Record closing high: Sensex, Nifty up 1% midcaps outperform

3:30 pm Market closing: It is a record closing high with both the benchmark indices gaining over 1 percent. Maintaining the uptrend for fifth consecutive day, the Nifty ended up 82.55 points at 7874.25 while the Sensex was up 287.73 points at 26390.96. About 1929 shares advanced, 1012 shares declined and 99 shares were unchanged.

ICICI Bank, ONGC, Tata Motors contribute nearly 50 percent to the Nifty gain. BSE PSU, Oil & Gas indices gained most in trade today.

Cipla and ONGC were up 5 percent each while Axis Bank, Tata Motors and BHEL were other gainers in the Sensex . Among the losers were ITC, HDFC, Infosys, TCS and Hero.

3:00 pm Market opinion: Hans Goetti, Head of Investment Asia, Banque Internationale à Luxembourg SA has a market weight on Asia. For him, the top picks in Asia are the Indian and Chinese market.

He believes the geopolitical tensions will continue to spook markets.

However, he is overweight on equities in the developed markets. He expects the US Federal Reserve will keep rates unchanged in 2014. He sees rate hikes only in 2015.

"We don't expect any surprises from the Fed. Tapering is off schedule and the consensus is that at some point in 2015 the Fed may raise interest rates. Although it has to be said that Fed is actually targeting the labour market which is the most lagging of all indicators which could be fine that they are willing to keep interest rates lower longer than necessary," he said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

It is a marvellous Monday on Dalal Street as the benchmark indices hit record highs. The Sensex is up 249.69 points or 1 percent at 26352.92, and the Nifty up gains 73.10 points or 1 percent at 7864.80.

About 1859 shares have advanced, 993 shares declined, and 99 shares are unchanged.

Midcaps see huge outperformance today as stocks like Alok Industries, HPCL, Voltas and Sintex make hefty gains.

A big macro positive for the market is the substantial fall in global crude prices. Brent fell to below USD 103 /bbl as Libya increased its oil output and worries over supply from key producer Iraq eased.

Global cues are supportive as Europe is trading with gains of more than 1 percent with Germany higher by almost 1.5 percent. Investors are now awaiting Fed Chairperson Janet Yellen and ECB Chief Mario Draghi's address at the Jackson Hole symposium on Thursday.

1:30 pm Buzzing: Shares of SpiceJet soared 14 percent intraday on Monday despite posting a dismal April-June quarter. The budget carrier reported a net loss of Rs 124.10 crore for the three months ended June, mainly bogged down by higher expenses. It had a net profit of Rs 50.56 crore in the year-ago period.

In the first quarter of current fiscal, the airline saw its total income from operations slide to Rs 1,691.04 crore from Rs 1,701.54 crore recorded in the same period a year ago. Besides, the company's expenses climbed to Rs 1,782.95 crore in the latest June quarter.

However, the management seem quite confident about its future. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Group CFO, SL Narayanan said the company is not going away in any hurry and is not closing down. ''The auditors have rightly said that our net worth has now gone in the negative, but we will pull through and survive. We have invested Rs 1400 crore in the company and we will ensure it is held in safe custody,'' said Narayanan.

He added that the company is now working on getting a more lean structure and the company is now cutting routes that are less profitable.

The bulls make a come back on Dalal Street just after returning from a long weekend. The Nifty hits at record high,up 51.20 points at 7842.90. The Sensex is up 179.63 points at 26282.86. About 1772 shares have advanced, 899 shares declined, and 98 shares are unchanged.

Capital Goods index jumped over 2 percent while auto and banks supported the rally. Only IT and FMCG indices are in red. Even midcap and smallcaps are flexing muscles with oever 1 percent gains each.

Both Infosys and Maruti are up 5 percent each Since July 25 high while HUL and M&M gain over 8 percent. HUL and M&M lead the Nifty back to record high. L&T and Tata Power are down over 10 percent from the earlier record high period.

12:50 pm Market check: The Nifty hits at record high, up 50.55 points or 0.6 percent at 7842.25. The Nifty crosses previous high of 7840.95 hit on July 25. The Sensex gains 172.89 points or 0.6 percent at 26276.12. About 1747 shares have advanced, 895 shares declined, and 103 shares are unchanged.

Capital Goods index jumped over 2 percent while auto and banks supported the rally. Only IT and FMCG indices are in red. Even midcap and smallcaps are flexing muscles with oever 1 percent gains each.

Gains continued for the 5th straight session with the Nifty trading close to all time high. The Nifty is up 27.80 points at 7819.50. The Sensex is up 98.66 points at 26201.89. About 1650 shares have advanced, 848 shares declined, and 95 shares are unchanged.

Tata Power, Tata Motors, Cipla, Axis Bank and L&T are top gainers in the Sensex. The laggards include ITC, Infosys, HDFC, Hero and M&M.

Oil stocks like HPCL, BPCL and IOC are up as Oil prices eased in Asian trade today, but retained support from the latest round of tensions between Ukraine and Russia which sparked concerns for a full-scale military conflict.

Globally markets are nervous on renewed geo-political concerns in Russia and Ukraine.

Gold prices fell 0.82 percent to Rs 28,420 per 10 grams in futures trade today amid a weak trend overseas and profit-booking by speculators. Analysts said besides profit-booking by speculators, a weak trend in the overseas markets as the outlook for an improving US economy outweighed tension in Ukraine, weighed on gold prices at futures trade.

11:45 am Interview: India Cements showed a marginal improvement in the first quarter on a sequential basis. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, N Srinivasan, VC and MD of the company says he expects a smart pickup in demand growth in 6-9 months. In March-April the prices were really low and have started to pickup only now, he adds. The total income of the company is down 1 percent to Rs 1,228 crore for the quarter ended June versus Rs 1,240 crore reported last year. The EBITDA margin is at 13 percent versus 15.6 percent year-on-year.

According to him, cement prices have moved higher since June with the average cement price around Rs 360 per bag in South India. Going ahead, Srinivasan expects the South India cement prices to move higher by Rs 15-20 per bag.

The market is holding its gains. The Sensex is up 98.89 points at 26202.12 and the Nifty is up 30.70 points at 7822.40. About 1553 shares have advanced, 725 shares declined, and 99 shares are unchanged.

Tata Motors and Tata Power are up 3 percent each while BHEL, Cipla and Bharti Airtel are top gainers in the Sensex. ITC, Infosys, HDFC, TCS and M&M are major losers.

Oil prices eased in Asian trade, but retained support from the latest round of tensions between Ukraine and Russia which sparked concerns of a full-scale military conflict, analysts said. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for September delivery was down 46 cents at USD 96.89 while Brent crude for October fell 65 cents to USD 102.88 in mid-morning trade.

10:45 am Market outlook: Nilesh Shah, MD & CEO, Axis Capital feels the markets will look favourably at PM's 'Made in India' intent, but is sceptical that execution is critical than the intent. The market is at a multi-year bull run. It is entering a consolidation phase, which makes it a ''buy on dips market'', he said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

According to him, the market will continue to focus on RBI's monetary policy stance.

Shah said defensives like FMCG, IT & pharma have moved up, but some cyclicals have corrected 10-15 percent in the consolidation phase and so have PSU bank stocks. ''PSU banks available at under 1x book can be good trading bets,'' he said.

The market is refusing to budge but the Nifty has held 7800-levels. The 50-share index is up 26.15 points at 7817.85 while the Sensex is up 82.26 points at 26185.49. About 1330 shares have advanced, 595 shares declined, and 73 shares are unchanged.

Tata Power is up 3 percent, followed by Tata Motors, BHEL, Cipla and Bharti Airtel. Among the laggards are ITC, Infosys, HDFC, TCS and Wipro.

Asian stocks eked out gains on Monday after seeing Wall Street recover from the latest round of tensions in the Ukrainian crisis, although renewed uncertainty over the volatile conflict put a firm lid on markets.The dollar was on the back foot against the safe-haven yen, weighed by a slide in Treasury yields.

News late on Friday that Ukrainian forces said they had destroyed a Russian military column in Ukrainian territory initially hit Wall Street, drove down government bond yields and boosted safe-haven currencies such as the yen and Swiss franc.

Still, with the four-month conflict reaching a critical phase over the weekend - Kiev and Western governments are nervously watching if Russia will intervene in support of the increasingly besieged rebels in eastern Ukraine- risk appetite was subdued.

9:45 am Buzzing: Shares of Tata Motors jumped 2 percent intraday, riding on its Jaguar Land Rover July sales number. The luxury car business  sold 39467 units (up 12.2 percent) as compared to 35162 units in the same period last fiscal. The stock has been on buyers' radar after its April-June quarter spectacular performance.

Macquarie maintains an outperform rating on the stock with a target of Rs 540 per share. The brokerage says that JLR is poised for strong volume growth going ahead as new models will be launched in FY15-16 and production in China will also start.

However, Tata Motors' global wholesale volumes, including those of Jaguar Land Rover, declined 8.5 percent in July 2014 to 80,151 vehicles compared to the year-ago period on the back of poor sales in the domestic market.

Commercial vehicle sales took a huge hit, declining 23.8 percent to 31,150 units in July 2014 from the year-ago period. Cumulative CV wholesales for the fiscal stood at 1,18,816 units, a decline of 26.3 percent. 

After a long weekend, the market has opened on a flat note. The Sensex is up 20.46 points or at 26123.69 and the Nifty is down 6.45 points at 7785.25. About 391 shares have advanced, 238 shares declined, and 39 shares are unchanged.

Tata Power, ONGC, HUL, Tata Motors  and Dr Reddy's Labs are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Sun Pharma, Hindalco, Cipla, Coal India and Bharti Airtel.

The money market is shut today, due to festivals.

All eyes will be on the announcements that Prime Minister Narendra Modi made in his maiden Independence Day speech as he revealed his vision for India. The Planning Commission will now make way for a new national think tank. Modi has also put greater stress on financial inclusion, emphasis on manufacturing and better broadband connectivity high on his priority list.

Global cuesare negative as the Wall Street turned volatile on Friday as geopolitical tensions rose. The S&P 500 managed to pare losses and close flat and Asia is mixed in morning trade.

In other asset classes the US dollar, euro and yen were little changed as heightened tensions in Ukraine drove global bond yields to fresh lows. Brent crude prices, meanwhile, eased following gains in the previous session, dragged lower by signs of increased supply from Libya.

And precious metal gold extended losses into a second session, slipping below USD 1,300 an ounce on technical selling and as equities recovered after an initial sell-off over geopolitical concerns.