Sensex, Nifty up 1%; bank shares zoom

Markets continue to trade higher in the late noon trades led by a strong run up in the banking shares and oil shares. An expected cut in the interest rates in the central bank’s monetary policy and  a sharp downtrend in the Brent crude oil prices impacting India's fiscal, current account situation and fuel price inflation have pushed the markets to scale new peaks.

 

At 1 PM, the 30-share Sensex is up 333 points at 28,772 and the 50-share Nifty has gained 109 points to trade at 8,604.

 

Earlier, the Sensex touched the life-time high level of 28,822.37 and Nifty reached all-time high mark of 8,616.70.

 

In the broader market, BSE midcap index, up 1.1% and BSE Smallcap index is up gain 0.8%. Market breadth in BSE is positive with 1,581 advances against 1,161 declines.

 

All 13 sectoral indices are trading in the positiive territory with BSE Bankex index leading the rally up over 3%. BSE Auto, Consumer Durables, Oil & Gas, Realty, Power and Capital Goods indices are up between 1-3%.

 

Hot Stocks:

 

Shares of Reliance Industries are trading higher by 2% to Rs 1,007 on the BSE after the a Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) panel asked the government to allow the company to recover $160 million of cost incurred on the KG-D6 block and suggested the government to resolve all pending issues of the company.

 

Shares of interest rate sensitive mainly banking and automobile sectors are trading higher ahead of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) monetary policy meeting on December 2.

 

Bank of Baroda, Syndicate Bank, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Jammu and Kashmir Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Uco Bank, Bank of India, Union Bank of India and Allahabad Bank are from the banking sector rallied more than 5% each. Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki India, Mahindra and Mahindra, Hero Motocorp and Eicher Motors are up 1-2% on the BSE.

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(update 12.05 PM)

Benchmark indices are trading firm, with Nifty breaching the mark of 8,600 for the first time led by gains in rate-sensitive stocks like banks and auto and index heavyweight RIL which has gained over 2%.  

At 12:05 am, the 30-share Sensex was up 370 points at 28,809 and the 50-share Nifty was up 118 points at 8,613.

 

Earlier, the Sensex touched the life-time high level of 28,822.37 and Nifty reached all-time high mark of 8,616.70.

 

In the broader market, BSE midcap index, up 1.3% is outperforming its larger peers while BSE smallcap index is marginally underperforming with a gain of 0.8%. Market breadth in BSE is positive with 1,528 advances against 838 declines.

 

Scaling a new peak, the total investor wealth in Indian stock market today hit a record high of Rs 100 trillion, marking a jump of ten times in little over a decade.

 

The total market cap of all BSE listed companies had crossed Rs 10 lakh crore mark nearly 11 years ago in 2003 and the Rs 50 lakh crore mark in 2009. The 30 Sensex companies alone, which are among the biggest companies in the country, now account for nearly 50% or about Rs 47 lakh crore of total investor wealth.

 

This includes TCS, the country's most valued firm and the only entity to have a market value of over Rs 5 lakh crore, followed by state-run ONGC and private sector behemoth Reliance Industries with market caps of over Rs 3 lakh crore each.

 

Those commanding market cap of over Rs 2 lakh crore include ITC, Infosys, HDFC Bank, SBI and Coal India. Besides, ICICI Bank, HDFC, Sun Pharma, HUL, Bharti Airtel, L&T, Wipro, Tata Motors, HCL Tech, NTPC and Axis Bank have market cap of over Rs 1 lakh crore each. Among these, ICICI Bank is very close to moving into Rs 2 lakh crore club.

 

Of the overall stock market wealth, promoters command nearly 50% share, while foreign investors own close to 20% and the rest is shared between institutional and retail investors from India.

 

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in Indian equities worth Rs 389.73 crore on Thursday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

 

The rupee was trading at 61.91, slightly higher compared with Thursday's 61.87 close. Month-end dollar demand from importers is likely to hurt the Indian unit.

 

Buzzing Stocks

 

All sectoral indices in BSE are gaining except BSE Metal index which is trading flat.

 

BSE Bankex is the top gainer with an advance close to 3% followed by counter like Auto, Consumer Durables and Capital Goods with gains over 1% each.

 

Banking shares are in demand on the bourses and are trading higher by up to 5%.

 

State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank, IndusInd Bank, Yes Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank are up 2-5%.

 

According to Business Standard reports, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is likely to coax Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan to cut interest rates when the two meet on December 1 in New Delhi ahead of the central bank’s monetary policy meeting a day later.

 

ITC has gained close to 1% on reports about company's plans to invest about 9,000 crore in the next four to five years to increase its number of hotels to 150.

 

Maruti Suzuki, Hero Motocorp and Tata Motors have gained more than 1% each.

 

Among pharma shares, Dr Reddys Lab is up 0.7% The company has received a letter from U.S. Food and Drug Administration highlighting concerns about its manufacturing plant in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

 

Cipla has gained around 0.5%. Medicines for Malaria Venture, a global initiative to fight diseases in developing countries has announced collaborations with Cipla and Strides for the development of rectal artesunate for pre-referral treatment of children with severe malaria.

 

Shares of all three listed state-owned oil marketing companies – Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) are trading higher between 4-5% after Brent crude fell $5.17 to $72.58 a barrel on Thursday.

 

Among other shares, Shares of Jet Airways (India) has surged over 10% on back of heavy volumes on the bourses after fall in crude oil prices.

 

Asian Markets

 

Japanese shares are edging higher with Nikkei gaining over 1% on depreciation in yen and fall in global crude prices which is likely to stimulate global demand. Sentiments also received a boost as the Japanese industrial output increased by 0.2% for the month of October, posting second straight month of growth and jobless claims fell.

 

Meanwhile, Chinese shares are trading mixed. Hang Seng index is flat with a negative bias on speculations about further rate cuts from China. Shanghai Composite index has gained around 0.7%.