Sensex ends 133 points higher; RIL jumps 5%

Markets end higher for the third straight session on sustained buying by fund and retail investors amid weak global cues. Shares of Reliance contributed the most to the rise on the Sensex after LIC increased its stake in the company. 

Provisionally, the 30-share Sensex surged 133 points at 29,593 and the 50-share Nifty gains 39 points at 8,995.

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(updated at 3.30PM)

Markets have gained momentum in the last hour of trading with Nifty touching record high on persistent buying mainly in healthcare, consumer durables IT and energy stocks on the back of sustained foreign capital inflows with Reliance contributing the most to the gains after LIC increased its stake in the company.

At 3:03 PM, the 30-share Sensex is up 163 points at 29,602 and the 50-share Nifty has gained 41 points at 8,998 after hitting 9,000 mark for the first time ever.

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(updated at 2.45 PM)

Markets are trading higher on persistent buying mainly in healthcare, consumer durables IT and energy stocks on the back of sustained foreign capital inflows with Reliance contributing the most to the gains after LIC increased its stake in the company.

At 14.10 PM, the 30-share Sensex is up 73 points at 29,532 and the 50-share Nifty has gained 15 points at 8,972.

On the macro-economic front, annual growth in production of the eight key infrastructure industries declined to at least a year’s low of 1.8% in January compared to 3.7% in the same month last year.

This is likely to have a negative impact on the industrial growth numbers for the month, as these industries have a weight of 38 per cent in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

Fiscal deficit rose to Rs 5.68 lakh crore in April-January period, breaching the budget estimate by 107% which may call for harder measures by the government to meet the target of 4.1% of the GDP for full 2014-15 financial year.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 424.79 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.

LOCAL CURRENCY

The rupee HAS depreciated by 4 paise to trade at 61.91 against the US dollar, extending Monday’s weakness due to sustained demand for the American currency from importers.

KEY STOCKS

On the sectoral front, BSE Oil & Gas, Healthcare indices are up over 2% followed by Consumer Durables, IT, Teck indices trading higher up to 2%. However, BSE FMCG, Bankex, Auto and Metal indices are losing sheen on the indices and are trading lower up to 1.5%.

RIL has gained over 4.5% and has emerged as the top gainer after LIC increased its stake in the company by 2.09% after buying 6.78 crore shares in the open market. ONGC is up 1% while GAIL has lost 0.5%.

IT stocks are trading higher in today’s trade on the back of a depreciating rupee. TCS, Wipro and Infosys are up between 0.1-3%.

Sun Pharmaceuticals has gained 3% in intra-day deals after the company said it will acquire the opiates business of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in Australia. GSK’s opiates business, including related manufacturing sites in Latrobe (Tasmania) and Port Fairy (Victoria). Dr Reddys Lab and Cipla have gained between 2-3%.

Among capital goods stocks, L&T has gained 0.7%. The construction arm of L&T has won orders worth Rs 2,215 crore across various business segments over the last two months, according to company disclosure to BSE. BHEL has slipped nearly 1% on profit taking.

Among banking shares, Axis Bank has slipped 2.5% and ICICI Bank has dipped 0.5% on profit booking.

ITC continues its slide on the Sensex and is down nearly 1%  after the budget proposed a hike in the excise duty in cigarette. HUL is down 0.7%.

Auto shares decline across the exchanges on weak February auto sales numbers. Tata Motors and M&M are down between 2-3%.

Coal India dropped nearly 5% after the stock turned ex-dividend for Rs 20.70 per share today. 

In the broader market, both the BSE Midcap index and Smallcap indices, up 0.9% and 1% each have performed better than the front-liners. Market breadth on the BSE is positive with 1,507 advances against 1,161 declines.