Coal India falls as min denies price hike, Sensex ends flat

4.00 pm The markets remained in a narrow range through the day. The Sensex ended down 25 points at 15857. Nifty ended absolutely flat though in the green 4749.95. The volumes were a good 20 percent lower than yesterday at around 80,000 crore.

The big gainers of the day were United Breweries, Shriram Transport, MMTC and Hindustan Copper. Among big names L&T (1.73 percent up) and Bhel (0.20 percent up) held up to their gains. The non-index names that gained were banks like PNB, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Axis Bank. Infact both rate sensitive sectors like auto and banks did well for themselves by end of the day.

Oil and gas, and realty ended up as biggest losers with DLF shedding 4 percent. Reliance Industries, BPCL lost more than 2 percent while ONGC was down 1.4 percent.

Coal India also lost 1.75 percent after news came that there will be no further price hikes for coal. “As of now the rise in the prices of coal is not under consideration,” Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal told PTI. Coal India (CIL), however, said that the burden on account of increase in duty will be passed on to the consumers, adding that it would be negligible.

Reliance breaches 700 level, pulls Sensex to red

2.30 pm Sensex falls into the Red with Sensex down 60 points to 15822. Nifty has come off from the day’s high of 4780 to 4437.

The main movers would be Sensex names like Reliance Industries and DLF. DLF has had a bad session down 4.36 percent.

Reliance is also facing pressure now with the stock down 2.15 percent. Its KG D6 output fell below 39MCMD. CLSA has also slashed the target price from Rs 950 to Rs 850.

Cairn India eyes 65% stake in Gujarat Gas, stock up

1.30 pm Sensex still remains at the same levels with Sensex up 44 points at 15926.

The energy stocks are in focus today with Cairn India up 3.56 percent and Gujarat Gas up 10 percent. A CNBC Tv 18 exclusive says Cairn India is mauling over investing in Gujarat Gas. It is planning to buy the 65.12 percent stake held by BG in the company. It has time till around 10th or 11th of the month and is still thinking whether to bid in consortium. Cairn India management has declined to comment on the issue.

Gail India is down 3 percent after downgrade by CLSA.

All eyes are now on the January policy announcement by RBI later this month. And some important news coming up today in the global world.

European markets opened with Dax and FTSE up around 0.2 percent.CAC is flat, up around around 0.04 percent.

France is planning to sell long-term papers worth 7-8 billion euros and everyone is watching the demand there. Spain, with a new government in place, could today announce some important tax hikes and austerity measures. The US jobless data and Non Manufacturing index will also come in today. Consensus estimates for the latter hover around 53.4.

United Breweries up 12% on talks of UB group exit

12.30 pm Sensex refuses to move beyond same levels. It is 62 points up at 15945 while Nifty remains 21 points up at 4771.

United Breweries remains the top star for the day gaining 11.5 percent on the bourses. UB is held mainly by UB group and the Heineken group. Both of them collectively held almost 75 percent of the company equally till sometime back. Now the UB group holds around 38.5 percent of the company. For a while now there have been talks that the UB group could exit the company though nothing is materialising due to high valuations that are asking for. But the UB group could exit at handsome valuations to use the money for the ailing Kingfisher Airlines. That’s why the stock is continuing to do well.

Reliance Industries KG D6 gas output falls below 39 million cubic meters per day, says a PTI report. The stock however resists any movement and is down just 0.15 percent.

ACC soars on registering 2.03mn tonnes cement output for December. The stock is currently trading at Rs 1116.85, up by 12.55 points or 1.14% from its previous closeof Rs. 1104.30 on the BSE.

The top gainers are Shriram Transport, Essar Oil and Cairn India. The biggest losers are United Spirits, Hindustan Copper, DLF and MMTC.

Cairn India up 4% on higher crude; CLSA upgrade

11.30 am Sensex has hardly seen any movement in first part of trading today. It is up around 60 points at 15,941.

Realty index has recovered most of its losses since morning and is down just 0.33 percent now. And despite the auto Expo that has begun today, auto index is now the biggest loser, down 1.21 percent.

Maruti Suzuki says their royalty payment could be up almost 20 percent this year due to rupee losses. The stock is down 1 percent.

In stock news, CLSA has maintained an outperformer for Reliance Industries but cut target price from Rs 850 to Rs 750. The stock has remained absolutely flat.

Adani Power has said they will commission the 600 MW plant at Mundra by March 2012. The stock is still down 1.15 percent.

CLSA has upgraded Cairn India to Buy with a target price of Rs 410. The stock is up 3.8 percent to Rs 338.

Kingfisher down 2.5% ahead of meeting with govt

10.30 am Sensex continues to be flat up 47 points at 15930. Essar Oil still maintains the gain at up 6 percent. Untied Breweries is one the major gainers up 5.2 percent.

United Spirits, the other same group company is one of the biggest losers down 5.74 percent.

Kingfisher Airlines continues to be down more than 2.5 percent ahead of a meeting with the government along with ailing Air India.PTI reported yesterday that the airline is planning to lay off s about 2,000 employees and also extend working hours. However, the company denied these reports today.

Apollo Hospitals gained 2.77 percent at Rs. 582.60 on the Bombay Stock Exchange on reports the company is in talks with Parkway Holdings, a Singapore-based hospital operator, for a prospective tie-up for domestic and overseas expansion.

KEC International has surged 9.1 percent in the past two days after bagging large orders. Today the company is up 4.87 percent at Rs 39.85, extending Wednesday’s 4.1 percent rally which was triggered after the firm secured new orders worth Rs 1,253 crore.

Realty Index is biggest loser down 1.37 percent while capital goods lead among the gainers and are up 1 percent.

Sensex opens flat; Essar Oil up 7% on rising crude prices

9.30 am Markets opened absolutely flat with no fundamental reasons for aggressive trading. The Sensex is up 45 points at 15927. Nifty is up 9 points at 4758.

Essar Oil is the biggest gainer up 7 percent with a judicial hearing due today and crude oil maintaining its strength at 113 dollars. Other oil related stocks like Cairn India (up 2 percent) and ONGC (up 0.64 percent) have also done well.

Cement stocks Ambuja Cements and ACC continue their losses as they seem to be heading for steeper corrections.

Banks like SBI, ICICI, HDFC Bank and Punjab national Bank have been supporting the market with mild positive buying been seen.

Hexaware rallies 2 percent after a Times of India report said that the company may be up for sale.

GMR Infra is down over 1% after a report in the Economic Times said that the company is allowed to hike Delhi tariffs by 3 fold as against proposal for a 7 fold hike, which could lead possible revenue loss of Rs 3,000 crore to DAIL.

Kiri Industries surged 4.60 percent to Rs. 75.25 on BSE, after the company scheduled a board meeting on 9 January 2012, to consider raising funds through various modes.

Investors jittery again, markets likely to be sluggish

9:00 am The BSE Sensex is expected to ease today as investors await company results starting next week for direction.

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“The market is likely to trade with a negative bias as corporate earnings for the last quarter are awaited and they are not expected to be good,” said Gajendra Nagpal, chief executive, Unicon Financial Intermediaries.

Stocks to watch out for today

*ONGC is likely to open up after the state-run explorer said it found four new potential hydrocarbon reserves in the country’s west and northeast.

* Bosch Ltd after the company said it would invest Rs 2,200 crore in 2012/13 to expand and set up new plants in India.

* Orissa Minerals Development Co after it resumed development and mining operations at two of its mines in the eastern state of Orissa.

* UltraTech Cement Ltd after the company said cement dispatches rose 10.5 percent in December from a year earlier.

* IL&FS Transportation Networks after its managing director told Reuters the company expected to achieve order book target for the fiscal year ending March, even though project wins have been below expectations.

* Suzlon Energyafter a unit of US-based Trinity Industries filed a lawsuit against the wind turbine maker’s subsidiary in a U.S. court for breaching a supply agreement.

* RIL which plans to undertake a three-week shutdown of its unit at the Jamnagar SEZ refinery of crude distillation unit

*Meanwhile Kingfisher Airlines has denied reports which said the airline is planning to lay-off staff.

*The Economic Times reports that AV Birla group will buy 10-15 percent stake in Bumi Resources.

* Orchid Pharma successfulyl completied Phase I study of its novel PDE4 inhibitor molecule, OCID 2987, the stock is expected to continue its rally today.

*No. 2 software services exporter Infosys kicks off the earnings parade next Thursday.

Global Cues

At 0240 GMT, the MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.29 percent, while the Nifty India stock futures in Singapore were up 0.05 percent, pointing to a flat opening for the domestic market.

India’s benchmark 30-share index fell 0.4 percent on Wednesday to 15,882.64.

The index was among the worst performers in the world in 2011, falling 24.6 percent, with foreign portfolio investors pulling out $512 million, compared with inflows of more than $29 billion in 2010.

In the global markets Wall Street erased early losses but still ended flat as renewed eurozone debt concerns offset healthy factory orders data. European markets too finished lower dragged down by financials.

Meanwhile, data on direct tax collection and ECB mop-up are reflecting underlying strain in the European economy.

Crude oil has spiked on Iran’s threat to block oil shipments as ‘western’ powers get ready to impose sanctions on Tehran for it’s reluctant to give up the atomic .

Currency Watch

The rupee is expected to start slightly weaker after strengthening for two days in a row, with a drop in Asian shares sparking caution. Traders forecast the rupee to open around 53 to the dollar and move in a 52.80 to 53.20 band. It closed 0.5 percent stronger on Wednesday at 52.95/96.