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Markets continue to trade higher for the fourth straight session on sustained buying in blue-chip companies fuelled by strong economic reforms made by Modi-led BJP government. Also, strenth in the global markets have driven the benchmark indices to new highs.
At 12.50 PM, the 30-share Sensex is up 412 points at 27,758 and the 50-share Nifty has gained 119 points to trade at 8,288.
In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices are up between 1-1.4%.
Market breadth is very strong with 1,736 gainers and 933 losers on the BSE.
Tata Steel, HDFC, Maruti Suzuki, L&T and ONGC are the top 5 gainers on the Sensex.
Buzzing Stocks:
JK Lakshmi Cement has rallied 5% to Rs 378 on National Stock Exchange (NSE) after reporting nearly three-fold jump in net profit at Rs 30.61 crore in September 2014 quarter (Q2), on back of improved volume and better realization. The company had profit of Rs 10.30 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.
Shares of real estate and infrastructure companies are continue trading higher by up to 20%, extending their previous day’s rally, on the news that the government had relaxed foreign direct investment (FDI) rules in the construction sector by reducing minimum built up area as well as capital requirement and easing exit norms.
Unitech, IVRCL Infrastructure, Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), GVK Power and Infrastructure, National Building Construction Company (NBCC), D B Realty, Patel Engineering, Shriam EPC and Gayatri Projects are up 4-10% on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
Infosys has moved higher by nearly 2% to Rs 4,016, crosses Rs 4,000 mark on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The stock opened at Rs 3,987 and hit a record high on Rs 4,020 on BSE. A combined 354,764 equity shares changed hands on the counter till 1120 hours on NSE and BSE.
Titan Company has dipped 5% to Rs 398 on BSE, in otherwise firm market, after reporting a lower than expected performance with a 29% year-on-year jump in net profit at Rs 240 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2014 (Q2), on the account of sharp increase in jewellery sales.
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(updated at 11.40 AM)___________________________________________________________
Benchmark indices maintained momentum in late morning trades amid a broad based rally aided particularly by strong performance of information technology shares and heavyweights like ITC and Reliance Industries.
At 11.40 AM, the 30-share Sensex is up 363 points at 27,710 and the 50-share Nifty has gained 106 points at 8,275.
In the broader market, both BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices have gained more than 1%.
The market breadth is heavily positive with 1,695 gainers against 784 losers.
Meanwhile, Bank of Japan (BoJ) has expanded its bond purchasing program from 50 trillion yens to 80 trillion yens which led to a 4% surge in Nikkei. BOJ has announced to maintain its expansionary monetary policy stance till the Japanese economy reaches at least 2% inflation rate.
Asian markets
Nikkei’s surge of around 4% boosted the sentiments further while yen skidded to six-year lows against the dollar. Japanese shares rallied Japan's central bank said it would purchase more shares of exchange-traded funds and real estate investment trusts, and extend the duration of its portfolio of Japanese government bonds, to "pre-empt manifestation" of risks.
Chinese shares have gained on hopes of further support measures for the economy from the government. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.9% to a 20-month high and Hang Seng has gained around 1.2%.
Sectors and stocks
Among the 12 sectors on BSE, most have gained close to or above 1%. However, BSE Consumer Durable index alone is down around 2% dragged by Titan shares which have lost close to 5% after reporting a lower than expected performance in the July-September quarter.
IT stocks have gained on positive economic data in US, the biggest outsourcing market for the Indian IT firms. Infosys is among the biggest gainer with an advance of around 1.7% followed by TCS at around 1% and Wipro gaining around 0.5%.
Among bank shares, SBI is among the biggest gainer with an advance above 2% followed by HDFC Bank at 1.7%, Axis Bank at 1.5% ICICI Bank at 0.1% while HDFC Finance has gained around 2.6%.
IDFC Limited has gained around 3.4% after receiving its board's approval to demerge its financial undertaking into its wholly-owned step down subsidiary IDFC Bank Ltd, as per a stock market disclosure.
Among oil & gas shares, ONGC has gained around 2.3% while Reliance has gained around 1.2% while GAIL is up around 0.8%.
ITC and NTPC have gained more than 1% ahead of their second quarter results to released later today.
Among auto shares, Maruti Suzuki has gained around 2.4% as a series of new launches are expected to firm up sales for the company.
Bharti Airtel has lost around 1.4% as its performance in the September quarter has been rather muted, as the African market continues to be a drag. Seasonally, the second quarter is known to be weak for the company, but the contraction in voice revenues and realisations has been far more pronounced.
Among other shares, shares of Thermax have surged over 4% after the Energy and environment major secured Rs 321 crore worth order to build and commission a captive power plant in Africa.
OnMobile Global has gained around 7% mainly on account of improved cash and cash equivalent position in the July- September quarter at Rs 289.8 crore from Rs 146.3 crore in the same quarter last fiscal. This was primarily due to cash proceeds from the sale of Voxmobili, improved collections and better working capital management.
