 "Sensex up over 500 points; Bank of Baroda zooms 18%")
Benchmark shares indices extended gains in late morning trades with both the Sensex and Nifty up over 2% each amid short-covering and renewed buying interest at lower levels after the sharp correction last week.
At 11:35am, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 553 points at 23,539 and the Nifty50 was 176 points higher at 7,157.
In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were up 3.2%-3.5% each. Market breadth was positive with 1,802 gainers and 392 losers on the BSE.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in equities worth Rs 398 crore on Friday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
The rupee was trading higher by 15 paise at 68.08 to the US dollar on the back of selling of the US currency by exporters and banks while strong gains in domestic equities also boosted sentiment.
ECONOMY
Index of Industrial Production (IIP) contracted an annual 1.3% in December 2015 compared to the same month last year. Meanwhile, annual consumer price inflation edged up to a 17-month high of 5.69% in January, driven up by higher food costs, according to a government data showed on Friday. CPI in December 2015 stood at 5.61%
Meanwhile, investors would keenly await WPI inflation numbers, which will be released later today.
SECTORS & STOCKS
All sectoral indices on the BSE were trading in the green with Metal index leading the pack up 6% followed by Realty and Capital Goods among others. Bharti Airtel was the sole loser among the Sensex components.
Beaten down metal stocks were among the top gainers. Tata Steel surged nearly 9% after the company said it plans to invest about Rs 2,000-2,500 crore for development of infrastructure at Gopalpur in Odisha in the near term. Among others Hindalco was up 7%, Jindal Steel jumped 9% while JSW Steel was up nearly 4% and Vedanta surged over 11%.
The banking and financial pack is witnessing action after finance minister Arun Jaitely said the government would reduce its stake in public sector banks (PSBs) to 52 per cent.
Axis Bank surged 5% on report that it is planning to raise $500 million (approximately Rs 3,350 crore) through Tier-II capital bonds to shore up its capital base. Its peers ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank have all gained between 1% and 4% each.
Among PSU banks, Bank of Baroda witnessed a sharp rebound after the management said that all non-performing assets were accounted for in the third quarter and it could return to profitability next fiscal. Further, the management also said that it would require no further capital infusion. The stock zoomed over 18%. Among others, SBI was up nearly 7% while PNB jumped 5%, Canara Bank rose 6% while Bank of India jumped nearly 8%.
Sun Pharma was up nearly 2% after higher ‘other income’, lower tax outgo, and improved performance of its US subsidiary Taro helped Sun Pharmaceutical post over three times growth in net profit in Q3FY16. Net profit rose to Rs 1,416 crore from Rs 395 crore in same period last year.
ITC was up over 1%. The FMCG major is looking to invest Rs 800 crore in Odisha over the next few years to set up a hotel property and a food processing park in the state. The stock has jumped nearly 2%.
Other Sensex gainers include Reliance Industries, L&T and TCS among others.
Among other shares, Ceat was up over 5% at Rs 940 on the Bombay Stock Exchange after the company reported 27% growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 113 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015 compared with Rs 89 crore in the same quarter last fiscal on the back of lower finance costs.
Finolex Industries surged over 6% at Rs 302 on the Bombay Stock Exchange after the company returned to profit in the third quarter ended December 2015 on the back of lower finance costs.
