Sensex ends over 300 points higher, Nifty ends around 10,100; metals gain

3:30 pm Market at Close: Benchmark indices ended the session on a very strong note, possibly on the back of short covering among investors.

The Sensex closed up 348.23 points at 32182.22, while the Nifty ended higher by 113.70 points at 10098.50. The market breadth was positive as 1,697 shares advanced against a decline of 973 shares, while 121 shares were unchanged.

Reliance, Sun Pharma, Hindalco and Bharti Infratel gained the most on both indices, while Bharti Airtel, Infosys and UltraTech Cement were the top losers.

3:00 pm Market Check: Equity benchmark indices posted strong gains in the final hour of trade as the Sensex gained over 300 points, while the Nifty inched closer to 10,100.

The Sensex was up 326.27 points at 32160.26, while the Nifty was up 100.50 points at 10085.30. The market breadth was positive as 1,629 shares advanced against a decline of 914 shares, while 117 shares were unchanged.

Reliance, Sun Pharma, Hindalco and Bharti Infratel were the top gainers, while Bharti Airtel and Infosys were the top losers.

2:42 pm Buzzing stock: Lupin gained around 2 percent intraday on Thursday as investors cheered its acquisition move. Multiple brokerages too gave their thumbs up to the buyout.

The company agreed to buy US-based Symbiomix Therapeutics for USD 150 million, said it expects "significant" cash flows from the deal in the next three years.

The acquisition gives Lupin control over Symbiomix's lead product, Solosec oral granules, for the treatment of bacterial vaginosis in adult women. In September this year, the USFDA approved the drug for marketing with 10 year exclusivity.

2:31 pm Market Check: Equity benchmarks extended their gains from the morning session, with the Sensex gaining over 200 points, while the Nifty traded above 10,050.

The Sensex was up 218.68 points at 32052.67, while the Nifty was up 70.85 points at 10055.65. The market breadth was positive as 1,588 shares advanced against a decline of 945 shares, while 101 shares were unchanged.

Sun Pharma, Reliance, Hindalco and Bharti Infratel were the top gainers, while Bharti Airtel and Infosys were the top losers.

2:15 pm Results: Private sector lender IndusInd Bank reported 25 percent year on year (YoY) increase in its September quarter net profit at Rs 880.1 crore against Rs 704.3 crore during the same quarter last year.

The net interest income, difference between interest earned and interest appended, came in at Rs 1,821 crore, a jump of 24.7 percent from Rs 1,460.3 crore year on year.

On the asset quality front, the net NPA came in at Rs 537 crore against Rs 508.3 crore in the previous quarter, while its gross NPAs have also posted some increase to Rs 1,345.3 crore against Rs 1,271.7 crore in the previous quarter.

1:55 pm Forensic audit: The country's market regulator will conduct a forensic audit on all brokers who logged in first to an alternate server of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on multiple occasions, a source close to the development told Moneycontrol.

"SEBI is conducting a forensic audit on brokers have done the maximum number of early logins on the server," the source said, adding "multiple first-time logins raises the possibility of collusion between NSE officials and brokers, which needs to be checked by the forensic auditor."

NSE has issued a show cause in this regard to 13 brokers. However, report by Deloitte, which was asked to conduct a forensic audit of brokers in the case, shows that of the 42 brokers who were involved in the co-location case, 22 had logged in early on the NSE servers repeatedly between 2012 and 2015.

1:33 pm Real estate under GST: The issue of bringing real estate under the GST's ambit will be discussed next month, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today, as he acknowledged that it is the one sector where maximum amount of tax evasion and cash generation takes place.

The matter will be discussed in the next meeting of the GST Council to be held on November 9 in Guwahati, Jaitley said while delivering the 'Annual Mahindra Lecture' on India's tax reforms at the prestigious Harvard University.

"The one sector in India where maximum amount of tax evasion and cash generation takes place and which is still outside the GST is real estate. Some of the states have been pressing for it. I personally believe that there is a strong case to bring real estate into the GST," Jaitley said.

1:15 pm Buzzing Stock: Zydus Cadila has received final approval from the USFDA to market Desvenlafaxine extended-release tablets, 50 mg and 100 mg.

At 13:15 hrs Cadila Healthcare was quoting at Rs 497.45, up Rs 6.10, or 1.24 percent.

The share touched its 52-week high Rs 558.00 and 52-week low Rs 342.00 on 12 June, 2017 and 26 December, 2016, respectively.

Currently, it is trading 10.85 percent below its 52-week high and 45.45 percent above its 52-week low.

12:43 pm Europe trade: European bourses opened slightly higher, with investors awaiting data and monitoring speeches from central bankers at the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) annual meeting in Washington D.C.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was 0.06 percent higher with most sectors moving in positive territory.

12:19 pm IPO subscription: The initial public offering of General Insurance Corporation of India has been subscribed 81 percent so far on the second day.

The Rs 11,372-crore IPO received bids for 10.13 crore equity shares against issue size of 12.47 crore shares, as per data available on exchange.

12:03 pm IPO: Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management has fixed the price band at Rs 247-252 per share for its upcoming initial public offering that is scheduled to open for subscription on October 25.

The company is expected to raise Rs 1,511.64-1,542.24 crore through the issue that will close on October 27.

11:50 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks remained higher in late morning trade as the Sensex was up 137.28 points at 31,971.27 ahead of September CPI inflation and August industrial output data due later today.

The Nifty is inching towards 10,050 level, up 47.15 points at 10,031.95. About two shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE.

11:40 am Assembly polls: The Election Commission is set to announce elections to the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assemblies this evening.

The poll panel has convened a press conference this evening to announce the poll schedule.

While the term of the 182-member Gujarat Assembly ends on January 22, the term of the 68-member HP Assembly ends on January 7.

11:37 am Buzzing: Chennai Petroleum Corporation fell nearly 4 percent after CNBC-TV18 reports quoting Cogencis said Indian Oil Corporation dropped its plan to merge the company with itself.

11:29 am Inflation & IIP estimates: India's retail inflation edged up in September, driven by higher salaries of government employees as well as the impact of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), a Reuters poll found, a development that would make further monetary policy easing unlikely.

Consumer inflation is forecast to have risen to 3.60 percent in September from a year ago, above August's 3.36 percent, the poll of 36 economists showed.

The data is due to be released on October 12 at 17:30 hours IST. If the September number matches the poll consensus, inflation would be the highest in six months - yet still below the Reserve Bank of India's mid-term target of 4 percent.

Wholesale prices are forecast to have risen 3.41 percent in September from a year ago versus 3.24 percent in August, the latest poll found.

It also predicted industrial production rose 2.4 percent in August, up from July's 1.2 percent growth.

11:15 am Arun Jaitley on economic growth: An upward trajectory is being projected for growth from the current quarter and as far as growth figures are concerned in the next few year it will keep on improving, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told CNBC-TV18.

In the context of the recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) projections and growth challenges going ahead for the Indian economy, Jaitley said, "In the larger management of an economy, you don't look at one quarter, you look at the pattern across a period".

Jaitley, who is on a week-long visit of the United States, said the economy is doing reasonably well, we can do much better. Important structural changes can have a transient impact, which they have had but all indications are that things are improving and will improve, he added.

He explained that after implementing GST, a major transformational change, you review the market situation day to day and make the required changes.

10:59 am Rupee trade: The rupee traded flat at 65.13 against the dollar due to mild demand for the greenback from importers and banks despite the latter's weakness overseas.

The US Fed minutes signalled rate hike eventuality despite low inflation levels.

"Higher local equities is restricting the rupee volatility," a forex trader said.

Meanwhile, FPIs withdrew Rs 107.95 crore on a net basis from stock markets yesterday, as per provisional data.

10:52 am Buzzing: LIC Housing Finance has filed insolvency plea against DB Realty in National Company Law Tribunal, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting Cogencis.

DB Realty share price plunged 6 percent post this news.

10:42 am Real estate sector under GST?: Identifying real estate as the one sector where maximum amount of tax evasion takes place, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said there was a strong case to bring it under the ambit of the GST.

The matter will be discussed in the next meeting of the GST, which will be held on November 9, in Guwahati, Jaitley said, while delivering a lecture at Harvard University.

"The one sector in India where maximum amount of tax evasion and cash generation takes place and which is still outside the GST is real estate. Some of the states have been pressing for it. I personally believe that there is a strong case to bring real estate into the GST," Jaitley said, while delivering the 'Annual Mahindra Lecture' on India's tax reforms.

10:26 am Macro data: Building up of positions by participants ahead of key economic data -- industrial production (IIP) for August and consumer inflation for September to be released after market closing today -- drove up domestic bourses.

10:15 am Coal linkages: Share priced of Prakash Industries rose 5.6 percent in morning as it has secured additional coal linkages of 2.10 lakh tonnes per annum for the next 5 years.

The company is going to sign fuel supply agreement (FSA) in the coming weeks and supply will commence from November 2017.

The company's coal requirement had increased with commissioning of 5the sponge iron kiln in April 2017.

With this additional quantity, the company has fulfilled its 100 percent requirement for the sponge iron plants from linkages, which was earlier being met through spot auctions; thereby saving over 20 percent in coal costs.

10:04 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks maintained opening gains, backed by Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, metals and infra stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 79.35 points at 31,913.34 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 31.40 points to 10,016.20.

The BSE Midcap index was up 0.4 percent and Smallcap gained 0.7 percent on positive market breadth. About 1,361 shares advanced against 528 declining shares on the BSE.

9:59 am Order win: Share price of Zen Technologies surged 12 percent in morning on the back of export order win worth Rs 64 crore.

"It has signed the biggest export order till date of about Rs 64 crore," company said in release.

The contract is for live and virtual combat training systems against tough international competition.

This order is expected to be executed in the first half of next financial year 2018-19.

9:53 am Market Outlook: "We've been continuously mentioning that the recent bounce lacks conviction and underperformance of banking pack is also hurting the sentiment. Volatility tends to remain high during the earnings season and any escalation in geo-political tension will further worsen the situation," Jayant Manglik, President, Retail Distribution and Religare Securities said.

Put together, traders should prepare themselves for eventful week ahead, he advised.

9:45 am Acquisition: Shares of Precision Camshafts added 4 percent in morning as it has acquired Nashik-based company.

The company in its board meeting held on October 10, has considered and approved the acquisition of MEMCO Engineering.

The company has acquired 95 percent in MEMCO Engineering for an undisclosed sum.

The procedural acquisition formalities will be completed immediately from the date of execution of necessary agreements.

9:40 am Earnings Estimates: Tata Consultancy Services, the country's largest software services provider, will announce its July-September quarter earnings today after market hours.

Profit after tax for the quarter is expected to increase 4 percent sequentially to Rs 6,183 crore and revenue may grow 2.6 percent to Rs 30,356 crore, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

Revenues in dollar terms are likely to register a 3 percent at USD 4,731 million in the quarter ended September 2017, compared with USD 4,591 million in previous quarter.

9:30 am IPO subscription: The initial public offer of Indian Energy Exchange elicited good response from investors, with the issue getting oversubscribed 2.23 times on the last day of bidding yesterday.

Through the IPO, also the first by a power exchange in the country, the company aims to raise up to Rs 1,001 crore.

On the final day, the offer received total bids for 11,776,518 shares against 52,75,889 shares on offer.

9:25 am Fundraising: The country's second-largest lender ICICI Bank is planning to raise USD 150 million in offshore borrowing this fiscal.

The bank said that the committee of executive directors, in a meeting held yesterday approved the offshore borrowing plan for 2017-18.

"The bank, under its GMTN (global medium-term note) programme, acting through its DIFC (Dubai) branch, tapped its existing 3.25 percent fixed rate notes maturing September 2022 for an amount of USD 150 million on private placement basis," ICICI Bank said in a regulatory filing

9:20 am Buzzing: Share price of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries rose 4 percent in the early trade as it has received an establishment inspection report (EIR) from USFDA for its Dadra formulation facility.

EIR indicates closure of plant inspection by the US regulatory agency.

"We have received a communication from the USFDA releasing a copy of the establishment inspection report (EIR) in respect of the above inspection based upon our responses to the said observation letter," said company.

USFDA had inspected the plant in April 2017 as regulatory authority issued Form-483.

9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks opened mildly higher on Thursday, seeing a rebound after yesterday's sell-off.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 60.51 points at 31,894.50 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 29 points at 10,013.80. About three shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE.

Bharti Infratel, GAIL, Sun Pharma, Vedanta, Reliance Industries, L&T, Hindalco Industries, IOC, BPCL, Lupin, TCS and HPCL were early gainers while Coal India, Bharti Airtel, Cipla, ICICI Bank and Asian Paints were losers.

The broader markets outperformed benchmarks in opening. Nifty Midcap was up 0.6 percent or 100 points.

Indiabulls Real Estate, MMTC, State Trading Corporation, Majesco, GM Breweries, FACT, LT Foods and Kaveri Seeds gained 2-10 percent while Lakshmi Vilas Bank lost 5 percent post higher slippages in Q2.