Sensex erases all gains, Nifty ends below 9800; midcaps, auto gains

3:30 pm Market at Close: After witnessing a strong pullback in the opening tick and in the hours to follow, benchmark indices erased all of the gains in the final hour of trade on Friday. Sensex and Nifty ended almost on a flat note.

The Sensex closed up 1.24 points at 31283.72, while the Nifty was up 19.65 points at 9788.60. The market breadth was positive as 1611 shares advanced against a decline of 899 shares, while 172 shares were unchanged.

Midcaps had a strong day of trade, while barring IT and FMCG, all sectoral indices ended flat to positive.

Bajaj Auto, Adani Ports, GAIL and Eicher Motors gained the most on both indices, while HUL and Wipro were the top losers.

3:21 pm Contract win: Realty firm Godrej Properties today said it has entered into a joint venture agreement with Royale Builders and Developers to develop a 13-acre group housing project in north Bengaluru.

The company, which is the real estate arm of the Godrej group, plans to develop a group housing project of about 1.34 million sq ft.

Property consultant JLL India facilitated the JV between the two companies.

This will be Godrej's 15th project in Bengaluru.

3:18 pm Capex: Indraprastha Gas will invest Rs 600 crore this fiscal to expand operations, including starting CNG and piped cooking gas retailing in three cities of Haryana.

IGL, the sole supplier of CNG to automobiles and piped natural gas (PNG) to households in the national capital and adjoining cities of Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad, is "all set to expand its footprints in Haryana through setting up city gas distribution (CGD) networks", a company statement said.

The firm won CGD licence for Karnal district in Haryana recently, IGL Chairman S Ramesh told shareholders during his AGM speech, according to the statement.

The company has already started supply of gas in Rewari and secured permission from the Haryana government to lay down the CGD network in parts of Gurugram, formerly known as Gurgaon.

"IGL has drawn out plans to expand its area of operations by investing Rs 600 crore in 2017-18," he said.

3:14 pm Management interview: Mahanagar Gas is one of India's largest players in the city gas distribution business and sole authorised distributor of compressed natural gas in Mumbai area.

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board talking about unified gas tariffs for the country as a whole is a welcome step because it is going to allow excess of gas from anywhere in the country or abroad to customers at unified tariffs, Rajeev Mathur, MD, Mahanagar Gas said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

"We will have opportunity of sourcing gas from different sources which are far away at prices which are moderate in terms of tariffs," he said.

3:08 pm Market Check: Equity benchmarks erased gains in last hour of trade, with the Nifty slipping below 9,800 level on profit booking ahead of long weekend.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 10.82 points at 31293.30 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 20.35 points to 9,789.30.

The broader markets also came off day's high. The BSE Midcap index was up 0.7 percent. About two shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE.

3:01 pm IPO: Finance ministry is likely to have given nod for National Insurance's IPO, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting unnamed sources.

National Insurance has filed draft red herring prospectus with insurance regulator IRDA for IPO.

The insurance company expects IRDA in-principle approval by December 2017 and listing by Q1FY18, sources said.

CNBC-TV18 is learnt that National Insurance is seeking to dilute between 12-15 percent via IPO. It is expected to raise Rs 4,500-5,000 crore via IPO.

2:51 pm Buzzing: Kotak Securities has maintained buy rating on ICICI Bank, the country's largest private sector lender, with a price target of Rs 370. The stock was up half a percent.

"It is our top idea," the research house said, adding ICICI Bank continued to make better-than-expected progress in retail space.

Despite near term concerns of RERA, retail mortgages will remain the bedrock of retail assets, it feels.

In auto loans growth opportunity is healthy, but profitability is a challenge, Kotak said.

2:40 pm Resignation: Realty firm Unitech today said its independent director Ghanshyam Roopchand Ambwani has resigned due to old age and health concerns.

In a BSE filing, Unitech said Ambwani, in yesterday's board meeting "tendered his resignation from the office of directors of the company...showing his inability to continue on the board of directors due to his old age and health concerns."

The board has accepted his resignation with immediate effect, the filing said.

2:30 pm Buzzing Stock: PNB Housing Finance share price rallied 3 percent intraday Friday after Motilal Oswal has initiated coverage with a buy rating on the stock on best asset quality.

The research house said the stock has a potential upside of 19 percent at Rs 1,675 per share as it feels the housing finance company's asset quality has been one of the best among peers. Motilal Oswal believes PNB Housing Finance is at an inflection point.

2:20 pm Market Check: Strength in the market continued from the morning session, with the Nifty inching towards 9850-mark.

The Sensex was up 211.31 points at 31493.79, while the Nifty up 77.75 points at 9846.70. The market breadth was positive as 1758 shares advanced against a decline of 611 shares, while 130 shares were unchanged.

1:52 pm Listing: SBI Life Insurance Company, which recently completed its initial share sale offer, will make its stock market debut on Tuesday.

The initial public offer (IPO) of Rs 8,400 crore was oversubscribed 3.58 times on September 20-22.

The portion meant for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) was oversubscribed 12.56 times while that of non-institutional investors received 70 per cent subscriptions and retail investors 85 per cent, data available with the NSE showed.

SBI Life is a joint venture between India's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) and BNP Paribas Cardif (BNPPC), the insurance holding company of France.

1:40 pm Buzzing: PNB Housing Finance share price rallied 3 percent intraday after Motilal Oswal has initiated coverage with a buy rating on the stock on best asset quality.

The research house said the stock has a potential upside of 19 percent at Rs 1,675 per share as it feels the housing finance company's asset quality has been one of the best among peers.

1:30 pm Market Check: Benchmark indices rallied further in afternoon, driven by hope that fiscal deficit may not increase from its FY18 targeted level of 3.2 percent after the government stuck to its budgeted market borrowing for the fiscal year.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 207.68 points or 0.66 percent at 31,490.16 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 71.95 points or 0.74 percent at 9,840.90.

About 1,725 shares advanced against 573 declining shares on the BSE.

1:15 pm IPO: Renewable energy firm ACME Solar Holdings has filed preliminary papers with Sebi to raise Rs 2,200 crore through an initial public offering, according to draft papers filed with the markets regulator.

Funds raised through the issue would be used to pay debt and to finance the company's 200 MW solar power project in Rajasthan and for other general corporate purposes.

Besides, the company is considering a pre-IPO placement of up to 52,22,079 equity shares to certain investors for up to Rs 500 crore.

ACME Solar, a leading solar power producer in the country, has a portfolio of operational and under-construction projects with a capacity of 2,351 MW peak or 1,814 MW.

1:05 pm USFDA approval: Zydus Cadila has received the final approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to market Doxycycline tablets USP in strengths of 50 mg, 75 mg, 100 mg and 150 mg.

The drug is a tetracycline antibiotic that fights bacteria in the body and is used to treat many different bacterial infections, such as acne, urinary tract infections, intestinal infections, eye infections, gonorrhea, chlamydia, periodontitis (gum disease) and others.

It will be manufactured at group's formulations manufacturing facility at Pharma SEZ, Ahmedabad.

12:55 pm Market Outlook: Jyotivardhan Jaipuria, Founder & MD, Veda Investment Managers said the fall we have seen so far has been a minor blip.

The market will see some more time & price correction, he feels.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, he said most bull markets saw 5-10 percent corrections and recent correction might end up being in the 7-8 percent range.

The market corrected more than 4 percent from its highs recently, followed by recovery for the second consecutive session today.

He expects a time wise consolidation once this fall ends.

He feels the risk reward is favourable in the rural space. Jaipuria likes capital goods space and pipe companies in particular. Tractor & agro chemical space also looks good, he said.

12:45 pm Nifty rejig: Bajaj Finance, HPCL and UPL rallied 1-3.5 percent after added them in Nifty50 today.

The National Stock Exchange excluded Tata Power, ACC, Bank of Baroda, Tata Motors DVR from its Nifty50 index.

12:39 pm Europe trade: European stocks opened higher as investors focus on data releases and monitor US plans to overhaul the tax system.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was 0.05 percent higher with most sectors trading in the black.

The tax plans presented this week by US President Donald Trump have supported some sectors across the globe, but the administration is set for a long battle.

12:31 pm Market Check: Equity benchmarks extended gains in afternoon, with the Sensex rising 188.50 points to 31,470.98, aided by HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank that gained 1-1.5 percent.

The 50-share NSE Nifty was up 63.55 points at 9,832.50 while the Nifty Midcap gained 1.2 percent and Smallcap rose 1.8 percent.

About three shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE.

12:10 pm Economic Growth: Reforms over the past year have created disruption in India's GDP numbers, but the medium term potential looks bullish, and considering the growth trend, it could become the world's third-largest economy in the next decade, says an HSBC report.

According to the global financial services major, although reforms over the past year have caused disruptions that will likely mean lower growth rates in the near term, they should allow India to unleash more of its undoubted potential over the medium term.

"Although just 3 percent of global GDP today, India's trend growth should see it overtake Japan and Germany to become the world's third-largest economy within the next decade," HSBC said in a research note.

In line with this narrative, HSBC expects growth to slow from 7.1 percent last year to 6.5 percent over 2017-18 and 7 per cent in 2018-19, before moving higher to 7.6 percent in

2019-20.

11:58 am Buzzing: National Aluminium Company (NALCO) share price rallied 5 percent intraday on continued spike in alumina prices.

As per company's latest alumina shipment that supplied at a price of USD 439 per tonne, more than 35 percent increase compared the shipment price of USD 320 per tonne in Q1FY18.

The spike in alumina prices is largely due to supply concerns in China.

On September 8, NALCO management told CNBC-TV18 that alumina prices had moved to USD 390 per tonne from USD 330 per tonne in last month. He had expected alumina prices to continue to trade in range of USD 350-400 per tonne.

11:44 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks remained strong in late morning trade as the Sensex was up 147.40 points at 31429.88, backed by banks, auto, metals and select pharma stocks.

The 50-share NSE Nifty continued to hold 9,800 level, up 49.15 points at 9,818.10.

The broader markets gained more than benchmarks, up over a percent on strong breadth. About three shares advanced against 534 declining shares on the BSE.

However, FMCG and Technology indices were under pressure.

11:31 am Year-end dash in Asia share sales seen reversing 2017 slowdown: Asia ex-Japan share sales are expected to rebound in the final quarter of 2017, led by tech-related IPOs in Hong Kong and insurance listings in India, helping the region's equity capital markets shrug off a dismal nine months and draw level with last year.

Banks and securities firms will also take comfort from the fact that while deal volumes slumped in the region, they earned 24 percent more in fees on them, pocketing USD 4.4 billion, according to Thomson Reuters estimates. That suggests they are working on more profitable deals or on those with higher margins.

Equity deals in the region dropped 13.9 percent this year through the end of September, led by a slump in the sale of existing shares that more than offset big gains in IPOs in mainland China exchanges and in India, Thomson Reuters data showed.

11:21 am Partnership deal: Huawei Telecommunications India announced that it has partnered with Bharti Airtel for the deployment of Airtel's Massive MIMO in Bangalore.

An integral component in India's roadmap to 5G deployment, Massive MIMO solution can potentially increase spectrum efficiency by five to seven times, enhancing intensive coverage and user experience, the company said.

As India goes digital, there is an unprecedented rise in demand for higher network speeds to feed data-hungry mobile applications. Massive MIMO is the best technology to boost spectrum efficiency and is one of the key solutions for Huawei's 4.5G/5G evolution.

Increasingly, more mobile phone users are transitioning from 3G to 4G devices, presenting a capacity challenge to operators. Massive MIMO can help operators greatly enhance wireless network capacity and user experience by optimizing existing sites and spectrum resources.

11:09 am Buzzing: LEEL Electricals share price rallied more than 7 percent intraday after ace investor's fund management company increased its stake in the company.

Equity Intelligence bought 0.4 percent stake in the company as per company's latest disclosures.

With this, the total shareholding of Equity Intelligence in the company increased to 5.4 percent.

Porinju Veliyath is the founder & CEO of Equity Intelligence Private Limited.

10:59 am Rupee trade: The rupee advanced 9 paise to 65.40 against the dollar, broadly in line with domestic stocks taking on some muscle with a bright start.

The American currency found no favour with exporters and banks, which intensified their selling.

But the dollar's increasing lure globally after US Fed Chair Janet Yellen's speech alluding to rate hike and US President Donald Trump's unveiling of tax overhaul plan had a sobering effect on the rupee, traders said.

A positive start for domestic stock markets lent support to the rupee, they added.

10:51 am Oil prices mixed: Oil prices were mixed, but both Brent and US crude were set to chalk up another weekly gain as investors bet that efforts to cut a global glut are working and that the demand outlook is improving.

US crude was down 0.16 percent at USD 51.48 a barrel, having spent much of the session slightly higher. The contract is heading for a fourth consecutively weekly gain and is on track for a 9 percent advance this month.

Brent rose 0.16 percent, to USD 57.50 a barrel, heading for a fifth weekly climb and a 10 percent gain for September.

10:40 am Buzzing: Tourism Finance Corporation of India share price rallied 9.4 percent intraday after a big block deal in early trade.

About 1.9 crore equity shares (representing nearly 24 percent of paid-up equity) traded on NSE & BSE at an average price of Rs 150 per share through block deals which were worth Rs 293 crore.

Sources told CNBC-TV18 that IFCI is likely to have sold 24 percent stake in Tourism Finance.

IFCI has to divest non-core assets as a part of its strategy, so this could be one of its non-core assets.

As per the latest shareholding details available on exchanges (as of June 2017), IFCI held 26.09 percent stake (2.1 crore equity shares) in the company.

10:30 am Technical Outlook: Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst, HDFC securities said the market has now placed at the key support of 9,700 and is in the process of bottom reversal.

According to him, the Nifty sustaining above the key support of 9700 level in the next couple of sessions could open up the possibility of upside bounce in the market, which could take Nifty towards upper 9,950-9,980 levels, in the next 1-2 weeks.

10:20 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks maintained opening gains on first day of October series, with the Nifty holding 9,800 level. Asian markets were mostly higher, which also supported.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 119.30 points at 31401.78 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 42.00 points at 9,810.95.

About four shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE.

Tourism Finance Corp of India was the most active stock on exchanges, up 8 percent after big block deal.

10:12 am Buyback: Shares of Lovable Lingerie advanced 14.6 percent intraday as it is going to consider buyback of shares.

The meeting of the board of directors of the company is scheduled to be held on October 06, to consider the proposal for buyback of equity shares of the company.

The trading window of the company will remain closed for trading by designated persons as per insider trading rules of the company from September 29, 2017 to October 12, 2017 (both days inclusive).

10:01 am Rate cut likely?: State Bank of India has cut the interest rate for one year deposits by 25 basis points (bps) for both general public and senior citizens.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Rajnish Kumar, Managing Director of State Bank of India said the bank had Rs 25 lakh crore of deposit and one year deposit would be Rs 3 lakh crore.

On lending front, he said bank's market share was around 21-21.5 percent, so to that extent the bank was able to protect market share.

He said segment of operations of non banking financial companies (NBFCs) are different from some public sector undertaking (PSU) banks.

He does not expect rate cut from Reserve Bank of India (RBI) because macroeconomic data is not favourable.

9:55 am Order win: Shares of MEP Infrastructure Developers added 6.3 percent intraday as it has won a contract for collection of toll at all entry points to Delhi.

The company has been awarded the letter of award by the office of the director local bodies (Toll Tax Department) to engage as the contractor for South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC).

The company will collect toll tax & environment compensation charge (ECC) at border points from specified commercial vehicles entering Delhi.

The commercial operations will commence from October 1, 2017 for a period of 5 years.

9:45 am Crude Outlook: Crude oil gained a little over 9 percent month to date.

"Investors have really gained confidence in oil, after the OPEC cuts that were originally discussed earlier in the year are starting to take shape here, and oil production is being curbed," Phil Streible, senior market strategist at RJO Futures, said Thursday on CNBC's "Trading Nation."

Further fueling the commodity's recent upside is the International Energy Agency having upped its demand outlook for the end of this year and into 2018, Streible said.

Due to this combination of production cuts and growing demand, oil could head up to its 2017 high, just above USD 55, or even USD 60 per barrel by year-end. A global supply glut has plagued the market for several years, and OPEC member countries and non-member producers have vowed to implement cuts to curb such oversupply.

9:35 am FM sees rise in GST collections: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections in the first two months have met the target and going forward the revenue will see further surge.

"We are now just finished second month. As a base year of 2015-16, we had to give two hikes of 14 percent each to the states, and for both the months (July and August), with some part of the compensation cess, we are well within that figure," he said at the release of a book titled 'India@70 Modi@3.5'.

Total GST collection for August touched Rs 90,669 crore (up to September 25, 2017), against Rs 94,063 crore mopped up in the first month of the new indirect tax regime rollout.

Of this, as much as Rs 14,402 crore has come in from the Central GST (CGST), Rs 21,067 crore from State GST (SGST), Rs 47,377 crore from Integrated GST (IGST) and Rs 7,823 crore from compensation cess levied on demerit and luxury goods. Of Rs 7,823 crore, Rs 547 crore is compensation cess from imports in August.

9:30 am Govt borrowing limit: The Centre yesterday kept the gross borrowing target for October-March unchanged at Rs 2.08 lakh crore but indicated that the government may raise more funds from the market if required.

The net borrowing during the second half of the financial year will continue to remain at Rs 1.92 lakh crore.

A major part of the borrowing will be done in the quarter ended December.

The gross borrowing for 2017-18 has pegged at Rs 5.8 lakh crore, with net borrowing aimed at Rs 4.25 lakh crore, after taking into account the redemption figures.

9:25 am Buzzing: Shares of Godrej Properties gained 1 percent in the early trade as it is going to develop a residential project in North Bengalore.

The company has entered into a joint venture with Royale Builders and Developers to develop a 13 acre land parcel on Bellary Road (NH-7) in North Bengalore.

The company is planning to develop a modern residential group housing project of approximately 1,25,000 square meters.

9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks started off October series on a positive note, with the Nifty reclaiming 9800 level.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 97.09 points at 31,379.57 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 39.30 points at 9,808.25.

GAIL surged 6 percent after Petroleum & Natural Gas Regulatory Board Of India has floated consultation paper w.r.t unified tariff for company's pipelines Rs 57 per mmbtu.

Bharti Airtel, HUL, NTPC and Tech Mahindra were mildly lower.

Nifty Midcap was up 0.7 percent.

Lovabale Lingerie rallied 13 percent ahead of board meeting to consider buyback of shares.

GSPL, Leel Electricals, Indiabulls Real, DHFL, IFCI, South Indian Bank, HCC and Vijaya Bank rallied 2-10 percent while Reliance Home Finance plunged 5 percent.

The Indian rupee gained in the early trade today. It has opened higher by 16 paise at 65.34 per dollar versus 65.50 Thursday.