Sensex hits 19K

Banks, capital goods, oil and gas stocks rally

Markets have soared this morning following cues from US markets. Sensex is up 214 points at 19,084. Nifty is up 61 points at 5,792.

Overnight in the US, markets surged ahead of the third quarter earnings season. Previously, bourses had been moving sideways following the Q-E-3 announcement by the Federal Reserve. The Dow and  Nasdaq added 12-15 points each in trades yesterday.

In Asia, markets traded on firm with Japanese car makers extending gains as the dollar rose against the yen, countering losses for energy firms. The Hang Seng and Nikkei gained 0.2-1.2% each.

The rupee rose to a five-and-half month high on Thursday, breaching 52 to the dollar, on the back of gains in riskier assets as the government is expected to announce further reforms measures.

All the sectoral indices are in the positive zone. BSE bankex has surged nearly 2% at 13,351. Realty, capital goods, oil & gas and power indices have added 1-2% each.

BHEL has soared 3% to Rs 258. ICICI Bank - the top mover among Sensex stocks, has added 2.5% to Rs 1,079. Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank and HDFC are up 1-2% each.

Reliance has added 1% to Rs 856. Reliance Industries and the Venezuelan state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela have signed a 15 year heavy crude oil supply contract and a memorandum of understanding to develop Venezuelan heavy oil fields. This might bring Reliance into focus today.

However, weakness can be seen in Cipla and TCS - down around 1% each.

Guajarat Gas company has crashed 9.5% to Rs 305 as British energy major BG Group has said that it has reached an agreement to sell its majority stake in Gujarat Gas to the state government-run GSPC for over 2,460 crore.