Nifty holds 8800 amid consolidation: Maruti, Bajaj Auto fall 1%

Moneycontrol Bureau12:55 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks continued to trade higher with the Sensex rising 70.16 points to 28669.19 and the Nifty up 29.35 points at 8809.20.About 1416 shares advanced against 1112 declining shares on the BSE.12:40 pm Europe opens: European stocks opened higher as global markets await the start of tomorrow's meeting of the Federal Reserve's policymaking committee.

The US Federal Reserve starts a two-day meeting on Tuesday but the chances of a rate hike at this meeting are slim following a deluge of disappointing US data.

Markets in Asia traded mostly higher, with sentiment likely driven by a boost in oil prices while traders were also keeping an eye on crucial monetary policy decisions due from the US and Japan this week (the Bank of Japan also starts a two-day meeting on Tuesday).12:20 pm Downgrade: Credit Suisse has downgraded Cadila Healthcare to neutral as the stock is already factoring in clearance of the Moraiya facility and any delay could impact high recovery assumed in FY18. It has cut multiple for the US generic business as it expects further impact to generics from more channel consolidation.

Ex-US business for Cadila has been weak for the past three years (sub 10 percent sales CAGR) and therefore, the burden of growth rests heavily on Moraiya clearance, the brokerage house says. However, the target price remained unchanged at Rs 405 per share.

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12:00 pm Market Check

Equity benchmarks remained marginally higher in noon trade with the Nifty holding 8800 level, supported by technology, oil and select financials.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 86.94 points at 28685.97 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 35.75 points at 8815.60.

The broader markets continued to outperform with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising more than half a percent as about 1427 shares advanced against 1021 declining shares on the exchange.

TCS and Infosys rebounded after initial fall. TCS was the top gainer with 2 percent upside while Infosys gained 0.5 percent despite sources told CNBC-TV18 that there is a high possibility of Infosys cutting FY17 revenue growth guidance.

ICICI Bank continued to gain 1 percent after its subsidiary ICICI Prudential IPO opened for subscription while SBI rose 1 percent as sources said chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya may get extension for 1 year.

Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, HDFC, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Hero Motocorp and Sun Pharma were losers.