Market Live: Sensex, Nifty trade positive ahead of FO expiry; SBI up 1%

11:59 am Buzzing Stock: Shares of Berger Paints India rose nearly 2 percent intraday Thursday as it commenced production at Assam plant.

The company’s British Paints division has commenced commercial production of its paint and putty plant at Nalbari, Assam on March 29.

This plant has a capacity of 6600 K/MT per annum of solvent and water based paints and 7200 MT per annum of putty and distemper.

11:39 am Management Speak: “This summer is going to be as great a summer as it was last year”, B Thiagarajan, joint MD of Bluestar told CNBC-TV18 in an interview.

According to him, the market will grow at around 20-25 percent in FY17 and company’s air-conditioning segment is expected to grow by 35 percent in FY17.

With the passage of Goods and services tax (GST), prices of ACs will go up by around 2-3 percent, he said.

11:23 am LIC to invest in UCO Bank: After UCO Bank twice requested Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) to invest in tier-II bonds of the bank, the insurer has finally agreed to invest Rs 1,000 crore, a source told Moneycontrol.

Earlier this month, a Moneycontrol exclusive story had reported that the state-run UCO Bank had written to LIC requesting it to invest Rs 1,000 crore in tier-II bonds of the bank. This letter was submitted to the insurer on March 15.

According to sources, the largest insurer LIC has given an in-principal approval to the bank and will invest Rs 1,000 crore in tier-II bonds. However, this investment will be subject to documents that the bank needs to provide within seven days.

11:05 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks were in the green, but were trading on a cautious note as investors sat on the fence ahead of F&O expiry later in the day.

The 30-share Sensex was up 76.08 points at 29607.51, while the Nifty was up 15.15 points at 9158.95. The market breadth was healthy as 1,612 shares advanced against a decline of 594 shares, while 163 shares are unchanged.

Adani Ports, State Bank of India and Aurobindo Pharma were top gainers on both the indices, while Axis Bank, Bharti Infratel, Idea Cellular and Bharti Airtel were the top losers.

Larsen and Toubro was up nearly a percent after L&T Construction won orders worth Rs 4,000 crore.

“L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro, has won orders totalling close to Rs 4,000 crore in the international market,” L&T said in a BSE filing.

10:53 am Market Outlook: Macquarie Securities Group believes that the risk reward is in favour of investors and one could look at domestic stories in the current set-up with a measured approach.

There are headwinds in case of export stories due to political uncertainty and regulatory issues, Sandeep Bhatia, Head-Equity, India, Macquarie Securities Group told CNBC-TV18.

10:42 am Gold falls: Gold prices fell on Thursday as the dollar strengthened, but uncertainty surrounding the impact of Britain’s departure from the European Union and the upcoming French elections offered some support.

Gold is witnessing a correction after failing to break above its 200-day moving average around the $ 1,260 level, analysts said.

“But prices are not likely to witness a big drop particularly because of the Brexit and French elections as they (are offering) very good support for gold at this time,” said Brian Lan, managing director at gold dealer GoldSilver Central in Singapore.

10:15 am Buzzing Stock: Share price of Sadbhav Engineering added 2.4 percent intraday as it has signed EPC agreement with its step down subsidiary for Rs 855 crore.

The company has signed an EPC agreement with its step down subsidiary Sadbhav Bangalore Highway worth Rs 855 crore for maintenance and repair works during the development and construction period.

The construction work will be carried out on BRT Tiger Reserve Boundary to Bangalore section of NH-209, a length of 170.92 kms.

9:50 am Market Update: Benchmark indices gained strength in morning, with Nifty trading above record closing high of 9160.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 102.83 points at 29,634.26 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 24.70 points at 9,168.50.

More than three shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE.

SBI extended gains, rising 1.6 percent followed by Reliance Industries, ITC, L&T and HDFC Bank.

9:45 am FII View: Simon Weaver of Morgan Stanley says portfolio flows in a subset of emerging markets countries have been surging, with inflows totalling USD 26.6 billion in 2017 so far.

Equity has driven this trend, seeing 60 percent of the total inflows, he adds.

Simon says, however, debt has also seen strong inflows, amounting to USD 10.8 billion.

In terms of countries, Taiwan, Korea and India have been the primary drivers of equity inflows while Mexico and India have driven most of the debt inflows, he adds.

9:29 am Buzzing: Shares of Navneet Education was up more than 12 percent intraday as investors cheered the positive brokerage view on the stock.

Motilal Oswal initiated coverage with a buy call and a target price of Rs 210 on the stock. The brokerage house believes that it is well poised to gain market share in the growing CBSE market. Change of syllabus provides strong growth triggers over two years.

In terms of market positioning, it feels that Navneet dominates the market for supplementary educational material and this domineering position makes it a key beneficiary.

Also read – Buy, sell, hold: These 3 stocks are on analysts’ radar today

9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks started off trade on a flat note Thursday ahead of expiry of March futures & options contracts. However, the broader markets outperformed benchmarks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 39.50 points at 29,570.93 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 3.65 points at 9,147.45. About 824 shares advanced against 244 declining shares on the BSE.

SBI, Reliance Industries, Hero Motocorp, Adani Ports, BHEL, Bank of Baroda and IndusInd Bank were early gainers while Axis Bank, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, M&M, TCS, HCL Tech and Bharti Infratel were losers.

The Indian rupee extended gains today, opening at 64.87 against the US dollar, up 3 paise over 64.90 level in previous session.

Mohan Shenoi of Kotak Mahindra Bank says macro data emanating from US continues to be robust keeping the dollar strength intact. The rupee is resilient on the back of FII flows into bonds and equity, he adds.

He expects the USD-INR to trade in a range of 64.80-65.10/dollar for the day.

The dollar hovered near a one-week high against a basket of currencies, buoyed by a weaker euro which sagged as prospects of the European Central Bank stepping away from monetary easing faded.
Asian shares fell after a mixed start, amid uncertainty over the UK’s exit from the European Union, as the dollar strengthened and crude oil prices slipped.