Market Live: Sensex, Nifty maintain uptrend; RIL extends gains, ITC falls

12:25 pm Reliance in focus: Reliance Industries continued its northward journey for 11th consecutive session on Monday and has consistently been hitting fresh nine-year high, which helped it to become the most valued company among listed entities.

Today the stock rallied as much as 1.76 percent intraday to hit a high of Rs 1,558, the highest level since January 17, 2008.

In these 11 consecutive sessions, it gained nearly 13 percent, partly due to positive market condition and company’s new tariff plans.

This rally helped the stock to cross Rs 5 lakh crore in market capitalisation at Rs 5,05,695.79, which is far ahead of TCS (Rs 4.73 lakh crore) and HDFC Bank (Rs 4.3 lakh crore).

Disclaimer: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.

12:05 pm Buzzing: ITC shares fell nearly 3 percent intraday on fears of likely increase in cess on cigarettes.

Sources told CNBC-TV18 that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council is likely to meet today to consider a cess on tobacco.

The council is expected to discuss the impact on cigarette prices post GST rollout as the government already received representations from anti-tobacco lobbies on cigarette prices falling post GST.

It may also review the quantum of cess levied on cigarettes.

After GST rollout, the fall in total tax on tobacco products, which is dangerous to health, is worrisome for the government.

Hence, the Council called urgent meeting today ahead of its next scheduled meeting on August 8 as the decision on cess will be taken quickly,

11:45 am Interview: There has been a change of guard at JSW Energy. Prashant Jain has taken over as the Joint MD and CEO from Sanjay Sagar last month.

28,000-30,000 megawatt (MW) of the capacity is stranded and sitting idle at this point in time and these are high cost power plants which are right now sitting with huge debt, he said.

Expect consolidation in power sector and in order to do that, there will be a lot of haircuts which needs to be taken by the banks, he added.

“We are keenly watching what is going to happen in these 12 cases which have gone to National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT),” he said.

The company continues to remain interested in all the assets of Monnet Power, said Jain.

See a lot of opportunities in thermal space, think renewable and thermal can coexist, he added.

11.11 am Market Check: Benchmark indices maintained uptrend amid volatility in morning, driven by Reliance Industries that extended gains for seventh consecutive session.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 107.03 points at 32,127.78 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 30.50 points to 9,916.85.

About 1,258 shares advanced against 1,010 declining shares on the BSE.

11:00 am Buzzing: Inox Wind shares fell nearly 7 percent in morning trade despite the company’s clarification on issues related to insolvency proceedings and Jeena case against it.

Last week media reports indicated the wind energy service provider is headed for insolvency, after the National Company Law Tribunal’s Chandigarh bench (NCLT) ordered commencement of the process in response to the plea made by Jeena & Company, an operational creditor.

Customs agent, Jeena & company, filed the case with National Company Law Tribunal over non-payment of dues totalling Rs 57 lakh.

Inox Wind clarified the company has filed an appeal before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), seeking the said proceedings be quashed. The matter is listed for hearing today.

Inox further said it has already settled the matter with Jeena & Co. and paid the amount due in relation to the case pending with National Company Law Tribunal.

The company claimed it remains solvent and in fact, in excellent financial health.

10:27 am Parliament session to begin soon: The Monsoon Session of Parliament beginning today is set to be dominated by issues such as cow vigilantism, farmers’ protests, Kashmir unrest, action of law enforcement agencies against some opposition leaders over alleged corruption, and India’s stand-off with China.

The Lok Sabha as well as the Rajya Sabha will be adjourned today due to the death of sitting members of both the Houses and serious proceedings are expected from Tuesday. The session is slated to conclude on August 11.

Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad made it clear today that the Congress and other opposition parties would target the government over the issues of Kashmir as well as the stand-off with China.

10.15 am Market Check: The market extended gains in morning trade, backed by Reliance Industries, technology and select banking & financials stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 99.01 points at 32,119.76 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 28.60 points to 9,914.95.

About 1,116 shares advanced against 879 declining shares on the BSE.

10:14 am Monsoon session of Parliament: While addressing media ahead of beginning of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi said he expects this session to be fruitful.

“We will get new president, vice-president in this session of parliament,” he said, adding he is hopeful that all political parties will support steps taken for betterment of nation.

10:00 am USFDA nod: Alkem Laboratories shares gained more than 3 percent Monday on zero observations from the US health regulator for Taloja unit.

“At the end of the inspection, no Form 483 was issued for Taloja facility in Maharashtra,” the Mumbai-based pharma company said in its filing.

The US Food and Drug Administration had conducted an inspection at the company’s bioequivalence facility from July 10-14, 2017.

9:45 am Interview: State-owned construction firm NBCC is expecting 25 percent growth in revenue this fiscal to nearly Rs 8,000 crore helped by execution of new contracts like redevelopment of the Pragati Maidan exhibition centre here.

The company is targeting to secure new orders worth Rs 25,000 crore this financial year, its CMD Anoop Kumar Mittal said, while highlighting the company bagged a major contract last month to redevelop 10 railway stations across the country.

“We are expecting 25 per cent growth in revenue during this fiscal, mostly from project management consultancy and EPC contracting,” Mittal told PTI.

NBCC, which is under the administrative control of the urban development ministry, posted a net profit of Rs 354.51 crore on a turnover of Rs 6,313 crore during 2016-17 fiscal and is a zero-debt firm.

Mittal said the company currently has an order book of over Rs 70,000 crore and is expecting to secure new orders of Rs 25,000 crore this fiscal.

9:30 am Earnings Estimates: Jubilant Foodworks, which had a disastrous last quarter of FY17, could post a 6 percent rise in net profit for June quarter at Rs 20.1 crore, according to a poll of analysts by CNBC-TV18. The total income could rise 6.3 percent at Rs 647.5 crore, against Rs 608.9 crore.

Meanwhile, the earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation could soar 16.6 percent at Rs 67.3 crore against Rs 57.7 crore, while the operating margin could be seen at 10.4 percent.

The key thing to watch out could be the same store sales growth, which had seen a sharp fall of negative 7.5 percent in the previous quarter. In the June quarter, analysts expect it to be 2.9 percent. Also, investors could watch out for store additions as it is likely to open 10-12 stores in Q1.

9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks opened higher on Monday after Friday’s consolidation, with the Nifty50 reclaiming 9900 level and the Nifty Bank hit 24000 level for the first time.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 82.18 points at 32,102.93 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 21.45 points at 9,907.80.

ITC lost more than 2 percent on reports that the government may increase cess on cigarettes.

Nifty Midcap was up 0.3 percent as about three shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE.

Alkem Labs, Indraprastha Gas, Jubilant Foodworks and CESC gained over 1 percent while Karnataka Bank and Gruh Finance fell over 1.5 percent.
Asia markets were mixed following the release of better-than-expected China second-quarter GDP.