Sensex, Nifty end higher; Tata Motors up 3%, Cipla down

3:30 pm Marlet closing: After a stable session, the market has ended on positive note. The Sensex was up 82.50 points or 0.3 percent at 24934.33 and the Nifty was up 33.05 points or 0.4 percent at 7601.35. About 1938 shares advanced, 813 shares declined, and 195 shares were unchanged.

Cipla, L&T, Bajaj Auto, Coal India and Adani Ports were losers while Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Axis Bank, TCS and ONGC were top gainers in the Sensex.

2:45 pm Gold gains: Buoyed by positive global cues and sustained buying by jewellers at domestic spot markets, gold continued its rising streak for a fifth straight day - its longest winning run in over a year - and edged up by Rs 20 to Rs 26,350 per ten grams at the bullion market today.

Silver too maintained its upward journey and recorded a rise of Rs 100 to Rs 34,100 per kg on increased offtake by industrial units and coin-makers.

Traders said besides a firm global trend where gold rallied to a two-month high in yesterday's trade, increased buying by jewellers at the domestic spot markets to meet rising demand, mainly lifted the precious metal to over two-month highs.

2:30 pm Wheat production: Madhya Pradesh's wheat produce for the current rabi season is expected to dip by 13 percent to about 160 lakh tonnes.

"Wheat has been sown under 50 lakh hectares in the ongoing Rabi season so far, which is about 15 percent less than what was sown during the period last year. With maximum temperature remaining above normal, wheat production may be hit," Farmers' Welfare and Agriculture Development Department Director Mohanlal Meena told PTI.

"We are not expecting wheat production to be over 160 lakh tonnes in the ongoing rabi season. In the coming days, if temperature doesn't fall and winter rainfall is not received in the wheat growing pockets of the state, this anticipated production may also dip," he added.

The market has remained stable throughout the day after the tumultous ride yesterday. The Sensex is up 192.44 points or 0.8 percent at 25044.27 and the Nifty is up 60.85 points or 0.80% at 7629.15. About 1950 shares have advanced, 706 shares declined, and 177 shares are unchanged.

Tata Motors, ITC, ONGC, Sun Pharma and Tata Steel are top gainers while Cipla, Coal India are major losers in the Sensex.

When US investment bank Goldman Sachs said last year that oil could fall as low as USD 20 per barrel, it assigned a fairly low probability to that scenario.

Fast-forward five months and in some parts of the world the forecast has already proved correct. Canadian physical crude has been selling this week at below USD 20 per barrel, less than it costs to extract and transport. Traders in the options market, meanwhile, are taking protection against prices falling below USD 25.

The developments reflect growing concerns that a market already awash in too much oil is now suffering the double-whammy of a sharp slowdown in US and Chinese demand.

2:50 pm Brokerage view: Shares of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries have rallied 2.7 percent in early trade Friday. CLSA has maintained buy rating on the stock as it expects 72 percent year-on-year growth in FY17 earnings per share of the company. According to the brokerage, it is a high conviction idea in Indian pharma space. CLSA says Sun's FY17 EPS will be driven by Gleevec generic launch in the United States & synergy benefits with Ranbaxy that merged with effect from April 2015. In December, the pharma major received approval from the USFDA for abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) for generic version of Gleevec, Imatinib Mesylate tablets 100mg and 400mg. These tablets are indicated for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia.

The market is active with gainers. The Sensex is up 120.99 points or 0.5 percent at 24972.82 and the Nifty is up 38.55 points or 0.5 percent at 7606.85. About 1908 shares have advanced, 667 shares declined, and 191 shares are unchanged.

Tata Motors, ITC, Tata Steel, ONGC and Sun Pharma are top gainers while Cipla, Coal India, Bajaj Auto, Adani Ports and L&T are laggards in the Sensex.

Commenting on the current global sentiment, Vikas Khemani, President and CFO of Edelweiss Securities, told CNBC-TV18 that people are struck with panic and fear about the future because of yuan devaluation.

The current geo-political scenario has left investors confused on how things will turn out, and although sentiment for India remains positive, it cannot remain completely unaffected by global cues.

Next 3-6 months will be volatile and it is not the time to be buying right now. Post that, things seems to be alright, he said.

12:55 pm  Market outlook: With selling intensifying in the past few days, technical analyst Sushil Kedia says the ongoing correction has further legs to go but adds that there is a pot of gold at the end for investors who can ride the pain. In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Kedia, President of the Association of Technical Market Analysts (ATMA), picked out 7,200-6,900-6500 as technical supports and assigned small probabilities to those levels breaking. "This roughness is likely to persist for some more time," he said. "However, [starting] financial year FY17, wherever the decline ends, a 40-50 percent kind of super bull market should again rise," he said. Kedia said crude will likely bottom out soon, and said in 1-2 years, it could more than double from current levels.

12:30 pm RBI move: With China's currency devaluation sending forex and stock markets into a tizzy, RBI's Technical Advisory Committee on financial markets met and reviewed the recent developments in G-Secs and foreign exchange markets. The meeting chaired by RBI Deputy Governor H R Khan reviewed the recent developments in money, government securities and foreign exchange markets. It also discussed various issues relating to the financial benchmarks, disclosure and reporting requirements for commercial papers (CP) and relaxations in the documentation-related requirements for hedging in the forex market, RBI said in a statement.

The market is still holding onto green terrain as the Sensex is up 69.72 points or 0.3 percent at 24921.55. The Nifty is up 21.10 points or 0.3 percent at 7589.40. About 1682 shares have advanced, 779 shares declined, and 188 shares are unchanged.

Tata Motors, ITC, Reliance, TCS and Sun Pharma are top gainers while Cipla, Coal India, L&T, Bajaj Auto and Adani Ports are losers in the Sensex.

China's central bank guided the yuan a shade higher Friday, a day after a hefty decline in the currency rocked financial markets and fanned renewed worries over the health of the world's second-largest economy.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) set the yuan reference rate at 6.5636 against the dollar, up 0.02 percent from Thursday's fix and higher than theyuan's closing rate of 6.5929 in onshore trading on Thursday. Friday's fix was the first time in nine days that the PBOC set the the yuan reference rate higher.

The PBOC on Thursday had guided the yuan lower at the fastest pace since its shock devaluation in August, prompting a shuttering of mainland stocks and roiling markets elsewhere.

11:55 am Stake sale: Japan's NEC Corp is reportedly in initial talks to acquire Indian IT services company Mphasis, in which majority is owned by the HP Inc. HP is going through global restructuring and the promoters want to exit as soon as possible.

NEC is very interested in acquiring Mphasis and if talks progress, it could began the due diligence process from March.

Post this, the companies are expected to wrap up the deal by the year-end before ant major shake-up happens in the IT sector.

11:45 am Bank strike: Banking operations were hit partially on Friday as a section of public sector banks' employees went on a strike across the country to protest violation of bilateral settlement agreement by associate banks of SBI.

 Some of the services, like cash handling at branch level and clearing of checks were affected in the banks where presence of All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) is strong. Private sector banks and country's largest lender SBI continues to function normally.

As precautionary measures, most of the banks, including United Bank of India, had issued advisory to their customers saying they will take all necessary steps in terms of existing guidelines for smooth functioning of branches or offices on the day of strike, in the event it materialises on January 8.

11:30 am Fund raising: State-run lender IDBI Bank has appointed seven merchant bankers, including Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse and SBI Caps, for its proposed Rs 3,800-crore QIP issue. Without naming the i-bankers, IDBI Bank deputy managing director BK Batra confirmed to PTI that they have finalised the merchant bankers for the deal. Other bankers are Bank of America Merrill Lynch, HSBC India, Citigroup and IDBI Capital Markets, sources said.

The market seems to be rangebound but is still in green. Capital goods and metals are major laggards. The Sensex is up 65.31 points at 24917.14 and the Nifty is up 16.85 points at 7585.15. About 1638 shares have advanced, 645 shares declined, and 163 shares are unchanged.

Coal India, Bajaj Auto, L&T, Cipla and Hindalco are losers while ITC, Tata Motors, TCS, Religare and GAIL are top gainers in the Sensex.

Gold climbed above USD 1,100 an ounce for the first time in nine weeks on Thursday as the dollar fell and investors channelled money into safer assets after worries about the Chinese economy hit global stocks.Bullion was also supported by a softer dollar and the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's last policy meet, assuring markets of only gradual rate increases this year.

Gold, often seen as an alternative investment during times of geopolitical and financial uncertainty, benefited from the risk-averse sentiment in the market along with other safe-haven assets such as the Japanese yen and US Treasuries.

10:55 am MF: Mutual Fund managers seem to be bullish on bank shares as they raised their allocation in the sector to an all time-high of over Rs 88,000 crore in November. In comparison, equity fund managers' deployment in banking stocks stood at Rs 70,575 crore in November 2014. Industry experts said that fund managers raised their allocation to banking stocks, especially private banks which have consistently beaten their public sector peers in performance and have lower non-performing assets (NPAs).

10:45 am Bullet train: In order to solve problems like acquiring vast tracts of land and building underpasses for people and cattle, the proposed Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train may run on an elevated corridor, which is likely to increase the project cost by about Rs 10,000 crore.

According to Additional Chief Secretary, Transport and Ports, Gautam Chatterjee, running the train on an elevated corridor will also mean that the entire corridor will not have to be fenced to prevent people and cattle from crossing over.

10:30 am FII view: Rakesh Arora, India Head of Research, Macquarie Capital Securities believes the market is close to its bottom and the worries over China are a little overblown for the moment. ''We don't think there is too much downside for Indian markets from the current level. Nifty staying below 7500 level on a sustainable basis is unlikely'', Arora says. He pointed out that Macquarie's GDP forecast for China is 6.7 percent for the current year which is not a big drop from 7 percent seen last year, adding that China is in a transition phase and the government should be able to manage well for at least 2-3 years more.

After getting bruised for last few days, the market is managing to stay firm in green on Friday. The Sensex is up 130.46 points or 0.5 percent at 24982.29 and the Nifty is up 35.05 points or 0.5 percent at 7603.35. About 1569 shares have advanced, 375 shares declined, and 98 shares are unchanged.

Tata Motors, Reliance, Sun Pharma, Tata Steel and GAIL are top gainers while Coal India, Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel, Hero MotoCorp and ICICI Bank are losers in the Sensex.

Global benchmark oil futures rallied more than 2 percent on Friday, following Asian shares higher after Beijing deactivated a circuit breaker mechanism that was blamed for aggravating equity market crashes. Chinese stocks were also boosted as the yuan currency firmed in early trade after the central bank strengthened its official rate for the first time in nine trading days.

OPEC's smallest member Ecuador, which has increased debt and reduced investments due to the oil price plunge, said on Thursday it would continue to press for production cuts at the cartel's next meeting scheduled for June.

9:50 am Buzzing: Shares of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries have rallied 2.7 percent in early trade Friday. CLSA has maintained buy rating on the stock as it expects 72 percent year-on-year growth in FY17 earnings per share of the company.

According to the brokerage, it is a high conviction idea in Indian pharma space.

CLSA says Sun's FY17 EPS will be driven by Gleevec generic launch in the United States & synergy benefits with Ranbaxy that merged with effect from April 2015.

According to the brokerage, other catalysts for company's growth include early resolution of Halol warning letter, potential clearance of Ranbaxy's Mohali plant and positive phase III data read of novel psoriasis drug Tildrakizumab.

9:35 am QIP issue: State-run lender IDBI Bank has appointed seven merchant bankers, including Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse and SBI Caps, for its proposed Rs 3,800-crore QIP issue.

Without naming the i-bankers, IDBI Bank deputy managing director BK Batra confirmed to PTI that they have finalised the merchant bankers for the deal. Other bankers are Bank of America Merrill Lynch, HSBC India, Citigroup and IDBI Capital Markets, sources said.

The government on December 31 had allowed the bank to raise Rs 3,771 crore through a QIP route. The IDBI scrip tanked 6.4 percent to Rs 77.80 on the BSE today on a day when the market was roiled by the deepening crisis in the Chinese economy. The stock is down over 18 percent from its 52 week high of Rs 95.70.

9:15 am Market Check
The market bounced back on last day of the week after falling for previous four consecutive sessions. The Sensex rose 173.99 points or 0.70 percent to 25025.82 and the Nifty climbed 43.35 points or 0.57 percent to 7611.65 on short covering.

HDFC, BHEL, Sun Pharma, Axis Bank, GAIL, Power Grid Corp, Cairn India and Tata Steel were early gainers.

The Indian rupee gained in early trade. It has opened higher by 18 paise at 66.75 per dollar versus 66.93 Thursday.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity said, "USD has strengthened against global peers based on Yuan concerns. Rupee managed to defend 67/dollar level and is expected to remain positive during the day. Range for the day is seen between 66.60-67/dollar."

Yen continued to rally, rising to strongest levels against the dollar in over four months. The euro too rises against the dollar .

The dollar index fell nearly 1 percent, its biggest one-day loss in nearly a month.

Asian markets also recovered after yesterday's sell-off. Shanghai rallied more than 2 percent after yesterday's turmoil (down 7.3 percent) that led to a halt in trading. Hang Seng and Nikkei gained 0.5-1 percent.