Sensex, Nifty end at record closing high; banks push up indices

3:30 pm Market at Close: Benchmark indices ended the session on a strong note, with Nifty closing above 10400 first time ever.

The Sensex was up 387.14 points at 33600.27, while the Nifty was up 105.20 points at 10440.50. The market breadth was positive as 1515 shares advanced against a decline of 1274 shares, while 154 shares were unchanged.

Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, and SBI were the top gainers, while Dr Reddy's Labs, Sun Pharma, Eicher Motors and Bharti Infratel lost the most.

3:25 pm Order Win: NBCC gained over a percent as the company bagged order worth Rs 400 crore in Mumbai.

3:22 pm Earnings: Software firm Tech Mahindra's second quarter earnings beat analyst expectations on Wednesday as profit grew by 4.7 percent sequentially (up 29.7 percent year-on-year) to Rs 836 crore, backed by operational performance.

"With our DAVID (digitisation, automation, verticalisation, innovation and disruption) strategy at play, we have posted reasonably good growth in the quarter across revenue, profit and new business," C P Gurnani, CEO and MD, Tech Mahindra said.

Numbers were ahead of estimates as profit was expected at Rs 740 crore on revenue of Rs 7,551 crore and dollar revenue at USD 1,173 million for the quarter, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

3:16 pm Management Interview: PK Gupta, MD, State Bank of India said the bank cut deposit rate by 25 basis points in most of the buckets.

He said the an asset-liability committee (ALCO) had met last week and looked at all the interest rates and decided to cut some deposit rates. MCLR has also cut 5 bps this month.

When asked if this could mean cuts on the lending side, he said they will automatically get translated.

The 25 basis points cut will further translate in marginal cost-based lending rates (MCLR) advantage going forward, he said. The cut in MCLR is based on the composition of entire deposit fund base and so, the cut could be anywhere between 5-10 bps but the bank will take decision on that next month, he added.

He does not expect much impact on margins due to retail-term deposit rate cut. The lending rate currently stands at 7.95 percent.

3:10 pm Results: JSW Energy has reported profit at Rs 297.2 crore for July-September quarter against CNBC-TV18 poll estimates of Rs 213 crore.

Revenue grew by 0.1 percent year-on-year to Rs 2,049 crore while operating profit margin stood at 43.1 percent against CNBC-TV18 poll estimates of 42.8 percent.

Other income grew sharply to Rs 170.5 crore in September quarter 2017, compared with Rs 51.6 crore in same quarter last fiscal.

3:04 pm Earnings Estimates: Two-wheeler maker Hero Motocorp's second quarter (July-September) profit is seen rising 3 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,035 crore, driven by revenue growth.

Revenue during the quarter may increase 12 percent to Rs 8,717 crore compared with same quarter last fiscal, aided by sales volume growth of 11 percent.

According to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18, operating profit is expected to increase 6 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,444 crore but margin may contract by 100 basis points to 16.6 percent for quarter ended September 2017.

Margin may be impacted by higher commodity cost.

2:59 pm Reforms: The government is working with the World Bank to recognise over 200 reforms that will help propel India into the top-50 bracket in ease of doing business, according to Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) secretary Ramesh Abhishek.

"We have already implemented 122 reforms this year, and are working with World Bank to recognise these. We will further initiate 90 more ease of doing business reforms this year," Abhishek told reporters on the sidelines of the CII Invest North conclave.

India yesterday jumped 30 places to rank 100th in the World Bank's 'ease of doing business' ranking, helped by a slew of reforms in taxation, licensing, investor protection and bankruptcy resolution.

"A jump of 30 positions in the World Bank rankings is extremely commendable. Now the aim is to move into the top-50 countries bracket," he added.

2:53 pm Ethanol price: The government today marginally raised the price of sugarcane-extracted ethanol used for blending in petrol by a little less than Rs 2 per litre to Rs 40.85 from the supply year beginning December 1.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the revision in the price of ethanol paid by state-owned fuel retailers to Rs 40.85 per litre for sugar season 2017-18, an official statement said.

GST and transportation charges will also be payable additionally. The revised price will be applicable during ethanol supply period from December 1, 2017 to November 30, 2018.

2:43 pm Fund raising: Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services share price gained 2 percent intraday as promoter company is going to invest up to Rs 1,160 crore.

Parent company Mahindra and Mahindra inform exchanges that it has approved investment of an amount not exceeding Rs 1,160 crore, in one or more tranches in the aggregate, by way of subscribing to the preferential issue of equity shares of MMFSL.

Earlier Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services (MMFSL) intimated the stock exchanges that its board of directors had approved raising of funds by way of issue of equity shares/securities convertible in to equity shares by way of qualified institutional placement and issue of equity shares by way of preferential issue to the company.

2:37 pm Europe trade: European stocks edged higher, despite a terrorist attack in New York, as investors focused on earnings reports.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was 0.4 percent higher with almost all sectors trading in positive territory.

2:35 pm Buzzing: Shares of multiple portal operator, Info Edge, gained 6 percent intraday following the announcements of its quarterly results. Multiple brokerages also were positive on the stock's prospects.

Credit Suisse maintained an outperform rating on the stock with a hiked target of Rs 1,300. It highlighted that the company continues to be a dominant player in recruitment, which has attractive cash flow.

Its restaurant listings portal Zomato could continue to aggressively focus on growth, it added. The company also expects lower losses for 99 acres.

It increased earnings estimates by 2-8 percent for the three financial till March 2020, reflecting higher margins in recruitment, but sees ad costs to increase in 99 Acres.

2:30 pm Results: Shriram Transport share price hit a fresh 52-week high of Rs 1,211.50 on the BSE, rising nearly 4 percent post earnings.

Net profit increased 24 percent year-on-year to Rs 479.1 crore and revenue grew by 9.8 percent to Rs 2,978.9 crore in quarter ended September 2017.

2:25 pm Market Check: Equity benchmarks continued to trade strong in afternoon after the World Bank raised India ranking to 100th place from 130th place in ease of doing business and India's annual infrastructure output in September grew 5.2 percent from a year ago.

The 30-share BSE Sensex surged 400.08 points or 1.20 percent to 33,613.21 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 100.10 points or 0.97 percent at 10,435.40.

About 1,496 shares advanced against 1,113 declining shares on the BSE.

PSU Bank index rallied 3 percent and Nifty Bank index jumped nearly 2 percent.

IDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI, Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda and Yes Bank gained 1-8 percent.

2:22 pm Fundraising: Indian firms raised Rs 5.52 lakh crore in January-September 2017 through private placement of corporate bonds to meet business needs, a surge of 19 percent from year-ago period, according to a Prime Database report.

These funds have been raised mainly for expansion of business plans, repayment of debt and to support working capital requirements.

In debt private placements, firms issue securities or bonds to institutional investors to raise capital.

According to the report, a total of 569 institutions and corporates garnered Rs 5.52 lakh crore in the first nine months of the year. In comparison, firms had raised Rs 4.65 lakh crore in January-September 2016.

2:20 pm Auto sales: Home-grown auto major Tata Motors today reported a 5 percent increase in total sales at 48,886 units in October.

The company had sold 46,500 units in the same month last year, Tata Motors said in a statement.

Its domestic sales of commercial vehicles last month stood at 32,411 units as against 30,189 in October 2016, up 7 percent.

Sales of passenger vehicles in the domestic market grew by 1 percent year on year to 16,475 units last month.

On the exports front, Tata Motors said its overseas shipments last month were at 4,311 units, down 32 percent YoY.

2:15 pm Order Win: Premier Explosives share price gained nearly 5 percent on bagging order worth Rs 144.92 crore from Coal India.

2:10 pm Auto sales: Ashok Leyland's October sales disappointed Street on Wednesday, growing 3 percent year-on-year due to degrowth in medium and heavy commercial vehicle M&HCV) segment.

Country's second largest commercial vehicle maker sold 12,914 units in October 2017 against 12,534 units in same month last year.

According to CNBC-TV18 poll estimates, sales were estimated at 13,726 units for October month.

Ashok Leyland said M&HCV sales during the month declined 5 percent to 9,110 units while light commercial vehicle sales grew sharply by 29 percent to 3,804 units compared with corresponding month.

2:02 pm IDFC on Shankara Pro: Shankara Building Products gained around 4 percent intraday as IDFC Securities initiated outperform rating on the stock with a target of Rs 1,786.

The brokerage highlighted how the company successfully evolved into an integrated home improvement retailer and said that shift to organised retail will accelerate with implementation of GST.

The broking firm also said that the company is best positioned to tap the massive USD 70 billion home improvement.

It also expects revenue, EBITDA and net profit to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 11 percent, 17 percent and 29 percent over the three financial years till March 2020, while the margin could improve by 100 basis points by March 2020.

2:00 pm Buzzing: Government official told CNBC-TV18 that the cabinet has approved special banking arrangement to pay outstanding subsidy to fertiliser companies.

1:55 pm Earnings: TVS Motor's September quarter performance showed a steady growth in its net profit at Rs 213.2 crore, up 20.2 percent against Rs 177.4 crore during the same period last year. The number came in line with expectations of Rs 210 crore that was estimated by analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

The two-wheeler manufacturer's revenues grew 18.3 percent at Rs 4,052.4 crore against Rs 3,426.5 crore year on year.

On the operational front, the earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) came in at Rs 350.3 crore, up 26 percent against Rs 276.7 crore during the previous year. Meanwhile, the operating margin was reported at 8.6 percent against 8.1 percent year on year.

1:48 pm Subsidised LPG price hike: Oil marketing companies (IOC, BPCL and HPCL) has increased price of subsidised LPG by around Rs 4.56 per cylinder (with effect from November 01, 2017), which is in line with government strategy to eliminate LPG under-recoveries through monthly price hikes.

Sharekhan feels it is positive for upstream PSUs (ONGC and Oil India) as it removed the concern of subsidy burden given sharp rise in oil price to around USD 60 a barrel and neutral for oil marketing companies as they do not bear any subsidy on LPG.

1:38 pm Buzzing: Dredging Corporation share price hit 20 percent upper circuit after sources told CNBC-TV18 that the Cabinet has approved divesting entire stake in the company.

The Government of India holds 74.38 percent stake in Dredging Corporation.

1:25 pm Auto sales: Auto major Mahindra and Mahindra today reported 1.65 per cent decline in total sales at 51,149 units in October.

It had sold 52,008 units in the same month last year, M&M said in a statement.

In the domestic market, its sales grew marginally to 48,818 units last month compared to 48,729 in October 2016.

Exports declined by 28.91 per cent to 2,331 units in October against 3,279 units in the year-ago month.

1:00 pm Buzzing Stock: Shares of Syndicate Bank jumped over 14% after the lender reported a 27.68% jump in the July-September quarter profit. The state-owned bank had on Tuesday reported a 27.68% jump in the July-September quarter profit to Rs 105.24 crore on annual basis, notwithstanding the rise in bad loans.

The Manipal-headquartered bank had posted a profit of Rs 82.42 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal. Its total was income was Rs 6,419.21 in the second quarter of the current fiscal, down from Rs 6,574.93 crore in the comparable period of 2016-17.

Operating profit, however, increased to Rs 1,17,3.74 crore from Rs 1,016.54 crore in the year ago quarter.

12:42 pm Earnings: Godrej Consumer Products' second quarter earnings surpassed analysts' expectations on Wednesday as profit grew by 12.6 percent year-on-year to Rs 362 crore, driven by operational growth.

Revenue during the quarter increased 6.3 percent to Rs 2,506.6 crore compared with year-ago period, with domestic volume growth of 10 percent which was ahead of CNBC-TV18 poll estimates of 6-8 percent.

Domestic volume growth was 9 percent in second quarter of FY17 and zero percent in June quarter.

EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) grew by 13.8 percent year-on-year to Rs 531.8 croe and margin expanded 140 basis points to 21.2 percent for quarter ended September 2017.

12:25 pm IPO subscription: New India Assurance Company's Rs 9,600-crore IPO has been subscribed 90 percent on first day.

The reserved category of qualified institutional buyers has oversubscribed 1.8 times and retail 1 percent.

12:15 pm Fitch on RCom: The ratings on Reliance Communications and its subsidiary Global Cloud Xchange will be "unaffected" by the debt restructuring plan outlined by the company, according to Fitch Ratings.

Re-rating will happen after clarity on the execution of sale of its assets and the capital structure of the revamped entity, it added.

Earlier this week, billionaire Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications said lenders will convert part of their debt to equity to gain 51 percent control of the company.

The debt-laden firm, which plans to shut mobile telephony business by November-end, will sell telecom tower and real estate businesses to pay off Rs 27,000 crore out of Rs 45,000 crore of loan on its books.

Rcom said it has made a comprehensive "debt resolution plan to its domestic and foreign lenders".

12:05 pm Escorts falls 2%: Phillip Capital has downgraded Escorts share price to neutral with target price at Rs 800 per share post earnings.

"The stock would languish in near-term as it enters a phase of slower tractor growth," the research house said.

12:01 pm Buzzing: Shares of JSW Steel gained 3 percent as company's Q2 net profit increased by 29.2 percent at Rs 836 crore against Rs 647 crore in a same quarter last year.

Revenue rose 28.1 percent at Rs 16,638 crore versus Rs 12,987 crore.
The operating profit (EBITDA) was up 6.1 percent at Rs 2,856 crore, while EBITDA margin was down 300 bps at 17.2 percent.

11:53 am Capital Infusion: Financial services firm IIFL Holdings today said its board has decided to infuse Rs 150 crore by way of additional equity capital into its broking subsidiary, India Infoline.

"The board at its meeting... decided to infuse Rs 150 crore by way of additional equity capital into India Infoline Ltd, the broking subsidiary of the company, to meet its business requirements," IIFL Holdings said in a BSE filing.

11:43 am Buzzing: Country's largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel's share price touched a fresh 10-year high on Wednesday, rising nearly 8 percent intraday after the stellar Africa business performance in September quarter. The rally was also fueled by hope of early sale of tower business.

The stock price hit an intraday high of Rs 536.05, the highest level since October 2007, on the Bombay Stock Exchange. It rallied 28 percent in October, after acquisition of consumer telecom business from Tata Teleservices and on hope of stabilisation in tariff rates. At 10:55 hours IST, it was quoting at Rs 530.35, up 6.57 percent.

CLSA has upgraded Bharti Airtel to buy from underperform and raised target price to Rs 637 from Rs 430 per share as consolidation & data have revived long-term growth.

11:34 am Market Update: Benchmark indices extended gains in late morning trade, backed majorly by banks and telecom stocks. The increase in India ranking by World Bank in ease of doing business boosted sentiment.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rallied 373.41 points or 1.12 percent to 33,586.54 and the 50-share NSE Nifty surged 97.60 points or 0.94 percent to 10,432.90.

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

11:19 am Auto sales: Eicher Motors said Royal Enfield's sales increased 18 percent to 69,492 units in October, year-on-year.

Numbers were lower than a CNBC-TV18 poll estimates of 73,167 units.

Exports grew by 98 percent to 1,478 units on year-on-year basis.

11:05 am Rupee trade: The rupee today positively reacted to India's jump on Ease of Doing Business ranking by rising 15 paise to 64.59 against the dollar.

The World Bank's list was released yesterday. Banks and exporters liquidated their dollar bets and domestic stocks soared to new highs, which gave the rupee a leg-up, forex traders said.

However, the US currency's strength against other units had a sobering effect here, dealers said.

10:56 am Buzzing: Share price of Texmaco Rail and Engineering touched 52-week high of Rs 119.20, rising 3.5 percent in morning as it has bagged contact from Ministry of Railway, Bangladesh Government.

The company has been awarded a contract valuing USD 67.7 million by Ministry of Railway, Bangladesh Government.

The contract includes construction of 45 KM dual gauge railway line, including railway stations buildings, level crossing gates and a custom house building through north eastern border area in Maulavibazar district of Bangladesh adjoining Karimganj district of Assam state in India.

News Live: GIC, CPPIB may partner with Bain to buy 10% stake in Axis Bank

10:46 am Manufacturing PMI: Indian factory activity barely expanded in October as new orders fell, a survey showed today, as price rises following the introduction of a goods and services tax dragged on the economy and underscored dim growth prospects over coming months.

The Nikkei Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index, compiled by IHS Markit, fell to 50.3 last month from September's 51.2, marking its third month above the 50-point threshold that separates growth from contraction.

That was below all projections in a Reuters poll which had predicted a modest uptick to 51.5 and comes after another recent Reuters survey forecast India's economy will grow at its slowest pace in four years this fiscal year.

10:36 am Escorts in focus: Farm equipment manufacturer Escorts Agri Machinery today reported a 13.8 percent increase in its tractor sales at 10,205 units for October.

The company had sold 8,970 tractors in the same month a year ago.

Domestic tractor sales stood at 10,001 units as against 8,859 in October last year, up 12.9 per cent, Escorts Ltd said in a BSE filing.

Exports nearly doubled to 204 units from 111 in October 2016.

10:26 pm Auto sales: India's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki's October sales missed analyst expectations on Wednesday, rising 9.5 percent year-on-year. It was driven by compact cars (Dzire, Baleno etc) and utility vehicles (Vitara Brezza, Ertiga etc).

The company sold 1.46 lakh units in October 2017 against 1.34 lakh units in same month last year.

"Domestic sales during the month increased 9.9 percent to 1.36 lakh units and exports rose 4.2 percent to 10,446 units," Maruti said in its filing.

According to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18, total sales were estimated at 1.53 lakh units for the month.

10:15 am Merger: The board of directors of Reliance Communications yesterday approved the issuance of shares to the tune of 10 percent of the equity shareholding of Reliance Communications, to SSTL, as part of the agreement between the two companies.

Under the terms of the agreement between RCOM and Sistema, RCOM will acquire the telecommunications business of SSTL including its licenses. In addition, RCOM will acquire 30 MHz of the most valuable and superior 800 / 850 MHz band spectrum, ideally suited for 4G LTE services and other evolving technologies, to complement its own unique nationwide footprint.

This will result in extension of the validity of RCOM's spectrum portfolio in the 800 / 850 MHz band in eight important Circles (Delhi, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Kolkata, UP-West and West Bengal) by a period of 12 years-from 2021 to 2033.

10:05 am Market Update: Equity benchmarks extended gains in morning, with the Sensex rising more than 300 points after World Bank raised India ranking on ease of doing business. Investors also looked for more corporate earnings, auto sales data, and the outcome of FOMC meet due tonight.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rallied 333.62 points or 1 percent to 33,546.75 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 92.90 points or 0.90 percent to 10,428.20.

About three shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE. The BSE Midcap index was up 0.7 percent and Smallcap rallied 0.9 percent.

9:58 am Earnings Reaction: Shares of FMCG major Dabur India jumped over 6 percent in morning and hit a new 52-week high after the company reported a net profit of Rs 362.7 crore on Tuesday against investors' expectation of Rs 369 crore.

Its revenues grew to Rs 1,959 crore against Rs 2,061 crore assumption by analysts.

At an operating level, the earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was reported at Rs 420 crore, while the operating margin came in at 21.4 percent. The company's domestic volume growth beat expectations at 7.2 percent.

9:52 am Buzzing: Shares of Alembic Pharmaceuticals added nearly 2 percent in morning as it has completed the acquisition of US-based company Orit Laboratories.

The company through its 100 percent owned subsidiary, Alembic Pharmaceuticals Inc., has completed acquisition of West Caldwell, New Jersey USA based generic drug developer Orit Laboratories LLC along with real estate, owned by Okner Realty LLC.

Orit Laboratories has established in August 2005 having 7 approved ANDAs and 4 ANDAs pending approval.

9:42 am FII View: The Nifty50, which has already rallied over 26 percent to touch a fresh record high, is on its way to surpassing Mount 11,000 in the year 2018, which translates into an upside of over 11 percent.

Goldman Sachs in a note last week remained overweight on India and raised the target for Nifty from 10,900 in September 2018 to 11,600 by December 2018, which translates into an upside of 11.6 percent from current levels.

''We reaffirmed our strategic overweight stance on India post the bank recap news and raised our Nifty target to 11,600 (by end-'18). Within sectors, we raised PSU banks to overweight and highlighted 2 themes: 1) quality PSU/quasi-PSU banks; 2) infra-beneficiaries,'' it said.

The global investment bank favours PSU banks and infra beneficiaries. Goldman has a neutral rating on SBI and Bank of Baroda. It maintained a buy rating on ICICI Bank.

9:32 am Stake Sale: Telecom major Bharti Airtel said a few "reputed" global investors have approached it for buying a controlling stake in its mobile tower arm Bharti Infratel.

The telecom major, which holds 58 percent in Bharti Infratel through its another subsidiary, said that a committee of directors (COD) of Bharti Airtel is considering the proposal received from the global firms.

"Airtel has been approached by a few reputed global investors to acquire a significant stake in Bharti Infratel which, if accepted, could result in such investors acquiring control of Bharti Infratel," the telco said in a statement.

"The COD has recommended that such proposals be duly considered," the statement said.

Bharti Airtel will hold 50.33 percent stake while its wholly owned subsidiary Nettle Infrastructure Investments 11.32 percent in Bharti Infratel.

9:25 am Earnings: IIFL Holdings reported a 25 percent rise in consolidated net profit at 229.1 crore for quarter-ended September 30, this fiscal.

The company's net profit stood at Rs 183.1 crore, during July-September quarter of 2016-17.

IIFL's income surged nearly 42 percent to Rs 944.4 crore in the second quarter of 2017-18 from Rs 666.4 crore in the same period year-ago.

The company's total assets under management, distribution and advice saw 47 percent year-on-year growth to reach Rs 1.33 lakh crore in the September quarter, this fiscal.

The stock rallied nearly 7 percent in early trade.

9:20 am FM on World Bank report: After the World Bank ranking was made public, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said India is the only major country named for pursuing structural reforms.

"In 2014, we were 142nd and then (in) last two years, we improved to 131st and 130th. These are not generalised rankings. It happened in specific areas and they take tough parameters for that ranking," he said.

The "highest jump" in ranking was possible as significant improvements in all the 10 judging parameters were made in last 3-4 years "so that it becomes easy to do business in India," he said.

The World Bank, he said, has named 10 countries where structural reforms have been taken. "India is one of them."

The World Bank says India still lags in areas such as starting a business, enforcing contracts and dealing with construction permits.

9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks as well as Nifty Bank started off Wednesday's trade with record highs, backed by banks, metals and telecom stocks. The rally was after the World Bank said India's rank on 'ease of doing business' scale has risen from 130th to 100th this year, helped by a slew of reforms in taxation, licensing, investor protection and bankruptcy resolution.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 209.28 points or 0.63 percent at 33,422.41 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 61.20 points or 0.59 percent to 10,396.50.

About 950 shares advanced against 202 declining shares on the BSE.

SBI, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank, Yes Bank, Vedanta, Tata Steel and JSW Steel were early gainers.

Dredging Corporation, Syndicate Bank, Dabur India, VST Industries, Dwarikesh Sugar, Dalmia Bharat Sugar, Escorts, Sanofi India, Triveni Engineering, PNB, UCO Bank, Andhra Bank, Union Bank, IIFL Holdings, KPIT Technologies and InterGlobe Aviation rallied 11-10 percent. Container Corporation, Blue Star fell 2 percent each.