Sensex consolidates ahead of RBI policy; Hindalco, BPCL up 4%

Moneycontrol Bureau12:59 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks were marginally higher with the Sensex rising 80.42 points to 28158.77 and the Nifty gaining 24.30 points at 8707.45.About 1491 shares advanced against 1030 declining shares on the BSE.12:55 pm Earnings: Hero Motocorp's first quarter profit grew by 18.1 percent to Rs 883 crore from Rs 747.5 crore on yearly basis.

Revenue grew by 7.7 percent to Rs 8,011 crore from Rs 7,435.5 crore YoY.

Profit was estimated at Rs 867 crore on revenue of Rs 7,661 crore for the quarter, according to a CNBC-TV18 poll.

Operating profit (EBITDA - earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) increased 18 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,230 crore and margin has seen expansion of 135 basis points to 15.36 percent in the quarter ended June 2016.12:45 pm Europe opens: European stocks opened slightly higher as investors remain cautious after weak Chinese trade data and consider if the latest US jobs numbers could trigger an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve this year.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.08 percent.

Asian markets were broadly higher despite China's July exports falling 4.4 percent year-on year-on and imports declining 12.5 percent.

Sentiment was likely underpinned by a strong U.S. jobs report on Friday which showed the world's largest economy added 255,000, beating expectations and raising the chances that the Fed could raise interest rates this year.12:35 pm FII View: Abhay Laijawala of Deutsche Bank says while India's domestic fundamentals continue to improve and sentiment on India's business environment perks up with the recent breakthrough on the GST, he does not think India will remain completely immune to a bout of global risk aversion.

He maintains a December 2016 Sensex target of 27,000.12:15 pm Rate cut possible?" Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan is widely expected to hold the key interest rate in his last monetary policy review on Tuesday as retail inflation continues to be above the comfort zone.

Rajan, whose 3-year term will come to an end on September 4, may prefer that RBI assesses the full impact of monsoon rains before taking a view on the interest rate.

This is going to be the last bi-monthly monetary policy to be decided by the central bank Governor as the broad-based 6-member panel may take over the job before the next review on October 4.

In conjunction with naming its 3 members on the Monetary Policy Committee, the government is also likely to name a successor to Rajan sometime this month.

The government announced last week that it would like the RBI to focus on maintaining retail inflation rate of 4 percent for the next five years, based on which the new interest rate setting panel would take its monetary policy decisions going forward.Also read - Wockhardt plunges 14% on import alert; Macquarie downgrades12:00 pm Market Check

Equity benchmarks traded marginally higher amid consolidation ahead of RBI monetary policy and after hitting fresh 52-week high on the Nifty.

The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 65.41 points at 28143.76 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 16.75 points to 8699.90. About 1456 shares advanced against 978 declining shares on the BSE.

Consistent inflow of foreign money has been driving the market higher since the beginning of March. FIIs have been net buyers for the six consecutive month, pumping in more than Rs 2,500 crore in August so far, in addition to Rs 46,158.76 crore worth of buying between March-July.

Hindalco Industries and BPCL surged more than 4 percent followed by Bosch, Lupin, Tata Motors (DVR), Reliance Industries, BHEL, HDFC and Dr Reddy's Labs with over a percent gains.

Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma, NTPC, Tata Steel, L&T, Idea Cellular and Bharti Infratel were losers.