Sensex, Nifty weak; BPCL falls 2%, Nalco gains 8%

Moneycontrol Bureau

9:55 am Market check: There is a sudden dip in market as the Sensex is down 54.99 points at 27953.91 and the Nifty is down 22.30 points  at 8361. About 961 shares have advanced, 946 shares declined, and 64 shares are unchanged.

9:45 am Buzzing: Shares of National Aluminum Company rose 10 percent intraday after it announced strong September quarter results. The  state-run aluminium maker reported 91 percent jump in net profit to Rs 341.52 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2014-15, on higher income.

The company had clocked Rs 179.17 crore net profit in the July-September quarter of the last fiscal, it said in a BSE filing.

Total income of the company rose to Rs 1,996 crore from Rs 1,738 crore a year earlier. Total expenses of the company rose to Rs 1,625 crore from Rs 1,599 crore. Tax expenses also increased to Rs 198 crore from Rs 83 crore.

9:35 pm Results: Steel maker Tata Steel has reported a 36.8 percent jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,254 crore for the July-September quarter led by income from land sale in Mumbai. Profit in the year-ago period was Rs 916.8 crore. The company earned an exceptional gain of Rs 1,145 crore on account of completion of sale of a land at Borivali, Mumbai. If this exceptional income removes from profit, then earnings missed street expectations on every front. In Q2FY14, there was a deferred tax credit of Rs 390.02 crore.

Profit was expected at Rs Rs 593 crore on revenue of Rs 35,990 crore for the quarter, according to the average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18. Consolidated total income from operations fell by 2.4 percent to Rs 35,777.11 crore in the quarter ended September 2014 compared to Rs 36,644.9 crore in same quarter last year.

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The market has opened on a strong note again. The Sensex is up 79.83 points at 28088.73 and the Nifty is up 21.95 points at 8405.25. About 544 shares have advanced, 148 shares declined, and 23 shares are unchanged.

Sesa Sterlite, M&M, Wipro, Hero MoroCorp and ONGC are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Dr Reddy's Labs, Tata Steel, ITC and HUL. BPCL is down 2 percent. Among the midcaps, Nalco is up 8 percent.

The Indian rupee opened flat at 61.48 per dollar versus 61.51 Wednesday. Britain's pound fell to a 14-month low against the dollar on Wednesday as investors pushed back rate-increase expectations to late 2015 after the Bank of England forecast low inflation. The dollar rose more modestly against other major currencies.

Mohan Shenoi of Kotak Mahindra Bank said," Gradual dollar strength is continuing globally. Better than expected IIP and CPI data is positive for Indian stock markets which should keep rupee well supported. The USD-INR is expected to trade today in a range of Rs 61.20-61.50/dollar."

Global cues, meanwhile are mixed with the US markets ending flat as investors mulled the slowdown in Europe. European markets closed with sharp losses and Asia too is trading in the red.

In commodities, WTI crude closed at a three-year low with prices under pressure from the growing oil glut created by the US shale boom and the restart of Libya’s largest operational oilfield. Brent slipped below USD 80 dollars per barrel. Gold hovers around USD 1160 an ounce.