Sensex choppy; Bharti, Idea tank 8% after Rel Jio's tariff plans

Moneycontrol Bureau12:58 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks remained trading in a tight range of 8775-8795 on the Nifty. The broader markets too were volatile.The Sensex was up 30.23 points at 28482.40 and the Nifty gained 6.60 points at 8792.80. About 1324 shares declined against 1150 advancing shares on the BSE.12:55 pm Earnings: United Breweries (Holdings) today reported narrowing of its standalone net loss at Rs 43.14 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2016.

The company had posted a net loss of Rs 373.73 crore during the same period of the previous fiscal.

However, its total income from operations rose by 33.63 percent to Rs 103.62 crore during the March quarter as against Rs 77.54 crore in the same period a year ago, United Breweries Holdings said in a filing to the BSE.

On May 24, United Breweries (Holdings) Ltd (UBHL) had sought time till July to file results for the last fiscal due to "uncertainties" resulting from ongoing cases against its Chairman Vijay Mallya.12:52 pm Vedanta Group in focus: The Supreme Court today refused permission to Vedanta Group to export iron ore mined from Karnataka while allowing National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) to continue with the dual pricing of the minerals.

A bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi said in its verdict that NMDC is free to fix the price of minerals and continue with the dual pricing.

The apex court also rejected the prayer of Vedanta Group for referring the matter to the High Court for adjudication.

The company had challenged the decision by a court-appointed monitoring committee denying it the permission to export the iron ore.12:48 pm Oil rebounds: Oil prices rose in Asian trade, rebounding on a weaker US dollar after falling around 3 percent or more in the previous session following a surprisingly large build in US crude and distillate stocks last week.

"The weaker dollar is providing support for oil prices today. The direction of oil prices is governed by supply and the strength of the dollar," said Jonathan Barratt, chief investment officer at Sydney's Ayers Alliance.

The US dollar index slipped against a basket of currencies. A weaker dollar makes greenback-denominated commodities including oil cheaper for holders of other currencies.Brent and US crude futures were down 0.6 percent each.12:46 pm Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani said the 4G network would cover 90 percent of India's 1.25 billion population by March 2017 and would eventually cover 18,000 cities and 200,000 villages.12:42 pm COAI says Reliance Jio is being launched with very aggressive price points. "We are not sure if adequate interconnect is begin providedd at this point," it says.12:40 pm Europe opens: European stocks opened higher as markets react to a rebound in oil prices and the latest data out of China.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index opened 0.2 percent higher with all sectors in positive territory.

European markets bucked the gloomy trend set in Asia, where markets traded mostly lower on Thursday, shrugging off a better-than-expected reading on China's manufacturing sector.12:35 pm Ambani says the company is working on monetising 3-4 tn cubic ft from KG basin under new gas price guidelines."We will be opening 200 fuel retail outlets soon," he says, adding petrochem & refining business to see 40-50 percent growth anually in future.12:30 pm Mukesh Ambani says Reliance Industries has invested over Rs 1,10,000 crore on petchem business and investments in last 5 years have been more than investments in 35 years. Ethane project at jamnagar will be ready by end of this fiscal while synthetic rubber plants are now operational, he adds.12:23 pm Auto sales: Ashok Leyland said total sales in August fell 6 percent to 10,897 vehicles compared with 11,544 units sold in same month last year.Light commercial vehicle sales grew by 2 percent to 2,696 units but medium & heavy commercial vehicle sales declined 8 percent to 8,201 units on yearly basis.The stock fell more than 1 percent after disappointing sales.12:20 pm Mukesh Ambani says Reliance owns the highest number of channels and channels reached out to 500 million viewers.12:15 pm Analyst on Maruti: Mihir Jhaveri, of Religare Capital Markets said the house still has a buy rating on the stock because there is no competition for Maruti, especially at that scale and size it operates.

According to him, the next two years will be very good for the company.

Overall the numbers were in line with the estimates for them, said Jhaveri, adding that the mini segment saw some pressure because of constraint on capacity and competition from the likes of Renault Kwid.

He said the sales trend going forward would remain around 1.3 lakh units or be only slightly higher.12:10 pm Ambani says incumbents must not misuse market power to create unfair hurdles and incumbent operators have significant advantage over new entrants.Data, voice, video & apps free for  users from September 5-December 31, he says.12:05 pm Mukesh Ambani says Jio is dedicated to realising PM Narendra Modi's digital movement and will move India from 'data shortage' to 'data abundance'.Don't miss - India will change forever from September 5 after Reliance Jio launch, says Mukesh Ambani 12:00 pm Market Check: Equity benchmarks continued to be volatile as the Nifty remained in a tight range around 8780 in noon trade.The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 16.21 points at 28435.96 and the Nifty down 8.35 points at 8777.85.

Reliance Industries remained in focus after the company's chairman Mukesh Ambani decided to launch Reliance Jio on September 5. Commercial launch of Jio will be on December 31.Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular shed 8 percent after Reliance Jio's tariff plans.Disclosure: Reliance Industries owns Network 18 that publishes Moneycontrol.com