Market Live: Sensex trades almost flat, Nifty above 9950-mark; midcaps outperform

3:20 pm Buzzing: Vedanta shares rallied nearly 4 percent in late trade after stellar earnings for the quarter ended June 2017 and further debt reduction.

Consolidated profit grew by 67.2 percent year-on-year to Rs 2,270 crore and revenue increased by 26.3 percent to Rs 19,342 crore in April-June quarter.

The growth was largely driven by strong volume growth and higher commodity prices (zinc and aluminium).

Consolidated operating profit during the quarter shot up 41.6 percent to Rs 4,874 crore and margin expanded by 280 basis points to 26.6 percent compared with year-ago quarter.

Vedanta said it has reduced gross debt by Rs 9,000 crore in last 4 months.

3:10 pm Earnings: Paints manufacturer Asian Paints on Tuesday reported a fall of 20 percent in its net profit for the June quarter at Rs 440.7 crore against Rs 552.6 crore posted during the same period last year. The number came in below expected net profit of Rs 557 crore, according to a poll of analysts by CNBC-TV18.

The company’s total income rose around 5 percent at Rs 4,228 crore against Rs 4,032 crore year on year. This too came in lower than the poll figure of Rs 4,450 crore.

Meanwhile, the company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation was lower by around 19 percent at Rs 665.4 crore against Rs 816.2 crore YoY, while the operating margin was at 17.4 percent against 22.7 percent year on year. Additionally, the consolidated paint margin was reported at 16 percent against 21 percent year on year.

2:45 pm Nodal agency to fast track M&A nods: Concerned over the time taken by regulatory authorities to approve proposed merger & acquisitions of listed and non-listed companies, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is mulling forming of a nodal agency to fast track the process.

The markets regulator is keen on removing the delays, particularly in the case of a deal between a listed company and a non-listed entity.

A source close to the development told Moneycontrol “The problem escalates when deal between a listed and a non-listed company is called off.”

The second source told Moneycontrol “When listed and unlisted companies’ deals are called off, the stock price of the latter gets impacted. Meanwhile, unlisted companies do not have anything to lose.”

2:30 pm Market Check: A period of consolidation hit the market after the Nifty touched the milestone of 10,000, with indices trading almost flat to Monday’s levels.

The Sensex was up 26.70 points at 32272.57, while the Nifty was up 7.75 points at 9974.15. The market breadth was negative as 1182 shares advanced against a decline of 1413 shares, while 159 shares were unchanged.

Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank, Indiabulls Housing and Vedanta gained the most, while Lupin, Tata Motors DVR, Zee Entertainment and UltraTech Cement were the top losers.

Midcaps outperformed the Nifty, while PSU banks and metals, among others gained as well.

1:50 pm Earnings Estimates: Two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp’s first quarter profit is expected to grow 6 percent year-on-year to Rs 933 crore, driven by operating income.

Revenue during the quarter is seen rising 9 percent year-on-year to Rs 8,080 crore as realisations may improve by 3 percent owing to price hike due to BS4 transition, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

Sales volume increased 6 percent in Q1FY18 on year-on-year basis.

Operating income is likely to increase 6 percent to Rs 1,299 crore but margin may shrink by 100 basis points to 16 percent compared with year-ago quarter due to gross margin pressure.

Rise in commodity costs and high discounts may hit margin during the quarter but sequential margin is expected to improve as realisations improve and input price cooling off.

1:34 pm Market check: Equity benchmarks continued to trade lower amid consolidation in afternoon, dragged by FMCG, healthcare and select auto stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 24.77 points at 32,221.10 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 13.45 points to 9,952.95.

About 1,411 shares declined against 1,117 advancing shares on the BSE.

Lupin, Tata Motors, Coal India, Cipla, Zee Entertainment, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra and UltraTechCement were under pressure while Axis Bank, TCS, Hero Motocorp, Tata Steel, HDFC Bank, Indiabulls Housing, Bharti Infratel and Vedanta were gainers.

1:21 pm Market Expert: Deepak Parekh, Chairman, HDFC said, “It’s a huge confidence on the political leadership. It is a confidence on Indian economy, the growth prospects and also the future. Stock markets always are ahead and they look at the growth possibilities and even today World Bank, IMF has come out with the projection for the next 2 years of 7.5-7.7 percent GDP growth rate.”

1:02 pm Expectations from Fed: The Fed is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged at its two-day meeting that ends on Wednesday. The focus will be on any hints on whether it may raise rates again this year, and when it will begin paring its bond holdings.

Given the recent weakness in US inflation data, the market is guessing that the Fed’s tone will be dovish and this seems to be weighing on the dollar, said Stephen Innes, head of trading in Asia-Pacific for OANDA in Singapore.

12:55 pm Sundar Pichai appointed to Alphabet’s Board: Google’s India-born CEO Sundar Pichai has been appointed to the board of directors of Alphabet, the search giant’s parent company has said.

“Sundar has been doing a great job as Google’s CEO, driving strong growth, partnerships, and tremendous product innovation. I really enjoy working with him and I am excited that he is joining the Alphabet board,” Larry Page, CEO of California-based US multinational conglomerate Alphabet, said in a statement.

A long-time Google employee, 45-year-old Pichai, an IIT Kharagpur alumnus born in Chennai, has been leading the company for the past two years.

12:45 pm Europe opening: European bourses opened slightly higher as investors monitored earnings and awaited the start of a two-day policy meeting of the Federal Reserve.

France’s CAC, Germany’s DAX and Britain’s FTSE were up 0.3-0.6 percent.

12:30 pm Realty deal: Unable to complete construction of two flagship Mumbai projects in time, DB Realty is looking to exit or sell stake in both these projects but this may just be the tip of the iceberg. More projects may be on the block.

DB Realty is looking to exit or jointly develop – through Joint Development Agreement (JDA) – two of its projects, Skypark in Sahar, Andheri East and one in Bandra West next to Lilavati Hospital.

12:15 pm USFDA nod: Zydus Cadila has received final approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for Mesalamine delayed –release tablets in the strength of 800 mg.

The drug will be manufactured at group’s formulation manufacturing facility at Moraiya.

The group has received 27 final ANDA approvals from the USFDA and 2 tentative ANDA approvals since January 2017. The group now has more than 130 approvals and has so far filed over 300 ANDAs since the commencement of the filing process in FY04.

12:00 pm Market Check: Equity benchmarks turned lower in noon as the Sensex was down 38.07 points at 32,207.80 and the Nifty down 12.35 points at 9,954.05, dragged by Tata Motors, Reliance Industries, ITC and L&T.

About 1,394 shares declined against 1,028 advancing shares on the BSE.

11:45 am Buzzing: Share price of Glenmark Pharma rose 1.6 percent intraday on the back of USFDA approval for Desonide cream.

“Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Inc. USA has been granted final approval by the United States Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) for Desonide cream, 0.05%, the generic version of Desonide cream, 0.05% of Perrigo New York Inc,” as per company release.

According to IMS Health sales data for the 12 month period ending May 2017, the Desonide Cream, 0.05% market achieved annual sales of approximately USD 44.6 million.

11:30 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks continued to be rangebound after the Nifty hit a historic high of 10,000 level and ahead of expiry of July derivative contracts on Thursday & US Federal Reserve meeting tonight.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 4.15 points at 32,250.02 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 3.90 points to 9,962.50.

About 1,258 shares declined against 1,066 advancing shares on the BSE.

Indiabulls Housing Finance and Bharti Infratel were top gainers among Nifty 50 stocks, up over 2 percent.

11:20 am USFDA nod: Unichem Laboratories received ANDA approval from USFDA for Losartan Potassium and Hydrochlorothiazide tablets USP, 50mg/12.5 mg, 100mg/12.5 mg and 100 mg/25 mg.

This drug is therapeutically equivalent to Hyzaar tablets of Merck Sharp & Dohme Corporation.

Losartan Potassium And Hydrochlorothiazide is a combination of Losartan Potassium, an angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) and Hydrochlorothiazide, diuretic indicated for treatment of hypertension (to lower blood pressure) and for reduction of the risk of stroke in patients with hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy.

The product will be commercialised from Unichem’s Ghaziabad plant. Active pharmaceutical ingredient will also be made in house at Pithampur/Roha API plant(s).

10:59 am Earnings Estimates: Private sector lender Axis Bank is expected to report a 19.9 percent degrowth in first quarter profit at Rs 1,245.3 crore year-on-year, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

Net interest income during the quarter is seen rising 6.1 percent to Rs 4,791.8 crore compared with Rs 4,516.9 crore in same quarter last fiscal, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

Key things to watch out for would be asset quality movement. At the end of March 2017, total amount of loans under watchlist was Rs 11,232 crore (which accounts for 3 percent of total loan book).

Hence, slippages from watchlist will be seen closely. Slippages from watchlist in Q4 were at Rs 3,566 crore.

Analysts say if gross non-performing assets come below 5.1 percent then that will be positive.

10:45 am Interview: Indiabulls Housing Finance gained in trade on back of highest loan growth reported in the first quarter at 33 percent in the last 5 quarters. The mortgage lender reported a 25 percent jump in the June quarter net at Rs 788.2 crore, helped by higher loan growth, reduction in the cost of funds and the cost-to-income ratio.

Gagan Banga, VC & MD, Indiabulls Housing Finance said target of 30 percent loan book growth would continue. The growth was aided by the changes made by the government like Pradhan Mantri Avas Yojana and benign interest rate scenario.
The house has been able to growth earnings in a range of 20-25 percent for 32 straight quarters. This would also continue at a similar pace.

General industry consensus is that loans of below Rs 25 lakh may grow at 35-40 percent and if that happens then the company may see higher growth than 30 percent.

However, the company is very watchful with regards to corporate loan book, said Banga because both RERA and GST has an impact on construction finance project.

10:33 am Buzzing Stock: Share price of Just Dial surged 6 percent intraday on the back of robust Q1 numbers and buyback announcements.

The company has posted 50.5 percent increase in its Q1 (April-June) net profit at Rs 38.16 crore against Rs 25.35 crore, in the quarter ended March 2017.

Income from operations was up 4.6 percent at Rs 190 crore versus Rs 181.7 crore.

The operating profit (EBITDA) was up 1 percent at Rs 32.49 crore and EBITDA margin was at 17.1 percent.

The company at its meeting held on July 24 has considered and approved the proposal to buyback of fully paid-up equity shares from its shareholders/beneficial owners other than promoters, members of the promoter group and persons in control, from the open market, for a total amount not exceeding Rs 83.91 crore, and at a price not exceeding Rs 700 per equity share.

10:28 am Earnings Estimates: Telecom operator Bharti Airtel’s first quarter profit is expected to fall 20 percent sequentially to Rs 300 crore on weak operational performance.

Revenue, however, may increase 0.2 percent to Rs 21,975 crore from Rs 21,935 crore on sequential basis, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

Operating profit is seen falling 5.5 percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 7,550 crore and margin may shrink 204 basis points to 34.36 percent on sequential basis, impacted by India business.

India revenue may fall 1.4 percent QoQ to Rs 12,790 crore and operating profit may decline 8 percent to Rs 4,400 crore with margin erosion of 256 basis points in Q1.

10:20 am IPO: Mumbai-based Global Space Technologies, a SAAS based software product company and an enterprise mobility solutions provider company will be launching its SME initial public offering, which is scheduled to open on July 26 and close on July 28, with a price band of Rs 66 per equity share.

The IPO comprises of an issue of up to 30, 34,000 equity shares. 1,54,000 equity shares of Rs. 10 each will be reserved for subscription by market makers to the issue.

The company proposes to utilize the net proceeds of the issue for expenditure on research and development, advertising and sales promotion, funding incremental working capital requirements; and general corporate purposes.

10.15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks came off early highs after the Nifty surpassed 10,000 level in opening. Banks and telecom stocks gained while technology, healthcare, oil and infra stocks were under pressure.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 16.33 points at 32,262.20 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 6.20 points at 9,972.60 amid volatility.

The market breadth was in favour of declines as about 1,078 shares declined against 991 advancing shares on the BSE.

10:05 am Market Experts: Gautam Shah of JM Financial said technically & fundamentally markets looked overbought.

Market is on the cusp of first meaningful correction in over a year, he feels. This is not the right time for leveraged traders to get in for the short term, according to him.

According to Laurence Balanco of CLSA, the next target for Nifty is at 10,350.

Nilesh Shah, MD, Kotak AMC said this level (10,000) of Nifty doesn’t worry neither excites much.

He feels valuations are reasonable in IT, pharma & PSU banks. Private sector banks will come back in focus post NPA resolution, he said.

9:58 am Results today: As much as 50 companies on the BSE will be declaring their results for the quarter ended June 30 later today which include names like Asian Paints, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, Hero MotoCorp, Vedanta to name a few.

9:56 am Ratings: Global rating agency Moody’s affirmed ratings of nine banks, including Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Axis Bank, at Baa3/Prime-3, and downgraded the ratings of Indian Overseas Bank and Central Bank of India to Ba3 from Ba1.

Other banks whose rating was affirmed are Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Syndicate Bank, Union Bank of India and ICICI Bank.

9:47 am Buzzing: Shares of Ratnamani Metals and Tubes touched 52-week high of Rs 872, gains 4.7 percent intraday as it has received orders worth Rs 339 crore.

The company has bagged two new orders for supply of HSAW Pipes aggregating to Rs 339.

It has bagged orders worth Rs 214 crore and Rs 125 crore which will be completed by March 2018 and April 2018 respectively.

In the Month of June 2017, it had bagged orders for supply of HSAW pipes of Rs 116 crore and supply of ERW pipes of Rs 212 crore for oil and gas pipe lines to be completed by December 2017/January 2018.

9:45 am CCI nod: The Competition Commission approved the merger of Vodafone India and Idea Cellular, said lawyers who worked on the deal, which will create the country’s largest telecom operator.

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas and Co said the regulator has “unconditionally” approved merger of the telecommunications businesses of Vodafone India and its wholly-owned subsidiary Vodafone Mobile Services, with Idea Cellular.

“The USD 23 billion transaction is the largest transaction by value in the history of Indian M&A,” it said in a statement. Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas and Co advised Vodafone India and Vodafone Mobile Services on the deal.

9:41 am Market Expert: At National Stock Exchange, in an interview with CNBC-TV18, Anish Damania of IDFC Securities said it is always been a stock picker’s market.

“Domestic liquidity is very strong and we expect USD 1 billion of flows every month,” he said.

Important is to look at stocks versus headline index levels. He is positive on the non-ferrous space in metals. He is positive on Hindalco & Vedanta.

9:38 am Earnings growth: Bharat Iyer of JPMorgan said the research house believes FY18 consensus earnings growth numbers remain vulnerable to further cuts particularly for consumer discretionary and financials.

Nearly 70 percent of FY18 earnings growth estimated for the broad market are expected to be contributed by these sectors.

The research house estimated earnings growth of about 12-14 percent for FY18 and 15-16 percent for FY19 for the broad market, he said.

Valuations for the broad market at 18.4x 12-month forward consensus earnings are above +1 standard deviation – expensive from historical averages seen over the last decade, he added.

9:35 am Sectoral indices: All sectoral indices barring IT and Pharma were trading in green.

HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and ITC continued to lead the market higher while Infosys, Lupin, Wipro, Asian Paints and L&T were under pressure.

9:33 am Market Update: Equity benchmarks came off day’s high after the Nifty hit 10,000 level.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 30.78 points at 32,276.65 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 9.75 points at 9,976.15.

About 919 shares advanced against 589 declining shares on the BSE.

9:32 am: Market Outlook: Equity story of India is going to continue and still very convinced that equity will be one of the best asset classes to invest in 3-5 years, Madhu Kela, Market Expert said.

9:29 am Market Expert: Market Veteran, Madhu Kela said this is the time to celebrate. Over the last 10-15 years, we have various occasions when there was doubt on India story. We have continuously kept our faith. Congratulations to all investors who participated in this.

There are doubts about valuations, growth picking up and corporate earnings. If you look at 12-month perspective, the market has returned phenomenal. Money made in small, mid and large caps are phenomenally high. We must recognise that.

Word of caution: let us not extrapolate what has happened in past 2-3 years. Next 2-3 years may not be good. There could be challenges in 6-12 months. Picture abhi baaki hain, he feels.

9:20 am HDFC Bank hits new high: HDFC Bank shares touched fresh record high of Rs 1,756 following thumbs up from brokerage houses post better-than-expected earnings despite farm loan waiver concerns.

Jefferies has upgraded the stock to buy and raised target price to Rs 2,000 while Goldman Sachs maintained buy rating with increased target at Rs 2,208, saying the lender is on course for a market capitalisation of USD 100 billion.

BofAML, too, said its market cap could exceed USD 100 billion by FY20.

9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks started off Tuesday at fresh record high, with the Nifty hitting historic high of 10,000-mark.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 101.98 points at 32,347.85 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 31.80 points to 9,998.20.

HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Hero Motocorp, ITC, SBI, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Industries were top contributors to Sensex’ gains.

9:08 am Pre-opening: Hello and good morning to what could be a historic day as all eyes are set on the Nifty.

The index is likely to clock the 10000-mark, with even the pre-opening rates settling in above the key milestone.

The 50-share NSE Nifty settled at 10,010.55, up 44.15 points in pre-opening while the 30-share BSE Sensex rose 105.01 points to 32,350.88.

What changed for the market while you were sleeping? 12 things you should know

The US markets ended mixed on Monday but Nasdaq hit a record high ahead of a big week of technology earnings reports. The S&P 500 and the Dow industrials lagged behind as losses in healthcare heavyweight Johnson & Johnson took a toll, said a Reuters report.

The major US indexes are trading around record-high levels with a huge batch of second-quarter corporate reports due this week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 66.9 points, or 0.31 percent, to 21,513.17, the S&P 500 lost 2.63 points, or 0.11 percent, to 2,469.91 and the Nasdaq Composite added 23.05 points, or 0.36 percent, to 6,410.81.

The dollar inched up from its lowest level in more than a year on Monday, assisted by stronger-than-expected readings on the U.S. economy, said a Reuters report.

The dollar rose from a 13-month low against a basket of six major currencies touched in early trading. The dollar index was last trading 0.15 percent higher at 94.006. The euro was last trading at $ 1.1643, down from a high of $ 1.1684, its highest since August 2015.

Oil rose more than 1 percent, after leading OPEC producer Saudi Arabia pledged to cut exports in August to help reduce the global crude glut, said a Reuters report.

Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said his country would limit crude oil exports at 6.6 million barrels per day in August, almost 1 million bpd below levels a year ago, it said.

Brent crude futures settled up 54 cents or 1.1 percent to $ 48.60 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures settled up 57 cents or about 1.3 percent to $ 46.34 a barrel.