Nifty ends at 7749, Sensex up 75 pts; Sun Pharma, TCS fall 2%

Moneycontrol Bureau3:30 pm Market closing: The market has ended in green. The Sensex closed 75.11 points or 0.3 percent at 25305.47 and the Nifty was up 17.80 points or 0.2 percent at 7748.85. About 906 shares have advanced, 1598 shares declined, and 182 shares are unchanged. NTPC, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Tata Steel and Asian Paints were top gainers while Sun Pharma, Bajaj Auto, TCS, GAIL and BHEL.2:58 pm Market Update: The Sensex rose 71.65 points to 25302.01 and the Nifty increased 16.20 points to 7747.25 but the market breadth remained weak as about two shares declined for every share rising on BSE.Meanwhile, New Delhi-based weather forecaster Skymet raised monsoon forecast to 109 percent of LTA against 105 percent earlier.2:50 pm Interview: NCC, which has had a good fourth quarter, has said that the company's asset monetisation strategy has helped bring down interest costs.The company's debt levels stand at Rs 1,182 crore and it received a cash consideration of Rs 200 crore from the stake sale to Sembcorp in the fourth quarter, YD Murthy, Executive VP, Finance, NCC, told CNBC-TV18. The company plans to reduce its debt to Rs 100 crore in FY17, he said.Going forward in FY17, NCC expects a 7-10 percent revenue growth and clock EBIDTA margins of about 9 percent, Murthy said.In the March-2016 quarter, NCC's topline grew 11 percent to Rs 2,452 crore from Rs 2,210 crore in the year-ago period.2:35 pm NCL exits CDR: NCL Industries today successfully exited from the Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) mechanism, said K Ravi, Managing Director, NCL Industries. "Now there are no more capex restrictions levied and we are free to grow," he told CNBC-TV18.Ravi says cement prices are very encouraging and the company plans to expand its cement business.The company's interest costs are at 16 percent, according to Ravi.2:20 pm Earnings: Maharashtra-based IT product distributor Redington India's fourth quarter consolidated profit increased 24.8 percent sequentially to Rs 137.6 crore, supported by other income and revenue.

Revenue increased 16.3 percent to Rs 10,474 crore in quarter ended March 2016 compared to Rs 9,004 crore in preceding period, driven by third party business that doubled.

Operating profit (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) rose 6.2 percent to Rs 221.9 crore but margin declined 20 basis points to 2.1 percent compared to Q3.

Other income nearly doubled to Rs 17.33 crore from Rs 9.8 crore in same period.

Also read - We don't have a V-shape economy, uptick just begun: Nilesh Shah2:00 pm Market Check

Equity benchmarks remained listless in afternoon trade but the broader markets extended losses with BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices falling over 0.7 percent each. The market breadth continued to be negative as about two shares declined for every share rising on Bombay Stock Exchange.

The Sensex gained 52.93 points at 25283.29 and the Nifty rose 8.50 points to 7739.55.

Jubilant Foodworks was the most active stock on exchanges after CSR report saying the bread available in India could be laced with toxic chemicals and may have toxic chemicals that can lead to thyroid disorders and cancer. The stock shed 5 percent despite clarification by the company saying it uses ingredients that are approved by FSSAI in all preparations and flour used by co is not treated with potassium bromate or potassium iodate.

Aurobindo Pharma plunged over 5 percent followed by BPCL, Idea Cellular, Bank of Baroda, Bajaj Auto, Sun Pharma, BHEL, ONGC and Lupin with 1-3 percent loss while NTPC, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Tata Power, UltraTech Cement and ACC gained 1-3 percent.