Sensex up 214 pts, Nifty ends at 8430; HUL & L&T gain 3-4%

03:30 pm Market close: After a volatile session, the market has ended with handsome gains with major support by banks and capital goods stocks. The Sensex ended up 214.09 points or 0.8 percent at 27890.13, and the Nifty was up 51.95 points or 0.6 percent at 8429.70. About 1379 shares have advanced, 1379 shares declined, and 180 shares are unchanged.

Even after a weak monsoon forecast, HUL gained 4 percent. Other top gainers in the Sensex were Axis Bank, L&T, Hero and Dr Reddy's Labs. Wipro lost 6 percent post poor Q1FY16 guidance. ONGC, SBI, Hindalco and Infosys also slipped.

03:20 pm Rupee bonds: Indian Railways Finance Corp, the finance arm of Asia's largest rail network, plans to raise up to $1 billion through offshore rupee bonds, making it the first domestic issuer to eye so-called "masala" debt to diversify its source of funds.

The Reserve Bank of India gave Indian companies the green light to raise bonds offshore in rupees earlier this month, a move seen as a small step towards full rupee convertibility, one of the objectives set by Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan when he took charge in 2013.

Rajan has since said full capital account convertibility, which would allow foreign investors to repatriate money at will, could happen in "a short number of years".

03:10 pm Market update: It has been a roller coaster ride on Dalal Street. The Nifty is tad below 8450-level, up 51.80 points or 0.6 percent at 8429.55, at 8430. The Sensex is up 197.46 points or 0.7 percent at 27873.50.

02:59pm Mastek in Focus: Smallcap IT firm Mastek disappointed street with its fourth quarter earnings. Profit after tax dropped 26 percent sequentially to Rs 6.44 crore on account of weak operational performance and lower other income.

Revenue grew 2.8 percent to Rs 276.1 crore during January-March quarter from Rs 268.6 crore in December quarter and increased 4.7 percent in constant currency terms.

Operating profit (EBITDA) slipped 20 percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 16.24 crore and margin declined 167 basis points to 5.88 percent in the quarter gone by.

Other income during March quarter was Rs 1.23 crore, down 72.2 percent compared to Rs 4.43 crore December quarter.

The bottomline was also impacted by increase in products research and development expenses that increased to Rs 17.1 crore in March quarter (6.2 percent of operating revenue) from Rs 14.3 crore (5.3 percent of operating revenue) in December quarter.

02:46pm Market recovers: Volatile equity benchmarks recouped losses in late trade, supported by private banks, healthcare and stocks like L&T and HUL. The Sensex rose 45.74 points to 27721.78 and the Nifty advanced 5.55 points to 8383.30.

About 1115 shares have advanced, 1544 shares declined, and 179 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

L&T climbed over 2 percent on winning orders worth Rs 2,674 crore. HUL surged over 3 percent and Dr Reddy's gained 2 percent.

02:40pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks recovered supported by private banks. The Sensex fell 56.73 points to 27619.31 and the Nifty declined 26.80 points to 8350.95.

About 1058 shares have advanced, 1594 shares declined, and 176 shares are unchanged on the BSE. 

02:35pm FII View: Brokerage firm Credit Suisse has maintained its 10 percent overweight stance on India, buoyed by economic recovery and a significant fall in inflation.

Credit Suisse believes Prime Minister Narendra Modi's structural economic reform programme is already bearing fruit and India merits an exclusion from the 'fragile five.'

Some concerns notwithstanding, the brokerage says it prefers India over Brazil in the emerging markets (EMs) space.

"Our MSCI India regression model suggests the greatest potential upside in global emerging markets (GEM)," says the report,

However, the report added that the negative top and bottom line revisions is making the firm nervous about maintaining the 'overweight' call

02:25pm DoT to meet telcos: Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today said the Department of Telecom (DoT) will soon call a meeting of all service providers to look into the problem of frequent call drops being faced by customers.

"I have asked my officials to call a meeting of all service providers regarding call drops faced by customers," Prasad told PTI. Operators will be asked to improve quality of service, he added.

A group of BJP MPs have also complained to the Minister regarding frequent 'call dropping', excess billing and non-transparency by some private telecom operators.

The parliamentarians demanded action against the private telecom operators after proper investigation and alleged that the companies were not hearing complaints of the customers.

Mobile phone users have been complaining about the call drops, but telecom operators have not lived up to their expectations to rectify the problems and provide a good communication network.

02:00pm Market Check

Equity benchmarks extended fall for the sixth straight session, down 0.8 percent on weak monsoon forecast. Banks, technology, oil & gas, auto and metals dragged.

The Sensex, which lost more than 1600 points in last 6 trading sessions, declined 205.39 points to 27470.65 and the Nifty slipped 70.75 points to 8307 today.

About 977 shares have advanced, 1659 shares declined, and 176 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

The Indian Met Department released its first official monsoon forecast for 2015 and predicted below normal monsoon this year. MET said rainfall is seen at 93 percent of long term average in 2015, adding 35 percent probability of monsoon rainfall will remain below normal.

Vibhav Kapoor of IL&FS said earnings season will be more difficult than anticipated. The range for the Nifty has moved lower to 7600-8600 over next 2 months, according to him.

On the crucial subject of restrospective tax payment for FIIs, minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha said the government cannot withdraw MAT notices sent to FIIs, The government is going by the authority of advance rulings which clearly stated that FIIs need to pay MAT and foreign investors are free to appeal against it.

The rupee weakened to 62.91 against a close of 62.85 a dollar yesterday due to fresh dollar demand from importers and strong dollar against other currencies overseas. Weak equity market also dampened sentiment. For More information please visit this site www.appsmine.org