Market Live: Sensex rises 100 pts, Nifty eyes 9,900; broader markets gain too

11:20 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks erased early gains, with the Nifty trading below 9,850 level, dragged by index heavyweights HDFC, HDFC Bank, Infosys and Reliance Industries.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 13.74 points at 31,510.94 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 4.80 points to 9,842.20.

The gap between advances and declines narrowed as about 1,186 shares advanced against 1,010 declining shares against 2:1 in early trade on BSE.

10:50 am Essar-Rosneft deal: A consortium led by Russian oil major Rosneft will announce today completion of a USD 12.9 billion deal to acquire Indian private refiner Essar Oil, strengthening ties between the world’s largest oil producer and the fastest growing fuel consumer.

Rosneft will get a 49 percent stake in Essar and the two investors, European trader Trafigura and a Russian fund UCP, will hold another 49 percent in equal parts. The purchase is the biggest foreign acquisition ever in India and Russia’s largest outbound deal.

10:25 am Market Outlook: Most global investors are worried about India valuations, especially after issues like North Korea tension, uncertainty over White House etc.

But it does not mean that investors lost interest in India, Nischal Maheshwari, Head-Institutional Equities, Edelweiss Securities said in an interview to CNBC-TV18, ahead of Edelweiss India Conference in Singapore and Hong Kong.

June quarter was weaker than expected but Edelweiss has not cut its earnings forecast significantly, he said.

June quarter earnings growth was flat against Edelweiss’ forecast of 6 percent growth.

But he expects second half of FY18 to be better because of good monsoon and more government reforms. Earnings will be backended, he feels.

“We are still looking at 17 percent earnings growth in FY18,” Maheshwari said.

10:05 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks as well as broader markets continued to gain in morning trade, backed by banks, metals, FMCG and oil stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 105.88 points at 31,630.56 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 45.45 points to 9,882.85.

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

ICICI Bank, ONGC, Tata Steel, Coal India, ITC, TCS and Axis Bank rallied up to 2 percent while Reliance Industries and HDFC gained 0.4 percent.

Infosys remained under pressure, down 2.5 percent after CLSA maintained underperform call on the stock. The research house sees significant senior level departures over next six months till new CEO is found and also sees downside risks to guidance for FY18/19.

9:55 am USFDA nod: Aurobindo Pharma shares rallied as much as 1.6 percent in morning trade on tentative approval from USFDA for Dolutegravir, Lamivudine & Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate tablets.

“…. received tentative approval from the US Food and Drug Administration under the US President’s emergency plan for AIDs relief for new drug application for Dolutegravir, Lamivudine & Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate tablets,” the healthcare firm said in its filing.

This product is used for treatment of HIV-1 infection along as a complete regimen in adults and pediatric patients weighing 40 kg and greater.

The reference listed drugs of the approved combination product are ViiV Healthcare’s Tivicay (Dolutegravir) and Epivir (Lamivudine) and Gilead Science’s Viread (Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate).

Aurobindo said the company and ViiV Healthcare signed a licensing agreement in 2014 that allows it to supply Dolutegravir 50mg in 92 licensed countries, following completion of required local regulatory approval processes.

The triple combination product is expected to be launched in sub-Saharan Africa in Q3FY18.

9:40 am FII View: “While investors have been willing to forgive downgrades to consensus EPS in India in the past, we highlight that the scale of the downgrades appears to be getting larger,” Sakthi Siva of Credit Suisse said.

With 53 companies in India having reported, current year consensus EPS has been downgraded by 5.3 percent since June 30, she added.

Credit Suisse reiterated underweight call on India.

While India is the only market in the Expensive 4 to outperform in 2017 so far, the research house reiterated underweight call as implied return on equity rises to 18.5 percent versus current return on equity of 13.1 percent, Siva said.

9:25 am Buzzing: Shares of Laurus Labs rose 3.5 percent in morning trade on the back of completion of USFDA inspection.

The company has completed the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) inspection of its API facilities in Units 1 and 3 at Parawada, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh with two observation which are only procedural in nature.

This is a regular surveillance audit by USFDA, and no data integrity issues were observed in the inspection.

9:15 am Market Check: The market bounced back with moderate gains amid volatility on Monday after Friday’s sell-off.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 7.61 points at 31,532.29 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 12.75 points to 9,850.15. About two shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE.

Hindalco, Vedanta, Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, Tech Mahindra, Eicher Motors, BPCL, UltraTech Cement, Aurobindo Pharma and HCL Technologies gained up to 2 percent while TCS, Bharti Infratel and HDFC Bank were losers.

Infosys lost 3 percent to Rs 896 despite announcement of buyback of up to Rs 13,000 crore.
Reliance Capital gained 2 percent while Jet Airways fell 1 percent.