Sensex gains 166 points, Nifty ends above 10,600; midcaps underperform

3:30 pm Market Closing: Benchmark indices closed higher tracking positive trend in Asian stocks. Reliance Industries, HDFC and ICICI Bank led the market higher.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 165.87 points at 34,616.64 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 29.70 points to 10,614.40.

About 1,479 shares declined against 1,180 advancing shares on the BSE.

Coromandel International, Reliance Capital, Reliance Communications, Reliance Naval, Nalco, Kwality, Mishra Dhatu and Minda Corporation declined up to 14 percent.

Gati and Patel Integrated rallied 20 percent each. TCI Express, ICICI Prudential, GNFC and Alembic Pharma gained up to 9 percent.

3:24 pm Earnings: Tinplate Company of India's March quarter profit grew sharply to Rs 28.4 crore compared to Rs 11 crore in same period last year. The stock price gained 2 percent.

Revenue from operations more than doubled to Rs 695  crore from Rs 271 crore YoY.

Operating profit also increased 2-fold to Rs 58.4 crore but operating profit margin contracted to 8.4 percent from 10.6 percent YoY.

3:18 pm Fundraising: Homegrown retail major Future Enterprises said it has raised Rs 500 crore by allotting non-convertible debentures (NCDs) on a private placement basis.

"The committee of directors of the company...considered, approved and allotted...secured, rated, redeemable non-convertible debentures of Rs 10 lakh each aggregating to Rs 500 crore on private placement basis," the company said in a BSE filing.

3:12 pm Credit Disbursal Target: Agriculture credit is growing every year and reached Rs 10 lakh crore last fiscal, the government said while stressing upon the need to increase the flow to small farmers as well as providing loan access to tenant cultivators.

The agriculture ministry will soon bring a proposal before the Cabinet for improving lending to small and marginal farmers based on the recommendations of the Sarangi committee.

"Agriculture credit flow is going up every year. We have achieved the disbursal target of Rs 10 lakh crore in 2017-18 fiscal. The target for the current financial year has been enhanced to Rs 11 lakh crore," said Ashish Kumar Bhutani, joint secretary in Ministry of Agriculture.

3:05 pm Fundraising: Ishan Dyes and Chemicals said shareholders of the company at their extra-ordinary general meeting approved raising funds up to an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 20 crore, subject to approval from statutory, regulatory and other authorities, by way of issue of equity shares of the company to its eligible shareholders on rights basis.

2:59 pm Earnings Estimates: Bharti Airtel is likely to report a weak March quarter, owing to pressures on financials due to cut in interconnect usage charges and reduced ARPUs (average revenue per user), among others, brokerages have said in their reports.

The company is likely to report a net profit of Rs 127.89 crore for the quarter, a huge dip against Rs 978.9 crore reported during the same quarter of last year, a poll of analysts by Reuters said. It implies a massive drop of 87 percent on a YoY basis. In the previous quarter too, the company had reported a profit after tax of Rs 545.3 crore.

On the revenue front, the Reuters estimates cite it to be Rs 19,659.96 crore for the quarter that passed, against Rs 21,934.6 crore year on year. Last quarter, this figure was reported to be Rs 20,318.6 crore.

2:46 pm Tourism Partnership: Thomas Cook (India) has been selected as a preferred partner for the Tourism Industry Partnership (TIP) Programme between Tourism New Zealand (TNZ) and Immigration New Zealand (INZ).

The TIP programme between Tourism New Zealand and Immigration New Zealand will focus on streamlining the visa process for Indian visitors to New Zealand, the company said.

2:40 pm Market Update: Benchmark indices extended gains, with the Sensex rising 237.88 points to 34,688.65 and the Nifty climbing 46.20 points to 10,630.90.

Reliance Industries as well as Yes Bank rallied further, rising 3.5 percent each while HDFC and ICICI Bank gained 2 percent each.

Infosys, Vedanta, Hindalco, Wipro, Tata Steel and Tech Mahindra slipped up to 8 percent.

2:33 pm Buzzing: ICICI Prudential Life share price gained 4.6 percent despite a 16.6 percent fall YoY in consolidated profit at Rs 340.3 crore for March quarter.

Gross premium income grew by 15.2 percent to Rs 8,729 crore compared to Rs 7,579 crore in year-ago period.

ICICI Prudential said FY18 value of new business jumped to Rs 1,286 crore from Rs 666 crore and new business margin expanded to 16.5 percent from 10.1 percent YoY.

2:15 pm Earnings: Network 18 Media & Investments has reported net loss at Rs 45.6 crore for the quarter ended March 2018, against Rs 23.6 crore in same period last fiscal.

Consolidated revenue from operations for the quarter stood at Rs 824.9 crore against Rs 387.67 crore in corresponding period last year.

2:05 pm Trump admin toughens H1-B visa procedure: The Trump administration is working on proposals to streamline the H-1B visa procedure, the most sought after by Indian IT professionals, to focus on attracting the best and the brightest foreign talents, according to a top federal agency official.

The proposed regulation also aims to intensify efforts to crackdown on H-1B visa fraud, said Francis Cissna, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director in a letter to Senator Chuck Grassley.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise, reports PTI.

1:55 pm Buzzing: Coromandel International share price fell more than 5 percent after the company reported a 49 percent decline in consolidated profit at Rs Rs 73.5 crore YoY.

Its profit in the year-ago quarter stood at Rs 144.3 crore. Weak operational performance and slow revenue growth hit bottomline.

Revenue from operations during the quarter increased 5 percent to Rs 2,371.4 crore compared to Rs 2,259.1 crore in same period last year.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell 37.9 percent to Rs 169.1 crore and margin contracted 500 basis points to 7.1 percent YoY.

1:40 pm Market Update: Benchmark indices regained strength in afternoon despite consistent rise in crude oil prices, backed by index heavyweights Reliance Industries (up 2.4 percent), HDFC (1.5 percent) and ICICI Bank (1.7 percent).

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 166.96 points at 34,617.73 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 26 points at 10,610.70.

Metals and technology stocks continued to reel under selling pressure. Hindalco Industries was the biggest loser among Nifty50 stocks, falling nearly 9 percent while Vedanta, Infosys, TCS, Tata Steel, Wipro, Bharti Infratel and Tech Mahindra declined up to 3.6 percent.

1:32 pm Order Win: RPP Infra Projects has bagged order from Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE) for worth of Rs 83.7 crore.

1:20 pm Property Sale: In a big-ticket real estate deal, Essar group has sold prime commercial property Equinox Business Parks at Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) in Mumbai to global investment firm Brookfield for Rs 2,400 crore.

Essar today said it has completed the sale of Equinox Business Parks to Brookfield Asset Management for an enterprise value of Rs 2,400 crore.

This 10-acre business park comprises four towers, with a leasable office space of about 1.25 million sq ft.

1:10 pm Highway Projects in FY19: Construction of national highways has increased to record levels and the momentum is expected to continue in this financial year too, as funding is not an issue and the pace of land acquisition has improved, says a report.

According to BofA Merrill Lynch (BofAML), 2018-19 is likely to be another robust year for the highway sector, even as some disruption is likely in the fourth quarter of this fiscal owing to 2019 general elections.

"Funding is not an issue in the near-term; and the pace/ process of land acquisition has improved. Large number of open tenders gives us comfort on the ordering outlook," BofAML said in a research note.

Ordering/construction of national highways has increased to all-time highs of 17,055kms/9,829kms, respectively in FY18.

12:59 pm Europe Update: European markets were mixed, as investors monitored the latest deluge of corporate earnings.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was flat shortly after the opening bell, with sectors and major bourses pointing in opposite directions.

Stocks in Asia ticked higher during Tuesday's session despite a weak trading day on Wall Street, as investors kept a close eye on the US bond market.

12:50 pm Management Interview: After strong set of earnings, Rajiv Kumar Gupta, MD of Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals said the company recorded highest-ever profit in fourth quarter.

"We clocked capacity utilisation of 93 percent in FY18 and expect 110 percent of capacity utilisation in FY19."

He said Toluene Di-Isocynate (TDI) demand has been steady and the company has 5,000 tonne of export backlog of TDI. TDI prices are hovering around USD 4000-4200 per tonne.

The company is targetting to bring working capital requirement to zero in short term and to increase production capacity in other fertilisers as well. It has started exporting formic acid & ethyl acetate, he said.

12:40 pm Market Update: The market is off its day's high after the Brent crude crossed USD 75 a barrel, the highest level since November 2014.

Metals and technology stocks extended losses, with the Nifty Metal and IT indices fall 3 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.

Index heavyweights, however, Reliance Industries (up 1.9 percent), HDFC (1.15 percent) and ICICI Bank (1.43 percent) continued to support the market.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 52.87 points at 34,503.64 while the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 9.90 points to 10,574.80.

12:25 pm Contract Win: IT major Tata Consultancy Services has partnered with Bonnier AB, one of the Nordic region's most established media conglomerate, to help the company consolidate and rationalise computing and telephony infrastructure and secure robustness in ICT operations and

processes.

12:15 pm Buzzing: Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals share price jumped nearly 11 percent intraday after strong March quarter earnings.

Profit after tax increased sharply 38 percent to Rs 329 crore for the quarter ended March 2018, up from Rs 238 crore in year-ago quarter.

Revenue from operations grew by 46.5 percent to Rs 1,764 crore compared to Rs 1,203.5 crore in same quarter last year.

Operating profit in Q4 jumped 160 percent to Rs 470 crore but margin contracted by 96 basis points to 26.6 percent.

12:05 pm Super Crop adds new branch: Super Crop Safe informed BSE that it has started a new distribution branch at Uttar Pradesh.

With this the company has reached a total of 8 company owned distribution branches.

As on date, the company has 2,000 distributors across its geographical presence. The opening of a new branch in Uttar Pradesh will help the company to further increase its dealer distributor network, it said.

11:59 am Crude Update: International oil prices hit their highest levels since late 2014, pushed up by expectations of renewed US sanctions against Iran and as OPEC continues withholding supplies amid strong demand.

Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, climbed 0.70 percent to USD 75.23, levels not seen since November, 2014.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at USD 69.27 a barrel, up 0.92 percent from their last settlement.

Markets have been lifted by supply cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) which were introduced in 2017 with the aim of propping up the market, as well as by the potential of renewed US sanctions against Tehran.

The United States has until May 12 to decide whether it will leave the Iran nuclear deal and instead renew sanctions against the OPEC member, which would further tighten global supplies, reports Reuters.

11:45 am Buzzing: Dr Reddy's Labs share price gained 1.6 percent after it has received an Establishment Inspection Report (EIR) from the US FDA, for API Mirfield plant, United Kingdom, indicating closure of the audit.

11:35 am Market Outlook: After falling to 9,980 in March, the Nifty has witnessed an upmove of sorts. The 50-share index is now trading around 10,600 levels, ushering hopes of touching the 11K mark soon. But is this rally here to sustain?

Manish Sonthalia, Head Equities— PMS, Motilal Oswal AMC, believes short-covering will drive the markets higher. “The initial trends from corporate earnings look decent. It remains to be seen how the rest of them perform going forward.”

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, he said the market will could hit new highs in the current fiscal.

On domestic flows, Sonthalia said the rupee needs to stabilise for FIIs flows to be steady. “Inflows have reduced as compared to January and February. Investors are probably worried about sustainability of valuations. What you need is earnings growth and if that comes in, confidence would rise too.”

11:25 am Order Win: KP Energy share price rallied 6 percent after it has tied up with an Indian subsidiary of Europe based renowned Global WTG (Wind Turbine Generator) Manufacturer for developing wind power project of 300 MW (130 wind turbine generators of 2.3 MW each) in Gujarat.

The project will be connected with ISTS (Inter State Transmission System) Network of Central Transmission Utility.

11:15 am Metals Lose Shine: The Nifty Metal index lost over 2 percent on fall in global commodity prices.

"The US Treasury gave Americans until October 23 instead of June 5 to wind down business with Rusal and said it would consider lifting the sanctions if Rusal's major shareholder, Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska, ceded control of the company. Aluminum prices on the London Metal Exchange tumbled 8.7 percent on the US Treasury Department announcement, which gives Rusal longer to sell off large quantities of aluminum it had been stockpiling in the wake of sanctions," SMC Research said.

11:12 am Telecom Subscribers Data: The subscribers addition in the month of February was strong.

Reliance Jio, the subsidiary of Reliance Industries, has added 87.4 lakh subscribers in February compared to 83 lakh in previous month.

Bharti Airtel, the country's largest telecom operator, added 41.7 lakh subscribers during the month compared to 15 lakh in January.

Idea Cellular added 44.2 lakh subscribers (against 11.4 lakh MoM) and Vodafone India added 32.5 lakh subscribers (12.8 lakh) MoM.

11:02 am Asia Update: Asia markets mostly rose despite the Dow and the Nasdaq stumbling amid a decline in tech shares.

In Australia, the ASX 200 climbed 0.65 percent while Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 0.82 percent. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index rose 0.98 percent.

Chinese mainland shares were also higher; the Shanghai composite was up 1.8 percent. Across the Korean Strait, the Kospi fell 0.13 percent.

10:50 am Recommendation: Reliance Securities said acquisition of Bharat Financial Inclusion has placed IndusInd Bank in a sweet spot. "With access to best-in-class microfinance business network along with scale and profitability, we envisage significant upside potential in terms of loan growth, fee income generation and CASA mobilisation, going forward."

It expects the merger of Bharat Financial Inclusion to complete by first half of FY19. Financially, the merger is likely to release capital (due to lower risk weight on MFI loan in Bank’s book), which may in turn boost earning profile and growth prospects, according to Reliance Securities.

On the other hand the banks continued to deliver a healthy performance across operational parameters in Q4FY18 and FY18. Loan book grew by 28.2 percent YoY and 12.8 percent QoQ owing to strong growth in CV loan book and healthy growth in corporate loan book.

Reliance Securities continued to maintain Buy recommendation on the stock with a target price of Rs 2,196 per share.

10:40 am Market Update: The market is holding its early gains following positive lead from Asian cues, backed by banking & financials, FMCG and oil stocks.

However, the gains are capped by selling pressure in metals and technology stocks.

The Sensex is up more than 100 points and the Nifty is hovering around 10,600 levels.

Alembic Pharma is up over 2 percent after no observations from USFDA for API facility in Panelav

10:25 am Results Date: WABCO India informed BSE that a meeting of the board of directors of the company will be held on May 17 to consider and approve the annual audited financial results of the company for the year ended March 31, 2018 and to consider and recommend dividend, if any, for the said year.

10:15 am Rupee Update: The rupee strengthened by 10 paise to 66.37 against the US dollar at the interbank foreign exchange market today on some selling of the greenback by exporters and banks.

A higher trading in domestic equities too lifted the domestic currency, dealers said.

Yesterday, the rupee had lost 36 paise to hit a fresh 13-month low of 66.48 against the US dollar as rising crude prices and sustained foreign fund outflows led to subdued forex market sentiment.

10:05 am Jubilant Life Sciences in focus: Jubilant Life Sciences share price gained 3.5 percent after the company has issued commercial papers (CPs) of Rs 75 crore on April 23.

9:59 am Buzzing: Gati share price rallied more than 9 percent ahead of board meeting on Thursday.

"A meeting of the board of directors of the company will be held on Thursday, April 26, 2018 to review, consider and pass the enabling resolution for exploring the possibility of inducting a new financial/strategic partner to augment the future growth of the company," the logistic company said in its filing.

9:50 am Results today: Coromandel International, GIC Housing Finance, HUDCO, ICICI Prudential Life, IDFC Bank, Network18 Media, Oberoi Realty, Persistent Systems, Raymond, TV18 Broadcast,

Zensar Technologies, DCM Shriram, India Grid Trust, Pioneer Distilleries, Reliance Home Finance, Sadbhav Engineering, Supreme Petrochem and Tejas Networks will announce March quarter earnings.

9:40 am Market Update: The market is trading higher, with the Sensex rising more than 100 points, tracking positive Asian cues.

Banking & financials, FMCG stocks and Reliance Industries are supporting the market while the correction in metals and technology stocks cap gains.

The Nifty Metal index is down around 2.5 percent on fall in global commodity prices. Vedanta, Hindalco and Tata Steel declined up to 7 percent.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 127.18 points at 34,577.95 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 10.80 points to 10,595.50.

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

9:35 am Karnataka Elections in focus: Global brokerage house Citi feels the market will await results of Karnataka election to assess stability.

Opinion polls for Karnataka suggest a hung assembly, according to the research firm.

It is unclear which way JD(S) could lean post-poll as party's role is crucial.

"Win for BJP would increase its Upper House seats (currently 68) while Congress win in Karnataka, could embolden the opposition," it said.

Ahead of the general elections in 2019 the risk of populism is Congress, it added.

9:29 am Thomas Cook Restructuring: The board of Thomas Cook (India) (TCIL) approved a corporate restructuring exercise by way of a composite scheme of arrangement and amalgamation, aimed at streamlining its businesses into four key verticals namely: Travel (outbound, domestic, business travel & MICE), Foreign Exchange, Destination Management

Services & Portfolio Investments such as Sterling Holiday Resorts Ltd.

The restructuring also involves consolidating the human resource services business into Quess Corp.

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Pursuant to the composite scheme, TCIL shareholders will receive 1889 equity shares of Quess (of Rs 10 each) for every 10000 equity shares (of Re 1 each) held in TCIL.

9:22 am Reliance Naval falls 6%: Reliance Naval's auditor report said the statement regarding preparation of standalone financial results of the company on going concern basis and also recognition of deferred tax assets (DTA) on tax losses notwithstanding the fact that the company has been incurring cash losses, its net worth has been substantially eroded as on 31st March, 2018, loans have been called back by secured lenders, current liabilities are substantially higher than current assets, applications have been made to National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Ahmedabad, under section 9 of the Insolvency Bankruptcy Code and winding up petitions been filed before Gujarat High Court for recovery of their dues by few operating creditors, for the reasons stated in the said note.

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The company is also of the view that no impairment of its non-current assets is required. These conditions indicate the existence of a material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt on the company's ability to continue as going concern.

The appropriateness of assumption of going concern, recognition of DTA and evaluation of recoverable value of its non-current assets is critically dependent upon the approval of company's resolution plan by the secured lenders, the company's ability to raise requisite finance generate cash flows in future to meet its obligations and to earn profits in future.

9:18 am Buzzing: Alembic Pharma rallied 4 percent after zero observations from USFDA for Panelav plant.

The company informed exchanges that the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) has conducted an inspection at Alembic Pharmaceuticals API Facility located at Panelav during April 16-23.

This was a scheduled inspection and at the end of the inspection, there were zero 483s observations, it said.

9:15 am Market Update: Benchmark indices opened higher, following positive lead from Asian stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 101.63 points at 34,552.40 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 14.20 points to 10,598.90.

Nalco, Hindalco Industries, Vedanta, JSPL, JSW Steel and SAIL fell up to 9 percent.

Tech Mahindra, BPCL and IOC were under pressure.

Bharti Infratel, Indiabulls Housing Finance, ONGC, Zee Entertainment, TCS and Yes Bank were early gainers.

Ashok Leyland, Shriram Transport, Cholamandalam Finance, GNFC, Delta Corp, Gati, Swaraj Engines and Thomas Cook rallied up to 5 percent.

LIC Housing, 3i Infotech and Ujjivan Financial fell up to 9 percent.

9:10 am Rupee Update: The Indian rupee recovered by 10 paise to 66.38 against the US dollar today.

The rupee on Monday ended at its lowest level against the dollar since March 10, 2017, at 66.48.

9:06 am Technical Recommendations: We spoke to HDFC Securities and here’s what they have to recommend:

Thomas Cook: BUY| Target Rs. 325 | Stop-loss Rs 260 | Return 15%

NRB Bearing: BUY| Target Rs195 | Stop-loss Rs 168 | Return 10%

TAKE Solutions: BUY| Target Rs. 230 | Stop-loss Rs 190 | Return 12%

9:03 am Stocks in news: Bharti Infratel: Company's Q4 net profit rises 2 percent to Rs 606 crore

CEAT: The company’s management will meet on April 30, 2018 and consider financial results as well as dividend issue.

Coal India: The company is considering Rs 6,500 crore provision for gratuity payout

Tech Mahindra: The company has tied up with Andhra Pradesh Govt To Establish Cyber Security Operations Centre In Vijaywada

Bharti Airtel: Company plans network expansion in Gujarat with 6000 new sites and 2,000 kilometres of optic fiber in FY19 to strengthen mobile broadband footprint.

Thomas Cook: Shareholders to get 1,889 shares of Quess Corp for every 10,000 shares held

Shilpi Cables: Company gets 90-day extension for corporate insolvency resolution

Jet Airways: Company signs codeshare pact with Aeromexico

9:01 am Market Check: The market was higher in pre-opening trade, following recovery in Asian stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 167.06 points at 34,617.83 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 2.30 points to 10,587.

Ujjivan Financial plunged 10 percent, Nalco fell 7 percent, Hindalco declined 6 percent and Vedanta lost 4 percent.

Also Watch - Markets@Moneycontrol: Nifty likely to open flat; 3 stocks which can give up to 15% return

GNFC and Delta Corp gained 4 percent each while Balrampur Chini rose 2 percent. Thomas Cook rallied 6 percent.

Wall Street ended mixed on Monday as concerns about soft smartphone demand weighed on tech stocks and pulled the Nasdaq lower while earnings optimism protected against deeper losses, said a Reuters report.

Asian stocks recovered after morning losses, with the China's Shanghai Composite rising 2 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rising 1.2 percent. Japan's Nikkei and Australia's ASX 200 gained more than half a percent each.