Nifty closes above 9300 for first time ever, Sensex gains 287 points

3:30 pm Market Closing: Equity benchmarks rallied for the second consecutive session on Tuesday as the Nifty closed above 9,300 for the first time every.

The Sensex surged 287.40 points or 0.97 percent to 29,943.24 and the Nifty gained 88.65 points or 0.96 percent at 9,306.60, backed by banking & financials, FMCG and Reliance Industries.

However, TCS fell 0.8 percent on rupee appreciation.

3:15 pm Europe update: European stocks inched higher after hitting multi-year highs on the back of the outcome of the French election.

Britain's FTSE and France's CAC were up 0.2 percent each.

3:09 pm Market update: Equity benchmarks rallied further in last hour of trade as the Sensex surged 299.53 points or 1.01 percent to 29,955.37 and the Nifty gained 88.70 points or 0.96 percent at 9,306.65.

The broader markets rose 0.8 percent despite balanced breadth.

3:00 pm Solar capacity: India's wind power capacity addition in the current fiscal will depend on bidding plans of utilities, while that of solar power will remain strong at 7- 7.5 GW, credit rating firm Icra said today.

"As per industry sources, the distribution utilities in states like Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Gujarat are evaluating the competitive bidding mechanism for awarding wind power projects in the near term," Icra said in a statement.

"The fresh capacity addition in the wind power segment could be affected in the near term (12-18 month period) and would depend upon the plans by the state-owned distribution utilities and/or SECI in terms of project awards through the bidding route and the subsequent PPA (power purchase agreements) signing," it added.

2:45 pm USFDA nod: Drug firm Cadila Healthcare today said Zydus Cadila has received approval from the US health regulator to market its anti-hypertensive olmesartan medoxomil tablets in the American market.

The company has received "final approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to market olmesartan medoxomil tablets in the strengths of 5 mg, 20 mg and 40 mg", Cadila Healthcare said in a filing to BSE. The drug is an anti-hypertensive and will be produced at the group's formulations manufacturing facility in Ahmedabad, it added.

2:30 pm Market Outlook: Vikas Khemani of Edelweiss Securities believes the market rally is there to stay for next 3-5 years.

He says Europe election results are positive factor for the market and earnings season has been good so far.

He expects market to deliver 15-18 percent returns every year. According to Khemani, however, only changes at political level can derail market rally.

He is bullish on banking & financial, infra and domestic growth oriented stocks.

2:20 pm Bad loans issue: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has asserted that the government was giving top priority to addressing the issue of bad loans while acknowledging that the problem of non-performing assets was "adversely impacting" the Indian banking system.

Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations here, Jaitley termed the resolution of the Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) as the "one very big challenge" going forward and the government's "top priority" at the moment.

He said the magnitude of the NPAs problem was that essentially it was about 20 to 30 big accounts.

"It's not a problem spread over hundreds of thousands of accounts...And it's not impossible for a large economy like India to resolve 20 to 30 accounts. So it's not an insurmountable problem. I think it's just persisted too long, but it's certainly adversely impacting us," he said.

2:04 pm Market Check: Benchmark indices extended rally in afternoon trade, with the Nifty hitting 9300 level for the first time ever despite mixed European cues.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 239.04 points at 29,894.88 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 72.25 points to 9,290.20.

The broader markets remained strong despite balanced breadth. The BSE Midcap index gained 0.9 percent and Smallcap was up 0.65 percent. About 1433 shares advanced against 1329 declining shares on the BSE.

Biocon and Indian Bank weer top BSE midcap gainers, up 10 percent each.

1:50 pm IPO: IRB InvIT Fund, which is sponsored by road developer IRB Infrastructure, will open its Rs 4,654.6 crore initial public offering for subscription on May 3, 2017. The price band for the issue is fixed at Rs 100-102 per unit.

''The issue comprised of a fresh issue aggregating up to Rs 4,300 crore by the Trust and an offer for sale of up to 3,47,61,770 units by IRB Infrastructure Developers, Modern Road Makers Private Limited, Aryan Toll Road Private Limited, ATR Infrastructure Private Limited and Ideal Road Builders Private Limited,'' the company said in its media release.

The issue will close on May 5. The bid for anchor investors' reserved portion will be opened for one working day prior to the issue opening date.

1:35 pm Sebi nod: Financial technology firm Intellect Design Arena has received markets regulator Sebi's approval to raise up to Rs 200 crore through a rights issue.

The company had filed draft papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in January. It had obtained 'observations' from the regulator on April 13, which is necessary for any company to launch a public offer.

Going by the draft papers, Intellect Design Arena plans to garner up to Rs 200 crore through the rights issue.

Proceeds of the issue will be utilised towards developing new products or upgrading and updating existing products, repayment of working capital loans and general corporate purposes.

1:10 pm Market Check: Equity benchmarks as well as broader markets continued to hold morning gains, with the Nifty inching towards psychological 9300-mark ahead of expiry of April futures & options contracts due Thursday.

The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 197.09 points at 29,852.93 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 56.55 points to 9,274.50.

Indian Bank was quoting at Rs 311.10, up Rs 25.95, or 9.10 percent after hitting a 52-week high of Rs 318.80 amid high volumes.

12:55 pm Earnings: Public sector lender Indian Bank has reported solid performance in January-March quarter as profit soared 3.4 times to Rs 319.7 crore compared with Rs 93.6 crore in year-ago quarter despite higher provisions. Net interest income, operating profit and tax credit boosted profitability.

Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest expended, grew by 22.1 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,384.9 crore in the quarter ended March 2017.

12:35 pm BHEL in action: State-run BHEL today said its largest power project order in the international market, valued at Rs 10,000 crore, in Bangladesh has taken off.

"Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL)'s largest ever export order, valued at Rs 10,000 crore, for setting up 1,320 MW (2x660 MW) Maitree Super Thermal Power Project in Bangladesh has taken off, following the issuance of the 'Notice To Proceed' by the developer," the company said in a BSE filing.

The order has been secured from Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company Pvt Ltd (BIFPCL), a 50:50 JV company of NTPC and Bangladesh's BPDB.

12:15 pm Upgrade call on M&M: Credit Suisse upgraded Mahindra and Mahindra to outperform from neutral and increased the target price to Rs 1,500 from Rs 1,390, implying 20 percent potential upside.

While tractor volumes were up 14 percent in March despite demonetisation, there was a potential for tractor business to surprise positively, it feels.

The weakness in utility vehicle market was already factored in, it observed. The stock was currently trading at a 40 percent discount to Maruti Suzuki, which it expects to narrow.

12:00 pm Market Check: Benchmark indices extended gains in noon trade, with the Nifty inching towards 9300 level on global support after French polls.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 194.39 points to 29,850.23 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 59.05 points at 9,277. About 1540 shares advanced against 1059 declining shares on the BSE.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel and Bharti Infratel were top gainers among Nifty stocks, up more than 3 percent.

11:45 am Earnings Estimates: Software firm Persistent Systems' fourth quarter profit is seen falling 9 percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 74.5 crore and revenue may be flat at Rs 745 crore.

Dollar revenue during the quarter is expected to increase 1.1 percent to USD 111.5 million from USD 110.3 million in previous quarter, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

Operating profit may drop to Rs 117.5 crore from Rs 118.6 crore and margin may shrink to 15.8 percent from 15.9 percent on sequential basis.

11:30 am Buzzing: Shares of Indiabulls Housing Finance touched 52-week high of Rs 1042.70, gains 3.6 percent intraday Tuesday on the back of strong numbers declared by the company for the quarter ended March 2017.

The company has reported 24.4 percent jump in its Q4 (Jan-March) net profit at Rs 840.5 crore versus Rs 675.5 crore, in the same period last fiscal.

The company's calculated net interest income was up 14.7 percent at Rs 1,192.3 crore versus Rs 1,039.3 crore. The gross NPA was unchanged at 0.85 percent and net NPA unchanged at 0.36 percent, Q-o-Q.

11.06 am Market Check: Benchmark indices as well as broader markets retained early gains, with the Nifty and Midcap trading near their record highs hit in opening.

The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 170.42 points at 29,826.26 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 50.90 points to 9,268.85. About three shares advanced for every two shares falling on the BSE.

Nifty Midcap and Smallcap indices climbed 0.8 percent each.

Reliance was the most active stock on the National Stock Exchange, followed by M&M, Bharat Financial, Biocon and Reliance Capital.

State-run power equipment maker BHEL gained 2 percent on export order worth Rs 10,000 crore for thermal power project in Bangladesh.

10:58 am USFDA nod: Jubilant Life Sciences has received Abbreviated New Drug Application final approval for Olmesartan Medoxomil tablets, 5mg, 20 mg and 40 mg, the generic version of Benicar of Daiichi Sankyo, which is used for treatment of hypertension.

10:55 am FII holding in Ujjivan: Limit for foreign investments in Ujjivan Financial Services has been reduced to 47 percent from the earlier 49 percent, the RBI said.

It's board had agreed to lower the limit for the purchase of its shares and convertible debentures by FIIs, registered foreign portfolio investors (RFPIs), qualified foreign investors (QFIs) and others through primary market and stock exchanges up to 47 percent of the paid-up capital under the portfolio investment scheme.

"Hence, FIIs, RFPIs, FDI, QFIs, ADR, GDR, NRIs, PIO investment limit under PIS for Ujjivan Financial Services stands decreased from 49 percent to 47 percent," the Reserve Bank said.

10:35 am Earnings estimates: IT services provider Wipro is expected to report dollar revenue growth within its guidance range for January-March quarter. IT services revenue in dollar terms may grow 1.87 percent sequentially to USD 1,938.5 million from USD 1,902.8 million, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

The company estimated dollar revenue growth at 1.8-1.9 percent and 1-1.5 percent growth in constant currency for the quarter ended March 2017.

Rupee revenue during the quarter may fall 0.8 percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 13,090 crore while EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) is seen declining 3.7 percent to Rs 2,324 crore and margin may shrink 55 basis points to 17.75 percent compared with previous quarter, hit by rupee appreciation and lower margin from Appirio.

According to analysts, Wipro may forecast dollar revenue growth at 0-2 percent for first quarter of current financial year 2017-18.

10:17 am Valuable company: Better-than-expected earnings and hopes of good amount of telecom business contribution to total revenue going ahead helped Reliance Industries become most valuable company on bourses.

Reliance has current market capitalisation of Rs 4.67 lakh crore, surpassing TCS. The stock price was trading at Rs 1,444, up 2 percent.

10.05 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks as well as broader markets continued to trade higher in morning, with the Nifty holding 9250 level, tracking positive global cues on French polls.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 140.51 points at 29,796.35 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 40 points at 9,257.95. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained more than half a percent on positive breadth.

About two shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE.

9:55 am QIP: Private sector DCB Bank has set the floor price at Rs 177.39 for its issue of shares to qualified institutions to raise Rs 400 crore.

The capital raising committee of the bank at a meeting held authorised to open the qualified institution placement (QIP) issue.

The bank may offer a discount of not more than 5 per cent on the floor price for the QIP, DCB Bank said in a regulatory filing.

A senior official of the bank earlier in January this year said that infusion of up to Rs 400 crore will help it add up to 2 percentage points to the core capital buffer and the tier-I will go up to 13 per cent after the infusion.

9:28 am FII View: "With May month approaching, we have been suggesting buying the dips as return on equity fundamentals in Asia Pacific Ex-Japan are the best in six years," Sakthi Siva of Credit Suisse said.

Significantly, the upgrade to 2017 consensus EPS estimates in April has accelerated further from 0.5 percent last week to 0.8 percent currently with Korea again leading the way with a 2.9 percent upgrade in April, she added.

9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks extended gains on Tuesday as the Sensex opened higher by more than 150 points and the Nifty reclaimed its 9250 level, backed by Reliance Industries. Positive Asian cues also aided the rally.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 171.05 points at 29,826.89 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 48.85 points at 9266.80. Nifty Bank opened at record high.

Reliance Industries surged 2.46 percent after better-than-expected earnings in Q4. M&M, ICICI Bank, Dr Reddy's Labs, Cipla, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Ambuja Cements and Hindalco were other early gainers.

Bharti Airtel, Infosys, NTPC, HCL Tech and ITC were losers.

The Indian rupee opened marginally higher at 64.42 per dollar today against previous day's closing value of 64.44.

Bhaskar Panda of HDFC Bank said, "Global currency movement has had little effect on the USD-INR as the pair remains rangebound."

"I do not see any breakout now as I expect the pair to trade within a range of 64.35-64.60/dollar today," he added.

The dollar index is lower against a basket of major currencies, though the euro surged against the US dollar on relief over Emmanuel Macron's victory against Marine Le Pen.

Equities held in the green in Asia following the global relief rally after the first round of France's presidential election stoked a relief rally, with several regional markets jumping to multi-year highs.