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Benchmark indices are trading higher led by strong buying in rate-sensitive sectors like banks, realty, auto and index heavyweight ITC.
By 10:25, the Sensex was higher by 165 points at 28,232 mark and the Nifty gained by 52 points at 8,453 levels. The Sensex and Nifty have touched fresh record levels of 28,294 and 8,462 levels, respectively.
The broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices have gained by nearly 1% each.
The market breadth in BSE remains firm with 1,275 shares advancing and 652 shares declining.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net sellers in Indian equities worth Rs 477.15 crore on Thursday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
The rupee gained slightly at 61.8450/8500 vs Thursday's close of 61.94/95. Most emerging market currencies recovered after recent falls vs the dollar.
ASIAN MARKETS
Most Asian stock markets rose on Friday on data showing broad U.S. economic strength, while the yen rebounded from overnight multi-year lows after a Japanese official expressed concern about the pace of its recent descent.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up about 0.2 percent, though on track for a weekly loss of over 1 percent.
SECTORS & STOCKS IN ACTION
BSE Bankex and BSE Consumer Durables index have gained by almost 2%. Sectors like Auto, Capital Goods, FMCG, Metal, Oil & Gas, Realty and Power have risen by 1% each. However, BSE IT index has slumped by nearly 1%.
The main gainers on the Sensex are Cipla, Tata Motors, SBI, Axis Bank, BHEL, GAIL, Hindalco and HDFC.
Cipla has extended yesterday’s gains and has surged by nearly 2% after the pharmaceutical company through its subsidiary Cipla Europe NV, has entered into an agreement to distribute Serum Institute of India Ltd’s (SII) paediatric vaccines in Europe.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday asked the chiefs of PSB banks to increase the flow of credit to various sectors of the economy without being unduly conservative and firmly deal with the issue of rising non-performing assets (NPAs).
Meanwhile, international ratings agency Moody's Investors Service today revised outlook of the country's non-financial corporates to stable from negative in view of momentum in economic recovery and political stability.
Kotak Mahindra Bank has surged 7% to Rs 1,242, extending its previous day’s 7% rally on National Stock Exchange (NSE), after the Kotak Mahindra Bank announced it was acquiring ING Vysya Bank in an all-stock deal.
YES Bank is trading higher by 4% at Rs 700 on NSE after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said foreign institutional investors (FIIs) can buy equity shares in private lender as shareholding by foreign investors has gone below the prescribed limit.
FTIL founder and group chief executive officer (CEO) Jignesh Shah stepped down on Thursday from the company’s board of directors. The stock has nearly 4%.
Tata Steel, Hindalco and Sesa Sterlite have gained between 0.5-1.3%. The central government, after allowing commercial mining in the coal sector, is now planning to permit companies to sell mines of all minerals, except atomic ones, by providing transferability under the mining law. Under the law in force at present, a company cannot sell mines it holds to other companies, though leases are transferred whenever a mining company is taken over.
On the losing side, Infosys, Tata Power, HUL, TCS and Maruti Suzuki have slipped between 1-2%.
Infosys is the top Sensex loser, down nearly 2%. The company is likely to book an impact of less than $1 million (Rs 6 crore) due to the financial irregularities in the accounts of its business process outsourcing (BPO) arm, which led to the dismissal of the unit's chief financial officer, Abraham Mathews earlier this week.
