The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty gained over 1 per cent following upbeat global markets. The sentiments also got a boost after Reserve Bank of India went for a bigger-than-expected rate cut on Tuesday. Sensex closed 376.17 points up at 26,154.83. Nifty advanced 105.60 points at 7,948.90.
In the 50-share index, Cairn India, Idea, Tata Steel, GAIL and Bharti Airtel gained between 4.50 per cent and 6.50 per cent. On the other hand, Bank of Baroda, Tech Mahindra, State Bank of India, Tata Power and Axis Bank slid between 1.30 and 2.15 per cent.
All sectoral indices on the BSE ended in green with the exception of bank stocks that saw some profit taking. The BSE Bankex dipped 0.44 per cent at 19,681.55. The BSE Metal index and BSE FMCG index jumped 3.36 per cent and 2.36 per cent at 6833.72 and 7751.72, respectively.
Market breadth for the day remained positive as advances to declines ratio for Nifty stood at 35:15 for the day. Volumes for Nifty stocks stood at 2,171 lakh against Tuesday’s volumes of 2,480 lakh logged for Nifty stocks.
Nitasha Shankar, vice president, research, YES Securities, said, “Markets were buoyed by the rate cut of 50 basis points announced by the RBI on Tuesday.”
Domestic equity markets tracked other Asian markets that gained between 0.50 per cent and 3 per cent. European stocks also edged higher in early trade.
The RBI cut its policy interest rate to a 4-1/2 year low of 6.75 per cent on Tuesday and also allowed for steady increase in foreign investment limit in government securities.
“The RBI’s policy has achieved a twin objective of protecting the rupee through greater foreign investments in government securities and allowing domestic banks to lend more,” Deven Choksey, managing director, KR Choksey Securities said.
Share price of Reliance Communications jumped 6.26 per cent to Rs 67.90 on Wednesday after Anil Ambani said that RCom will partner with Reliance Industries Ltd’s telecom subsidiary to launch fourth-generation (4G) mobile phone services by year-end.
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Markets through the day
3.30 pm: Sensex closed 376.17 points up at 26,154.83. Nifty advanced 105.60 points at 7,948.90.
3.13 pm: Sensex climbed 401 points at 26179.70. Nifty was up 109 points at 7,952. Multiplex operator PVR has received its shareholders’ approval to raise Rs 500 crore through issuance of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) on private placement basis. The company’s board had last year approved plan to raise Rs 500 crore through qualified institutional placement (QIP). PVR shares were up 1.14 per cent at Rs 813.90.
3.00 pm: European shares rose on Wednesday after a two-day losing streak, with automakers boosted by a Chinese tax cut on small cars while miner Glencore rallied after saying it had no solvency issues. Back home, NSE Nifty was up 98.10 points at 7,941.
2.40 pm: Meanwhile, Centrum Broking downgraded Mindtree shares to ‘Sell’ with a target price retained at Rs 1,355 per share. In a research note, Centrum Broking said, “Post a 16 per cent rally over the past three months, stock trades at 18.6x FY17E EPS and 17.1x two-year forward earnings. Though recent deal wins (Molnlycke Health Care, Flydubai, partnership with MetricStream) help improve our confidence on revenue growth outlook, we believe current valuations leave no room for error. We expect Mindtree to deliver USD revenue growth of 19 per cent for FY16E (11.5 per cent organic growth and rest owing to full impact of Discoveture/Bluefin acquisitions). Mindtree’s positioning as one of the growth leader in the sector as well as improving scale appears to be fairly priced in the stock.” Mindtree was trading 0.48 per cent down at Rs 1,509.40. Sensex was up 343 points 26,122.
2.29 pm: In the 50-share index, Idea, Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, Cairn India and BHEL were up between 3.60 per cent and 5.60 per cent. On the other hand, Bank of Baroda, Tech Mahindra, Axis Bank, State Bank of India and Vedanta were down between 1.75 and 2.50 per cent. Nifty was up 73.75 points at 7,917.
2.26 pm: Sterlite Technologies gained as much as 2 per cent on Wednesday after the company informed BSE that it has completed the 100 per cent acquisition of Elitecore Technologies Private Limited, a global telecom software product company from First Carlyle Ventures Mauritius (whose affiliate is advised by The Carlyle Group) and other shareholders. The acquisition has been completed in accordance with the terms set out in the agreement announced on September 22, 2015. Going forward, Elitecore is proposed to be merged into Sterlite Technologies.
Shares of Sterlite Technologies were trading 1.62 per cent up at Rs 87.65 in the afternoon trade. Sensex was up 268 points at 26,047.
2.00 pm: Meanwhile, Kotak Securities upgraded Bharti Infratel to ‘add’ from ‘sell’ citing valuations. According to the brokerage firm, the recent sharp correction has brought down valuations to comfort zone after a long time. The share price of Bharti Infratel was trading 1.08 per cent down at Rs 352.95 in the afternoon trade. Sensex was up 257 points at 26,036.
1.22 pm: Godrej Properties shares were trading 7.06 per cent up at Rs 327.50 apiece. Godrej Properties on Wednesday informed bourses that it has sold 435,000 sq. ft. of saleable area at its commercial project in Mumbai’s Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC). The BSE Realty index was up 1.64 per cent at 1,391.05.
1.15 pm: Share price of city gas companies Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) and Gujarat Gas moved northward in the afternoon trade following reports that the price of natural gas from domestic fields would drop by 18 per cent to $4.24/mBtu from October 1. Till now, the price is $5.18/mBtu. The BSE Oil & Gas index was up 1 per cent at 8621.92. Sensex was up 267 points at 26,046.
12.42 pm: Foreign Portfolio Investors(FPIs) continue to offload their holdings in Indian equities. On Tuesday FPIs sold equities worth more than $180 million, stock exchanges data showed. The total outflow of foreign funds since August has reached $3.5 billion mark already. The domestic institutions are providing some respite to Indian markets amid FPI sell-off. The Domestic Institutional Investors –comprising of banks,insurance companies and mutual funds — bought shares worth Rs 876.20 crore on Tuesday, provisional data in the stock exchanges showed. Sensex was up 236 points at 26,015. Nifty was up 66.10 points at 7,909.
11.50 am: Maruti Suzuki shares on NSE hit a new high Rs 4,763.45 intra-day on Wednesday. The BSE Auto index was up 0.65 per cent at 17,255. Sensex was up 195 points at 25,974. Nifty was up 50 points at 7,893.20.
11.40 am: Shares of housing finance companies were also trading in green in the morning trade. The share price of LIC Housing Finance, Dewan Housing Finance and Gruh Finance jumped 3.10 per cent, 1.37 per cent and 0.97 per cent to Rs 464.45, Rs 218 and Rs 269.85, respectively. Sensex was up 238 points at 26,017.
10.58 am: Majority of auto shares were trading in the green on Wednesday as the BSE Auto index went up by 0.5 per cent. Shares of Tata motors and Ashok Leyland went up by 2.13 per cent and 0.99 per cent, respectively. The fall in global commodity prices have helped the auto makers to improve their margins as steel is the key raw material used by the sector, experts said. London-based investment banking firm HSBC said in a note to investors that the near term scenario for auto companies looks positive despite lacklustre two-wheeler and four-wheeler industry trends. Sensex was up 206 points, or 0.80 per cent, at 25,985.
10.20 am: The rupee rose by 19 paise at 65.77 against the US dollar in early trade on Wednesay at the Interbank Foreign Exchange after the Reserve Bank cut interest rates by 0.50 per cent yesterday.
10.17 am: After surging over 10 per cent on Tuesday, shares of Lanco Infratech jumped over 8 per cent in the morning trade on Wednesday. In a BSE filing on September 29, Lanco Infratech said, “The company has been communicating to the stock exchange and also to the shareholders/ general public that the company is keen in selling its stake in some assets of the company which is as per the CDR package and subsequent JLF approvals, to reduce the debt burden and to bring liquidity into the company.” Company has already sold 2 of its assets namely Udupi Power Corporation Ltd (1200 MW Thermal Power Project) and Lanco Budhil Hydro Power Private Ltd (70 MW Hydro Power Project), which reduced the consolidated debt of the company.
9.50 am: Shares of Eveready Industries India gained as much as 6.99 per cent in the early trade on Wednesday after the Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday allowed foreign investors to invest up to 49 per cent stake in the company under the Portfolio Investment Scheme.
9.30 am: Bank of India has decided to change its Base Rate to 9.70 per cent from the present level of 9.95 per cent effective from October 5, 2015. Shares of Bank of India were trading 0.69 per cent up at Rs 138.80 apiece in the early trade. The BSE Bankex was up 0.45 per cent at 19,858. Sensex was up 233 points at 26,012.
Bank of India has reported a 84% decline in net profit at Rs 129.72 crore in the April-June quarter of the current fiscal. The bank had a net profit of Rs 805.69 crore in the first quarter of 2014-15 fiscal. Provisioning during the first quarter rose to Rs 1,515 crore, from Rs 893 crore in the same period last fiscal. The gross Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) as a percentage of total loans spiked to 6.80% during the June quarter, from 3.28% in the year-ago period.
9.22 am: Sensex was up 211.27 points at 25989. Tata Steel and Hindalco were up over 2.88 per cent and 2.71 per cent at Rs 207.15 and Rs 70, respectively.
9.17 am:
The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty opened on a positive note on Wednesday following firm global cues amid a rate cut of 50 bps by the Reserve Bank of India in its monetary policy review on Tuesday. Sensex opened 207.86 points up at 25,986.52. Nifty opened 80.95 points up at 7,924.25. Metal stocks were trading higher in the opening trade.
Traders also got some support with a report that India has become the top destination for FDI in the world. With $31 billion of foreign capital inflows, India has surpassed China and the US to take the pole position in attracting largest FDI in the first half of 2015.
Asian stocks took an early positive lead from Wall Street, which ended slightly higher overnight as the US bourses took a breather, with the latest round of China fears that gripped global markets petering out for the moment. Investors also felt relief as shares of mining and trading giant Glencore gained more than 10 per cent overnight.
Hang Seng, Nikkei and Shanghai were up 0.94 per cent, 1.84 per cent and 0.38 per cent at 20749.60, 17243.21 and 3049.68, respectively.
Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.30 per cent at 16049.13 on Tuesday.
(With inputs from agencies)