Volatile Nifty holds 8350; ITC, Tata Motors, BHEL weak

Moneycontrol Bureau

10:58am Market Update: The Sensex declined 49.94 points to 27593.94 and the Nifty fell 15.50 points to 8354.75.

About 995 shares have advanced, 1005 shares declined, and 138 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

10:40am Interview: VRL Logistics expects a double-digit revenue growth this year. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Sunil Nalavadi, chief financial officer, VRL Logistics says stagnant fuel and freight prices drove goods transport business.

He expects to maintain margins and topline growth in FY16, by expanding passenger business with a national permit.

10:20am FII View on earnings: Bhuvnesh Singh, Barclays said with one week to go before the end of the earnings season and 60 of the BSE 100 companies having reported their quarterly earnings thus far, the EPS 'beats' and 'misses' stand at 20/60 (33 percent) and 28/60 (47 percent) respectively.

Most 'misses' thus far have been reported in consumer discretionary, IT, healthcare and materials sectors while industrials have had the highest 'beats', he added.

According to him, the Reuters consensus FY16 EPS growth estimate now stands at 19.7 percent although the absolute EPS number for FY16 has seen a 270 bps downward revision since the start of the earnings season on April 1. All sectors have seen downward revisions to their FY16 earnings estimates, said Singh.

10:00am Market Check

The market remained under pressure amid consolidation with the Nifty holding 8350 level. FMCG, oil & gas, auto, capital goods and private banks stocks saw selling pressure while select technology, metals and telecom stocks gained.

The Sensex fell 46.39 points to 27597.49 and the Nifty declined 12.35 points to 8357.90. About 890 shares have advanced, 770 shares declined, and 129 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

Tata Motors and BHEL declined 1 percent each ahead of fourth quarter earnings today. A CNBC-TV18 poll expects BHEL's net sales to come in lower by 12.9 percent at Rs 12,854 crore while PAT is expected to come down 57.5 percent at Rs 783 crore.

Tata Motors's consolidated numbers are expected to be a muted because of JLR’s product transition phase while standalone business (domestic) is seen some improvement during the quarter due to rebound in passenger vehicle and medium & heavy commercial vehicle sales.

Tech Mahindra also fell over 2 percent ahead of numbers. A CNBC-TV18 poll expects dollar revenue to come in higher by 7.7 percent at USD 996 million but PAT may take a hit of 11.4 percent to Rs 713 crore as its margins are expected to contract 260 basis points.

ITC remained under pressure for the second day, down nearly 1 percent. Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, L&T, ONGC, HUL and Wipro declined 0.5-1 percent while Infosys, SBI, Bharti Airtel, M&M, Hero Motocorp, Vedanta and Coal India gained 0.5-1.5 percent.