India : Sensex, Nifty end higher after choppy trade; ICICI top gainer

Equity benchmarks ended marginally higher after a choppy trade on Tuesday, recouping some of losses seen in the previous session. Q1 earnings and Monsoon Session of Parliament continued to key triggers in near term.The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 40.96 points at 27787.62 after a swing of 189 points intraday while the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 19.85 points to 8528.55.

Anish Damania of IDFC Securities says the brokerage holds a target of 8900 for March 2017 but further calls will be made on Nifty target after how first and second quarters pan out.

HUL extended losses, down 2.75 percent in addition to 2 percent fall after Q1 earnings. CLSA, which has an underperform rating with a target of Rs 885 per share on the stock, says that the change over to IndAS did impact several line items in the income statement but the key change was in segmental reporting (soaps moved to personal care now). Q1 growth was volume-led while realisations were flat on annual basis.

ICICI Bank topped the buying list on Sensex, up over 2 percent as the bank may get Rs 6,300 crore through sale of stake in ICICI Prudential Life IPO.

Midcap IT company Mindtree plunged more than 8 percent after reporting a 7 percent sequential fall in Q1 profit. Brokerage houses turned bearish on the stock. Deutsche Bank has downgraded to sell from hold and slashed target price to Rs 500 from Rs 675.

The market breadth was negative as about 1458 shares declined against 1215 advancing shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange.