Sensex ends above 35000 for first time ever; Nifty at new closing high

All that happened in the market today

Benchmark indices ended at fresh closing highs on Wednesday, as IT stocks such as Infosys and private lenders such as ICICI Bank rallied amid broader value buying in the market.

Investors cheered after the government said it will reduce its additional borrowing to Rs 200 billion from the bond markets in the financial year 2017-18, from Rs 500 billion announced last month. This is primarily because the Reserve Bank of India will pay a higher-than-anticipated surplus to the Centre, and the dividend target from state-owned companies will also be met, senior government sources confirmed separately to Business Standard.

Sentiment remains buoyant as investors expect corporate results to improve, especially since numbers during the same period last year were impacted by a ban on high-value currency notes.

Bach home, A fortnight ahead of the Union Budget, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council is likely to take up rationalisation of rates of about 70 items, of which at least 40 are services. Amendment in rules may also be taken up to simplify filing and plug some of the loopholes. A fitment committee of officers has made these recommendations to the Council, which will meet on Thursday.

3:50 PM

Market rundown by Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services

"After an anguished start market turned pace to new highs as improvement in sentiment due to government’s reassessment to cut down additional borrowings for the current fiscal raised its fiscal prudence. Additionally, outperformance of PSU banks on account of underlying growth story and value buying in pharma & IT stocks gave traction to the market."

3:45 PM

Nifty Bank ends at record high

3:43 PM

PSU banks gain: Nifty PSU Bank index up 4%

3:40 PM

Nifty IT extends gains as rupee weakness continues

3:38 PM

Sectoral Trend

3:36 PM

Sensex top gainers and losers

3:34 PM

Markets at Close

Benchmark indices ended at record highs on Wednesday, as IT stocks such as Infosys and private lenders such as ICICI Bank rallied amid broader value buying in the market.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 35,081, up 310 points while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,788, up 88 points

3:20 PM

Jubilant Life Sciences zooms 15% on strong Q3 results

Jubilant Life Sciences hit a record high of Rs 931, up 15% on BSE in intra-day trade, after the pharmaceutical company reported a strong 78% year on year(y-o-y) jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 2.13 billion for December 2017 quarter (Q3FY18). The company had profit of Rs 1.18 billion in the same quarter last fiscal.

Consolidated revenue grew 42% at Rs 20.68 billion against Rs 14.91 billion in the corresponding quarter of previous year. Read more

3:10 PM

Adani Group shares trade higher ahead of Q3 results

Shares of Adani Group companies – Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Adani Transmission and Adani Enterprises – were trading higher by up to 5% ahead of October-December quarter (Q3FY18).

Adani Transmission, the largest gainer among the pack, was up 5% to Rs 235 on BSE in intra-day trade on Wednesday. The company engaged in electric utilities business is schedule to announce its Q3FY18 results today. Read more

3:00 PM

Investing in mutual funds? More cuts in expense ratio may not help you

Retail investors, while investing in mutual funds, should concentrate on three things: 1) Is the scheme they are investing in a long-term performer? That is, has the scheme been consistent over one bear and one bull cycle, at least? 2) What is the mandate for the scheme and does it suit your risk profile? For example, someone may want to sell you a sector fund that is performing well. But if you are investing for the first time, there is no point in buying such schemes because the fortunes of a sector fund can change much faster than that of a well-diversified scheme. 3) Cost of the scheme. Read more

2:42 PM

Broader Markets

Broader markets in line with the benchmark indices with BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices up 0.4% and 0.2%

2:36 PM

Sensex hits 35,000 for the first time ever

2:33 PM

Reliance Nippon AMC: Why equity AUM growth is crucial for the company

The life insurance stocks, though not many in number, were considered the best option for investors to tap India’s booming equity market, thanks to unit-linked insurance policy products or Ulips. This changed to some extent with the listing of Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management or RNLAM last year in November.

The public issue was well-received by investors and they have nothing to compliant considering the post-listing gains of 25 per cent, over the initial public offering price. Read more

2:15 PM

How bitcoin frenzy has helped crypto hedge funds reap 1,100% gains in 2017

The nine cryptocurrency hedge funds tracked by Eurekahedge Pte soared 1,167% as a group in 2017, according to preliminary figures from the data provider, which doesn’t disclose details such as assets under management or individual returns. While that trailed the 1,403% gain in bitcoin, it comfortably trounced the 8% return by hedge funds globally. Click here for full article

2:00 PM

Jhunjhunwala, Damani offer to match all competing bids for Binani Cements

Mumbai’s billionaire stock brokers, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and Ramesh Damani have made aggressive bids for Binani Cements as both see long-term prospects in the company which owns and operates 11 mtpa of cement capacity in India. The duo have offered to match any competing bid for the cement company which once featured Amitabh Bachchan as its brand ambassador.

Jhunjhunwala-owned Rare Enterprises has a significant equity stake in many companies including Titan (around 9 per cent), Aurobindo (appox 2 per cent), Delta (18%), Escorts (9.16 %). Jhunjhunwala is also among the bidders for Star Health & Allied Insurance which is valued at $1 billion. Read more

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First Published: Jan 17 2018 | 3:31 PM IST