Nifty closes above 6750; BSE Midcap, Smallcap rally 1.6%

Equity benchmarks continued positive momentum for yet another session on Wednesday amid positive global cues and strong inflow of foreign money. Indices ended at fresh closing high again. The Sensex rose 105.05 points to 22551.49 while the Nifty closed above the 6750 level, up 31.50 points at 6752.55. The broader markets strongly outperformed benchmarks - the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 1.6 percent each. More than two shares advanced for every share declining on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Majority of market experts stick to their views that the market is likely to continue its uptrend till general elections and if the BJP-led NDA government comes to power with majority then that rally may stretch further. Speaking to CNBC-TV18 from the sidelines of Elara Global Investor Conference, Raj Bhatt, Chairman and CEO, Elara Capital says investors are currently upbeat on India. If the election outcome on May 16 is as per market expectations, the rally will continue , he adds. Bhatt also believes that if election results are conducive to market expectation then growth will be back on agenda and will have consistency on policy front. On the global front, Asian markets closed higher with the Nikkei gaining a percent to hit fresh three-week high on weak yen.

Back home, banking license applicants like IDFC (up 4 percent), IFCI (up 4.7 percent), LIC Housing Finance (up 4.6 percent), Shriram Transport Finance Corporation (up 1.4 percent), L&T Finance Holdings (up 2.6 percent), Reliance Capital (up 4.5 percent) etc saw huge buying interest today after the Election Commission has given approval to RBI to issue banking license. Top telecom operator Bharti Airtel topped the buying list in Sensex, rising over 3 percent. Brokerage house CLSA has a conviction buy on the stock with a target price of Rs 390 per share, saying the stock is at an inflection point. Index heavyweight and petrochemical major Reliance Industries was up 1.7 percent. Export Development Canada (EDC) today has announced USD 500 million in financing for Reliance Industries.

Commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors climbed 2.6 percent. Total sales of the company in March increased to 51,184 units compared to 39,951 units in previous month. Shares of ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Cipla, HDFC, State Bank of India and ONGC gained 1-2 percent. Bank of Baroda was the top gainer in the Nifty, up 5 percent. However, ITC, HDFC Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Sesa Sterlite and Hindalco Industries fell 1-2 percent. Private sector lender Axis Bank trimmed losses to 0.2 percent from 2 percent.  The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday has restricted FIIs buying more shares of the bank as the limit is already breached. In the midcap space, healthcare, aviation and public sector undertaking banks saw hefty buying. Strides Arcolab, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Thomas Cook, Bombay Dyeing, Adani Power, Allahabad Bank, Andhra Bank, Ashok Leyland, Aurobindo Pharma, Bank of India, Bharat Forge, Union Bank and Canara Bank rallied 4-10 percent. Jet Airways spiked 14 percent as company has expanded its codeshare pact with Air France. Wockhardt and SpiceJet were locked at 20 percent upper circuit. MCX gained over 6 percent ahead of board meeting on April 3.

03:50 pm Tata Steel's production Tata Steel in 2013-14 has achieved a record production of Hot Metal and Crude Steel as well as saleable steel, a senior official of the company said today. The Hot Metal and Crude Steel production of 9.90 million tonnes (MT), up 11.74 per cent year-on-year and 9.15 MT, up 12.55 percent YoY, respectively, Tata Steel Managing Director T V Narendran said. The company had produced 8.86 MT hot metal and 8.13 MT crude steel in FY13, he said. Narendran said on the backdrop of challenging market, Tata Steel has registered a 12.72 per cent increase in saleable steel production at 8.95 MT against 7.94 MT.

03:40 pm Market closing: The Sensex is up 105.05 points at 22551.49, and the Nifty is up 31.50 points at 6752.55. About 1881 shares have advanced, 885 shares declined, and 130 shares are unchanged. Bharti, Tata Motors, SBI, Cipla and ONGC were top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers were ITC, Hindalco, Sesa Sterlite, HDFC Bank and HUL.

03:30 Commidites outlook
Hans Goetti, head of investment Asia, Banque Internationale a Luxembourg, feels the European Central Bank (ECB) may adopt a more accommodative stance in its policy due tomorrow. ''The surprise so far has been not an accommodative policy as some people would expect, including ourselves. However, there's a good chance that ECB will look at the euros, disinflationary measures, so may be they could be open to the idea of more accommodative policy. Even the European economy is doing okay,'' he says. Goetti thinks the 'accommodative stance' may include quantitative easing. ''The ECB has been shrinking its balance sheet over the past 12 month or so, whereas other central banks have expanded, including the Federal Reserve, through tapering. We expect something like that from the ECB this year,'' he adds.

03:20 pm Sugar production data
The country's sugar production has dropped by 7 per cent to 21.5 million tonnes in the first six months of the current marketing year due to lower output in key producing states, according to industry body ISMA. The production stood at 23.1 million tonnes in the corresponding period last year. In an official release, Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) said that barring Karnataka, sugar output declined in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu till March of the 2013-14 marketing year (October-September).

03:10 pm Big shopping list
Private equity firms in India invested about USD 2,273 million across 89 deals during the January-March quarter, says a report. According to Venture Intelligence, a research service focused on private company financials, transactions and valuations in India, the investments were almost twice of what was invested in the same period last year. In the January-March period of last year, an amount worth USD 1,179 million was invested across 103 transactions. These figures do not include PE investments made in the real estate sector, the report said, adding that there were five PE investments worth USD 100 million or more during the first quarter of 2014, compared to just one such transaction in the same period last year. The top two PE transactions during January-March period of this year involved Canadian and Middle Eastern investors.

02:59pm Bajaj Auto talks to CNBC-TV18
Bajaj Auto reported March sales numbers that were largely in line with estimates but well short of what peers have clocked. Two-wheeler sales for the company rose 1 percent year-on-year to 2.7 lakh units while three-wheeler sales fell 1 percent to 33,739. Exports for the bike-maker jumped 17 percent to 1.18 lakh units in March 2014. In contrast, sales for rivals Honda and Hero MotoCorp surged 55 percent and 12 percent, respectively, through the month. In an interview with CNBC-TV18, managing director Rajiv Bajaj said the company's market share should bounce back following the recent launch of the Discover 125. Bajaj said the company should go back to the 23-24 percent market share that it had held recently.

02:50pm Sharon Bio-Medicine in focus
Sharon has completed expansion in its three manufacturing facilities. The total investment in expansion has been incurred to the tune nearly Rs 125 crore. In Dehradun formulation plant, the expanded expenditure has been approximately Rs 85 crore whereas capacity of the plant has been increased more than double. Similarly, other plants' capacity has been added between 30 percent to 50 percent. The commercial production in Sharon two expanded plants at Taloja near Navi Mumbai have already been started and Dehradun Formulation expanded facility will start production from June, 2014.

02:40pm Interview
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recently notified 27.5 percent hike in tariff ceiling for cable TV, the move while negative for direct-to-home (DTH) companies like Hathway and Den Networks is expected to be positive for broadcasters like Sun TV. SL Narayanan, Group CFO of Sun Group says the move will help broadcasters get a better share of value. The company also has presence on the distribution side through Sun Direct. He feels content cost will have to go up in the foreseeable future, which will enable broadcasters to invest in better quality content and make the programming that much more fresh.

02:30pm Aurobindo hits life high
Aurobindo Pharma has completed acquisition of certain commercial operations in Western Europe from Actavis plc. The stock rallied as much as 6.5 percent to touch a historic high of Rs 569.60 amid hefty volumes. Now it is up 5 percent. The agreement to acquire the Actavis operations was announced in January 2014. "Aurobindo acquired personnel, commercial infrastructure, products, marketing authorisations and dossier licence rights in seven European countries. Actavis and Aurobindo have also entered into a long term commercial and supply arrangement," the company said its filing. Meanwhile, the company today received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for Tramadol Hydrochloride tablets (a painkiller drug).

02:20pm Axis Bank under pressure
Shares of Axis Bank fell nearly 1 percent after the Reserve Bank of India has retricted FIIs buying more shares of the bank as the limit is already breached. "The Reserve Bank of India has on Tuesday notified that the foreign share holding by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in Axis Bank has crossed the overall limit of 49 percent of its paid-up capital. Therefore no further purchases of shares of this company would be allowed through stock exchanges in India on behalf of FIIs," the central bank said in its release.

02:10pm Market Expert
Raj Bhatt, Chairman and CEO, Elara Capital believes timing couldn't have been better for the India market as it rallies a record high for the eight straight session led by optimism on emerging markets and the possibility of a stable government post elections. Speaking to CNBC-TV18 from the sidelines of Elara Global Investor Conference, Bhatt says investors are currently upbeat on India. If the election outcome on May 16 is as per market expectations, the rally will continue, he adds. Bhatt also believes that if election results are conducive to market expectation then growth will be back on agenda and will have consistency on policy front. It will also allow state-owned banks to continue with their rally because in terms of valuations, if bad loans of banks are controlled, especially public sector banks, there will be enough scope for upside before the valuations become fair, he adds.

02:00pm Equity benchmarks continued to hold positive momentum in afternoon trade supported by Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank. The Sensex gained 78.32 points to 22524.76 and the Nifty rose 21.85 points to 6742.90. About two shares advanced for every share declining on the BSE. Petrochemical major Reliance Industries and top private sector lender ICICI Bank climbed 1.6 percent each. Commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors and telecom operator Bharti Airtel surged 2.5-3 percent. Drug major Cipla gained 2 percent after more than 11.3 lakh shares exchanged hands on BSE at Rs 385.85 apiece. However, ITC, HDFC Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Axis Bank, Sesa Sterlite and Hindalco Industries fell 1-2 percent.

2:00 am DTC update: The super-rich may have to pay more in taxes while dividends in excess of Rs 1 crore will be taxed in the hands of those receiving them, according to the revised Direct Taxes Code, 2013 issued by the finance ministry on Tuesday for public discussion. Chidambaram had sought Cabinet's nod in August 2013 to introduce the revised version in Parliament, but the proposal faced resistance from within the government. The Bill was withdrawn from the Cabinet's agenda following intervention by the Prime Minister's Office.

1:50 pm Stock in focus: Shares of Ashoka Buildcon jumped as much as 8.6 percent after the company said its subsidiary Ashoka Concessions has received fourth tranche of investment of Rs 133 crore. This will be utilised for equity investment into various under construction projects. It further said that Ashoka Concessions has received total investment of Rs 623 crore till date. Meanwhile, the company in March bagged two projects from Maharashtra government. One project is for rehabilitation and upgradation of NH-222 from end of Malshej Ghat to start of Ane Ghat Section while the second for rehabilitation and upgradation of Ane-Ghat to start of Ahmednagar bypass section. The aggregate cost of the projects is Rs 292.03 crore.

1:40 pm Exclusive: The Oil Ministry has approached the Finance Ministry seeking higher government compensation for oil subsidies, say sources. The ministry has said that oil marketing companies (OMCs) are unable to absorb the Rs 6000 crore underrecoveries, but the FinMin is keen on the OMCs footing the bill. The Oil Ministry has further said that all three OMCs are likely to report losses if the government doesn't come to its aid and hike compensation.

1:30 pm Buzzing: Shares of Aurobindo Pharma saw strong buying interest today after the company completed acquisition of certain commercial operations in Western Europe from Actavis plc. The stock rallied as much as 6.5 percent to touch a historic high of Rs 569.60 amid hefty volumes. The agreement to acquire the Actavis operations was announced in January 2014. "Aurobindo acquired personnel, commercial infrastructure, products, marketing authorisations and dossier licence rights in seven European countries. Actavis and Aurobindo have also entered into a long term commercial and supply arrangement," the company said its filing. Muralidharan, SVP of European operations said the acquisition would enable Aurobindo to achieve critical mass in Western Europe with a top 10 position in several key markets.

1:20 pm Asian markets: Japan's Nikkei share average rose to a fresh three-week high on Wednesday as sentiment was helped by a weakening yen, while Renesas Electronics Corp jumped on news that it is in talks with Apple Inc and other potential buyers to buy its stake in a smartphone display chip unit. Renesas soared as much as 19 percent to 934 yen - its highest since March 2011 - before ending up 6.0 percent. Renesas is considering selling its 55 percent stake in Renesas SP Driver which makes semiconductors that control displays, sources told Reuters.

The market is treading in positive terrain for tenth straight session tracking robust global cues and strong fund flows. The Sensex is up 52.12 points at 22498.56, and the Nifty is up 9.60 points at 6730.65. About 1605 shares have advanced, 893 shares declined, and 135 shares are unchanged. Wockhardt jumped 20 percent intraday on strong volumes to touch its highest level in 25-weeks. The stock is now locked in upper circuit. In an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan says an overvalued rupee would be a worry.  Rajan says bank licences will be announced only after RBI board approves. Meanwhile, the rupee is higher against the dollar opening after a gap of two working days. Gilts harden to the highest level in one month as RBI reduces daily LAF access thereby raising banks' cost of borrowing.

12:59pm Rupee at 8-month high
The rupee appreciated by 27 paise to 59.64 a dollar after a gap of two working days. Bunched up dollar inflows supported the rupee. Gilts hardened to the highest level in one month as RBI reduces daily LAF access thereby raising banks' cost of borrowing.

12:55pm Nikkei hits fresh 3-week high
Japan's Nikkei share average rose to a fresh three-week high as sentiment was helped by a weakening yen, while Renesas Electronics Corp jumped on news that it is in talks with Apple Inc and other potential buyers to buy its stake in a smartphone display chip unit. The Nikkei ended up 1 percent at 14,946.32, the highest closing level since March 11, reports Reuters.

12:50pm Reliance Industries in focus
Financier Export Development Canada (EDC) today announced USD 500 million in financing for Reliance Industries (RIL). ''We have been partnering with a wide section of Canadian suppliers for materials, equipment and services across our hydrocarbon businesses over the last 4-5 years and we are also engaging with them for our telecom business rollout,'' Srikanth Venkatachari, Reliance's Joint Chief Financial Officer said in its filing. Since 2010, RIL has been regularly doing business with approximately 50 Canadian companies. Of these companies, 33 percent were small- to medium-sized companies. EDC has been actively engaged with RIL for making introductions to Canadian capabilities.

12:40pm Aurobindo Pharma up 5%
Aurobindo Pharma today announced the completion of the previously announced acquisition of certain commercial operations in Western Europe from Actavis plc. The agreement to acquire the Actavis operations was announced in January 2014. Actavis and Aurobindo have also entered into a long term commercial and supply arrangement. Meanwhile, the company today received approval from US Food and Drug Administration for Tramadol Hydrochloride tablets (a painkiller drug).

12:30pm Kolte-Patil in focus
Realty developer Kolte-Patil acquired a 30 acre land parcel in Kondwa, Pune in partnership with ASK Real Estate. This deal is expected to garner Rs 100-150 crore to the company's FY15 topline, says Sujay Kalele, Kolte Patil's chief executive officer. Speaking to CNBC- TV18, Kalele says the land parcel has 1.5 million square feet development potential and will be launched in Q1FY15 itself. ''We have already obtained all the approvals for the project. This will lead to a revenue of Rs 700-800 crore over the next 3-4 years and we have a 50 percent share in it,'' explains Kalele. Kalele expects to earn realizations to the tune of Rs 5000-6000 per square feet in the current market.

12:20pm Interview
Shriram City Union is confident of achieving 25 percent top line growth for next fiscal year. Managing director GS Sundararajan said that the company's net non performing assets (NPAs) are likely to remain in the range of 0.5 to 0.75 percent going ahead. For this year, the company hopes to record marginal growth on top line. However, its profitability is likely to be robust courtesy healthy growth in retail and MSME segments. Lending to MSME accounts for 80 percent of its business. Meanwhile, restrictions imposed by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on import of gold, quantum of loan (LTV) that could be given against gold, took a toll on most NBFCs, which cater to this segment. Speaking on the issue, Sundararajan said these norms were necessary and have bought back sanity to this business. Gold loans accounts for about 20 percent of the company's book.

12:10pm Bharti Airtel top gainer
Shares of Bharti Airtel jumped 3 percent. CLSA has a conviction buy on the stock with a target price of Rs 390 per share. The brokerage believes that the telecom company's stock is at an inflection point. According to CLSA, key triggers for the stock include data revenue, cash flows driving balance sheet improvements, African operations improving and better regulatory clarity. It believes that Bharti is best placed to ride data boom and data is likely to contribute 50 percent to mobile revenue from FY14-17.

12:00pm The market is steady with marginal gains. The Sensex rose 63.30 points to 22509.74 and the Nifty climbed 15.95 points to 6737. The broader markets continued to outperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap gaining 1 percent each. Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of 1533 to 784 on the BSE. Top telecom operator Bharti Airtel surged over 3 percent and commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors jumped 2.5 percent. Petrochemical major Reliance Industries and top private sector lender ICICI Bank gained more than 1.6 percent. Shares of HDFC, Infosys, TCS, L&T, Wipro, SBI, Cipla and Dr Reddy's Labs advanced 0.5-1.5 percent. However, cigarette major ITC fell more than 3 percent followed by HDFC Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Axis Bank, Sesa Sterlite, Coal India, Hindalco Industries and BHEL with 1 percent.

11:30 am Exclusive Governor Rajan says: Economy will get boost if government presents good budget post poll. Ease in inflation will substantially benefit economy. Will cut interest rate if economic environment provides window. Willing to overlook transient levels on CPI. Disinflation is not just food related. Moderation in agriculture support prices could help ease inflation. India is seeing some slowdown in the services sector.

11:20 am Buzzing: Shares of bank licence applicants are celebrating on Dalal Street as Election Commission has allowed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to issue the much-awaited new bank licence. Stocks such as IDFC, L&T Finance, LIC Housing Finance, Shriram Transport Finance, IFCI and Muthoot Finance are rallying 3-6 percent each intraday on Wednesday. The RBI had sought the commission's approval to issue new bank licences to ensure the process would not clash with the code of conduct ahead of elections, which prevents decisions that may be deemed as political from being taken by government officials or regulators.   The approval came after the RBI missed the March-end deadline for issuing the first bank licence in almost a  decade.

The market holds its gains as the Sensex is up 63.51 points at 22509.95, and the Nifty is up 17.35 points at 6738.40. Bharti Airtel is up 4 percent after CLSA added it to high conviction buy with a target of Rs 390 per share. ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Reliance, NTPC are other gainers in the Sensex.  Among the losers are ITC, Hindalco, Axis Bank, Sesa Sterlite and HDFC Bank. About 1476 shares have advanced, 637 shares declined, and 88 shares are unchanged. The rupee is higher after opening a gap of two working days. Bunched up dollar inflows supported the rupee with dollar sales from German and state owned banks reported by dealers. Gilt, however, hardened to the highest level in one month on multiple cues. Gold is stable after five days of losses while Brent traded above USD 105 with inventory data in focus. Asian markets gain with the Nikkei trading at three week highs as the yen weakened to its lowest level since January 23.

10:55am Kolte-Patil up 2.5% Pune based real estate developer Kolte-Patil Developers has acquired a 30 acre land parcel at Kondhwa in Pune along with ASK Real Estate Special Opportunities Fund for Rs 160 crore. The company will develop a residential housing project on the said land parcel.

10:45am Ashok Buildcon up 6% Ashoka Buildcon said its subsidiary Ashoka Concessions has further received fourth tranche of investment of Rs 133 crore, which will be utilised for equity investment into various under construction projects. Ashoka Concessions has received total investment of Rs 623 crore till date.

10:40am Banking licenses The Election Commission on Tuesday allowed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to announce new bank licences even ahead of general elections set to conclude next month, according to a notice in the commission's website. The RBI had sought the commission's approval to issue new bank licences to ensure the process would not clash with the code of conduct ahead of elections, which prevents decisions that may be deemed as political from being taken by government officials or regulators. The approval came after the RBI missed the March-end deadline for issuing the first bank licence in almost a  decade. Public sector India Post and IFCI and private sector Anil Ambani group and Aditya Birla group were among the 25 players in the fray. Bajaj Finance, Muthoot Finance, Religare Enterprises and Shriram Capital have also applied.

10:30am Gammon Infrastructure surges 6% Gammon Infrastructure Projects has terminated Yamunanagar Panchkula Project Concession Agreement and Birmitrapur Barkote Project Concession Agreement with NHAI.

10:20am Rupee hits 8-month high The rupee is trading at 59.70/71 versus Friday's close of 59.91/92 as bunched-up dollar inflows and record high domestic shares aid sentiment. The unit rose to as high as 59.60, its strongest since July 30. Traders say some support for the dollar is likely at around 59.70 levels on the back of importer demand. Trading in the rupee resumed after a two-day break due to a local holiday and annual closing of bank accounts. Traders say sentiment for the rupee is positive after the Reserve Bank of India kept rates on hold at its policy review while further tightening bank's access to cheap overnight funds, reports Reuters.

10:10am FII View Bharat Iyer, JP Morgan said Indian equities have rallied on opinion polls forecasting an impressive showing by the BJP-led NDA coalition in the upcoming polls. "We would caution against chasing beta, particularly low-quality financials and investment cycle related names, given the nature and extent of challenges facing the economy," he added.

10:00am Equity benchmarks maintained positive momentum with the Nifty holding the 6700 level supported by technology, auto, healthcare and index heavyweights. However, the selling in banks and FMCG capped the upside. The Sensex advanced 59.30 points to 22505.74 and the Nifty rose 14.20 points to 6735.25. The broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.7 percent each. About 1152 shares have advanced, 507 shares declined, and 72 shares are unchanged. Top telecom operator Bharti Airtel topped the buying list, rising 3 percent followed by ICICI Bank with 1.7 percent. Shares of HDFC, Infosys, Tata Motors, TCS, Dr Reddy's Labs, Cipla, Wipro, GAIL and NTPC advanced 0.6-1.2 percent. However, Axis Bank lost 1.7 percent after the Reserve Bank of India restricted FIIs buying more shares of the bank as the limit is already breached. Cigarette major ITC slipped 1.7 percent. Hindalco Industries, HDFC Bank, ONGC, BHEL and SBI declined too.

10:00 am Buzzing: Shares of Axis Bank fell 1.8 percent after the Reserve Bank of India retricts FIIs buying more shares of the bank as the limit is already breached. "The Reserve Bank of India has on Tuesday notified that the foreign share holding by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in Axis Bank has crossed the overall limit of 49 percent of its paid-up capital. Therefore no further purchases of shares of this company would be allowed through stock exchanges in India on behalf of FIIs," the central bank said in its release. FIIs held 43.18 percent stake in the bank as of December 2013 while foreign direct investment through GDR, foreign banks/employees, foreign bodies and NRIs held 4.98 percent stake. Thus the total foreign shareholding was 48.16 percent stake in the bank as of December 2013. Meanwhile, the government through SUUTI had sold 9 percent stake in Axis Bank in March and garnered more than Rs 5,600 crore. SUUTI was holding 20.72 percent stake in the bank as of December 2013.

9:50 am Inteviewr: Realty developer Kolte-Patil acquired a 30 acre land parcel in Kondwa, Pune in partnership with ASK Real Estate. This deal is expected to garner Rs 100-150 crore to the company's FY15 topline, says Sujay Kalele, Kolte Patil's chief executive officer. Kalele says the land parcel has 1.5 million square feet development potential and will be launched in Q1FY15 itself. ''We have already obtained all the approvals for the project. This will lead to a revenue of Rs 700-800 crore over the next 3-4 years and we have a 50 percent share in it,'' explains Kalele. Kalele expects to earn realizations to the tune of Rs 5000-6000 crore in the current market.

9:40 am Bad news: Although low-cost airliner SpiceJet believes its Re 1 ticket offer was not predatory or restrictive nature, it has decided to withdraw it following a severe reprimand from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Speaking to CNBC-TV18's Shereen Bhan, SL Narayan, Group CFO at the Sun Group said, ''Our objective is not to pick up fights. We have accepted the position of the DGCA on the Re 1 offer. Other terms of the offer remain.'' Narayan said the customers who have already bought the tickets will be allowed to avail the offer. Terming SpiceJet's offer of rupee one fare across its domestic network as "predatory" and a "malpractice", aviation regulator DGCA today came down heavily on the no-frill carrier and asked it to stop such pricing immediately.

9:30 am FII view: Bharat Iyer, JP Morgan says Indian equities have rallied on opinion polls forecasting an impressive showing by the BJP-led NDA coalition in the upcoming polls. "We would caution against chasing beta, particularly low-quality financials and investment cycle related names, given the nature and extent of challenges facing the economy. Our portfolio stance in biased towards IT, healthcare, metals and private energy stocks," he said.

The market has opened on a higher note as the Sensex is up 104.14 points at 22550.58, and the Nifty is up 36.55 points at 6757.60. About 345 shares have advanced, 53 shares declined, and 13 shares are unchanged. Bharti Airtel, SBI, HDFC Bank, Hindalco and Infosys are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Axis Bank and Sun Pharma. After the Election Commission on Tuesday gave permission to the Reserve Bank to issue new bank licences, stocks such as IDFC, L&T Finance, LIC Housing Finance, Shriram Transport Finance, Bajaj Finance are in focus. IDFC is up 5 percent. The rupee opened with a marginal gain of 9 paise at 59.82 per dollar on Wednesday as against previous day's closing value of 59.91 a dollar. Himanshu Arora of Religare said the dollar was expected to strengthen after two days of weak closing as subdued data like the PMI from global markets, especially China may dent rupee's recent robust movement. "Moreover, some consolidation seen in equities may also cap rupee's strength.

The impact of dollar buying by banks and OMCs is yet to be seen. The range for the day is seen between 59.70-60.25/USD," he added. Meanwhile, the Japanese yen found little reprieve, the only major currency showing a clear trend as risk appetite stayed buoyant. The euro drifted up to USD 1.3794, continuing to recover from a one-month low of USD 1.3704 Asian markets are trading high with Shanghai Composite up 0.23 percent, Nikkei gaining 1.55 percent and Seoul Composite inching higher by 0.25 percent. In the US, stocks kicked off the second quarter with solid gains with the S&P 500 setting a fresh intraday record following a batch of economic reports. Major indices logged a three-day win streak for the first time since February. The CBOE VIX slid near 13. Dow Jones closed at 16532.61, up 74.95 points, and the Nasdaq too gained 69.05 points to close at 4268.04. In commodities, Nymex crude slipped toward USD 99, trading near the lowest in one and a half weeks, as investors eyed government inventories data to assess fuel demand. Brent too slipped to USD 105 levels. From precious metals space, gold is hovering around its 7-week lows after firm US economic data lifted Wall Street stocks.