2:00 pm Asian Markets: Japanese stocks rose to a three-week high , helped by gains in construction equipment makers on news China is taking steps to stimulate its economy, and as the dollar hit a 10-week high to the yen after solid US economic data. The Nikkei ended 0.8 percent higher to 15,071.88 points, the highest close since March 11. The broader Topix rose 0.5 percent to 1,216.77.
The JPX-Nikkei Index 400, a gauge comprised of companies with a high return on equity and robust corporate governance, added 0.6 percent to 11,029.28.
1:50 pm Interview: Debunking the myth that weak monsoons lone can be responsible for affecting the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) growth in the rural areas, Sunil Duggal, CEO, Dabur said the rural demand has been lower over the last two quarters. According to him, the correlation between rural income and monsoon is very direct. But the same with consumer demand is not always true. "We cannot be completely insulted from the impact of a bad monsoon. But it doesn’t alter the dynamics of consumption to a very great degree. Likewise a great monsoon also doesn’t accelerate demand, there are host of other conditions required to stimulate or depress demand," he added.
1:40 pm In focus: Shares of Unitech are attracting buyers after the company said it has been approached by a third party for its stake in Candor Investment- the IT parks. The stock gained as much as 6.5 percent intraday. Meanwhile, sources told CNBC-TV18 that real estate major Unitech and Unitech Corporate Parks (UCP) will sell six India assets for up to Rs 12,500 crore. It is learnt that the company will raise Rs 4,000-5,000 crore from milestone payments over three years. Unitech and UCP have signed exclusivity with a potential buyer and they will exit IT park portfolio of 16 million square feet, sources say.
1:30 pm Market outlook: Nirmal Jain, chairman, IIFL recommends long-term investors to hold on to their equity investments now. “Most foreign investors remain bullish on India and if nothing catastrophic happens then we can see a sustained bull market,” he told CNBC-TV18 in an interview. Market participants should adopt a bottom-up approach, but must not leverage given that election is a high risk event. “If the election outcome is not as per expectations then it will have a huge impact,” he cautioned. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India granted in-principle nod for the much-awaited bank licence to IDFC and Bandhan Financial Services on Wednesday. “This is positive start. They want the banking sector to open up,” Jain said. 1:20 pm Buzzing: Shares of Siti Cable Network rallied as much as 5.5 percent intraday after the company said promoters raised stake in the company to 72.82 percent, up from 63.08 percent as of December 2013.
The cable television service provider in its filing to the exchange said the promoters have invested additional Rs 243 crore in the business to support the aggressive growth plan to grow subscriber base to 10 million in FY14-15. "As per the approval received from Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in March 2013 to raise Rs 324 crore from promoter entities, the company has already received first tranche Rs 81 crore in March 2013 and this is balance tranche fund of Rs 243 crore.
With this total promoter shareholding rises to 72.82 percent," the company elaborated. Don't miss: Bank licence regrets: L&T Fin, Muthoot, JM Fin tank 9-14% The market continued to remain under pressure as the Sensex is down 107.10 points at 22444.39, and the Nifty is down 33.45 points at 6719.10. About 1122 shares have advanced, 1380 shares declined, and 124 shares are unchanged. Banking, capital goods and oil & gas stocks are dragging the indices. 
BHEL loses 3 percent, followed by Coal India, SBI and L&T. The MCX board is likely to meet today to consider preferential allotment. Sources indicate that some private equity investors may join the board. Earlier, Financial Technologies was asked by FMC to reduce its stake in MCX to 2 percent from 26 percent.
The Aam Aadmi Party is likely to release its national manifesto for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections today. The manifesto will spell out party's stand over different issues including the party's agriculture, economic and foreign policy. Issues like gas price may also find place in the manifesto.

Country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) reported a 5.5 percent decline in total sales in March at 1,13,350 units as against 1,19,937 units in the same month last year. The company said its domestic sales declined  by 5.2 percent during the month to 1,02,269 units as against 1,07,890 units in March 2013. Sales of mini segment cars, including M800, Alto, A-Star and WagonR, declined by 11 percent to 40,085 units as compared to 45,047 units in the year-ago month, MSI said in a statement.
The company said sales of the compact segment comprising Swift, Estilo, Ritz rose by 9.3 percent to 28,285 units in March this year as against 25,868 units last year, reports PTI. 12:50pm HSBC's India manufacturing PMI down in March HSBC's India manufacturing PMI declined in March at 51.3 versus 52.5 in February, but remained above the waterline, indicating positive growth. "Growth in the manufacturing sector eased on the back of weaker growth in output and a slowdown in order flows from domestic clients.
By goods, consumer goods firmed, but the production of investment goods remains subdued according to panellists. Looking ahead, the recovery is likely to prove protracted. Meanwhile, inflation eased in March, with the PMI index for input and output prices falling," the HSBC report said.
12:45pm Expert on RBI policy Kunal Shah, fund manager-debt, Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance said, "RBI has maintained status quo as per our and consensus expectations, though not clearly spelled out in policy but RBI is incrementally concerned about sticky growth underperformance." According to him, RBI has hinted that lead indicators do not point to any sustained revival in industry or services & hence believes that slower activity will help disinflate the economy which will support the fight against inflation. "Till these processes evolve RBI feels current policy rates are appropriate and may not require further tightening," he added. "We expect current disinflation process to continue and core inflation to moderate further however sharp fall is unlikely in short-term. Monsoon will be key to watch as it can create short-term volatility in inflation path," Shah said.
12:40pm Rate hike unlikely if inflation does not rise further The Reserve Bank’s policy stance will be firmly focussed on keeping the economy on a disinflationary glide path that is intended to hit 8 per cent CPI inflation by January 2015 and 6 per cent by January 2016, the central bank said. It further said that at the current juncture, it is appropriate to hold the policy rate, while allowing the rate increases undertaken during September 2013-January 2014 to work their way through the economy. Furthermore, if inflation continues along the intended glide path, further policy tightening in the near term is not anticipated at this juncture, the RBI said.
12:35pm RBI says Since December 2013, the sharper than expected disinflation in vegetable prices has enabled a sizable fall in headline inflation. Looking ahead, vegetable prices have entered their seasonal trough and further softening is unlikely. Meanwhile, CPI inflation excluding food and fuel has remained flat. There are risks to the central forecast of 8 percent CPI inflation by January 2015 stemming from a less-than-normal monsoon due to possible el nino effects; uncertainty on the setting of minimum support prices for agricultural commodities and the setting of other administered prices, especially of fuel, fertiliser and electricity; the outlook for fiscal policy; geo-political developments and their impact on international commodity prices. 12:30pm Market falls further, banks extend losses Equity benchmarks extended losses in afternoon trade weighed down by banking and financial stocks.
The Sensex is down 81.76 points to 22304.51 and the Nifty down 20.25 points to 6683.95. India's biggest lender State Bank of India plunged 2 percent while rival HDFC Bank slipped 1.9 percent. Top private sector lender ICICI Bank and housing finance company HDFC dropped over a percent. Shares of L&T, ITC, HUL, Bharti Airtel, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, BHEL and Coal India declined over 1 percent.

However, TCS held its early gains, up 2 percent followed by Wipro and ONGC with more than 1.5 percent. Infosys and Tata Motors climbed over 0.5 percent. 12:25pm RBI says Retail inflation measured by the consumer price index (CPI) moderated for the third month in succession in February 2014, driven lower by the sharp disinflation in food prices, although prices of fruits, milk and products have started to firm up. Excluding food and fuel, however, retail inflation remained sticky at around 8 percent. This suggests that some demand pressures are still at play.
12:20pm RBI increases the liquidity provided under 7-day and 14-day term repos from 0.5 percent of net demand and time liability (NDTL) of the banking system to 0.75 percent. It decreases the liquidity provided under overnight repos under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) from 0.5 percent of bank-wise NDTL to 0.25 percent with immediate effect.
12:15pm Rajan says the bank may need to push foreign banks to follow subsidiary model. Foreign banks avoid subsidiary route on priority sector norm, he adds.
12:10pm While addressing press conference after an announcement of bi-monthly review, RBI governor Raghuram Rajan said the bank had responded to Election Commission queries on banking licences. "We took Election Commission (EC) opinion on banking licences to stay away from controversy. Bimal Jalan had also suggested getting EC nod for banking licences," Rajan said. He further said the window for differentiated banking licences would be opened soon. 12:05pm Reserve Bank of India kept repo rate, at which banks borrow money from RBI, unchanged at 8 percent and cash reserve ratio at 4 percent. The central bank also left marginal standing facility rate and bank rate unchanged at 9 percent.
12:00pm The market remains volatile after the Reserve Bank of India kept policy rates unchanged that is in-line with expectations. The Sensex slips 15.12 points to 22371.15 and the Nifty declines 4.75 points to 6699.45. About 1174 shares have advanced, 1042 shares declined, and 131 shares are unchanged.   Top lenders State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank decline 0.5-0.8 percent. Housing finance company HDFC slips 0.66 percent. State-run power equipment maker BHEL drops 1.7 percent, and engineering and construction major L&T is down 1.3 percent.