Food Minister seeks import duty hike on crude and refined edible oils

With the intent of restricting oil imports and protecting domestic farmers, the government is mulling over an issue of raising import duty on crude and refined edible oils, among other matters. In the wake of local prices of oil falling to historic lows due to cheaper imports from Malaysia and Indonesia, Industry body Solvent Extractors Association (SEA) has been demanding a duty hike in crude edible oils to 10% and on refined edible oils to 25%. Further, in the meeting held between the Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday, besides the import duty issue, problems faced by sugar mills in availing loans sanctioned through the Sugar Development Fund (SDF) along with the issue of additional budget allocation for FCI were discussed. Paswan, primarily, briefed Finance Minister about the current impasse between the UP sugar mills and the state government over cane price policy. The food minister was in the favour of relaxing certain norms so that sugar mills could avail loans easily from SDF, while seeking additional budget allocation for state-run Food Corporation of India (FCI) for giving food subsidies this fiscal. A budget allocation of Rs 92,000 crore has been made against the requirement of Rs 1,47,700 crore for this fiscal.

Sensex, Nifty consolidate; auto, FMCG stocks under pressure

Equity benchmarks remained positive amid consolidation. The Sensex climbed 52.62 points to 26903.67 and the Nifty rose 16.40 points to 8030.95. About 982 shares have advanced, 921 shares declined, and 77 shares are unchanged on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Banking and financial stocks supported the market. Top lender State Bank of India and rival HDFC Bank rallied around a percent each while ICICI Bank was up 0.5 percent. Housing finance company HDFC gained 1.8 percent. Dr Reddy's Labs, BHEL and Gail India topped the buying list, up 2-3 percent. Hindalco Industries gained more than a percent. However, commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors and utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra fell more than 1.5 percent on profit taking. Two-wheeler manufacturers Hero Motocorp and Bajaj Auto declined 0.8 percent each while car maker Maruti Suzuki lost 0.4 percent.   Shares of ITC, Sun Pharma, ONGC, Wipro, HUL and NTPC declined 0.5-0.8 percent.

Nifty breaches 8050, Sensex firm; HUL up, Wipro falls 2%

The market continues its uptrend in first session after the auspicious Mahurat trading. The Sensex is up 106.15 points at 26957.20 and the Nifty is up 49.80 points at 8064.35. About 498 shares have advanced, 116 shares declined, and 27 shares are unchanged. Dr Reddy's Labs, TCS, BHEL and HUL are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Wipro, GAIL, Cipla and Sun Pharma. The Indian rupee opened higher by 11 paise at 61.17 per dollar versus 61.28 Wednesday. The euro held firm in early trade after the European Central Bank's stress tests found smaller capital shortfalls among European Banks than expected. Traders will be looking to Germany's IFO business sentiment index due later today. Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity said, "After a long weekend, equity markets are likely to trade sideways and will take cues from global markets for further directions. Rupee is expected to trade firm, although strength in dollar could cap upside moves in rupee altogether. Range for the USD-INR seen between Rs 60.80-61.80/dollar." US stocks climbed on Friday, with Wall Street derailing a four-week slide with its best week this year, as quarterly results from companies including Microsoft and Procter & Gamble inspired investor enthusiasm. In addition, the Federal Reserve will begin its 2-day policy meeting on Tuesday. The fed is expected to end its 3rd round of bond buying with investors eyeing clues on rate hike timings. In Europe, concerns about the results of Europe's bank stress tests and the first Ebola case in New York, weighed on investor sentiment ending the FTSE Friday's session down around half a percent. Moreover, other core indices, CAC and DAX were down around seven tenths of a percent. Brent crude slipped below USD 86 a barrel amid abundant supply and weak demand. And in metals space, gold edged lower as rallying equity markets and strong us economic data dented demand for the precious metal as an insurance against risk.

Sensex, Nifty celebrate Diwali; Hero, Tata Motors gainers

Equity benchmarks continued to see buying interest led by capital goods, auto, healthcare and technology stocks. The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 184.49 points to 26760.14 and the 50-share NSE Nifty jumped 55.75 points to 7983.50. The broader markets gained too with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 1 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively. About 1343 shares have advanced, 545 shares declined, and 62 shares are unchanged on the Bombay Stock Exchange.   Hero Motocorp topped the buying list, up over 3 percent as the two-wheeler maker expects to clock close to 1.5 lakh in retail sales on October 21. "Dhanteras sales of 1.5 lakh will be 40-50 percent growth (YoY)," it said. Tata Motors, Cipla, BHEL, Dr Reddy's Labs and Jindal Steel gained 2 percent each. Kotak Mahindra Bank rose over 2 percent ahead of second quarter earnings today. The CNBC-TV18 poll expects standalone profit after tax to grow 15.2 percent and net interest income to rise 12 percent year-on-year. However, ONGC, Tata Power, Coal India, PNB, NMDC and DLF were only losers. Risa International, KPIT Technologies, Dewan Housing, Den Networks and Tube Investment rallied 5-17 percent while BASF India, Jagran Prakashan, TVS Motor, Biocon and Sobha Developer were down 2-4 percent. 

RIL, Lupin and NMDC to see some action today

Reliance Industries’ (RIL) telecom arm - Reliance Jio Infocomm is merging its two subsidiaries, Infotel Telecom and Rancore Technologies, with itself. The move is aimed at bringing all its telecom related operations under a single entity before launching services. While Reliance Jio has a unified licence, Infotel Telecom has long-distance telephony licences. Rancore is an R&D unit. The merger will enable Reliance Jio to conduct national and international long-distance business under a single licence. The company, which holds 1800 MHz spectrum across 14 circles and 2300 MHz in 22 circles, is gearing up to launch fourth-generation wireless services in 2015. Looking to bolster its overseas presence, drug major Lupin is scouting for acquisition opportunities in the US market, especially in inhalers and injectables segments. The company continues to be on the lookout for meaningful targets, be it brands or technology companies, in inhalation, complex injectables and skin diseases segments. Terming the US as a high growth market for the company, the Mumbai-based firm aims to grow at around 25% in the world’s largest drug market. The company remains the 5th largest and fastest growing top five generic players in the US for the third year now. The Joint Venture company between the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) and state-owned Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corporation (CMDC) would explore 1 million tonne iron ore every year from the new deposit of the Bailadila mines in Dantewada district. Both the mining companies had formed a Joint Venture (JV) in 2008 to develop and explore the deposit 13 in the Bailadila mines where the NMDC has two deposits namely Kirandul and Bacheli. The third mine in Bailadila that had been endowed with rich and world-class iron ore deposit would be developed after nearly 54 years. The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) will hear realty giant DLF’s appeal against the SEBI order that barred the company and six top executives from accessing capital market for three years.  In a major blow to DLF, the order had been passed by Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for active and deliberate suppression of material information at the time of its IPO over seven years ago. DLF’s initial public offer in 2007 had fetched Rs 9,187 crore -- the biggest IPO in the country at that time. SpiceJet has introduced its ‘Diwali Dhamaka’ sale, with one way fares starting as low as Rs 899 (all-inclusive). The fares for the Bangalore-Chennai-Kochi circuit start at Rs 899 while for Bangalore-Goa it is Rs 1,599 and rest of India it is Rs 2,499. The tickets for the offer can be booked between October 21 and October 26 for travel between November 1, 2014 to December 15, 2014. The sale applies to all direct flights on SpiceJet’s domestic network. The fares charged under this offer are non-refundable (taxes and fees are refundable). Changes are permitted for a fee of Rs 2,000 plus applicable fare difference. Tata Motors’ British-based arm Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) sees sales growth in China roughly halving this year and decelerating even further next year due to a larger base of comparison and slower expansion of the world’s largest auto market. JLR opened its first overseas factory in China. By manufacturing locally, the automaker can avoid heavy import duties and price its vehicles more competitively in a fast-growing luxury car market dominated by German brands Audi, BMW and Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz. The cash-strapped National Spot Exchange (NSEL) is set to be merged with its parent, Jignesh Shah-promoted Financial Technologies (India) or FTIL, with the government issuing a draft order to this effect. The order comes about a year after a Rs 5,600-crore payment crisis broke out at NSEL, leaving 13,000 investors in the lurch. The move will help resolve the payment crisis but FTIL will be hit with NSEL’s liabilities. After the order comes into effect, NSEL will be dissolved. This is likely only after two months, as the ministry has given this time to FTIL and NSEL to give suggestions and objections. The worsening asset quality, high levels of restructured loans and elevated provisioning costs - aspects that have troubled Punjab National Bank(PNB) in the last one year - continue to remain concerns. In the recent September quarter, the gross NPAs remained elevated at 5.65 percent of loans, up from 5.4 percent in the June 2014 quarter. The bank’s pile of restructured loans, at 10 percent of total loans is one of the highest among the public sector banks. Provisions for bad loans shot up 63 percent over last year. While PNB’s net profit grew 13.8 percent in the September quarter, it was mainly led by a 73 percent rise in other income. Hindustan Motors has agreed to settle claims of the West Bengal Government worth Rs 194.47 crore for additional profit on the sale of 314 acres of surplus land in its plant in the State in 2006-07. It would transfer to the Government of West Bengal rights to the non-compete fee that it was to receive from Bengal Shriram Hitech City (BSL) as a part of the land sale consideration. The West Bengal Government and Hind Motors have been at loggerheads over the claim for the last couple of years. Hind Motors had sold the land for a total of Rs 295 crore. The company had projected to make a profit of Rs 18 crore and a turnover of Rs 644 crore in the sixth year from 2006.

Nifty gains for 3rd day, ends above 7900; Wipro surges 3%

The market rallied for the third consecutive session on Tuesday with the benchmark Nifty closing above the 7900 level supported by banks, metals, auto and capital goods stocks.   The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 145.80 points to close at 26575.65 and the 50-share NSE Nifty climbed 48.35 points to 7927.75. Even the BSE Midcap and Smallcap close higher, up 0.9 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively. After looking at the kind of reforms announced by the government in last two days, experts expect the market to continue its upward trajectory in the days to come. The Sunday election results, then the couple of announcements that have come about for the coal as well as the diesel deregulation and the gas price hike, I think that changes the pace completely as far as the reforms are concerned, believe Nipun Mehta, founder and chief executive officer, Blue Ocean Capital Advisors. He feels there are going to be more expectations now coming in from the government between now and the finance budget about four months away. Meanwhile, in a move to decide the fate of coal blocks that were de-allocated by the Supreme Court recently, the government on Monday proposed an ordinance to allow e-auction of mines to private players while adding that state-run companies would be allocated mines directly. Auctioning of coal blocks in the next 3-4 months will be a positive for the industry, said Ravi Uppal, CEO and MD of Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL). JSPL rallied more than 7 percent followed by Sesa Sterlite with 4.4 percent gains. Tata Steel and Hindalco Industries climbed over a percent. Capital goods majors BHEL, and Larsen and Toubro rallied 4.3 percent and 1 percent, respectively. Gail India was also one of the top five gainers, up 4.4 percent. Top private sector lender ICICI Bank surged 2.6 percent while rival Axis Bank rose 1.3 percent and State Bank of India was up 0.7 percent. Tata Motors rose 1.5 percent as its subsidiary (British luxury carmaker) Jaguar Land Rover expects its China sales to grow 20 percent this year. Software services exporter Wipro climbed 3 percent ahead of earnings. CNBC-TV18 poll expects dollar revenue to jump 2.45 percent sequentially to USD 1783 million in September quarter. Shares of Bharti Airtel, Maruti Suzuki, NTPC and Hero Motocorp jumped 2-3 percent. However, ONGC and M&M dropped 2.5 percent. Reliance Industries, Infosys and Sun Pharma fell 0.5-1 percent. Coal India slipped 1.6 percent after the Cabinet recommended promulgation of an ordinance that will deal with the process of coal mine allocation of deallocated blocks. Investors of the state-run company are concerned that about the enabling clause within the ordinance that will allow commercial players in the coal mining business, once okayed. It is said this provision will serve as a threat to Coal India to ramp up its production. Earnings HDFC Bank closed flat post second quarter earnings met street expectations. The bank’s Q2 profit rose 20 percent on higher NII and other income year-on-year and asset quality was stable. But public sector lender Punjab National Bank fell 2.6 percent on lower than expected second quarter earnings. Profit grew 14 percent compared to estimates of 142 percent jump and asset quality deteriorated further with the gross non-performing assets rising sequentially (up 51 basis points Y-o-Y) to 5.65 percent from 5.48 percent. South Indian Bank dropped nearly 4 percent as the private sector lender’s second quarter net profit fell 40 percent year-on-year to Rs 76.3 crore dented by sharp jump in provisions. JSW Steel gained nearly 3 percent on beating street expectations on all parameters in second quarter earnings. The steel maker turned profitable, reporting consolidated net at Rs 748.7 crore as against loss of Rs 115.5 crore in the year-ago period. In the midcap space, PTC India Financial, Kalyani Steel, TVS Motor, PFC, Hexaware, SAIL, Apollo Tyres, BGR Energy, REC and Arvind surged 3-7 percent. However, Finacial Technologies tanked 20 percent after the government issued draft order for merger of NSEL with company, saying the entire business of NSEL will be transferred to Financial Technologies. Finance Technologies was not in favour of NSEL's merger with company. Helios and Matheson, Suzlon, Exide Industries, Jindal Saw, Zee Media and HCL Info were down 3-20 percent. About 1504 shares advanced while 1327 shares declined on the Bombay Stock Exchange. 

HDFC Bank Q2 profit rises 20% on higher NII, other income

India's second largest private sector lender  HDFC Bank met street expectations with the second quarter net profit rising 20.1 percent to Rs 2,380 crore compared to Rs 1,982 crore in same quarter last year supported by higher other income and net interest income by impacted by higher provisions. Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest expended, grew by 23.1 percent to Rs 5,511 crore in the quarter ended September 2014 from Rs 4,476.5 crore in the year-ago period while net interest margin expanded 10 basis points sequentially to 4.5 percent from 4.4 percent. Profit was expected at Rs 2,398 crore and net interest income at Rs 5,275 crore for the quarter, according to the average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18. Other income (comprising of fees & commissions, foreign exchange & derivatives, profit on sale of investments) increased 11 percent to Rs 2,047 crore from Rs 1,844 crore during the same period while operating expenses jumped 19.2 percent to Rs 3,497.90 crore from Rs 2,934.2 crore Y-o-Y. Provisions and contingencies jumped 18 percent on yearly basis (down 5.6 percent quarter-on-quarter) to Rs 455.9 crore in the quarter gone by. Asset quality was stable with the gross non-performing assets (NPA) falling to 1.02 percent in second quarter of current financial year 2014-15 compared to 1.07 percent Q-o-Q and 1.09 percent Y-o-Y. Net NPA remained unchanged at 0.3 percent on sequential as well as yearly basis. The bank said total restructure loans were at 0.1 percent of gross advances as of September 2014 as against 0.2 percent in September 2013. In absolute term, gross NPA was flat (up 14.3 percent year-on-year) at Rs 3,362 crore compared to Rs 3,356 crore on sequential basis and net NPA declined 9 percent (up 19.6 percent Y-o-Y) to Rs 917.3 crore from Rs 1,007.4 crore quarter-on-quarter. Advances during the quarter grew by 21.8 percent year-on-year to Rs 3.27 lakh crore driven by domestic retail loans and wholesale loans while deposits jumped 24.8 percent to Rs 3.9 lakh crore in the same period.

Sensex up 150 pts, Bank Nifty at life high; ITC falls 1%

The Nifty sees gains for the third consecutive session retracing back to 7900 as sentiment turned positive with foreign investors returning to Indian market. Metal and cement stocks are also adding strength after the cabinet decision to introduce an ordinance to re-auction the de-allocated coal blocks which will be completed in the next 3-4 months. The Sensex is up 150.35 points at 26580.20, and the Nifty is up 45.30 points at 7924.70. About 1415 shares have advanced, 733 shares declined, and 81 shares are unchanged. The Bank Nifty is at a lifetime high today outperforming the Nifty month-to-date in October with a gain of 6.7 percent in the month versus a 0.44 percent gain for the Nifty. HDFC Bank and PNB also trade higher ahead of Q2 earnings today. Sesa Sterlite, GAIL, BHEL, NTPC and Bharti Airtel are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Coal India, ONGC, Sun Pharma, ITC and M&M. Globally, Asia is mostly lower reacting to a raft of economic data from china. GDP for Q3 in China came in at 7.3 percent slightly better than the estimated 7.2 percent but slower than the 7.5 percent in the previous quarter. September industrial data from China jumped 8 percent beating estimates but retail sales missed estimates.

Idea Cellular reports 69% rise in Q2 consolidated net profit

Idea Cellular has reported results for second quarter ended September 30, 2014. The company has posted a rise of 71.57% in its net profit at Rs 664.60 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2014 as compared to Rs 387.36 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. The company’s total income has registered a growth of 20.80% at Rs 7606.71 crore for quarter under review as compared to Rs 6296.45 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2013. On consolidated basis, the company’s net profit after taxes and minority interest for the quarter under review registered 68.87% growth at Rs 755.88 crore against Rs 447.61 crore in the September quarter of previous fiscal. The company’s total income has increased by 20.36% at Rs 7686.48 crore for the quarter from Rs 6385.91 crore in the similar quarter of previous year.

Sensex, Nifty maintain strong momentum; Nikkei surges 4%

Japan's Nikkei share average surged 4 percent to post its biggest daily rise since June 2013 as investors took heart from upbeat US data and the weaker yen lifted exporters such as Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor Co. Also underpinning the market was news that Japan's USD 1.2 trillion public pension fund will likely raise its allocation to domestic stocks to about 25 percent from 12 percent at present. People familiar with the process told Reuters that a weighting in the middle of the 20-30 percent range is the main proposal for an impending reallocation of the fund's asset mix and is under final discussion within GPIF. The Nikkei share average added 578.72 points to end at 15,111.23, recouping most of the losses posted last week. Upbeat US consumer confidence supported investor sentiment and lifted risk appetites. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment unexpectedly rose in early October to its highest level since July 2007. Separate data showed groundbreaking on new homes rose more than expected last month. Traders said investors scooped up recently-battered stocks after the Nikkei tumbled 5 percent last week on concerns about faltering global growth and the stronger yen, reports Reuters.