Markets maintain winning streak for the fifth straight day

Benchmark indices ended firm on sustained fund inflows along with a strong rally in the interest rate-sensitive shares on hopes of further monetary policy easing amid firm global cues. However, Index heavyweight ITC's quarterly results missed the street expectations  which dampened the sentiments.

Provisionally, the 30-share Sensex gained 126 points to end at 28,911 and the 50-share Nifty gained 38 points to close at 8,734.

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(updated at 2.30PM)

Benchmark indices are trading firm on continued fund inflows along with a strong rally in the interest rate-sensitive shares on hopes of further monetary policy easing amid firm global cues. However, weak quarterly result posted by the cigarette maker and Index heavyweight ITC is weighing on the bourses. 

At 2.30 PM, the 30-share Sensex is up 56 points at 28,841 and the 50-share Nifty has gained 14 points at 8,709.

Earlier, the 30-share Sensex touched an all-time high of 28,958.10 points, up 0.60%, while the 50-share Nifty hit a lifetime high of 8,741.85 points, up 0.53%.

On the domestic front, finance Minister Arun Jaitley will present his first full-year budget on February 28 for the 2015-16 fiscal year and the railway budget will be presented on February 26 and economic survey the next day.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net buyers in equities to the tune of Rs 1,276 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

Local Currency:

The rupee trimmed its initial gains, but was still quoting up by 7 paise to 61.62 against the US currency in late morning deals today on bouts of dollar selling by banks and exporters.

Global Markets:

Asian shares hit a six-week high and the euro stayed under pressure on Wednesday as investors counted on the European Central Bank to unveil a stimulus drive, while the yen jumped after the Bank of Japan left policy unchanged.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1.3%, with shares in India and New Zealand hitting record highs.

Japan's Nikkei bucked the trend by slipping 0.5% and the yen gained 0.9# to 117.76 to the dollar after the BOJ did not expand its stimulus.

Key Stocks:

On the sectoral front, BSE Consumer Durables index has emerged as the top gainer up 1.5% followed by BSE Capital Goods, IT and Teck indices trading higher up to 1%. BSE Bankex is up 0.5%. However, BSE FMCG and Metal indices are losing sheen and are down over 1% each.

Mortgage lender, HDFC extended gains and was up nearly 3%. The market value of the country's largest mortgage financier company crossing the Rs two lakh crore mark today. According to analysts housing finance companies (HFCs) have become more competitive than banks in a low interest rate environment given the reduction in cost of funds for banks will be lower than cost of fund reduction for HFCs.

Bank shares were trading mixed with SBI up over 2.4% and HDFC Bank up 0.5% while Axis Bank is trading lower by 1%.

Consumer Durables are surging in today’s trade with PC jeweler and Titan surging up to 9%. The rate cut has revived the positive consumer sentiment as the loan on consumer goods will become cheaper. Further, drop in inflation has increased purchasing power of the customers.

Bharti Airtel has emerged as the top gainer up 3.7% after the company declared that it has not received any order demanding 4.36 billion rupees from Department of Telecom

Oil prices edged up on Wednesday in a further sign of support around current levels, but analysts said the outlook for the next six months remained bleak due to oversupply.GAIL and RIL are up 0.3% each.

A decline in the rupee has bolstered the technology pack. TCS, Wipro and Infosys are trading higher up to 1.4%.

With improvement in the country's macro economic factors and possibility of further cuts in interest rates have pulled the Cpital Goods stocks higher. L&T is up almost 2%.

On the flip side, diversified group ITC today reported a Q3 net profit of Rs 2,635 crore compared to Rs 2,385 crore in the year-ago period, an uptick of 10.5%.

The agri revenue dropped to Rs 1598 crore from Rs 1786 crore in the year-ago quarter. The paper and packaging business revenue also dipped to Rs 1199 crore from Rs 1257 crore. The stocks is down over 4.4%.

Sesa Sterlite, Tata Steel and Hindalco are down between 1- 2.5% as iron ore hovers near its weakest level since 2009 amid plentiful supply and tepid demand from Chinese steel producers

Cipla, Tata Motors and ONGC asre among the top losers on the BSE and are down between 1.5-2.5%.

The broader markets are underperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are down 0.5% each.

Market breadth has weakened with 1,751 losers and 1,095 gainers on the BSE.