Nifty inches towards 7850, Sensex steady; banks & metals up

Moneycontrol Bureau11:45 am Interview: Government’s urbanistation initiatives and decrease in LED prices will lead growth over the next two to three years, says Amritanshu Khaitan, Managing Director (MD) of Eveready India . He expects the industry to grow at 15 percent in the near future.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Khaitan says that there has been a 10 to 15 percent increase in consumer demand for remotes. However, cheap Chinese batteries contribute nearly 7 to 8 percent to the 2.6 billion industry.

Anti-dumping laws need to be implemented soon to ensure accelerated growth for main players like Eveready, Nippon and Panasonic , Khaitan says. The earlier anti-dumping rules expired in 2013.11:30 am Drug challenge: Drugmaker Abbott Healthcare is challenging West Bengal's accusation that a sample of the company's cough syrup contained excessive levels of codeine, the second multinational to question India's regulatory testing regime in recent months. Whether the sample of Abbott's popular "Phensedyl" was a genuine product or a fake has not been established, but the suspect batch of 80,000 bottles has not been recalled. The state laboratory in West Bengal first raised the alarm last November.Don't miss: Kesoram rises 14% on Haridwar unit sale to JK Group

The market is making smart gains supported by banks, metals and pharma stocks. The Sensex is up 133.71 points or 0.5 percent at 25743.92, and the Nifty up 40.40 points or 0.5 percent at 7829.70. About 1374 shares have advanced, 631 shares declined, and 66 shares are unchanged.

NTPC, Tata Steel, Axis Bank, Wipro and GAIL are top gainers in the Sensex while Reliance, ONGC, Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp and HDFC are among laggards in the Sensex.

Oil prices fell in Asian trading as weakening demand weighed on markets, although US futures received some support from reduced American drilling. Front-month Brent crude futures were down around 40 cents from their last settlement at USD 47.73 per barrel at 0402 GMT. US crude futures dipped 16 cents to USD 44.46. Several banks said the immediate outlook remained weak.

"Both the supply and demand pictures look less favourable over the coming months ... Outside the US, oil fundamentals appear to be slipping seasonally," Morgan Stanley said on Monday, adding that there was potential for floating storage within the second half of 2015.

Macquarie noted that falling global auto sales in August were dragging on demand.