Closing Bell: Sensex ends 200 points higher, Nifty falls short of clinching 10000

3:30 pm Market at Close: Driven by steady corporate earnings so far, benchmark indices closed the session on an extremely strong note, but the Nifty failed to achieve 10,000-mark in Monday’s trade.

The Sensex closed up 216.98 points at 32245.87, while the Nifty ended higher by 51.15 points at 9966.40, about 35 points away from the fresh milestone of 10,000. The market breadth was negative as the declines outnumbered the advances. About 1332 shares advanced against a decline of 1388 shares, while 173 shares were unchanged.

Bharti Airtel, Reliance and Wipro were the top gainers on both indices, while Dr Reddy’s Labs, Axis Bank and Vedanta lost the most.

2:59 pm Buzzing: Healthcare firm Divis Laboratories fell as much as 5.6 percent after dismal performance in the quarter ended June 2017.

Profit tanked 41.5 percent year-on-year to Rs 176.54 crore and revenue declined 19.3 percent to Rs 821.20 crore in April-June quarter.

Operating profit fell 39.4 percent to Rs 244.82 crore and margin contracted by 990 basis points to 29.8 percent compared with year-ago quarter despite forex gain of Rs 7.01 crore (against Rs 0.73 crore YoY).

The pharma firm slashed its FY18 revenue growth guidance to (10) percent from 5 percent growth.

2:41 pm Market Check: Benchmark indices continued with its strong uptrend, with the Nifty inching closer towards the 10000-mark.

The Sensex was up 232.57 points at 32261.46, while the Nifty was up 58.25 points at 9973.50. The market breadth was positive, but narrow, as 1452 shares advanced against a decline of 1167 shares, while 158 shares were unchanged.

Wipro and Reliance continued to gain the most, while ONGC and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories were the top losers.

2:25 pm Earnings: Zee Learn's Q1 profit nearly doubled to Rs 12.8 crore from Rs 6.7 crore and revenue grew by 44 percent to Rs 67 crore YoY.

Operating profit jumped 56.8 percent year-on-year to Rs 25 crore and margin expanded to 300 basis points to 37.4 percent in Q1.

2:10 pm Pharma stocks in focus: Dishman Pharma said inspection at arm's Swiss units successfully completed.

Lupin has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for Fluocinonide topical solution.

1:57 pm Results: IRB Infrastructure shares rallied 5 percent after better-than-expected earnings in Q1.

Revenue grew by 19.7 percent and profit increased 30.8 percent YoY. Other income jumped 74.1 percent to Rs 53.5 crore.

1:40 pm Market Check: Benchmark indices remained strong, with the Sensex up 200.41 points at 32,229.30 and the Nifty up 48.85 points at 9,964.10.

The rally was driven by Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, ITC, TCS and Infosys.

About 1442 shares advanced against 1,140 declining shares on the BSE.

1:10 pm Earnings: Indiabulls Real Estate's Q1 consolidated net profit grew by 29.1 percent year-on-year to Rs 152.5 crore and revenue increased 23.4 percent to Rs 1,077 crore.

Operating profit jumped 24.7 percent to Rs 373.7 crore and margin expanded to 34.7 percent from 34.3 percent YoY.

12:54 pm IPO: The Security and Intelligence Services (India) Limited is estimated to raise  Rs 778 crore through its initial public offer or IPO, according to sources.

The company's IPO will open for subscription on July 31, 2017 and close on August 2, 2017. The price band for the IPO is set at Rs 805 t0 Rs 815 and the market lot is of 18 shares and in multiples of 18 thereafter.

The initial offer would comprise fresh issue of Rs 362.25 crore and an offer for sale of Rs 415 crore.

The net proceeds from fresh issue will be utilized for repayment and pre-payment of a portion of certain outstanding indebtedness, funding working capital requirements and for general corporate purposes.

12:34 pm Earnings: Country's second largest private sector lender HDFC Bank started off the year on a strong note by showing impressive growth in earnings on all counts. Profit grew by 20.2 percent year-on-year to Rs 3,893.84 crore despite sharp rise in provisions.

Profitability was driven by net interest income and other income.

The stock price lost ground due to asset quality concerns but immediately recovered to hit fresh record high of Rs 1,725 (up 1.25 percent) after the bank clarified that the rise in asset quality was due to farm loan waiver announced by states in June.

12.05 pm Market Check: Reliance Industries, ITC, technology and banks stocks lifted the Nifty near 10,000 level in noon despite mixed trade in Asia.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 191.60 points at 32,220.49 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 49.85 points at 9,965.10 but the market breadth does not look strong.

About 1,393 shares advanced against 1,030 declining shares on the BSE.

All sectoral indices barring Pharma and Metal traded in green.

11:40 am Alok in focus: Alok Industries shares rallied as much as 13 percent in morning trade after a media report indicated that Aion Capital and SSG Capital are interested to buy controlling stake in the troubled textile company.

Alok Industries, which owes about Rs 23,000 crore to lenders and trade vendors, is one of 12 accounts that already identified by the Reserve Bank of India under Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code in June.

11:20 am Reliance near life high: Oil-to-telecom major Reliance Industries moved closer to its intraday record high of Rs 1,626.05 touched on January 15, 2008.

The stock today hit fresh 52-week high of Rs Rs 1,624.80. It was trading at Rs 1,621.95, up Rs 35.75, or 2.25 percent on the BSE.

11:05 am Plants sale: Amtek Auto shares were locked at 5 upper circuit at Rs 31.15 amid high volumes after subsidiary signed agreement to sell UK plants to Liberty Group.

There were pending buy orders of 63,872 shares, with no sellers available on the BSE, at 11:01 hours IST.

"Amtek Global Technologies Pte. Ltd., subsidiary of Amtek Auto Limited, has entered into an arrangement to sell its UK based subsidiaries' plants to Liberty Group," the company said in its filing on July 21.

Meanwhile, the auto ancillary company's loss widened sharply to Rs 889.6 crore in the quarter ended June 2017, from Rs 319.7 crore in year-ago quarter, hit by lower revenue and exceptional loss.

10:50 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks rallied further, with the Nifty inching towards 10,000-mark. Index heavyweights Reliance Industries and ITC led major support to the market as both contributed 50 percent to Nifty's gains.

Banks and technology stocks also gained strength.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 192.14 points at 32,221.03 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 50.85 points to 9,966.10.

About 1,388 shares advanced against 862 advancing shares on the BSE.

10:40 am Interview: Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) posted a dismal set of earnings in the first quarter ended June, 2017 as profit was down to Rs 234 crores on back of lower crude oil prices versus Rs 1942.4 crore in the last quarter.

Throwing more light on the earnings performance and the outlook going forward, Managing Director, H Kumar said the inventory loss of USD 2.33 per barrel during the last quarter vis a vis and inventory gain of USD 4.72  per barrel during first quarter last fiscal. However, our operating numbers are much higher than Q1 of FY17, he said.

Standalone total income for the quarter was down 20 percent at Rs 14494.6 crore versus Rs 18,108.6 crore reported in the last quarter
The EBITDA was down 63 percent at Rs 582.7 crore versus Rs 1554.1 crore same quarter last fiscal.

When asked about the company's merger with HPCL, he said as of now government is only talking about ONGC acquiring stake in HPCL and MRPL merger has not yet been discussed.

On the business outlook, he said there is a huge potential of higher capacity for polypropylene unit going forward and see an uptick in gross refining margins over the next three quarters. The polypropylene unit was shut for 35 days in Q1.

The gross refining margins for Q1FY18 stood at USD 4.7/bbl versus USD 5.29/bbl year on year.

10:20 am Buzzing: Shares of Avenue Supermarts, the operator of D-Mart retail chain, gained 5.5 percent intraday on the back of strong June quarter (Q1FY18) numbers.

The company's Q1 net profit increased 47.7 percent at Rs 174.7 crore versus Rs 118.4 crore, in the same quarter last fiscal.

Total income of the company was up 35.7 percent at Rs 3,598 crore versus Rs 2,652.4 crore.

The company's operating profit (EBITDA) was up 29.2 percent at Rs 303 crore and EBITDA margin increased at 8.4 percent.

10:08 am Cigarette price hike: ITC shares gained as much as 2.4 percent in morning trade Monday as the cigarette major hiked select product prices following GST Council hiked cess to pre-GST level.

The company increased cigarette prices of its three brands effective July 18, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting sources of Cogencis.

It hiked Gold Flake Kings and Classic Rich prices to Rs 300 per 20 pack each while Navy Cut Filter price increased to Rs 188 per 20 pack.

9:58 am Market Check: Benchmark indices extended gains in morning, with the Nifty hitting 9950 level, backed by ITC.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 134.64 points at 32,163.53 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 32.05 points at 9,947.30.

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

9:45 am Buzzing: Share price of AstraZeneca Pharma advanced 3.5 percent intraday as the company going to launch its drug in India.

The company is going to launch Osimertinib 40 mg and 80 mg in India on July 27, 2017.

Osimertinib is an oral anti-cancer drug for management of lung cancer. It is indicated for the treatment of patients with metastatic epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) T790M mutation-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), as detected by an appropriate test, whose disease has progressed on or after EGFR TKI therapy.

Osimertinib is the product of AstraZeneca group and has been approved in over 45 countries, including US, EU, Japan, China and other Asian countries.

9:35 am Market Outlook: Sanjeev Prasad of Kotak Institutional Equities said the research house believes global macro factors will continue to be more relevant for the Indian market without a stronger domestic economic and earnings recovery.

The Indian market has performed exactly in-line with the EM MSCI Index over the past 12 months. The BSE Sensex rallied 15 percent in last one year.

In model portfolio, Kotak removed Aurobindo Pharma and reduced weight on Reliance Industries, Prasad said.

He further said the research house allocated 100 bps to IOC and included Hindalco Industries. Among metals stocks, it has had recommended positions in JSW Steel, Tata Steel and Vedanta.

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

9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks started off the week on a positive note, with the Nifty and Bank indices opening at record highs.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 51.05 points at 32,079.94 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 9.05 points at 9,924.30. About two shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE.

Lupin gained 2 percent followed by Wipro, Reliance Industries, Coal India and Adani Ports.

Nifty Midcap gained 0.2 percent in early trade. Divis Labs, SREI Infrastructure, MRPL and Persistent Systems lost up to 5 percent.

Tata Sponge, IIFL Holdings, Quess Corp, J&K Bank, GVK Power, Avenue Supermarts, Amtek Auto, Fortis Healthcare, HPCL and Vijaya Bank gained up to 8 percent.