Sensex recovers a bit, Nifty reclaims 8600; Hero, Wipro drag

Moneycontrol Bureau1:45 pm Earnings: State-run oil & gas exploration company ONGC's profit during July-September quarter grew by 17.5 percent sequentially to Rs 4,975 crore, beating analysts' estimates.

Revenue in Q2 increased 3.4 percent to Rs 18,395 crore compared with Rs 17,785 crore in previous quarter.

EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) was up 7.9 percent to Rs 9,100 crore.

ONGC has recommended the issue of bonus shares in the proportion of 1 new equity share for every 2 existing shares.1:35 pm New SEZs: Five developers including KRC Infrastructure and Projects and GAR Corporation have sought the government approval to set up new special economic zones (SEZs).

These applications will be considered at the meeting of the Board of Approval (BoA), headed by Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia, on November 3.

KRC Infrastructure and Projects and Gera Developments have planned for jointly setting up of IT/ITeS SEZ in Pune, over an area of 4.03 hectares.

The BoA meeting agenda said that "a joint developer SEZ proposal has come for the first time. However, there is no guideline as to how it would be operational. Hence submitted to the Board for consideration".

GAR Corporation too has proposed to set up similar two SEZs in Telangana. Similarly, EON Kharadi Infrastructure has sought nod fopr its IT/ITeS zone in Pune.

1:25 pm Market recovers: Equity benchmarks recouped its losses with the Nifty reclaiming 8600 amid volatility ahead of expiry of October derivative contracts.The Sensex was up 11.02 points at 27847.53 and the Nifty fell 13.05 points to 8602.20 but the market breadth remained weak.About 1571 shares declined against 970 advancing shares on the BSE.1:15 pm Earnings: Maruti Suzuki surpassed analysts' expectations on bottomline as well as topline front but operating profit margin was lower than estimates. Profit shot up 60.2 percent year-on-year to Rs 2,398 crore on other income, operational income and volume growth.

Revenue during the quarter grew by 29.3 percent to Rs 20,296.8 crore compared with Rs 15,699.7 crore in same period last year.

Profit was estimated at Rs 1,868 crore on revenue of Rs 18,222 crore for the quarter, according to analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.Also read - ONGC Q2 profit seen up 3%, operational earnings may be strong1:00 pm Market Check

The market is still under pressure but recovered a bit as the Sensex is down 79.20 points or 0.3 percent at 27757.31. The Nifty is down 40.85 points or 0.5 percent at 8574.40. About 879 shares have advanced, 1628 shares declined, and 191 shares are unchanged.

HDFC, Dr Reddy's Labs, ITC, Sun Pharma and Cipla are top gainers while Asian Paints, Hero MotoCorp, Wipro and Lupin are losers in the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Varun Lohchab, Managing Director and Head of Research Religare Capital Markets says the second quarter of current fiscal will see volumes for fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) bottom out, says

He says Hindustan Unilever (HUL) volumes have also bottomed out and he does not see a V-shaped recovery in its volume growth.

He sees a same-store sale growth (SSSG) at 5-6 percent for the next year for Jubilant Foodwork. He adds that Jubilant's growth in the second quarter has come at the cost of margins.