Revision of Market Lot of Derivative Contracts on Indices with effect from October 31, 2014.

Sensex above 27,000; Tata Motors up 1.7%

Benchmark share indices have remained firm after a gap up opening aided by rally in auto stocks and  a rebound in IT shares.

At 9:30 AM the 30-share Sensex was up 131 points at 27,012 and the 50-share Nifty was up 36 points at 8,063.

In the broader market, BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices have gained 0.4-0.7% each.

Market breadth is heavily positive with almost three gainers for every decilne.
On Tuesday, Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in equities to the tune of Rs 108 crore.

Asian markets were trading higher tracking overnight gains in US stocks on the back of robust corporate earnings. Japanese were the top gainers in the region with the Nikkei up 1.4%. Shares in China were also trading firm with Shanghai Composite was up 0.3% while Straits Times was up 0.4% and the Hang Seng surged 0.9%.

Major US stock indices ended over 1% higher on Tuesday as better-than-expected earnings from large corporates and consumer confidence data which touched the highest level in seven years boosted investor sentiment. Further, energy stocks also rebounded after the correction in the previous session. Meanwhile, investors are also awaiting comments on the economic outlook from the US Fed which ends its two-day meet later today. The Dow Jones ended up 188 points or 1.1% at 17,006, the broader S&P 500 rose 23 points or 1.2% at 1,985 and tech-laden Nasdaq surged 78 points or 1.8% to end at 4,564.

Sectors and  stocks

BSE Auto inex has gained the most followed by BSE IT and Metal indices.

Among auto stocks, Hero MotoCorp has gained above 2% after the RBI allowed hike in FII shareholding in the company upto 49%. Tata Motors has gained around 1.7%, M&M has gained more than 1% while Bajaj Auto and Maruti Suzuki have gained 0.5-0.6% each.

Among IT stocks, Infosys and Wipro have gained close to 1% while TCS is up around 0.1%.

Among bank shares, while SBI, Axis Bank and HDFC twins have gained close to 0.6% each ICICI Bank is flat.

Among phrama shares, Cipla has gained close to 1% and Sun Pharma is up around 0.1% while Dr Reddy's Lab is down around 0.4% ahead of the release of its quarter earnings later today.

Among metal stocks, while Tata Steel and Hindalco have gained close to 1% each, Sesa Sterlite is down around 0.8%.

Nifty holds 8,000; Oil shares decline

Markets continued to trade in a narrow range in noon trades led by bank shares even as profit taking in oil shares amid slide in global crude oil prices capped upside gains.

 

At 1 PM, the Sensex Is up 40 points at 26,793 and the Nifty has climbed 17 points to trade at 8,008.

 

The activity in the broader markets is mixed with the Smallcap index up 0.4% while the Midcap index is trading flat with a negative bias.

 

The market breadth is almost neutral on the BSE with 1,283 stocks declining and 1,258 stocks advancing.

 

Asian Markets:

 

Asian shares were modestly higher while the dollar held steady on Tuesday, as investors awaited the outcome of the US Federal Reserve's two-day meeting that begins later in the session for clues to the direction of US interest rates.

 

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shrugged off early losses and a lackluster performance on Wall Street to rise about 0.3%.

 

But Japan's Nikkei stock average extended losses, shedding 0.8%

 

Sectors & Stocks:

 

On the sectoral front, BSE Power and Oil & Gas indices are losing sheen down over 0.2% each. On the other hand, Bankex is the top gaining index up 0.5% followed by Consumer Durables, Capital Goods and Healthcare indices up 0.4% each.

 

GAIL has extended its yesterday’s rally of 0.8% and is up over 2% today on reports that it will be appointed as the operator of the proposed pool of domestic and international gas prices. However,RIL and ONGC have lost between 0.8-1%.

 

Financials are wqitnessing an upsurge on hopes of an earlier than expected interest rate cut by the RBI. SBI, ICICI Bank and HDFC have surged between 1-2%.

 

Engineering major L&T has climbed nearly 1% after a government panel on Saturday cleared defence projects worth Rs 50,000 crore.

 

Healthcare stocks are witnessing fresh buying in today’s trade. Sun Pharma and Cipla are up between 1-2%. However, Lupin is trading 1% lower ahead of the quarterly results.

 

M&M, Tata Power and Tata Motors are some of the notable gainers among others up between 1-1.55.

 

On the flip side, HUL is trading 1.7% on lower volume growth. Volume growth was lower at 5% compared to 6% in the previous quarter. However, Net profit was up 8% at Rs 988 crore for the quarter ended September compared to Rs 914 crore in the same quarter last year. Total income was higher at Rs 7,639 crore compared with Rs 6,893 crore in the same quarter last year.

 

Telecom major Bharti Airtel is trading 2% lower in today’s trade.

 

Hero Motocorp, BHEL, Dr Reddy’s Lab are some of the notable names in red among others down between 1-2%.

 

Among other shares, R S Software has surged 9% to Rs 693, bouncing back nearly 15% from intra-day low on NSE, after the company said it board will consider sub-division of equity shares of the company of face value of Rs 10 each into a lower denomination.

 

Amara Raja Batteries has surged over 8% to Rs 680, also its record high, in otherwise subdued market in noon deal trade on National Stock Exchange (NSE).

 

Shares of construction and engineering company NCC has soared 12% to Rs 49.70 on back of heavy volumes on the bourses. The stock opened at Rs 44.70 and touched high of Rs 51.20 on National Stock Exchange (NSE). 

 

Markets open tad higher; Nifty reclaims 8,000.

Markets opened marginally higher on Tuesday with the benchmark Nifty reclaiming the 8,000 mark. However, traders are likely to remain cautious ahead of the two-day FOMC meet which begins today.

At 9:16AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 55 points at 26,808 and the 50-share Nifty was up 15 points at 8,007.

On Monday, FIIs were net buyers to the tune of around Rs 49.14 crore

The Indian rupee was trading lower at Rs 61.36 compared to the previous day's close of Rs 61.30.

Asian markets are trading mixed with Japanese stocks remaining subdued ahead of the of US Federal Reserve's two day meeting and persisting decline in global crude price despite upbeat economic data released before the opening of market. Japanese retail sales in September rose 2.3% from a year earlier, government data showed, suggesting consumer spending is gradually picking up. NIkkei has declined around 0.8% and Strait Times is down around 0.5% while on the other hand Hang Seng has gained around 0.5% and Shanghai Composite is up around 0.8%.

U.S. stocks ended near flat on Monday as energy shares fell with another decline in oil prices while investors remain optimist about Federal Reserve's meeting outcome expecting it to maintain dovish stance on interest rates and a largely accommodative policy over the medium term. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.07% to 16,818, the S&P 500 lost 0.15% to 1,962 and the Nasdaq Composite was flat at 4,486.

TCS, ONGC, L&T, ICICI Bank, SBI and HDFC were among the top Sensex gainers while Infosys, Reliance Industries and HUL were among the top losers in early trades.

Sensex above 26,700; Tata Motors and L&T up 2%

Benchmark indices continued to trade firm after a gap up opening led by L&T and Tata Motors while index heavyweight Reliance industries rebounded after the recent correction post the gas price hike.

At 10.40AM, the 30-share Sensex is up 179 points at 26,754 and the 50-share Nifty is up 54 points at 7,982.

In the broader market, both the BSE Mid Cap and Small Cap indices have outperformed the Sensex with gains between 0.8-1%.

Market breadth is positive with 1,369 advance against 592 declines.

Asian Market

Asian markets are trading higher tracking overnight gains on Wall Street after encouraging earnings from US technology majors. Stocks in Japan gained the most after trade data released earlier today showed that exports in September increased 6.9% compared to the same month last year. The benchmark Nikkei has gained around 2%.  Shanghai Composite and Strait Times are  trading with a gain of 0.6%  while Hang Seng is  up 1.2%.

Sectors and Stocks

Festive buying has led to a surge in Auto and Consumer Durables stocks with both the sectoral indices rising the most along with Capital Goods and Healthcare indices.

Ahead of festive buying and anticipation of  greater sales due to cuts in diesel prices have pushed up auto stocks. Tata motors has gained more than  2% while Bajaj Auto and Maruti Suzuki have gained close to 2% and M&M has gained 0.6%

Hero Motocorp has gained more than 3% on heavy festive season sales. It sold 150,000 two-wheelers on the occassion of Dhanteras on October, 21.

Among banking stocks, HDFC and ICIC have trimmed some of their early gains and are trading flat while SBI has gained around 0.2% while Axis Bank has gained around 0.4%

Punjab National Bank has declined around 1% on disappointing performance as its net profit increased merely by 13.8% YoY (despite a low base), led by a reversal of the interest income, increase in the employee related provisions and higher tax rate.

Among pharma stocks, Cipla has gained around 2% and  Dr Reddys has gained around 2% while Sun Pharma has gained around 0.7%.

Coal India has lost around 0.5% as the company is not seen to be benefitting from coal reforms.

Among other stocks, Financial Technologies India (FTIL) has tanked 13% extending its previous day’s 20% fall on BSE, after the government on Tuesday proposed a merger of the National Spot Exchange (NSEL) with the company.

 Biocon has declined around 2.5% on the back of muted Q2 performance mainly on account of capacity constraints and geo-political challenges in the Middle East.

Gujarat Fluoro. Ltd has gained around 3.5% on strong Q2 performance. The company reported a net profit of Rs 38 crore compared with Rs 25.57 crore in the same quarter last year.

KPIT Technologies has surged 8% in early morning deals after reporting a 128 basis points expansions in EBITDA or operating margins to 13.34% in September quarter from 12.06% in last quarter.

Dewan Housing Finance has gained around 7.5% after it  reported 18% rise in net profit to Rs 152.19 crore for the quarter ended September 2014 compared to Rs 129.14 crore in the same quarter last fiscal. Net Interest Income was up 45% during the September quarter.

Mcleod Russel has declined around 0.4% as its  net profit for the September quarter declined to Rs 221.50 crore from Rs 245.49 crore in the September quarter last year on the back of higher depreciation.

Markets open higher; metal, power shares gain

Markets opened higher led by power and metal shares after the government said it would formulate an ordinance to resolve issues arising out of the cancellations of coal blocks.

At 9:18AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 69 points at 26,499 and the 50-share Nifty was up 19 points at 7,898.

Further, the announcement by the governemnt to cap the subsidy ondomestic gas cylinders and to take up ordinance route to resolve issues arising out of the cancellation of coal blocks has improved sentiments. The ordinance will address issues related to coal supply to companies of central and state governments, as well as private companies in the cement, steel and power businesses. It will also address valuation of the land to be taken over from those who have lost coal blocks.

Trends are mixed at Asian markets which remain cautious despite the third-quarter growth data allayed concerns about an entrenching slow down in the Chinese economy. China's economy grew 7.3% between July and September from a year earlier, slightly above expectations. Other data showed factory output rose 8.0 percent in September from a year earlier, beating expectations for a 7.5% increase and up from August's six-year low of 6.9%. Shedding its gains from Monday, NIkkei has declined around 0.7% while Hang Seng Shanghai indices remains flat.

US stocks gained ahead of the release of third-quarter earning data of Apple while below expectation numbers from IBM dragged the indices down. Other factors adding to caution was the growing certainty about Fed wrapping up the third tranche of quantitative easing program later this month. Nasdaq was the biggest gainer with advance of around 1.3% while Dow Jones gained around 0.9% and S&P 500 around 0.5%.

Despite expectations of a some monetary easing measure to be undertaken by European Central Bank building up, European markets ended lower. German DAX was the biggest loser with a loss of more than 1.5% while French CAC 40 declined more than 1% and FTSE ended down 0.7%.

Hindalco, Sesa Sterlite, NTPC, Jindal Steel, Tata Power and Tata Steel were among the top Sensex gainers in early trades.

Markets open tad lower; RIL, L&T down 1%

Markets recouped early losses and turned positive led by gains in Tata Group shares such as TCS ahead of its second quarter earnings due later today alongwith Tata Motors and Tata Steel.

At 9:45AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 48 points at 26,397 after hitting a intra-day low of 26,248 and the 50-share Nifty was up 8 points at 7,872 after touching a low of 7,836.

Foreign funds were net sellers in equities to the tune of Rs 695 crore on Tuesday.

Asian markets were trading mixed recovering from early lows. However, shares in Japan continue to witness selling pressure. The Nikkei was down nearly 2% while Hang Seng and Straits Times were down 0.5-1% while Shanghai Composite recouped early losses and was up 0.6%.

Stocks on Wall Street ended lower on Wednesday as investors continued to trim positions on rising worries that global growth concerns could hurt earnings of US companies. Further, US retail sales and producer prices were both lower last month. The Dow Jonws ended down 173 points at 16,142, the broader S&P 500 slipped 15 points to end at 1,862 and the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite ended 12 points lower at 4,215.

European shares also witnessed a sell-off amid growth concerns after weak export data from Germany, Europe's largest economy.

The BSE Realty index was the top sectoral gainer up 2% followed by Auto, Bankex, IT and FMCG among others.

Among the Tata Group shares, TCS was up 1.4% ahead of its second quarter earnigns due for release later today.

Tata Motors was up 2% after  the company said it has received another order to supply 928 Tata Marcopolo built buses to the State Transport Authorities in South India.

Tata Steel was up 1.3% after it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Geneva-based Klesch group for the potential sale of its long products business in Europe and associated distribution activities. Analysts said the division accounted for 25 per cent of Tata Steel’s European operations.

Hero MotoCorp gained 1.3% ahead of its second quarter earnings later today.

FMCG majors ITC and Hindustan Unilever were among the other Sensex gainers.

Among other shares, Prestige Estate has gained around 2% on the back of strong Q2 performance. Prestige Estate released its operational performance for the Jul-Sep quarter. The company said it has sold 1,375 residential units and 0.21 million square feet of commercial space amounting to Rs 1486 crore in sales, up 29% from the same quarter last fiscal.
The broader market was trading flat with BSE Mid-cap and the Small-cap index trading with marginal gains.

Market breadth turned positive with 796 gainers and 746 losers on the BSE.

Industrial output likely rose 2.4% in August, shows poll

Economy & Policy.

India's industrial output likely bounced back in August from a four-month low, driven by solid growth in core industries, although a broader economic recovery is likely still some distance away, a Reuters poll found.

Production at factories, mines and utilities likely rose an annual 2.4% in August, up from July's 0.5% rise, according to a survey of 26 economists. The government will release the output data on Friday.

The consensus reflects optimism about higher production in the electricity, cement, coal and steel industries.

Data last week showed output in eight core industries, which account for more than a third of overall factory production, rose 5.8% in August on a year earlier, up from 2.7% in July.

But manufacturing output has more catching up to do. Growth in the sector is well below the near 10% peak in late 2009 and 2011 - in part due to stubbornly-high inflation and borrowing costs which have led to weak investment and demand.

"The more important point really is that even if it (factory output) shows a slight pickup...it is still extremely weak and shows a lot more work still needs to done," said Shilan Shah, economist at Capital Economics.

Private surveys tell a similar story. Factory activity expanded at its weakest pace in nine months in September as growth in new orders slowed, according to HSBC's PMI survey of businesses.

"PMIs in the last couple of months have...fallen back and although the relationship isn't exactly one-to-one, (they) suggest that IP is going to remain very weak," Shah added.

The afterglow of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's election victory in May helped India's lumbering economy register its fastest growth in two-and-a-half years for the quarter ended in June.

But Modi is yet to launch big-bang reforms needed to propel the economy back to a near double-digit annual growth and bring down stubbornly high inflation. Soaring prices of essential food items have squeezed India's consumers and in turn, has hurt capital investment.

India home to 1 in 3 of the world's poor in 2011

India was home to about a third of the world's poor in 2011, according to a progress report on various social indicators from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), issued on Wednesday. In other words, the highest number of the poor lived in India  in 2011.

China, whose population is more than our billion-plus number, had only eight per cent, says data given in the Global Monitoring Report 2014-15.

The report said three-fifths of the world’s poor resided in only five countries in 2011 —India, Nigeria, China, Bangladesh and Congo. Between India and China was Nigeria, which had 10 per cent of the world’s poor. Bangladesh had six per cent and Congo had five per cent.

If another five countries —Ethiopia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Madagascar and Tanzania —are taken into account, a little over 70 per cent of the world’s poor resided in these 10 nations.

There were 1.01 billion poor in 2011 in the world (14.5 per cent of the population in the world), of which 30 per cent lived in India. This meant 300 million in India. India’s total population was 1.21 bn in 2011. The estimate is 24.7 per cent of India's population as poor in 2011, by the World Bank measure of so classifying anyone spending less than $1.25 a day.

The bright side is that the Bank had earlier given poverty figures for 2010 in India and that showed 32.68 per cent of the population as poor. This meant a reduction by almost eight percentage points in a year. And, in 2008, 41.6 per cent of Indians were poor, according to Bank estimates. These figures are based on purchasing power parity of 2005.

The latest report noted this in saying the world’s most populous countries, China and India, have played a central role in the global reduction of poverty. “Together, they lifted 232 million people out of poverty from 2008 to 2011,” it said.

The Bank’s calculation was close to India’s official figure for poverty at 21.9 per cent in 2011-12. The estimate depends on the way the poverty line is defined. The official figure for 2011-12 was based on the Suresh Tendulkar method, according to which the line was Rs 33 a day expenditure by a person in urban areas and Rs 27 in villages.

After this was criticised, the government appointed a panel headed by C Rangarajan, then the Prime Minister’s economic advisory council head. This panel found 29.5 per cent of India's population was poor in 2011-12. The committee took the poverty line as Rs  47 expenditure a day in urban areas and Rs 32 in villages.

If the World Bank’s poverty line of $1.25 daily expenditure is raised to $1.51, which was done by the Asian Development Bank, close to half of India’s population was poor (47.5 per cent) in 2010.

World Bank Vice-President and chief economist Kaushik Basu admitted the poverty line  could drawing a flak but also said the larger issue is the huge number of poor in the world.

“If it is shocking to have a poverty line as low as $1.25 per day and it is even more shocking that 1/7th of the world’s population lives below this line,” said Basu.

According to the IMF-Bank report, 17 per cent of the developing countries’ population was poor in 2011 and this is projected to come down to 5.7 per cent in 2030. Taking the narrower group of South Asia, 24.5 per cent of the population was poor in 2011, roughly the same as with India. By 2030, no more than 2.1 per cent of South Asia’s population is projected to be poor.

By 2030, 4.9 per cent of the world’s population is forecast to be poor. The Bank aims to bring it down to three per cent by then. Even in 2030, as much as 23.6 per cent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa is forecast to be poor.

The report laid stress on skills education to raise employability among youth. It quoted a study to emphasise that as many university and college graduates are poorly trained in India, companies in the software, banking, pharmacautical and retail sectors are increasingly designing their own training programmes and even building campuses to train recruits.

Markets open higher; Nifty reclaims 7,900

Markets opened higher, amid firm global cues, helped by a rebound in information technology shares and gains in capital goods shares led by BHEL.

At 9:30AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 264 points at 26,511 and the 50-share Nifty was up 81 points at 7,923.

Asian stocks firmed up tracking overnight gains on Wall Street and weakness in the dollar after the minutes of the latest Fed meeting highlighted worries over downside risks to the global economy. Shares in Japan edged higher but a stronger yen capped upside gains. The Nikkei was up 0.5%. Shares in Hong Kong rebounded after recent correction and the Hang Seng was up 1.2% while Shanghai Composite was up 0.1% and Straits Times was up 0.8%.

Major US stock indices surged nearly 2% as the minutes of the September meeting indicated that the US Federal Reserve would not hike interest rates for a "considerable time". The S&P 500 and Nasdaq recorded their biggest single-day gains since October 2013. The Dow Jones ended up 275 points at 16,994.22, the broader S&P 500 ended up 34 points at 1,968.89 and the tech-laden Nasdaq closed 83 points higher at 4,468.59.

"For today the Nifty has to hold above its crucial 7880 levels to see the support base buying action in the market towards 7920-7935 levels. On downside crucial support exists at 7815-7800 zones and below which the market may correct towards 7777-7750 levels. We have IT major INFY results this Friday so traders need to trade cautiously," Anand Rathi Research said in a note.

Infosys rebounded from Wednesday's nearly 5% drop following a downgrade by Citigroup and was trading over 1% higher ahead of its second quarter earnings due tomorrow. TCS was also up nearly 1% while Wipro was up 0.4%. Tech Mahindra was also trading with marginal gains after the sharp correction following a downgrade by Citigroup.

All sectoral indices on the BSE were trading in the green. The BSE Capital Goods index was the top gainer up 1.5% followed by Metal, Realty, Bankex and Healthcare among others.

BHEL was up nearly 4% after the company received a huge EPC order for 2x660MW rating Supercritical Power Project from TN Generation and Distribution Corp Ltd valued at Rs 7,800 crore. L&T was also up 1%.

Pharma shares which witnessed selling pressure following reports of US Congress prive probe also rebounded and were trading with gains. Dr Reddy's Labs, Cipla and Sun Pharma were up 0.8-1.5% each.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were up over 1% each.

Market breadth was strong with 1,220 gainers and 264 losers on the BSE.

Markets open weak;Infosys down 1%.

Markets have opened weak tracking the decline in their Asian peers. Appreciating Yen and slump in Gemany's factory output supressed Asian markets. Uncertainty about global economic health increased as IMF's World Economic Report (WEO) reduced the global growth estimate from 3.4% to 3.3%.

Foreign funds were net sellers in equities to the tune of Rs 332.84 crore on Tuesday.

Later in the day market movement is likely to get affected by the minutes of the Forward Open Market Committee's last policy meeting.

“The global correction that is happening is finally catching up with Indian markets. There are worries regarding global liquidity, with the US stimulus programme ending and talks of an interest rate hike,” said Hemant Kanawala, head of equity, Kotak Life Insurance.

At 9.15 AM, Sensex is trading at with a lossof 25points while Nifty is at 7844with a loss of 6 points.

The WEO however, is bullish on the growth outlook of India. It revised growth forecasts of India for this financial year from 5.4% to 5.6% while attributing its new stance to  the favourable policies of the National Democratic Alliance government. Next year forecast remains at 6.4%.

“India has recovered from its relative slump and, thanks in part to policy and a renewal of confidence, growth is expected to exceed five per cent again,” IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard said in a statement released by the Fund on Tuesday.

Asian markets were trading lower on Wednesday amid growth concerns in China. Further, China's services sector growth slipped in September as new business cooled, a private survey showed on Wednesday, reinforcing signs of a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy. The services purchasing managers' index (PMI) compiled by HSBC/Markit pulled back to 53.5 in September from a 17-month high of 54.1 in August.

Shares in Japan were down on the back of a stronger yen. The benchmark Nikkei was down 1.5%. Hang Seng slipped 0.8% while shares in mainland China were trading marginally lower. Further, Straits Times was down 0.5%.

US stock ended lower on Tuesday amid growth concerns in Germany industrial output in August slumped to 4%, the highest fall in 5 1/2 years. The Dow Jones ended down 272 points at 16,719.39, the broader S&P 500 slipped 30 points to close at 1,935.10 and the tech-laden Nasdaq ended down 70 points at 4,385.20