Sensex, Nifty steady; Infosys, TCS, Dr Reddy's top gainers

Moneycontrol Bureau11:55 am Buzzing: Shares of Hindalco rallied 11 percent intraday, riding high on its March quarter results. Boosted by strong aluminium business, the company's net profit zoomed 124 percent to Rs 356.3 crore in January-March quarter from Rs 159 crore in year-ago period. During the quarter, its total turnover slipped 8 percent at Rs 8667.9 crore compared to Rs 9371.6 crore year-on-year. Revenue in Q4 was lower due to a sharp decline in aluminium and copper realisations. However, a strong increase in aluminium volumes following increased production and value addition across businesses helped it to partially offset the impact of sharp fall in realisations.11:45 am Moody's view on banks: Global rating agency Moody’s expects banks in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan) to feel the ripple effects of the problems in commodities-related sector.The asset quality and profitability of banks in Mongolia, Singapore, Korea, Indonesia and India are exposed to the more vulnerable parts of the energy/commodity sectors, such as oil services, offshore marine, shipping and shipbuilders, and metals & mining and steel, says the Moody’s report.“For metals and mining, banks in Mongolia, India, Indonesia and China aremore exposed,” says the report. Moody’s expects 2016 to be another challenging year for metals and mining firms, leading to higher problem loans and weak recoveries for existing problem and restructured loans.11:30 am FRBM: The panel appointed by the central government to review the 12-year-old Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act will likely go into the subject of central as well as state finances, its Chairman NK Singh says. In an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18's Shereen Bhan, Singh, a former revenue secretary and Rajya Sabha MP, said the panel held its first meeting on Saturday to discuss its terms of reference. The FRBM Act, enacted in 2003, deals with the subject of fiscal policy, and seeks to curb the country's fiscal deficit. Its targets, to bring down fiscal deficit to 3 percent by March 2008 were suspended by the UPA government in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, but it has seen several complaints regarding the rigidity of constraints it lays down on spending. In the Union Budget speech, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had called for the need to review the FRBM Act, even consider the possibility of having a fiscal deficit range, as opposed to a single target.Don't miss: Hindalco rallies 11% as aluminium volumes drive Q4 profit

After briefly touching 8200, the Nifty has given up its gains a bit. The 50-share index is up 22.80 points or 0.3 percent at 8179.45 and the Sensex is up 69.63 points or 0.3 percent at 26723.23.

Coal India, Tata Motors, Infosys, TCS and Dr Reddy's Labs are top gainers while BHEL, HDFC, Adani Ports, NTPC and Lupin are major losers in the Sensex.

Gold prices fell by Rs 115 to Rs 28,726 per 10 gram in futures trading today as participants cut down their bets after the precious metal fell for the ninth day in overseas market.

Analysts attributed the fall in gold futures to trimming of positions by traders, tracking a weak trend in global market as the prospect of higher borrowing costs in the US damped the appeal for the precious metals, strengthening the dollar.