a barrel, indicating a picture of complete rout. But according to Edward Morse, the Global Head of Commodities Research at Citigroup, the bad news for the market is far from over. "There is further bearish news left for crude. The bottom is not yet in for this market," Morse, who has long maintained he expects oil to go below USD 30, told CNBC-TV18. "The first quarter of the calendar year will be worse than the current quarter."

The market has kickstarted the week lower. This week, the Fed is likely to hike interest rates for the first time in nine years, following strong macro data in the world's largest economy recently. The Sensex is down 170.63 points or 0.7 percent at 24873.80 and the Nifty down 54.75 points or 0.7 percent at 7555.70. About 192 shares have advanced, 335 shares declined, and 66 shares are unchanged.

GAIL, Hero MotoCorp, Maruti, HUL and Sun Pharma are top gainers while Tata Motors, TCS, M&M, ONGC and Axis Bank are among losers in the Sensex.

The Indian rupee opened at a fresh two-year low at 67.09 per dollar. It is trading lower by 21 paise against Friday's close of 66.88.

Agam Gupta of StanChart Bank said, "The local government banks should be sellers of the dollar on upticks towards 67.20-67.30/dollar today. Any dips towards 66.75/dollar should lead to importers buying dollar to hedge their future dollar payables."

Asian equities were trading lower after a further slump in oil prices weighed on Wall Street on Friday. The International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that global oversupply of crude could worsen next year as OPEC continues to pump out more oil.

Oil producers also saw sharp declines in their stocks in Asian trade.