Sensex gains 200 points, Nifty stays at all-time high in noon trade

Reliance Industries (RIL) gained nearly 2% after it reported record annual profits for FY17

Benchmark indices were trading higher in the noon trdae after Nifty50 hit a record high of 9280 at open, surpassing April 5 record high of 9,274 following strong cues from Wall Street and Asian markets. A win for the pro-EU presidential candidate in the first round of French elections triggered a relief rally globally. 

Polls show Emmanuel Macron defeating anti-euro nationalist Marine Le Pen by as much as 30 percentage points in the second round of the French presidential election in two weeks.
 
Back home, March-quarter earnings of index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) came in better than Street expectation adding to the sentiment. 

At 11:53 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 29,846 up 190 points, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 9,276 up 58 points.
 
In the broader market, BSE Midcap gained 0.8% while BSE Smallcap was up 0.7%.

"The upswings expected yesterday did not gather enough momentum to topple 9,280 region, and with that move most of the oversold situation has also been neutralized leaving little steam for extended rise. This should mean up moves early in the day could see severly tested by 9,280 and a consolidation could again be in order. Alternatively, direct rise above 9,280 could set the trajectory towards 9,500," Geojit Financial Services said in a note.

The Street will also look out for the 23 companies which will report their earnings today. These include IT major Wipro and a number of banking institutions, like IDFC Bank, M&M Financial, LIC Housing Finance and ICICI Prudential Life, among others.
 
On Monday, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 279.55 crore, while Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 984.17 crore, provisional data available with BSE showed.

Robust RIL earnings
 
Reliance Industries (RIL) gained nearly 2% after it reported record annual profits for the last financial year (2016-17), riding high on refining and petrochemicals businesses. For the March quarter, its consolidated net profit rose 12.3% to Rs 8,046 crore, against Rs 7,167 crore for the same period a year ago.

 
The company’s turnover in the March quarter rose 45.2% year-on-year to Rs 92,889 crore, largely meeting Street expectations for net profit.
 
The company also plans to spend a further $2.8 billion on its Jio telecoms business in the current quarter, it said on Monday, taking its investment in the venture to more than $30 billion, Reuters reported.

Buzzing Stocks

M&M, Bharti Airtel, RIL, PowerGrid and ICICI Bank gained the most on BSE Sensex while NTPC, TCS and Adani Ports were the top losers. 

Indiabulls Housing Finance gained 1.5% after it reported a 24% increase in net profit for the March quarter on robust growth in individual home loans, and forecast better days as Prime Minister's affordable housing push with interest rate subvention has made cost of borrowing insignificant. 

Drug firm Strides Shasun gained 5.54 % after its Cuddalore facility in Tamil Nadu successfully completed inspection by the US health regulator. 

Global Markets
 
Asian equities were steady on Tuesday and the euro retained gains as markets' euphoria over a centrist victory in the first round of the French presidential election subsided, though near-term investor sentiment remains positive.
 
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was little changed early on Tuesday.
 
Japan's Nikkei added 0.3% while South Korea's KOSPI advanced 0.2%.and Australia was closed for a holiday.
 
Overnight, the MSCI World index surged 1.6% to an all-time high. The pan-European STOXX 50 index soared 4%, its best day in nearly two years and France's CAC40 jumped 4.1%, its biggest one-day gain in almost five years.

 
On Wall Street, the Nasdaq climbed 1.2% to a record high, while the Dow and the S&P both gained 1.1%.
 
(With inputs from Reuters)