Nifty below 6200 amid volatility; ICICI weak, Sesa gains 2%

10:55am BofAML on Infosys

Bank of America Merrill Lynch maintains buy on Infosys and raised target price to Rs 4,000 from Rs 3,700 apiece.

The brokerage house also raised PE multiple to 18.5 times FY15 expected as against 17.5 times.

"Cost optimisation efforts may start showing even in Q3," Bank of America Merrill Lynch report said.

10:50am Market Expert

Not even political experts can predict the outcome of state elections, so investors looking to play the market now should be positioned for moves on either side, says Gautam Chhaochharia, Head of India Research, UBS Securities.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, he said market is likely to remain subdued if election outcome is mixed. He feels political cues will impact the market only if the verdict is unilateral.

Also, election outcome will drive the market sentiment only for a short while. After next week, this noise related to elections will take a backseat and global cues like the QE taper talks and the US payroll data will come to the fore, he adds. He expects the US Federal Reserve to start withdrawing its monetary stimulus early next year.

Meanwhile, Chhaochharia believes that now is a good time to enter the market from a one-year horizon. Also, he sees attractive risk reward at 5500-5700 levels.

10:40am Asian markets mixed

Asian markets are mixed with the Nikkei falling more than 2 percent and Hang Seng losing 0.5 percent. However, Shanghai gained 1.4 percent and Taiwan Weighted rose 0.35 percent.

10:30am NTPC tax-free bond issue oversubscribed

State-run power major, NTPC on Tuesday received an overwhelming response for its bond issue by garnering Rs 3,310 crore, much ahead of its scheduled closing.

"The issue was oversubscribed by 3.3 times. As against Rs 1,000 crore, NTPC has already collected about Rs 3,310 crore, Rs 2,310 crore above the base size," the company said in a statement.

The tax-free bond issue which opened on Monday was earlier scheduled to close on December 16 but will formally close Wednesday, a company official said.

This is the state-run company's first bond issue after a gap of over 20 years.

Under the offer, the company issued tax-free secured redeemable non-convertible bonds.

The base issue size aggregates to Rs 1,000 crore with an option to retain over-subscription up to Rs 750 crore for issuance of additional bonds, aggregating up to Rs 1,750 crore, reports PTI.

10:20am EGoM approves M&A guidelines for telecom sector

An empowered group of ministers (EGoM) today approved the much-awaited mergers and acquisitions (M&A) guidelines for the telecom sector.

The high-powered ministerial panel, which is headed by finance minister P Chidambaram, also cleared the sale of 403 MHz of spectrum in the 1800 MHz band, a source said.

"EGoM has approved M&A guidelines, which will now go for the approval of the Cabinet," the source said, adding that legal opinion will be taken if M&A amounts to sale of equity, reports PTI.

10:10am Mahindra Holidays surges

Shares of Mahindra Holidays and Resorts gained 4 percent after the Mahindra group company divested  investment in two subsidiaries in Austria - BAH Hotelanlagen AG and MHR Hotel Management GmbH.

10:00am The market continued to trade in a tight range with a negative bias from early trade due to lack of trigger. The market is waiting for outcome of five state  elections due on December 8. Delhi goes to vote today while polling in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and Chattisgarh is completed.

The Sensex declined 41.55 points to 20,813.37, and the Nifty fell 12.45 points to 6,189.40. Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of 655 to 562 on the BSE.

The widely held view is that the market may tumble if the BJP does not fare as well as is expected of it. However, Arindam Ghosh, MD and CEO, Blackridge Capital Advisors feels the market has already priced in the poll results, and hence that would not be a key trigger from hereon.

Shares of ICICI Bank and L&T are biggest losers in the Sensex, falling over 1 percent followed by ITC, HUL, Sun Pharma and HDFC with a 0.4-0.9 percent loss.

However, Sesa Sterlite and Tata Power topped the buying list, gaining more than 2 percent. 

Bharti Airtel rose over 1 percent as the telecom operator hit the international market with a benchmark Euro bond offering. The country's largest telecom firm is offering the five-year euro bonds for investors and the money is being raised through its wholly owned subsidiary Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV, reports PTI quoting sources.