Sensex & Nifty sluggish, Brent rises; Bharti falls 2%

1:55 pm Result: Pharmaceutical firm Wockhardt's third consolidated net profit increased 14 percent year-on-year to Rs 347 crore led by strong operational income and other income.

Consolidated total income rose 11.8 percent to Rs 1,382 crore during October-December quarter from Rs 1,236.4 crore in the year-ago period.

Operating profit (EBITDA) surged 92.4 percent on yearly basis to Rs 463 crore and operating profit margin spiked a whopping 1400 basis points to 33.5 percent in the quarter ended December 2014.

Other income jumped 4.5 times year-on-year to Rs 28.5 crore while finance cost declined to Rs 12 crore from Rs 30.5 crore during the same period.

1:45 pm Growth: India needs to grow at 7-8 percent a year to create more job opportunities for young people and double the size of the economy in 10 years, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said.

"We want to put India on sustainable non-inflationary growth trajectory of 7-8 percent growth. We need to have 7-8 percent growth to provide employment to young people that join workforce every year," Sinha said at 15th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit today.

"7-8 percent growth will double size of economy in the next 10 years. For this we need to build our productive capacity, but also need to ensure that our growth is sustainable," he added. The minister also stressed upon need to protect the environment.

1:30 pm Result: Canara Bank's third quarter net profit climbed 60.4 percent year-on-year to Rs 656 crore boosted by higher other income and lower provisions.

Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest expended, grew 6.9 percent to Rs 2,380.5 crore during October-December quarter compared to Rs 2,227 crore in same quarter last fiscal.

Provisions for bad loans declined 20 percent year-on-year (up 3.4 percent sequentially) to Rs 841.3 crore during the quarter with the provision coverage ratio at 59.44 percent at the end of December 2014.

Asset quality weakened a bit during the quarter as gross non-performing assets (NPA) increased 56 basis points Y-o-Y (up 43 bps Q-o-Q to 3.35 percent and net NPA rose 3 bps year-on-year (up 11 bps sequentially) to 2.42 percent.

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The market is still flat with the Nifty managing to hold above 8750 marginally. The 50-share index is up 5.20 points at 8761.75. The Sensex is up 25.39 points at 29025.53, and the Nifty About 1323 shares have advanced, 1319 shares declined, and 242 shares are unchanged.

Sesa Sterlite is up 4 percent while ONGC gain 4 percent, Hindalco, Coal India and Tata Steel are other gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Axis Bank, BHEL, TCS, Bharti and Tata Motors.

Crude oil futures prices rose 0.96 percent to Rs 3,257 per barrel today as speculators engaged in enlarging positions, tracking a firming trend in Asian cues. At the Multi Commodity Exchange, crude oil for delivery in February traded Rs 31, or 0.96 percent, higher at Rs 3,257 per barrel, with a business turnover of 19,103 lots. The oil for March also moved up by Rs 30, or 0.90 per cent, to Rs 3.334 per barrel, with a business volume of 1,040 lots.

Analysts attributed the rise in crude oil futures to a firming trend in Asia, extending gains from the previous day due to a significant decline in US drilling activity. Crude also gained strength with the dollar dropping to a one week low after some weak US factory orders data in December.