Nifty at 8400, Sensex up over 150 pts; Tata Power rises 4%

Moneycontrol Bureau

9:55 am Market outlook: While he is bullish on both India and China, Geoffrey Dennis of UBS, says the expensive valuations in India market are a cause of worry. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Dennis says the US Federal Reserve is likely to raise rates in September, but that is less of a worry than the over-ownership of Indian stocks. Furthermore, he adds the brokerage firm only expects a 4 percent upside in emerging market (EMs) for the rest of the year as weak earnings will impact returns.

9:35 am Result poll: DLF 's net profit is likely to fall 29 percent to Rs 156 crore in January-March quarter from Rs 219.68 crore in corresponding quarter last fiscal. Revenue is seen almost flattish with 7 percent rise at Rs 2109 crore versus Rs 1969.4 crore year-on-year, according to a CNBC-TV18 poll. EBITDA is likely to be up 28 percent at Rs 861.5 crore compared to Rs 671.2 crore (Y-o-Y) while operating profit margin may come in at 40.8 percent from 34 percent on yearly basis.

While national capital region (NCR) market is still sluggish, DLF is expected to report good performance this quarter driven by strong pre-sales in its luxury housing projects-Crest and Camellias.

9:20 am Market check: The Sensex is up 184.58 points or 0.7 percent at 27830.11 and the Nifty is up 51.75 points or 0.6 perceny at 8417.40. About 826 shares have advanced, 204 shares declined, and 80 shares are unchanged.

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The market has opened in positive terrain supported by technology stocks for second day. The Sensex is up 123.53 points at 27769.06 and Nifty is up 40.95 points at 8406.60. About 364 shares have advanced, 97 shares declined, and 65 shares are unchanged.

Tata Power is up 4 percent post its March quarter results. Other gainers in the Sensex are Infosys, ICICI Bank, BHEL and NTPC. Tata Steel is down 1 percent while Vedanta, Hindalco and Coal India are among laggards in the Sensex.

The Indian rupee opened lower by 10 paise at 63.77 per dollar versus 63.67 Tuesday. The dollar continues to gain on unexpectedly better US April housing data. Euro sells off spurred by hints the European Central Bank could take more action to lower euro zone bond yields and boost inflation.

Himanshu Arora of Religare said, “The rupee is expected to trade higher today amid persistent strength in dollar index on worries that Greece may miss debt repayments next month.Fresh statements from FOMC, related to interest rate hike in the US may provide more cues for the rupee going forward. Range for the day is seen between 63.40-64.05/dollar.”

Asia is mixed this morning as the Nikkei hits nearly 4-week high after strong Q1 GDP of Asia's second-largest economy expanded. Japan reports strong Q1 GDP at 2.4 percent.

Overnight in US stocks closed nixed as investors eyed renewed gains in yields and the dollar ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting minutes which is expected later today.

The European central bank is planning to speed up the pace of its bond-buying stimulus programme before the summer lull. Senior policymaker Benoit Coeure at a speech in London explained that the ECB wants to buy more bonds than average over the next six weeks, to avoid the "notably lower market liquidity" in late July and August. Coeure denied that the ECB is putting its foot on the accelerator to calm the bond markets, after seeing wild swings in the price of bunds in recent weeks.

Nymex crude slips over 3 percent as the dollar rallied amid evidence that the US and Saudi Arabia were pumping more than the world needed. Brent crude too slips to USD 64 per barrel.

From other asset class, gold tumbled 2 percent to USD 1205 an ounce, following a strong dollar.