Markets end higher; Sep inflation, RIL Q2 eyed

Benchmark share indices staged a recovery in late trades, amid firm European cues, helped by a rebound in financials while IT shares gained post upbeat July-September earnings from Infosys.

The 30-share Sensex ended up 86 points at 26,384 and the 50-share Nifty ended up 24 points at 7,884.

The government will release consumer price inflation data for September later today.

Foreign investors were net sellers in Indian equities to the tune of Rs 720 crore on Friday.

Global investment bank JP Morgan lowered its India GDP growth forecast for 2014-15 to 5.1% from 5.3% because of weak August factory output data.

The Indian rupee was trading higher at 61.21 compared with its Friday close of 61.34.

Asian currencies were trading strong against the US dollar after upbeat China trade data.

Asian shares ended mixed with shares in Hong Kong rebounding from their day's lows.

Earlier in the day, stocks in Asia dropped to their seven month lows amid growth concerns even as positive data from China failed to boost investor sentiment.

China's exports saw the fastest growth in 19 months, expanding by 15.3% from a year ago to $213.7 billion in September, a report said.

Financial markets in Japan are closed today. Shanghai Composite ended down 0.4% while Hang Seng ended 0.2% higher. However, Straits Times ended 0.7% lower.

European shares pared early losses and were trading firm with CAC-40 and DAX each trading 0.3-0.4% higher while FTSE-100 was trading with marginal gains. Meanwhile, weak economic data from Germany continues to weigh on investor sentiment.

The BSE Bankex and Metal indices were among the top sectoral gainers up 1.4% each followed by IT index which gained 1.2%.

Healthcare, Realty, FMCG and Capital Goods indices were the top losers.

Infosys gained 1.4%, extending its Friday’s nearly 7% rally, after the company reported a better-than-expected consolidated net profit at Rs 3,096 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2014 (Q2) besides declaring 1:1 bonus. TCS gained 1.5% while Wipro ended flat with negative bias.

In the financial pack, HDFC, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and SBI ended up 1.1-1.9% each.

Coal India ended up nearly 2% after HSBC upgraded the stock to "overweight" from "neutral". Coal India will be the main beneficiary of India's increased focus on domestic coal production, HSBC said in a note.

Two-wheeler shares were up on upbeat September sales growth. Motorcycle sales in September climbed 19.34% to 10,56,509 units from 8,85,309 units a year earlier.

The total two-wheeler sales in September rose 23.81% to 15,67,351 units. Baja Auto and Hero MotoCorp were up 0.1-0.9% each.

Metal shares gained on the back of encouraging trade data from China, the world's largest consumer of metals.

Tata Steel, Sesa Sterlite, Hindalco and Jindal Steel ended up 0.2-2% each.

Mahindra & Mahindra ended nearly 4% down after the company announced plans to stop tractor production for a period of four days at two of its tractor plants located at Rudrapur and Jaipur raised concerns over high inventory levels because of weakening demand.

Capital goods stocks ended lower amid weak August industrial production data. Industrial growth refused to pick up pace in August, falling to the lowest this financial year so far at 0.4% over a year earlier from a 0.5% in July. L&T and BHEL lost 1-1.3% each.

Reliance Industries ended marginally down ahead of its second quarter earnings due later today.

Pharma shares also witnessed profit taking. Dr Reddy's Labs, Cipla and Sun Pharma were down 1.8-2.7% each.

Among other shares, Diamond Power Infrastructure surged 9% after reporting 29% year-on-year (yoy) growth in net profit at Rs 40.32 crore for the second quarter ended September 2014 (Q2), on back of strong operational income.

The company had profit of Rs 31.19 crore during the same quarter last fiscal.

Essar Group firms Essar Ports and Essar Shipping surged 18-20% after the board of directors of these companies approved the delisting of company’s shares from the stock exchanges.

Suven life Sciences ended up over 4% after the company announced new patents it has received in South Korea and US. Oriental Bank of Commerce gained 4% after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to “buy” from “neutral” with a target price of Rs 350.

Indusind Bank ended up 2% after reporting better-than-expected 30% year on year (yoy) jump in net profit at Rs 430 crore for the second quarter ended September 2014.

The private sector lender had profit of Rs 330 crore in previous year quarter.

Novartis India ended down 2.5% after the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) imposed a fine of around Rs 300 crore on Swiss multinational drug company Novartis for overcharging consumers on sale of Voveran, its best-selling painkiller medicine.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices ended up 0.3-0.5% each.

Market breadth ended almost neutral with 1,478 declines and 1,439 advances.