)
Benchmark indices continued their record breaking streak for the fifth straight session with the Nifty crossing the 8,900 mark for the first time led by the gains in financials, capital goods and select index heavyweights like ITC.
Provisionally, the 30-share Sensex closed up 273 points at 29,552 and the 50-share Nifty ended up 68 points at 8,904.
***************************
(updated at 3:08PM)
Benchmark indices are set to close at record-high levels led by the gains in index heavyweights like ICICI Bank, ITC and HDFC among others. Nifty has crossed the 8,900 mark for the first time in its history.
At 3:08PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 303 points at 29,582 and the 50-share Nifty was up 79 points at 8,915.
The Sensex has touched its new all-time high level of 29,583.25 and Nifty has hit its fresh record-high level of 8,916 in today’s session.
*********************************************************
Benchmark indices are trading higher and have hit fresh record highs led by the gains in index heavyweights like ICICI Bank and ITC among others.
At 2:47AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 201 points at 29,480 and the 50-share Nifty was up 51 points at 8,886.
The Sensex has touched its new all-time high level of 29,521.30 and Nifty has hit its fresh record-high level of 8,899.20 in today’s session.
.
In the broader market, both the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices have performed better than the front-liners with gains of 0.7% and 0.7% each. Market breadth in BSE is negative with 1,472 declines against 1,317 advances.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net buyers in Indian equities worth Rs 2,020 crore on Friday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
Buzzing Stocks
8 of the 12 sectoral indices of BSE are in green. BSE Capital Goods index has gained around 1.7% and is the top gainer followed by BSE Consumer Durables index, up 1.4% and BSE Realty index, up 1.1%. BSE IT index, down 1.3% is the top loser followed by BSE Metal index which is down over 1%.
Financials are among the top gainers in today’s trade. Axis Bank has gained around 2.5%, ICICI Bank has gained around 2%, HDFC twins have gained around 0.7% each.
Capital Goods stocks too are trading higher. L&T has gained around 2% and BHEL is up around 1%.
Among auto stocks, Maruti Suzuki is up around 0.7% while Tata Motors is the lead gainer from the pack and has gained over 2%. However, M&M, Bajaj Auto and Hero Motocorp have declined around 2.7%, 1.5% and 1.1% respectively.
Maruti Suzuki today reported a 18% growth in net profit to Rs 802 crore compared to Rs 681.2 crore in the year-ago period. The revenue came in at Rs 12,576 crore in the quarter ended 31 December, 2014 compared to Rs 10,984 crore in the same quarter last fiscal, up 14.5%. The EBITDA came in at Rs 1,593 crore, with operating margin at 12.7%.
"Higher volumes and favourable forex contributed to the bottom-line," the company said in a statement.
Pharma stocks are trading mixed. While Cipla has gained over 3%, Sun Pharma and Dr Reddys Lab have declined around 2% and 4% each.
Ranbaxy which is to be acquired by Sun Pharma, lost its 180 day exclusivity on Nexium, a heartburn drug from AstraZeneca, after the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) allowed Teva Pharma to launch generic version of the drug.
IT stocks are mixed in today’s session. Infosys has declined around 3.3% and TCS is trading flat. Wipro has gained around 0.3%. The company has been awarded a multi-year strategic infrastructure management contract by AIB, a leading bank in Ireland offering a full range of personal and corporate banking services.
Metal stocks are under pressure with Hindalco losing over 2.5%. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday filed a status report showing its further investigation in the Hindalco coal block allocation matter, allegedly involving industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and former coal secretary P C Parakh. Tata Steel has lost 1.5%.
Coal India down 3.5% and HUL down 2.2% are other major losers.
Among other stocks, Rajesh Exports has rallied 12% on back of heavy volumes after the company announced its plans to foray into gold finance business.
Global Markets
Asian markets closed mixed. As the apprehensions over the outcome of Greece election were allayed due to the firm trends seen in European markets, Japanese shares rose to one-month highs and the Nikkei closed 1.7% higher. On the other hand, Hong Kong shares snapped a five-day winning streak on Tuesday, dragged down by losses in mainland China markets. The Hang Seng index fell 0.4% and Shanghai Composite index ended lower by 0.9%.
European markets have opened on a cautious note ahead of the US Federal Reserve policy meet scheduled to commence later today. FTSE 100 index has gained around 0.1% while French CAC 40 index is down by 0.1% and German DAx is trading flat.
