Sensex firm, Nifty holds 8600; ICICI Bank, L&T, TCS lead

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Shares of ICICI Bank, L&T, HDFC, Axis Bank, SBI, Maruti, Dr Reddy’s Labs, NTPC and Coal India gained 1-2 percent while Tata Motors, ONGC, M&M, Bharti Airtel, Sesa Sterlite, Cipla and BHEL were down over 1 percent.

TCS traded above its 200 DMA, up 1.5 percent as Natarajan Chandrasekaran, CEO & MD told CNBC-TV18 that the company is confident of beating the 12-14 percent NASSCOM guidance put out for FY16 and will be able to beat the 13.1 percent guidance for FY15 as well.

Sun Pharma remained in focus after Taro reported good numbers with net sales up 11.3 percent to USD 237.7 million, margins expanded 380 basis points to 67 percent while net income up 23 percent at USD 142.5 million in Q3.

NBCC gained 4 percent after it secured project management and consultancy business orders amounting to Rs 231.40 crore from Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee.

Fortis Healthcare surged 20 percent after 1.8 percent equity changed hands in 5 blocks on NSE and BSE.

NALCO rallied 5 percent on good Q3 numbers with margins expanding to 27.6 percent versus 12.4 percent and profit up 171 percent at Rs 354.5 crore. CIMB uppped target price to Rs 78 from Rs 72 earlier.

 

[epicresearchindore]

The market has gone flat as the Sensex is up 89.42 points at 29184.35. The Nifty is up 23.10 points at 8828.60. About 1257 shares have advanced, 1386 shares declined, and 199 shares are unchanged.

M&M, Bharti Airtel, ITC, HUL and Tata Steel are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Sun Pharma, Hero Motocorp, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Infosys.

Wholesale prices declined an annual 0.39 percent in January, their second fall in three months, on the back of a sharp correction in oil prices, government data showed. The reading for November wholesale price inflation was revised to -0.17 percent from 0.0 percent earlier. Oil prices steadied as Japan%u2019s economy emerged from recession and as strong demand for refined products translated into healthy orders for crude.

Japan%u2019s economy rebounded from recession in the final quarter of last year, supporting oil prices, even though the data was weaker than expected. Analysts said that healthy demand for refined products was also buoying crude markets.