Nifty begins August series on flat note; Eicher Motors spikes 6%

Moneycontrol Bureau9:59 am Interview: Adlabs Entertainment, which operates Imagica theme park, expects to breakeven in cash this fiscal, said Kapil Bagla, CEO of the company. Adlabs was already cash positive in the first quarter of FY17.The company reported a standalone net loss of Rs 19.23 crore for the first quarter ended June this fiscal.In an interview to CNBC-TV18, he said Adlabs is working to improve EBITDA and pare debt by monetising land this year, he added.Bagla expects footfall growth of 8-10 percent and revenue to grow 20-25 percent this fiscal.Though Adlabs saw a decline in its footfalls, realizations per user (RPU) was up 21 percent, he said, adding, its first quarter occupancies for Novotel stood at 87 percent.9:37 am Earnings: Automobile company Eicher Motors' first quarter (April-June) consolidated earnings matched analysts' estimates on Thursday with profit growing sharply by 58.6 percent to Rs 376.3 crore, driven by strong revenue as well as operational performance in Royal Enfield business.Revenue increased 42 percent to Rs 1,555.7 crore in the quarter ended June 2016 compared with Rs 1,096 crore in year-ago period.9:25 am BoJ eases monetary policy: The Bank of Japan (BOJ) has eased its monetary policy further today by expanding dollar lending programme to USD 24 billion.The central bank kept deposit rate at -0.1 percent and said it will increase buying of exchange traded funds.Bank of Japan has lowered its real GDP growth forecast for the current fiscal year to 1 percent from earlier 1.2 percent but increased to 1.3 percent for next fiscal from earlier forecast of 0.1 percent.It left annual government bond purchases at 80 trillion yen.Also read - GST moves ahead, Cong claims victory for scrapping of 1% mfg tax9:15 am Market Check: The 50-share NSE Nifty started off August series on a flat note after yesterday's rally as investors eagarly awaited for GST Bill.The Sensex was down 10.22 points at 28198.40 and the Nifty declined 2.75 points at 8663.55.

Axis Bank, L&T, Tata Steel, Adani Ports, Coal India, Eicher Motors, Bosch, Tata Power and Tata Steel were early gainers while BHEL, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, NTPC, SBI, Bharti Infratel and ACC were losers.The Indian rupee opened flat at 67.04 per dollar against previous close 67.04.Bhaskar Panda of HDFC Bank says the USD-INR pair is in a range again as supplies remain consistent. The pair is expected to remain in a range of 66.90-67.30/dollar for the coming week, he feels.

Asian markets were lower with the Nikkei losing 0.4 percent ahead of the Bank of Japan's monetary policy decision.

Wall Street ended mixed on Thursday as investors looked beyond disappointing earnings from Ford and bought shares in Apple, while Alphabet surged after the bell following its quarterly report.