Sensex, Nifty consolidate; Sun Pharma, Ranbaxy, Jet rally

Passenger vehicles sales climbed 7.9 percent to 89,014 units in January from 82,461 units in same month last year.

10:30am Manufacturing PMI

Despite falling from December’s two-year record of 54.5 to 52.9, the headline HSBC India Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) remained consistent with a solid improvement in business conditions in January.

PMI is a seasonally adjusted indicator designed to give an accurate overview of manufacturing operating conditions.

Moreover, the latest expansion was the fifteenth in as many months. Sector data highlighted consumer goods as the best performing of the three market groups for the third month in a row, says HSBC in its report.

"Manufacturing activity continued to signal improvement in January, though the rate of growth slipped to a three-month low. The slip can partly be attributed to consolidation after two months of impressive upticks," said Pranjul Bhandari, Chief India Economist at HSBC.

"New orders, both from domestic and international sources, also continued to grow, though at a slower pace than in December. New orders were strongest in the consumer goods sector. On the inflation front, growth in input and output prices moderated further due to cheaper commodity prices," he added.

"Sluggish growth and falling inflation further reinforces our view that the RBI should deliver upfront rate cuts. We expect the repo rate to be lowered by 75bp in the first half of 2015," said Pranjul.

10:00am Market Check

The market remained under pressure amid consolidation following weakness in Asian equities post China data. The Sensex fell 73.99 points to 29108.96 and the Nifty declined 16.30 points at 8792.60.

The broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gaining 0.6 percent each. About 1230 shares have advanced, 708 shares declined, and 195 shares are unchanged.

Sun Pharma gained more than 2 percent and Ranbaxy jumped over 3.5 percent to hit record highs. The US Federal Trade Commission approved the pharma major’s plan to buy Ranbaxy on the condition that it divests one antibiotic product to avoid anti-competitive impact in the US market. Torrent Pharma will acquire Ranbaxy's minocycline business in the US.

Jet Airways and SpiceJet rallied more than 4 percent as aviation turbine fuel (ATF) is slashed by a steep 11.3 percent which now costs lesser than diesel. The price of ATF, or jet fuel, in Delhi was cut by Rs 5,909.9 per kilolitre, or 11.27 per cent, to Rs 46,513.02 per kl, oil companies announced.