Sensex, Nifty close lower in rangebound trade; Divi's Laboratories ends 16.73% higher on USFDA lifting import alert

The Sensex and Nifty ended in the red on Thursday, trading in range bound territory, with pharma stocks rising after USFDA lifted import alert on Divi's Laboratories. The S&P BSE healthcare index rose 2.48 percent or 353.24 points at 14,611 level after other pharma stocks rose due to positive sentiment emanating from the Divi's Laboratories development. While the Sensex fell 0.08 percent or 27 points to 33,573 level, the Nifty fell 16.70 points or 0.16 percent to 10,423 level. On Wednesday, Sensex closed 387 points or 1.17 percent higher at 33,600 level. The Nifty closed 1.02 percent or 105 points higher at 10,440 level. We look at key developments, which affected the market today.

16:00 pm: ONGC plans to nearly double natural gas production in four years as it invests billions of dollars to produce from newer discoveries, the state-owned firm's chairman Shashi Shanker said. Country's biggest oil and gas producer is investing Rs 92,000 crore in 35 major projects which include 14 to bring new finds to production and six to improve recovery from the ageing fields.

15:50 pm: Vedanta, the Indian unit of diversified mining group Vedanta Resources Plc, posted a 47 percent rise in second-quarter profit, helped by improved commodity prices and higher zinc and copper production. Profit rose to Rs 2091 crore ($323.52 million) in the three months through September 30, from Rs 1424 crore a year earlier. Total income grew about 24 percent to Rs 22466 crore, the company said.

15:35 pm: Largest public lender State Bank of India (SBI) lowered home loan rate by 0.05 per cent to 8.30 per cent, the lowest in the industry. It has also reduced the auto loan by a similar percentage point to 8.70 per cent.

15:33 pm: Shares of IT services firm Hexaware Technologies rose by nearly 14 per cent after the company posted 24.4 per cent rise in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended September 30, 2017. The stock jumped 13.87 per cent to settle at Rs 319 on BSE. Intra-day, it soared 14.99 per cent to Rs 322.15. On NSE, shares of the company zoomed 13.44 per cent to close at Rs 318.95.

15:30 pm: Divi's Laboratories closes 16.73 percent or 154 points higher at 1074 level on the BSE. 

15:02 pm: Credit Suisse raises target price for TVS Motor Company to Rs 490 from Rs 400; rating underperform.

14:59 pm: UFO Moviez India stock rises up to 9 percent on BSE after nod to composite scheme of arrangement and amalgamation with Qube Cinema Technologies.

14:18 pm: Borosil Glass Works September-quarter net profit Rs 13.54 crore against Rs 10.84 crore an year ago. The stock rose 4.27 percent or 38 points to 927 level on the BSE.

12:06 pm: Odisha sends Rs 20,169-crore penalty notice to Coal India's subsidiary Mahanadi Coalfields. The penalty has been levied for flouting environment and mining plant norms.

11:26 am: JSW Energy stock trading lower around 2 percent lower after the company reported higher-than-expected 37 per cent jump in Q2 consolidated profit. Analysts warned JSW would face rising competition from renewable players.

11:07 am: BSE midcap index rises 0.9 percent, while smallcap index adds 0.76 percent. Both indexes have touched fresh record highs today.

10:36 am: FIIs were net buyers of stocks worth Rs 1,038.31 crore while the DIIs were net sellers of stocks worth Rs 667.91 crore.

10:26 am: The Rupee was trading at 64.555 level to the US dollar in early morning trade. The Indian currency on Wednesday closed at six-week high against the US dollar at 64.60 against the dollar-a level last seen on 20 September, up 0.24% from its Tuesday's close of 64.75. So far this year, the rupee has gained 5.15%.

10:13 am: HDFC Standard Life Insurance said it was open to any kind of acquisition, including of Max Life if the "structural issues" that hampered its earlier deal are resolved.

10:09 am: Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India has hiked stake in state-owned Coal India to 9.4%. LIC bought 2% share in the PSU through Open Market Purchase from "January 1, 2015 -October 31, 2017." Coal India which accounts for over 80% of the domestic coal production is eyeing 600 million tonnes of output in the ongoing fiscal.

10:02 am: Tech Mahindra stock fell nearly 4.50 percent to 467 level a day after the country's fifth-largest IT firm said its consolidated net profit rose 29.7 per cent to Rs 836.15 crore for the quarter ended September. This is against a net profit of Rs 644.73 crore in the July-September 2016 quarter.

9:45 am: The Divi's Laboratories stockrose up to 19 percent in early morning trade on reports of lifting of import alert by the US health regulator. In March, the USFDA had issued import alert for the company's unit-II at Visakhapatnam under the two clauses 66-40 and 99-32 of the FDA regulations.

9:44 am: Dredging Corporation of India stock rose 14.50 per cent a day after the governemnt approved sale of its entire 73.47 per cent stake in the firm which could fetch about Rs 1,400 crore to the exchequer. The stock closed 20 percent higher in Wednesday's trade.

9:41 am: Berger Paints, Glenmark, Ujjivan Financial, PowerGrid and Vedanta Q2 earnings to be announced today.

9:37 am: Market breadth was positive with 1120 stocks rising against 629 falling on the BSE.

9:27 am: The initial public offer of Mahindra Logistics was subscribed 1.32 times on the second day of offer on Wednesday. The IPO received bids for 1,79,66,042 shares against the total issue size of 1,35,70,143 shares, data available with the NSE showed.

9: 05 am: Stocks in focus in today's trade are Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Auto,  NTPC , IDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Bharti Airtel.

8:55 am: Asian shares touched a 10-year high on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve expressed optimism about the economy, virtually cementing the case for a year-end rate hike as investors awaited the formal nomination of the next head of the central bank. Japan's Nikkei stock index .N225 was up 0.2 percent at the end of morning trading, probing fresh 21-year highs and on track to gain over 2 percent in a holiday-shortened week. Japanese markets will be closed for a national holiday on Friday.

On Wednesday, Wall Street posted modest gains after the Fed held policy steady as expected and underscored solid US economic growth as well as a strengthening labor market, while downplaying the impact of recent hurricanes.