Sensex, Nifty ends on higher note, RIL stocks down 1% ahead of Q3

Shares of LIC Housing Finance jumped after the company reported 19% increase in its net profit for the quarter ended on December 31. The company registered net profit of Rs 499.26 crore as against Rs 418.9 crore during the same period last year.

At 1439 hours the shares of the company were trading at Rs 537.15 per piece, up 1.26%, or Rs 6.70 on BSE. 

Shares of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation surged over 4% after the company reported 32% rise in net profit for the quarter ended on December 31. The company posted a net profit of Rs 244.77 crore as against Rs 185.91 crore during the same period last year.

At 1359 hours the shares of the company were trading at Rs 281.65 per piece, up 4.08%, or Rs 11.05 on BSE. 

Shares of HIL jumped over 1% after the company reported a net profit of Rs 8.6 crore during the quarter ended on December 31 as against a net loss of Rs 3.89 crore during the same period last year.

At 1331 hours shares of the company were trading at Rs 633.40 per piece, up 1.18%, or Rs 7.40 on BSE. 

Shares of Infosys drop despite reporting 7% rise in net profit for the quarter ended on December 31. At 1302 hours the shares of the company were trading at Rs 963 per piece, down 1.25%, or Rs 12.15 on BSE. 

Infosys had revised FY 2016-17 revenue guidance in constant currency at 8.4-8.8% against 8-9% estimated earlier.  

Shares of Reliance Industries plunged ahead of its quarterly results announcement. At 1246 hours the shares of the company were trading at Rs 1077.95 per piece, down 1.12%, or Rs 12.20 on BSE. 

Wholesale Price index (WPI) or Wholesale inflation rose to 3.39% (provisional) for the month of December, 2016 (over December, 2015) as compared to 3.15% (provisional) for the previous month and -1.06% during the corresponding month of the previous year, said Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Coal India shares were trading on a negative note after it revised its coal prices. 

The shares were trading at Rs 313.80 per share on BSE, down by 0.32%. 

The state-owned coal producer said they have increased coal prices by subsuming the Washery Recovery Change (WRC) which was being charged separately in the case of non-linked Washery grade coking coal keeping in view the observation of ADRM.

With this revision, Coal India will earn additional revenue of about Rs 89.98 crore for the current fiscal and an additional revenue of Rs 222 crore for FY18.

Domestic markets recovered from early morning trade. At 1038 hours, Sensex was trading at 27,291.58, up 53.52 points or 0.20%, while Nifty was at 8,406.95, up 6.60 points, or 0.08%. 

The rupee weakened 10 paise to 68.26 against the US dollar in early trade today at the Interbank Foreign Exchange on increased demand for the American currency from banks and importers.

At 1019 hours the shares of LIC Housing Finance were trading at Rs 535.75 per piece, up 1%, or Rs 5.30 on BSE. The company will be announcing its financial results for the quarter ended on December 31. 

Sector-wise IT shares were top losers with -92.73 points down. Shares of Infosys (-1.78%), Tech Mahindra (-1.29%), HCL Tech (-1.94%) were down.

While, shares of Metal and Consumer durables were top gainers on BSE. 

At 0935 hours the shares of Reliance Industries were trading at Rs 1085.55 per piece, down 0.42%, or Rs 4.60.

On 30-share benchmark, among top gainers are Power Grid (1.70%), Tata Motors (1.04%), State Bank of India (0.74%), Lupin (0.56%) and Axis Bank (0.45%). Among losers are Infosys (-1.71%), Coal India (-0.94%), Sun Pharma (-0.77%), ICICI Bank (-0.65%) and Wipro (-0.51%). 

Indices on Monday opened marginally down. At 0917 hours, Sensex was trading at 27,201.59, down 36.47 points or 0.13%, while, Nifty was trading at 8,390.95, down 9.40 points, or 0.11%. 

Stocks in focus: Reliance Industries will be in focus as the company will be announcing its financial results for the quarter ended on December 31. 

In the last quarter the company had reported a drop of nearly 23% in net profit. The company's consolidated net profit declined to Rs 7,206 crore from Rs 9,345 crore during the quarter ended on September 30, 2015.

LIC Housing Finance: The shares will be in focus ahead of its quarterly result announcement. In the last quarter (Q2FY17) the company had reported 20.2% rise in net profit to Rs 494.7 crore on year-on-year basis.