ARC's suggestions sought by RBI for NPA revival

The cap has to be below 50% as per the ARC demand which could not be changed by the RBI. The issue is due to be taken up with the government since it needed to be amended in the Sarfaesi Act.

Banks need to find measures in order to price bad loans in a realistic way, said RBI governor Raghuram Rajan in a meeting at RBI’s office, attended by bankers, ARCs and PE chiefs, including Sanjay Nayar of KKR and Renuka Ramnath of Multiples Alternate Asset Management.

The governor sought suggestions from rom asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) and private equity (PE) firms on reviving stressed assets.

The cap has to be below 50% as per the ARC demand which could not be changed by the RBI. The issue is due to be taken up with the government since it needed to be amended in the Sarfaesi Act, said a Financial Express report.

Earlier in a report, the ARCs had mentioned that buying stressed assets would not be possible unless they are permitted to raise funds from various avenues.

The capital base of all ARCs is  Rs 3,000 crore, whereas the total bad loans in the public sector banks (PSBs) are around Rs 2.67 lakh crore. Owing to deficient sophistication required by domestic players to understand risks and opportunities in the asset reconstruction sector, raising local capital is difficult, said Vinayak Bahuguna, Arcil MD and CEO, in the FE report.

Vedanta Turns Flat After Rising 2%, Q1 Net Meets Estimates

Shares of Vedanta Limited rose as much 2 per cent on Thursday but gave up most of the early gains in later trade. The mining and energy company, which has been hit by a slump in crude prices and mining bans in key producing states, posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 866 crore for its fiscal first quarter to June 30.

The net profit was in line with estimates.

That compared with a profit of Rs 376 crore in the same period last year, which was hurt by a one-time charge of Rs 2,128 crore. Excluding the impact of one-off charge, the company's first-quarter profit was 35.4 per cent lower than a year earlier.

Consolidated net sales fell marginally to Rs 16,952 crore in the June quarter from Rs 17,056 crore a year earlier at Vedanta, which has interests in oil and gas, iron ore, zinc, copper, power and aluminium.

Chief Executive Tom Albanese said on a conference call Vedanta was hoping to get approvals as early as next month to restart a few mines in Goa and was positioned to restart mining at a rate of 5.5 million tonnes a year.

He said the current low international prices coupled with royalties and export taxes were challenging and the company would look to sell as much ore as it could to domestic mills.

Essar Oil Gets Stock Exchange Nod for Delisting

 Essar Oil has received approvals from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange) to delist its shares, its managing director and CEO L K Gupta said on Wednesday.

Delisting the company would give promoter Ruia brothers - Shashikant and Ravikant - greater flexibility and less regulatory scrutiny while selling a stake in the refiner.

"NSE and BSE approval have now been received. The promoters will now have to make announcement and reverse book building start," he told PTI from Mumbai.

The entire process to delist shares may take up to 2 months, he said.

Essar Oil had earlier this year signed a non-binding term sheet for sale of up to 49 per cent stake in the company to Russian oil firm Rosneft for an undisclosed amount.

Mr Gupta said the Rosneft deal was conditional upon various factors such as due diligence, determination of the transaction price, execution of definitive transaction documents and receipt of requisite approvals.

He did not give a timeframe for concluding the deal.

Essar Oil's board had approved the delistng plan a year back but the proposal was put on hold in November, 2014 after capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) asked for a halt.

The firm's UK-based parent Essar Energy delisted its shares from the London Stock Exchange in June last year. Essar Energy holds 71.22 per cent in Essar Oil.

Essar Oil will make an offer to buy back 137 million shares, or a 27.53 per cent stake, held by the public and other non-promoters.

Under Sebi's new delisting rules, a firm wanting to delist has to ensure that its promoter shareholding reaches at least 90 per cent after acquiring shares from the public, or if at least 25 per cent of the public shareholders tender their shares in a reverse book-building process.

This is Ruia brothers' second attempt to delist Essar Oil after their failed attempt in 2007. Essar Energy Holdings Ltd's January 2007 plan to delist the company in order to gain higher "flexibility in the operations and management of the company" failed due to protest from minority shareholders.

Essar Oil operates a 20 million tons oil refinery at Vadinar in Gujarat. The refinery, the second biggest unit in the country, has a complexity of 11.8, among most complex refineries globally, enabling it to earn higher margins.        

Asian Shares, US Dollar Move Higher on Federal Reserve Optimism

Hong Kong: Asian stocks tiptoed higher on Thursday and the dollar consolidated recent gains after the US Federal Reserve painted a relatively bright picture of the world's biggest economy, but a deepening sell-off in commodities kept gains in check.

Prospects of stronger US growth in coming months lifted Asian stocks in early trade, with Japan's Nikkei up 1.2 per cent and Australian shares adding 0.7 per cent. But South Korean shares fell 0.7 per cent.

A dollar-denominated index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.4 percent after Chinese stocks had a quiet opening.

Gains were muted before the earnings season kicks off in full throttle next week, when companies are broadly expected to post disappointing results on the back of weak economic data in recent months, particularly for trade.

Gavekal strategists noted that Asia's trade performance had been disappointing in recent months. After a two-year post-crisis rebound in 2010-2011, export growth in the region has slowed to an annual average of 7.5 percent in U.S. dollar terms and 6 percent in volume terms this year compared to U.S. dollar growth rates of 30 percent in the years before the crisis.

"The markets still think that the world's economy remains fragile, given a fall in Chinese shares and commodity prices. The Fed surely doesn't want to screw up its exit from zero rates by hastily moving and hitting already fragile commodities market and the world economy," said Tohru Yamamoto, chief fixed income strategist at Daiwa Securities.

Subdued external demand is expected to weigh on corporate earnings, with CLSA strategists expecting first-half earnings growth at Hong Kong and Chinese companies to be weak and guidance for the third quarter unlikely to be better.

Chinese equities are already a third lower than their June highs.

On Wall Street, U.S. stocks rose broadly on the Fed's optimism and strong corporate earnings, with the S&P 500 rising 0.7 percent to 2,108.57.

After a two-day policy meeting, Fed officials said they felt the economy had overcome a first-quarter slowdown and was "expanding moderately", leaving the door open for an interest rate increase in coming months.

Commodities extended their decline, with copper, considered a bellwether for global economic activity, trading near a six-year low at $5,322 a tonne.

The broad Thomson Reuters CRB commodities index also hit a six-year low.

Oil prices, smarting from supply concerns due to rising U.S. shale oil output and an easing of sanction on Iran, rose after weekly data showed an unexpectedly large drawdown in U.S. crude inventories.

Front-month Brent crude futures rose overnight to settle at $53.38 a barrel, recovering from Tuesday's six-month low of $52.28.

In the currency market, the dollar index rose to 97.160, having rebounded from Monday's two-week low of 96.288.

The euro fell 0.2 percent to $1.0964, near its lowest level of the week. In recent weeks, the euro has tended to fall when risk appetite is strong as it is used as a funding currency for investment in risk assets.

The dollar rose about 0.1 percent in early Asian trade to 124.075 yen, hitting its highest level so far this week. 

Sensex Likely to Open Higher on Positive Global Cues

9:00 a.m.: Rupee opens lower at 63.96 per dollar against Wednesday's close of 63.91.

8:45 a.m.: Infra companies will be in limelight today as the Cabinet on Wednesday approved creation of a Rs 20,000-crore National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), a sort of sovereign fund, for development of infrastructure projects, including the stalled ones.

8:30 a.m.: Below are the stocks which will be in focus today:

Nestle: Nestle came out with its first quarter numbers post the market hours on Wednesday. Nestle posted loss of Rs 64.4 crore compared to profit of Rs 287.8 crore, its sales fell to Rs 1,957 crore compared to Rs 2,432 crore during the same quarter last year.

NHPC: NHPC reported net profit of Rs 762.2 crore compared to Rs 616 crore (YoY).

Wabco India: Wabco India posted good set of first quarter numbers. Wabco's revenues came in at Rs 385 crore compared to Rs 323 crore. Its net profit rose 55 per cent to Rs 47.5 crore.

Blue Dart: Blue Dart's net profit jumped 35 per cent to Rs 46 crore and its sales advanced 17.6 per cent to Rs 620 crore.

8:15 a.m.: On the policy front, the cabinet on Wednesday cleared the amendments to the Goods and Services Tax Bill to compensate states for revenue loss for five years.

8:10 a.m.: Foreign institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 186.24 crore on Thursday while the domestic institutional investors purchased shares worth Rs 642.69 crore.

8:00 a.m.: Derivative contracts for the month of July will expire today. Analysts say that there could be some volatility in the markets due to the expiration of July futures and options contracts.

7:50 a.m.: The Sensex and Nifty are likely to open higher tracking positive global cues. The SGX Nifty was also indicating a positive start for the Indian markets. The Nifty futures contract traded on the Singapore Stock Exchange was up 0.2 per cent or 15 points at 8,395.

Meanwhile, the Asian markets were trading with a positive bias after U.S. Federal Reserve said it saw the economy and jobs continuing to strengthen, helping lift the dollar as traders bet that higher U.S. interest rates were around the corner.

FOMC's brief policy statement, at the end of a two-day meeting, gave no fresh sign of their thinking on when they will embark on an expected series of rate increases.

Reacting to this development, Japan's Nikkei advanced 1.4 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 0.7 per cent and Shanghai Composite was up 0.2 per cent.

Overnight, the US stocks finished stronger on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve said the economy and job market continued to strengthen and left its key interest rate unchanged.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.69 per cent to end at 17,751.39. The S&P 500 gained 0.73 per cent to 2,108.57 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.44 per cent to finish at 5,111.73.

Pidilite Industries Shares Surge 5% As Q1 Net Jumps 33%

Pidilite Industries shares surged as much as 4.6 per cent on Wednesday after the manufacturer of adhesives and chemicals posted strong June quarter earnings.

Pidilite Industries, which owns the Fevicol brand of adhesives, reported a 33 per cent jump in net profit for the quarter ended June 30, 2015. Its net profit rose to Rs 225 crore in the June quarter from Rs 168 crore during the same quarter of the previous year.

Revenues for the quarter rose nearly 9 per cent to Rs 1,479.9 crore, from Rs 1,361.7 crore a year earlier. It operating income for the quarter jumped to Rs 311 crore, compared with Rs 215 crore a year earlier. Analysts said it benefited from lower raw material cost with crude prices falling sharply.

Wall Street Ends Sharply Higher as China Jitters Ebb

U.S. stocks ended sharply higher on Tuesday, breaking a five-day losing streak as attention shifted from trouble in Chinese equities to U.S. corporate earnings and to speculation the first Federal Reserve interest rate hike may not come until December.

The Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 chalked up gains of more than 1 per cent, while the Nasdaq Composite lagged slightly.

After the S&P sank over the past week towards the low end of a range it has traded in since February, some investors wagered the market was primed for a technical bounce-back.

"The S&P has had five down days in a row and a lot of people are starting to nibble," said Michael Matousek, head trader at U.S. Global Investors Inc in San Antonio, which manages about $1 billion.

Market sentiment also reflected expectations the Fed would wait until December, rather than September, to raise interest rates for the first time since 2006, Matousek added.

With a two-day Fed policy meeting ending on Wednesday, investors are looking for hints about the timing of that rate increase. No move on rates is expected this week.

"September is possible but the probability for a December rate hike is increasing," said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.09 per cent, to end the session at 17,630.27. The S&P 500 gained 1.24 per cent to 2,093.25 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.98 per cent to finish at 5,089.21.

All the 10 major S&P 500 sectors rose, with the energy index leaping 2.99 per cent as oil prices recovered from near six-month lows.

U.S. consumer confidence weakened in July to its lowest level since September, due in part to a less optimistic outlook on the labour market.

Ongoing uncertainty related to China's stock market, which closed lower again on Tuesday, took a backseat to U.S. corporate earnings.

With second-quarter reports well under way, analysts now expect overall earnings of S&P 500 companies to edge up 0.3 per cent and revenue to decline 4.0 per cent, according to Thomson Reuters data.

"Earnings are growing but very slowly. The market's biggest concern is the lack of top-line growth and where that growth is going to come from," said Tim Courtney, chief investment officer of Exencial Wealth Advisors, which oversees $1.3 billion.

After the bell, Twitter jumped 5.2 per cent and Gilead Sciences rose 3 per cent after both companies posted their second-quarter results. Yelp slumped 13 per cent after its report.

During Tuesday's session, SuperValu jumped 10.60 per cent. It said it was exploring a spinoff of its discount grocery chain Save-A-Lot into a publicly-traded company.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 2.7 to 1. On the Nasdaq, 1.67 stocks gained for each that declined.

The S&P 500 racked up 15 new 52-week highs and 12 lows. The Nasdaq Composite posted 36 new highs and 163 lows.

Some 7.3 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, above the daily average of 6.7 billion so far this month.

Gold Wedged Below $1,100 Ahead of Fed Meeting Outcome

Gold held just below $1,100 an ounce early on Wednesday, trading not far from a 5-1/2-year low, as investors awaited the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve's meeting for more clues on the timing of this year's interest rate increase.

Spot gold was little changed at $1,095.25 an ounce by 0029 GMT. The metal hit a low of $1,077 last week, its weakest since February 2010.

Gold has been stuck in narrow ranges this week ahead of the conclusion of the Fed's policy meeting on Wednesday. Policymakers are expected to send more signals to the market that a U.S. interest rate hike is certain this year as the economy recovers.

That rate hike, the first in nearly a decade, could happen in September or December, analysts say, suggesting more downside risk for non-interest yielding gold.

U.S. gold for August delivery slipped 0.2 percent to $1,094 an ounce.

Global gold demand shrank to its lowest level since 2009 in the second quarter as China poured funds into its now troubled equities market and imports by India dropped to the lowest in five quarters, according to a report by GFMS.

China's gold imports could fall as much as 40 percent this year as demand for bullion used to back domestic financing deals decreases, the world's biggest refiner Valcambi said.

U.S. consumer confidence suffered its biggest blow in four years in July on a less upbeat jobs outlook, while home appreciation in major cities stalled in May, suggesting a spring pause in housing demand.

Oil Prices Fall On Oversupply Concerns

Oil prices fell in Asian trade on Wednesday as concerns over global oversupply outweighed the impact of a likely larger than expected draw in US crude stocks and a weakening dollar.

Asian investors focused on OPEC production figures that showed members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries produced around 3 million barrels of oil per day more than daily demand in the second quarter, a Reuters survey showed.

"Glut is the word," said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at Sydney's CMC Markets.

OPEC members pumped 31.25 million barrels per day (bpd) in the second quarter against demand of 28.26 million bpd, the Reuters data showed.

Both Brent and U.S. crude came off session lows on Tuesday after data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute showed U.S. commercial crude stocks fell by 1.9 million barrels last week to 462 million, against analysts' expectations of a 184,000 barrel draw.

"It was the first time since July 14 the market has seen any sign of a bit of a bounce, albeit temporary," Spooner said.

The Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration will release official U.S. oil inventory data later on Wednesday.

Brent futures for September delivery fell 14 cents to $53.16 as of 0236 GMT after falling 17 cents in the previous session when it hit an intra-day low of $52.28, its lowest since Feb. 2, on concerns over China's stock market plunge.

U.S. crude for September delivery dropped 12 cents to $47.86 a barrel, after ending the previous session up 59 cents.

Investors were also awaiting the outcome of a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting later on Wednesday that could confirm a rise in U.S. interest rates as early as September.

A stronger dollar makes dollar-denominated commodities, including oil, more expensive for buyers using other currencies.

Spooner expected the Fed to confirm market expectations of an increase in interest rates this year.

"But the rate of increase will be very modest," he said.

"My view is the dollar is positioned for a bit of a decline," because any hike had already been priced into currency markets, Spooner said.

The dollar slipped against a basket of six major currencies in Asian trade on Wednesday, while the euro gained against the dollar. The dollar index fell to 96.505, or 0.27 percent, after closing up at 96.745 in the previous session.

Sensex Edges Higher, Nifty Hovers Around 8,350

9:15 a.m.: Sensex jumps over 100 points on higher Asian markets, Nifty moves above 8,350.

9:12 a.m.: Market expert Rajat Bose says that for a meaningful rally in the markets Nifty has to sustains above 8,413 levels.

9:08 a.m.: The Sensex jumps 81 points to 27,540 and Nifty advances 27 points to 8,364 in the pre-market session.

9:00 a.m.: Rupee opens higher at 63.87 per dollar against Tuesday's close of 63.91.

8:45 a.m.: PVR: PVR has planned to install Dolby Atmos in 50 screens in India and also plans to open 150 low cost screens.

Amtek Auto: Amtek Auto plans to raise funds via issue of equity and NCD's.

J Kumar Infra: J Kumar Infra bagged a construction orders worth Rs 281 crore.

8:35 a.m.: Biocon's clinical research arm Syngene's IPO was fully subscribed on its second day.

8:25 a.m.: Here's what analysts polled by NDTV expect from the companies reporting their quarterly numbers today:

Yes Bank: Analysts expect Yes Bank to post net interest income of Rs 1,030 crore compared to Rs 745 crore during the same quarter last year. Net profit is expected to come in at Rs 548 crore versus Rs 439 crore (YOY). Loan growth is expected to be above industry average at 30 per cent and net interest margins are expected to improve marginally.

Analysts say that von-interest income growth is expected to be 23 per cent year on year and deposit growth is expected at 24. per cent.

Vedanta: Net sales of Vedanta are expected to come in at Rs 17,512 crore compared to Rs 17,732 crore in the previous quarter. Net profit is expected to come in at Rs 743 crore compared to Rs 491 crore in previous quarter.

JSW Steel: JSW Steel is expected to post net profit of Rs 134 crore compared to Rs 188 crore in the previous quarter. Its EBITDA is expected to come in at Rs 1,471 crore compared to Rs 1,673 crore sequentially.

Nestle: Nestle will come out with its second quarter numbers. Nestle's sales are expected to come in at Rs 2,340 crore versus Rs 2,418 crore during the same quarter last year. Its net profit is expected to come in at Rs 385 crore compared to Rs 500 crore during the June quarter of last year.

8:00 a.m.: Foreign institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 1,375 crore on Tuesday while the domestic institutional investors purchased shares worth Rs 665 crore.

In the derivative segment, the FIIs sold index futures worth Rs 120 crore and also sold stock futures worth Rs 407 crore.

7:50 a.m.: The Sensex and Nifty are likely to open on a flat note in trades today tracking subdued trading of Nifty futures on the Singapore Stock Exchange. The Nifty traded on the Singapore Exchange also known as the SGX Nifty was down 0.1 per cent or 8 points at 8,336.

Meanwhile, other Asian markets were trading were trading on a subdued note. Hang Seng was up 0.1 per cent, Shanghai Composite was down 0.4 per cent, Shanghai Shenzen index fell 0.7 per cent and Nikkei was down 0.6 per cent.

Overnight, U.S. stocks ended sharply higher on Tuesday, breaking a five-day losing streak as attention shifted from trouble in Chinese equities to U.S. corporate earnings and to speculation the first Federal Reserve interest rate hike may not come until December.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.09 per cent, to end the session at 17,630.27. The S&P 500 gained 1.24 per cent to 2,093.25 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.98 per cent to finish at 5,089.21.

Back home, analysts say that there could be some volatility in the markets due to expiry of derivative contracts which is due tomorrow.