Sensex, Nifty consolidate; ONGC, Tata Motors top losers

Moneycontrol Bureau10:45 am Q1 expectations: Public sector lender Punjab National Bank's earnings are expected to be weak during April-June quarter. Net profit is seen falling 21 percent year-to-year to Rs 1,111 crore and net interest income may slip 4 percent to Rs 4,204 crore in the quarter gone by, according to a CNBC-TV18 poll.

However, some analysts feel the net interest income and profit could surprise consensus.

They expect provisions to decline on sequential basis but if provisions do not fall then that may be taken very negatively on the street. Provisions in Q4FY15 had spiked 79 percent Y-o-Y to Rs 3,834 crore.

Asset quality in first quarter is expected to continue being stressed year-on-year, but could be lower on sequential basis. The management, after Q4 earnings, said they have been taking efforts to improve asset quality but the street expects that to happen in the medium term.10:30 am Earnings: Drug firm Torrent Pharma reported 75.39 percent rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 449 crore for the first quarter ended June year-on-year, mainly on account of a new product launch in the US.The firm's consolidated net income from operations also rose to Rs 1,947 crore for the quarter under review as against Rs 1,114 crore in the year-ago period.

"The exceptional growth in the revenues and profits for the quarter is primarily on account of launch of a new product in the US market, which currently has limited competition...," Torrent Pharmaceuticals said. For the quarter ended June 30, the company had total sales of Rs 601 crore in India as against Rs 372 crore in the same quarter a year ago, it added. Total sales outside India also witnessed an upsurge to Rs 1,287 crore for the quarter ended June this year.

10:00 am Market Check

The market entered into consolidation mode after a fall in previous three consecutive sessions. The Sensex fell 40.23 points to 27521.15 and the Nifty declined 10.30 points to 8350.70. About 962 shares have advanced against 813 shares declined on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Rakesh Arora, Macquarie said there is enough happening to keep the long-term interest alive in the market but not good enough to break out of the current range in the near term. He expects Nifty to remain stuck in the 8,000-8,800 range for some more time.

ONGC and Tata Motors topped the selling list, falling nearly 3 percent followed by Wipro, Cipla, Tata Steel, GAIL, Vedanta and Hindalco Industries with 1 percent loss. HDFC and PNB fell 0.5 percent and 2 percent, respectively, ahead of their June quarter earnings.

However, Maruti Suzuki gained 1 percent on hopes of spectacular earnings with the profit rising 69 percent year-on-year.