Sensex surges 371 points; Reliance, ONGC, HDFC lead gainers

The market staged spectacular rally on Friday with the Sensex surging 400 points intraday on broadbased buying.

The rally was largely led by Reliance Industries after the cabinet decision on gas price and liquidity gush by foreign institutional investors despite Fed's decision to taper.

The Sensex rallied 371.10 points or 1.79 percent to 21,079.72, and the Nifty rose 107.60 points or 1.74 percent to close at 6,274.25.

More than Rs 2,000 crore worth of shares buying by foreign institutional investors on Thursday, a day after the Federal Reserve announced scaling back of US fiscal stimulus by USD 10 billion a month, strengthened the market sentiment.

It proved that the inflow of foreign money may continue, feel experts.

Withdrawal of monetary stimulus by the Fed won't have a huge impact on emerging markets, Gautam Trivedi of Religare Capital Markets said. He doesn't see inflows into India slowing down significantly as FIIs are not looking at exiting the county anytime soon.

03:15pm Market update
The market rallied further with the Sensex rising 394.86 points or 1.91 percent to 21103.48, and the Nifty gaining 115.45 points or 1.87 percent to 6,282.10.

HDFC said it will cut rates for current clients if borrow costs fall. The housing finance company reiterated longer-term loan growth target at 18-20 percent.

02:46pm The market remained strong in last hour of trade with the Sensex surpassing the 21,000-mark and Nifty climbing above 6250 level.

The Sensex rose 302.44 points or 1.46 percent to 21,011.06, and the Nifty rose 87.45 points or 1.42 percent to 6,254.10.

The broader markets too in bull grip - BSE Midcap Index jumped 1.7 percent and Smallcap up 1.25 percent. Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of 1420 to 972 on the BSE.

The rally is largely supported by oil and gas sector. The BSE Oil & Gas Index rallied 4 percent as Reliance Industries gained 4.6 percent and ONGC rose 3.8 percent after the Cabinet allowed Reliance Industries to almost double the price of natural gas from April 21, 2014 provided the firm gave a bank guarantee to cover its liability if gas-hoarding charges are proved.

Among financials, housing finance company HDFC spiked 3 percent while top lenders ICICI Bank , HDFC Bank and State Bank of India gained 1-2 percenet.

However, the laggards are Sun Pharma , Sesa Sterlite and Jindal Steel .

01:57pm Stocks In News
Financial Technologies rallied 7 percent on settlement talks with borrowers again. NSEL on Thursday received approval from Forward Markets Commission (FMC) to disburse Rs 11 crore received from Mohan India.

Shares of Just Dial gained 6 percent as the stock will be included as a part of small cap index of FTSE with effect from December 23.

Raymond soared 8 percent on talks of land stake sale. However, the the management has mentioned again and again that they are opened for joint development and/or stake sale, but nothing has been finalised yet.

01:47pm M&M Financial exits heavy commercial vehicle market

Having stepped into the heavy commercial vehicle market (HCV) just 18 months ago, M&M Financial Services has exited the segment due to sales slowdown. ''Liquidity wasn't a problem for us even if you were to take the last 12-month situation, but the borrowing costs were volatile and therefore one has to be cautious,'' said the company MD Ramesh Iyer on CNBC-TV18.

Currently, their base lending rate is up to 10 percent. Tractor sales have picked up since the last quarter and the company expects tractor yields to be better than new car financing.

01:37pm Infosys likely to get big weightage in Sensex

Infosys is poised to overtake ITC as the stock with biggest weighting in the benchmark BSE Sensex and broader Nifty.

Infosys weighting in the BSE Sensex currently stands at 9.70 percent, only 15 basis points away from 9.85 percent for ITC, Thomson Reuters Data shows.

In the Nifty, Infosys' weighting stands at 8.41 percent compared with 8.58 percent for ITC.

Software exporter Infosys shares rose 16.4 percent in the last three months on rupee depreciation and hopes of higher business from the United States, while ITC , a bet on domestic consumption, fell 11.7 percent in the same period on valuations and a slowing economy.

Infosys overtook Reliance Industries as the stock with second-biggest weighting in the benchmark index in October, reports Reuters.

Infosys rose 0.55 percent to Rs 3,532.45 on the BSE.

01:27pm The market rallied more than a percent in afternoon trade supported largely by heavyweight sectors like oil & gas, banks and technology.

FIIs seem to be behind this rally as they haven't stopped buying in India due to Fed tapering; in fact they have bought more than Rs 2,000 crore worth of shares on Thursday (as per provisional data on exchange), a day after the Federal Reserve announced USD 10 billion a month of tapering. FIIs purchased nearly Rs 13,000 crore worth of shares in December and more than Rs 1 lakh crore of shares in 2013 so far.

The Sensex, which is inching up towards 21,000 level, rallied 223.52 points to 20,932.14, and the Nifty rose 66.70 points to 6,233.35. About 1364 shares have advanced, 825 shares declined, and 130 shares are unchanged.

All sectoral indices are in green; BSE Oil and Gas, Auto, Realty, IT and Bank indices gained 1-2 percent.

ONGC is the star, rising 2.5 percent followed by Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank , M&M, Wipro , Maruti Suzuki and Hero Motocorp with a 2 percent upmove.

However, Sun Pharma fell 1 percent after agencies reports indicated that Johnson and Johnson has signed agreement to manufacture Doxil generic itself and to lease part of Ben Venue's plant to manufacture Doxil.

Sun, which was the only other supplier for Doxil generic (to treat cancer), sold USD 120 million worth of Doxil in CY12 and USD 63 million year-to-date in CY13.

Other laggards are NTPC , ITC, Bharti Airtel , Sesa Sterlite and Larsen and Toubro .

12:50pm Market Update
Equity benchmarks rallied further supported by Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank that gained 2 percent each.

The Sensex rose 225.36 points or 1.09 percent to 20933.98, and the Nifty climbed 65.95 points or 1.07 percent to 6,232.60. About 1360 shares have advanced, 815 shares declined, and 137 shares are unchanged.

All sectoral indices are trading in green. BSE Oil & Gas, IT, Bank, Realty and Auto indices gained 1-2 percent.

12:40pm Reliance on fire
Shares of Reliance Industries ( RIL ) rallied as much as 2.7 percent today after the Cabinet on Thursday decided to allow the company to sell gas at a new price with some riders.

The Cabinet allowed Reliance Industries to almost double the price of natural gas from April 21, 2014 provided the firm gave a bank guarantee to cover its liability if gas-hoarding charges are proved.

The bank guarantee, which will be equivalent to the incremental revenue that RIL will get from the new gas price, will be encashed if it is proved that the company hoarded gas or deliberately suppressed production at the main Dhirubhai-1 and 3 (D1&D3) fields in the eastern offshore KG-D6 block since 2010-11, sources said.

12:30pm General Motors to hike product prices

General Motors India today said it will hike prices of its entire range of vehicles by up to Rs 10,000 from next month in order to partially offset impact of rising input costs."We plan to hike prices across our entire product portfolio by up to Rs 10,000 from January. This is due to cost pressure," General Motors India Vice President P Balendran told PTI.

The company currently sells various  vehicle brands in the country ranging from hatchback Spark to sports utility vehicle Captiva, priced between Rs 3.33 lakh and Rs  25.71 lakh, respectivley, (ex-showroom Delhi), reports PTI.

12:15pm Experts feel FIIs money inflow will continue despite Fed taper

After a day of tapering, foreign institutional investors bought more than Rs 2,000 crore worth of shares in India on Thursday. They have bought more than Rs 1 lakh crore worth of shares in the current year.

Gautam Trivedi of Religare Capital Markets said that withdrawal of monetary stimulus by the Fed won't have a huge impact on EMs. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, he said that he doesn't see inflows into India slowing down significantly as FIIs are not looking at exiting the county anytime soon.

He further added that domestic macro data is the most important trigger for Indian equities in first half of calendar year 2014. Unlike many, he feels that with general elections being six months away, it wouldn't be a key trigger for market.

12:05pm The market extended its rally in noon trade with the Sensex rising nearly 200 points and the Nifty reclaiming 6200 level amid volatility.

The Sensex surged 189.19 points or 0.91 percent to 20,897.81, and the Nifty rose 52.15 points or 0.85 percent to 6,218.80. About 1253 shares have advanced, 756 shares declined, and 129 shares are unchanged.

Bank Nifty gained more than a percent as top private sector lenders ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank advanced 1 percent each. Housing finance company HDFC spiked over a percent.

State-run oil and gas explorer ONGC and petrochemical major Reliance Industries jumped 2 percent each after Cabinet on Thursday decided to allow Reliance to sell gas at new price with effect from April 2014.

Shares of Tata group companies namely TCS and Tata Motors rallied 1.7 percent each while Wipro , Maruti Suzuki and Hero Motocorp spiked 2 percent each.

However, Sun Pharma fell more than a percent after agencies reports indicated that Johnson and Johnson has signed agreement to manufacture Doxil generic itself and to lease part of Ben Venue's plant to manufacture Doxil.

Sun, which was the only other supplier for Doxil generic (to treat cancer), sold USD 120 million worth of Doxil in CY12 and USD 63 million year-to-date in CY13.

Other laggards are Sesa Sterlite, ITC , Bharti Airtel and Larsen and Toubro .

11:50am CRISIL Research initiates coverage on Shriram Transport Finance

CRISIL Research in its report said Shriram Transport Finance Company is India's leading non-banking financial company (NBFC) with strong competitive advantages in pre-owned commercial vehicle (CV) financing (especially five-12 year old vehicles).

"A relationship-driven business model, expertise in valuing pre-owned vehicles and deep local knowledge have ranked it as a leader in pre-owned vehicle financing. Shift in focus towards financing newer pre-owned vehicles (two-five year old) and small CVs coupled with increase in rural penetration is expected to boost assets under management (AUM)," CRISIL elaborated the reason for initiating coverage.

However, these initiatives will also put pressure on its NIM which could lead to lower RoA/RoE, the report said.

CRISIL initiated coverage on the company with fundamental grade of 5/5 indicating excellent fundamentals.

11:40am MCX on fire
Multi Commodity Exchange of India shares rallied 12.5 percent to Rs 466.95 after Forware Markets Commission appointed S N Ananthasubramanian, who is president of Institute of Company Secretaries of India, as FMC nominated independent director on the board of the company upto March 31, 2016.

The appointment is in place of R M Premkumar (IAS retired), FMC nominated independent director who has resigned from the board.

11:30am Emkay initiates accumulate rating on IndusInd Bank

Emkay said massive expansion plans, adequate capital, proven track record and sound management put Indusind Bank in strong position to ramp up its growth when macro turns favourable.

"Expanding branch network, with seasoning of existing branches is expected to result in improvement in CASA ratio, leading to margins expansion by 13bps. We are factoring in rise in credit cost by 15 basis points, due to higher slippages compared to previous years. Despite that return on assets to remain stable at 1.6 percent due to improvement in NIMs," the report said.

Emkay has initiated coverage on the stock with accumulate rating and target price of Rs 481 apiece.

11:15am Sun Pharma in focus
Sun Pharma is the top loser, falling 1.7 percent after agencies reports indicated that Johnson and Johnson has signed agreement to manufacture Doxil generic itself and to lease part of Ben Venue's plant to manufacture Doxil.

Sun, which was the only other supplier for Doxil generic (to treat cancer), sold USD 120 million worth of Doxil in CY12 and USD 63 million year-to-date in CY13.

11:02am The market remained rangebound with a positive bias from early trade today as investors are looking for third quarter earnings as a next trigger.

The positive bias in the market is due to consistent buying of equities by foreign institutional investors, who have bought more than Rs 2,000 crore (provisional) worth of shares on Thursday. They bought nearly Rs 1.10 lakh crore worth of shares in the year 2013 so far.

The Sensex climbed 59.81 points to 20,768.43, and the Nifty gained 14.65 points at 6,181.30. Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of 1093 to 637 on the BSE.

Wipro , ONGC , Coal India , Reliance Industries , Hero Motocorp , Cairn India , Bank of Baroda and Ranbaxy Labs are top gainers among frontliners, rising 1-2 percent.

However, Sun Pharma, Larsen and Toubro , Sesa Sterlite, Bharti Airtel , Grasim and NMDC fell 1-1.7 percent.

MCX India, Power Grid, Tech Mahindra , Financial Technologies , Wockhardt , Reliance Industries and Infosys are the most active shares.

10:50am Sugar stocks sweeten
Thecabinet committee on economic affairs gave in principal nod to Rs 6,600 crore financial package for stressed sugar mills. Package included interest free loans to clear cane arrears.

Sakthi Sugars topped the buying list among sugar stocks, rising nearly 7 percent followed by Rajshree Sugars , Rana Sugars, Triveni Engineering, Ugar Sugar and Dhampur Sugar with a 2-4 percent upmove.

Bajaj Hindusthan , Balrampur Chini and Shree Renuka Sugars gained 0.4-1 percent.

10:40am Stocks In News
IDFC declined 0.6 percent as the company has sought for a cut in foreign holding limit in company to 49.9 percent from 51.27 percent as on December 6. Its intent to cut foreign holding limit is to meet RBI bank licence norms.

Ranbaxy Labs rose 1.5 percent after Daiichi Sankyo said it will provide support to Ranbaxy to deal with FDA issues.

Shares of NCC surged 6 percent on media reports that the company is close to sell its thermal power assets to Sembcorp.

Apollo Tyres spiked 3 percent and Aurobindo Pharma advanced 0.9 percent. NSE barred both stocks in F&O segment.

10:30am FII view on currencies
Christian Keller of Barclays feels emerging markets are likely to be in a more constructive mood after the Fed decision.

Emerging markets currencies are likely to enjoy a lift from the reduced risk on portfolio outflows, he adds. Among high yielding currencies, he favours Russian Ruble, Indian Rupee and Braxlilian Real.

10:20am Biocon talks to CNBC-TV18
Biotechnology firm Biocon informed the stock exchanges on Wednesday it had entered into a tie-up with California-based Quark Pharma for developing small interfering RNA (siRNA) based medicines.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Chairperson and Managing Director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said the area of medicine covered in the tie-up involved inhibiting gene expressions with RNA molecules and promises to be useful in treating several acute and chronic conditions.

''This [siRNA] is a very coveted space with companies pursuing drug development in the area getting good valuations. Quark is the pioneer of the technology,'' Mazumdar-Shaw said.

She, however, did not put a number to incremental revenues that could result from the deal. ''All biopharma projects have long gestation periods. So this is a midterm bet for us.''

10:00am The market maintained its northward journey supported by oil and gas, banks, technology and auto stocks.

The Sensex climbed 90.79 points to 20,799.41, and the Nifty rose 24.90 points to 6,191.55 while the broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.7 percent each.

More than two shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE.

The uncertainties related to the US Fed meet and QE tapering is out of market's way, but now Indian equities are fretting about the impact of foreign fund inflows once tapering begins.

Calming these fears, Gautam Trivedi of Religare Capital Markets said that withdrawal of monetary stimulus by the Fed won't have a huge impact on EMs. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, he said that he doesn't see inflows into India slowing down significantly as FIIs are not looking at exiting the county anytime soon.

Oil and Gas and IT indices led today's upmove, rising more than a percent. Reliance Industries and ONGC rallied 1.7 percent each after the Cabinet decided to allow Reliance to sell natural gas at new price of USD 8.4 per million British thermal units as against the current USD 4.2.

Shares of TCS and Wipro gained more than 1.3 percent while their rival Infosys , which rallied 50 percent since June, rose 0.6 percent.

09:45am UN lowers India's growth forecast
United Nations has lowered India's economic growth forecast for 2013 to 4.8 percent while warning that emerging markets should be prepared to deal with the impact of US Federal Reserve's quantitative easing programme.

India's economy is forecast to grow at 4.8 percent in 2013, down 1.3 percent from its earlier projection, the UN's World Economic Situation and Prospects 2014 report said.

Similarly, it has lowered the growth projection for 2014 to 5.3 percent, down 1.2 percent from earlier forecast. The UN sees India to grow by 5.7 percent in 2015, reports Reuters.

"In China, growth was expected to maintain a pace of about 7.5 percent over the next few years, while India's economy was forecast to grow by more than 5 percent," the UN's World Economic Situation and Prospects 2014 report said.

09:30am FII View
Chris Wood of CLSA says the recent results for four key state elections in India have provided clear evidence of an anti-incumbent anti-Congress surge. "The biggest beneficiary of this anti-Congress mood swing still looks to be the BJP's Narendra Modi, he adds.

"And a convincing win for Modi offers the best chance that the Indian investment cycle picks up sooner rather than later given the damage done to business confidence in recent years," Chris says.

09:17am The market started off trade with a positive bias on last day of the week supported by Reliance Industries and ONGC .

The Sensex rose 47.94 points to 20,756.56, and the Nifty gained 5.10 points at 6,171.75.

Reliance rallied 2 percent in opening trade as cabinet approved gas price issue subject to company submitting bank guarantee, but saw some profit booking later on.

ONGC also climbed nearly 2 percent, but power stocks are under pressure with the NTPC and Tata Power falling marginally as they have to buy gas at higher price compared to earlier.

Country's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank bounced back with 0.9 percent gains on short covering while its rival SBI rose 0.4 percent.

Technology stocks continued their positive momentum with TCS and Wipro gaining more than a percent while their rival Infosys advanced 0.4 percent.

However, shares of ITC , Larsen and Toubro , Sun Pharma , HDFC Bank , Sesa Sterlite and Bharti Airtel are under pressure.

Asian markets are mixed today while a day after the call to taper, US markets ended flat to lower on mixed economic data. Europe too reacted positively to a less easy Fed with core markets ending 1.5 percent higher.