Sensex, Nifty end at 2016 closing high; banks drag, FMCG soar

3:30 pm Closing: Both the benchmark indices were at 2016 closing high ahaed of April Futures & Option expiry tomorrow. The Sensex ended up 56.82 points or 0.2 percent at 26064.12, and the Nifty was up 17.25 points or 0.2 percent at 7979.90. About 1274 shares have advanced, 1281 shares declined, and 193 shares are unchanged.

FMCG, banks and oil & gas stocks lend support to the market. Adani Ports, Bharti, ONGC, GAIL and M&M were top gainers while ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, SBI, Hindalco and BHEL were losers in the Sensex.

3:00 pm Divestment: Government's 11.36 percent stake sale in electricity generator NHPC got off to a strong start today with the portion for institutional investors getting oversubscribed within three hours of opening of trade.

Of the over 100.61 crore shares on offer for these investors, bids for over 156.33 crore shares, or 1.55 times had come in till 1255 hours. Bidding will continue till 1530.

The remaining, over 25.15 crore shares, will be sold to retail investors tomorrow. They will be allocated shares at 5 per cent discount to the cut-off price. These individual investors are to place bids for shares of total value not exceeding Rs 2 lakh.

2:50 pm IT outlook: Economic stability in developed countries will fuel growth in the IT services sector benefiting Indian companies, which will see revenue growth stabilise at around 13 percent, Moody's Investors Service said today.

It forecast that the Indian IT sector will maintain global market share gains, supported by a wider coverage and operating efficiency, albeit at a moderate pace.

"Revenue growth for the Indian IT services sector will stabilise at 11-13 percent, with the bottoming-out of the slowdown witnessed by the industry over the past 12-18 months," said Moody's in a report on IT services.

2:30 pm Parliament: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said the Joint Parliament Standing Committee has cleared the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Code and is likely to be discussed in the current Budget Session of Parliament.

Addressing the second meeting of the Consultative Committee on NPAs, Jaitley said the government is taking various steps, including introduction of Bankruptcy Law in the Lok Sabha, to deal with the problem of mounting bad loans.

The Bankruptcy Law has been cleared by the Joint Parliament Standing Committee and the SARFAESI (Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest) Act and Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) Act have been amended to make the recovery process more efficient and expedient, he said in his opening remark.

The market is still rangebound with the Nifty eyes set on 8000-mark. The 50-share index is up 6.35 points at 7969. The Sensex is up 26.15 points at 26033.45. About 1209 shares have advanced, 1241 shares declined, and 158 shares are unchanged.

Adani Ports, Bharti Airtel, ONGC, GAIL and Coal India are top gainers while ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, SBI, Hindalco and HDFC are losers in the Sensex.

Gold prices rose by Rs 100 to Rs 29,503 per 10 grams in futures trade today as speculators widened positions taking positive cues from global markets.

Globally, gold gained 0.08 percent to USD 1,244.30 an ounce in Singapore today.

1:55 pm IPO: Diagnostics company Thyrocare Technologies, which hit capital markets with its IPO today, has raised Rs 144 crore through issue of shares to 15 anchor investors.

Thyrocare has allocated 32,23,411 shares to 15 anchor investors at Rs 446 per share, the upper end of the price band, aggregating Rs 143.76 crore, the company said in a statement today.

The anchor investors include Nomura, Merrill Lynch Capital Markets Espana, DSP Blackrock, HDFC MF, Birla Sunlife MF, Reliance Capital, SBI MF, ICICI Prudential, Tata AIA Life Insurance, Copthall Mauritius, Spring Healthcare India Trust, FIL Investments Mauritius, L&T MF, Sundaram MF & DB International Asia.

Thyrocare plans to raise about Rs 480 crore through an initial public offering (IPO). The company's IPO is scheduled to close on April 29.

The market is still very volatile ahead of April Future & Option expiry tomorrow. The Sensex is up 42.81 points or 0.2 percent at 26050.11, and the Nifty is up 13.75 points or 0.2 percent at 7976.40. About 1269 shares have advanced, 1106 shares declined, and 163 shares are unchanged.

Bharti, ONGC, Adani Ports, Coal India and GAIL are top gainers while Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Hindalco, HDFC and SBI are losers in the Sensex.

Bharti Airtel is likely to see a growth of 13.3 percent in its January-March quarter net profit at Rs 1265 crore from Rs 1116.9 crore inlast quarter. According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, its revenue may marginally rise 3 percent at Rs 24776 crore compared to Rs 24065.9 crore on sequential basis.

Oil prices extended gains as traders await a report on US stockpiles, while analysts said the worst of a sell-off that in the beleaguered commodity has likely passed.

From mid-2014 crude plunged more than 70 percent to near 13-year lows at the start of the year owing to a supply glut, overproduction, weak demand and a slowdown in the global economy. But while talks between producer majors to address the crisis collapsed on April 17, signs of a pick-up in China's economy and a strong US recovery have helped prices rise to year-to-date highs.

Traders will be keenly watching the release of an energy department report on US supplies later Wednesday. On Tuesday the American Petroleum Institute reported a surprise drop in stockpiles, according to Bloomberg News.

12:55 pm Axis Bank: Axis Bank has prepared a "watch list" of about Rs 22,000 crore worth of loans, or 4 percent of its total assets, out of which 60 percent might go bad in the next couple of quarters, said V Srinivasan, Deputy MD of Axis Bank to CNBC-TV18. Srinivasan added that the bank has assessed the status of the corporates, their current payment track record, their fundamentals, and the probability of the slippages, before taking a call on making the watch list. No more names will be added to the watch list. The bank will keep updating the investors on a quarterly basis, said Srinivasan.

12:30 pm Interview: Syngene International had delivered good business, said Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairman & MD, Biocon. Syngene is Biocon's research services subsidiary. The contract research and manufacturing organisation has invested robustly in some of its anchor client businesses. Its clinical business has also begun to gain traction, she added. Earlier in March, Japan had agreed to market and sell Biocon's biosimilar insulin Glargine from the first half of FY17. Shaw said this move will help it foray into large emerging markets like South Africa, Brazil, Russia and Turkey.

The market is very volatile as the Sensex is up 31 points or 0.1 percent at 26038.30. The Nifty is up 8.50 points or 0.1 percent at 7971.15. About 1264 shares have advanced, 952 shares declined, and 146 shares are unchanged.

ONGC, Bharti Airtel, Adani Ports, Wipro and HDFC Bank are top gainers while Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI, HDFC and Lupin are losers in the Sensex.

Gold prices rose by Rs 100 to Rs 29,503 per 10 grams in futures trade today as speculators widened positions taking positive cues from global markets. At the Multi Commodity Exchange, gold for delivery in far-month August was up by Rs 100, or 0.34 percent to Rs 29,503 per 10 grams in a business turnover of 58 lots. The metal for delivery in June also moved up by Rs 86 or 0.29 percent to Rs 29,288 per 10 grams in a turnover of 1,302 lots.

Market analysts said rise in the precious metal in global markets mainly influenced gold prices at the futures trade here. Globally, gold gained 0.08 percent to USD 1,244.30 an ounce in Singapore today.

11:55 am Interview: Last year Baba Ramdev's Patanjali signed up with Kishore Biyani's Future Group to make its products available in Big Bazaar outlets in the country. Since then Biyani, the man who has come to signify Khareedo Bejo, has been upbeat about the tie-up.

Patanjali has had a good beginning, he admits, adding that it has kept itself busy with new product launches like energy bars. Patanjali isn't gaining new market share so much as creating a niche for itself, believes Biyani. Three product categories of Patanjal's -- toothpaste, hair oil and ghee -- are doing well, and Biyani, for the time being, will focus on these.

The first two weeks of April have been good for the retail space, but Biyani has no guarantees to give about what it would look like in future, given the volatility of the market.

11:30 am Result: YES Bank has posted better-than-expected net profit at Rs 702.1 crore in January-March quarter, up 27.4 percent from Rs 550.1 crore in corresponding quarter last fiscal. It net interest income (NII) grew 27.1 percent at Rs 1241.4 crore in Q4 against Rs 977.1 crore in year ago period. According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, YES Bank was expected to report net profit at Rs 689 crore, up 25 percent (YoY) and NII was seen up 24.2 percent at Rs 1214 crore in Q4FY16. However, the private lender's asset quality and provisions weakened in the quarter. During the period, gross non-performing assets (GNPA) increased 34.1 percent to Rs 749 crore from Rs 558.57 crore while net NPA (NNPA) jumped 52 percent to Rs 284.5 crore versus Rs 187.2 crore on sequential basis. In a percentage terms, GNPA was at 0.76 percent versus 0.66 percent while NNPA was at 0.29 percent versus 0.22 percent (QoQ).

The market is consolidating after the Nifty hit fresh 2016 high. The 50-share index is up 3.45 points at 7966.10. The Sensex is down 6.04 points at 26001.26.About 1164 shares have advanced, 850 shares declined, and 131 shares are unchanged.

ONGC, Bharti Airtel, Wipro, ITC and Adani Ports are top gainers in the Sensex. Among losers are Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Lupin, SBI and Hindalco.

The government's 11.36 percent stake sale in electricity generator NHPC on bourses took off today, with it slipping 6.72 percent in line with the broader market trend and going below the floor price. The floor price of Rs 21.75 for the offer for sale (OFS) was at a discount of 5.64 percent over yesterday's closing price of Rs 23.05 on BSE. H

The OFS is open to institutional investors today and bidding will continue till 1530 hours. The government is selling over 100.61 crore shares in NHPC to institutional investors at the floor price of Rs 21.75 today. The remaining over 25.15 crore shares will be sold to retail investors tomorrow.

10:50 am Buzzing: The government's 11.36 percent stake sale in electricity generator NHPC on bourses took off on Wednesday, with the scrip slipping 6.72 percent in line with the broader market trend and going below the floor price.

The floor price of Rs 21.75 for the offer for sale (OFS) was at a discount of 5.64 percent over yesterday's closing price of Rs 23.05 on BSE.

However, in morning trade, the scrip lost Rs 1.55 a share, or 6.72 per cent, to a low of Rs 21.50. The OFS is open to institutional investors today and bidding will continue till 1530 hours.

10:30 am  Market outlook: Consumption and fast-moving goods companies (FMCG) are expected to do well despite headline consumption numbers which are yet to pick up, says Dipen Sheth, Head-Institutional Research at HDFC Securities. Anticipation trade is likely to pick up in consumption companies. Sheth likes Dabur in this category, which has a great rural-urban mix. Small and medium enterprises (SME), which see steady business, will continue to hold up, he says. Retail is expected to keep up the performance, too.

The Nifty has hit fresh high of 2016 as the 50-share index is up 18.60 points or 0.2 percent at 7981.25.  The Sensex is up 41.62 points or 0.2 percent at 26048.92
About 1110 shares have advanced, 540 shares declined, and 95 shares are unchanged.

ONGC, Tata Motors, Matuti, ITC and Hero are top gainers while Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI, Lupin and HDFC are losers in the Sensex.

Meanwhlie, broking firm CLSA firms feels Indian equities are expensive at 16.1 times forward earnings and this is likely to cap market returns hereon.

CLSA says improvement in corporate earnings could be a positive trigger, but could take a while to play out.

''Base-effect driven YoY (year-on-year) earnings growth improvement is likely from the September quarter and should sustain through to Mar-17; but this positive trigger is unlikely to play out before Oct/Nov,'' the CLSA note says.

Rupee is weakened by 6 paise to 66.58 against the dollar in early trade largely due to month-end demand for the US currency from importers. The month-end demand from banks and importers and a lower opening of the domestic equity market mainly weighed on the rupee, forex dealers said.

 A weakness in the US dollar against some currencies in the global market hit by weaker-than-expected durable goods orders data, however, limited the fall, they added.

9:45 am Macro economy: Implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and bridging large infrastructure deficit are a difficult task before the Indian government, Moody's Investors Service said today.

In a report, Moody's said a history of double-digit inflation, elevated government debt, weak infrastructure and a complex regulatory regime have constrained India's credit profile.

"We also expect that some aspects of the government's policy agenda -- such as the implementation of GST and bridging India's large infrastructure deficit will still face an uphill climb," it said.

9:33am Result poll: Bharti Airtel is likely to see a growth of 13.3 percent in its January-March quarter net profit at Rs 1265 crore from Rs 1116.9 crore inlast quarter. According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, its revenue may marginally rise 3 percent at Rs 24776 crore compared to Rs 24065.9 crore on sequential basis. During the period, EBITDA may stand at Rs 8640 crore against Rs 8474.8 crore quarter-on-quarter. In percentage terms, EBITDA may come in at 34.9 percent against 35.2 percent QoQ.

The market has opened lower as the Sensex is down 86.39 points or 0.3 percent at 25920.91. The Nifty is down 20.95 points or 0.3 percent at 7941.70. About 279 shares have advanced, 121 shares declined, and 31 shares are unchanged.

Bharti Airtel, ONGC, Adani Ports, Coal India and BHEL are top gainers while Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, M&M, Maruti and Dr Reddy's Labs are losers in the Sensex.

The Indian rupee has opened at 66.52 per dollar, up 0.04 percent or 0.02 on Wednesday.

Bansi Madhavani of India Ratings says outcome of key central bank meetings, both BoJ and Fed, is expected to keep the balance of risk in favour of EM currencies. She says, with dollar continuing to note headwinds, rupee may benefit in the near term on account of 'risk-on' sentiment. in the near term. She is eyeing a range of 66.20-66.85 per dollar on the rupee.

Asia markets were mixed in early trade, ahead of key central bank decisions from the US Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand in the next 48 hours.

Oil prices extended gains during Asian hours, after advancing overnight following reports of a drop in US crude inventories.

Global benchmark Brent crude futures were up 1.14 percent at USD 46.26 a barrel in early Asian trade, while US crude futures added 1.20 percent to USD 44.57.

The lack of uncertainty about Wednesday's statement after a two-day meeting of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee also led traders on Wall Street to hold stocks near their highest levels of the year.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 13.08 points, or 0.07 percent, to 17,990.32, the S&P 500 gained 3.91 points, or 0.19 percent, to 2,091.7 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 7.48 points, or 0.15 percent, to 4,888.31.