Profit-taking drags Sensex below 25000, Midcap down over 2%

The market gave up all its hefty gains in last hour of trade on Monday as investors preferred profit booking after the Sensex crossed psychological 25000-level (482 points intraday rally) and Nifty 7500-mark. In fact, the broader markets snapped six-day winning streak with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices losing over 2 percent each (after rising 13-17 percent in previous six sessions).

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 23.53 points to close at 24716.88 after seeing an intraday high of 25175.22 while the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 8.05 points to 7359.05 after hitting highest point of the day at 7504. The market saw fourth highest turnover of Rs 4.74 lakh crore.

Most of experts believe the market seems to have factored in news of likely cabinet of new government that will be announced today evening in Narendra Modi's swearing-in (as prime minister) ceremony. According to them, the market may consolidate till next trigger i.e. RBI policy on June 3.

According to Andrew Holland, CEO, Ambit Investment Advisors, who would take over finance minister post isn't important . The tone and direction of the new budget would be important monitorables, he adds. Also, he doesn't see a face-off situation between the new government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The next trigger for market remains interest rate cuts by the central bank, he says. He further says he continues to be bullish on India.

BSE Realty was the major loser today, falling over 5 percent followed by Power, Oil & Gas and PSU with 1-2 percent. However, Auto and IT gained 1.5 percent each.

Realty major DLF plunged 6 percent. State-run power equipment maker BHEL slipped nearly 5 percent and private power producer Tata Power dropped 4 percent. GAIL and Hindalco fell more than 3 percent.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries plunged 2.5 percent. India's top lender State Bank of India was down 2 percent and its rival ICICI Bank declined 0.6 percent whereas HDFC Bank gained a percent.

However, utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra topped the buying list, gaining over 6 percent followed by L&T, Tata Motors, Sesa Sterlite and Wipro with 2-4 percent.

Among midcaps, Adani Enterprises, Adani Power, Apollo Tyres, Canara Bank, GMR Infrastructure, Godrej Industries, India Cements (post Rs 31 crore loss in Q4FY14), Jain Irrigation, NHPC, OBC, Petronet LNG, Reliance Communications, Union Bank and Reliance Power plunged 3-7 percent.

Declining shares outnumbered advancing ones by a ratio of 1648 to 1374 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

03:50 pm Modi's team A: Narendra Modi, who will be sworn in as India's Prime Minister on Monday, will have a 45-member strong Council of Ministers. Out of these, 24 are Cabinet Ministers. Ten are Ministers of State with Independent Charge, while the rest are Ministers of State.

Sources say Modi is set to retain Defence portfolio. All Cabinet ministers and ministers of state will be reaching Rashtrapati Bhawan by 5 pm for the swearing-in ceremony. Nitin Gadkari is likely to get Ministry of Transport, including Civil Aviation. Venkaiah Naidu likely to get Agriculture. Eight-time MP from Indore, Sumitra Mahajan, is front-runner for Lok Sabha Speaker. Piyush Goyal is likely to get Oil and Power. Ravi Shankar Prasad may get Law and Telecom, Smriti Irani likely to get HRD.

03:40 pm Market closing
Giving away all its morning gains, the market ended on a flat note. The Sensex ended up 23.53 points at 24716.88 while the Nifty was down 8.05 points at 7359.05. About 1374 shares advanced, 1648 shares declined and 108 shares were unchanged.

IT and auto stocks lend major support to the market while Oil & Gas and Realty indices were severly butchered. Even Bankex closed in red. But the biggest crash was seen in midcap and small cap stocks with both the indices losing over 2 percent each from previous close.

Chennai Petroleum lost 12 percent while HDIL, Anant Raj, DB Realty and KSK Energy fell 9-10 percent each among the midcaps.

Among the losers in the Sensex were BHEL, GAIL, Tata Power, NTPC and Hindalco. M&M,  Sesa Sterlite, Wipro, Tata Motors and L&T were top gainers in the Sensex.

03:30 pm Interview
After having posted a weak set of Q4 numbers, that widened its net loss to Rs 192 crore, Kamal Baheti, chief financial officer, McLeod Russel says weak Q4 EBITDA was expected due to seasonality.

Baheti says due to seasonal nature of the business, the Q4 is always going to be weak, as there is no tea production and Q2 of every year is likely to be the best quarter.

The days ahead, however, are looking bright for the company. Baheti expects an increase to the tune of Rs 4-5 per kg due to wage revision. Apart from the Rs 15-20 increase in tea prices that has already taken place, Baheti expects a further Rs 15 per kg rise on account of crop shortage.

''If the prices increase even by Rs 20 per kg for the full year, we can expect 25-30 percent increase in EBITDA profits. We expect this trajectory to play out in the market,'' adds Baheti.

03:20 pm SEBI nod
Global liquor giant Diageo Plc has received market regulator Sebi's clearance for an open offer to acquire additional 26 percent stake in United Spirits for Rs 11,448.91 crore.

This is the second open offer made by Diageo to gain majority control in India's number one liquor firm.

As part of the deal to buy 53.4 percent stake in Vijay Mallya-led UB group's USL, Diageo has made a Rs 11,448.91 crore open offer for purchase of 26 percent stake in the company from non-promoter shareholders.

The open offer, which was made last month, has been now cleared by the Securities and Exchange Board of India, according to a public notification.

Sebi issued final observations, necessary for the offer and the deal as a whole to go through, on May 21. The global liquor giant would pay Rs 3,030 per share of USL, which is more than double the price of Rs 1,440 per share it offered in the previous bid last year.

03:10 pm World markets
Italian assets surged and German shares hit all-time highs as solid election showings by pro-European forces in both countries provided an antidote to Eurosceptic gains in France, the UK and Greece.

Though nationalists scored stunning victories in a number of weekend votes, Italy's pro-European Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's centre-left Democratic Party was on course for a resounding win over the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement of former comic Beppe Grillo.

For investors, it was a relief after pre-election polls had pointed to a much closer contest that would have raised fresh questions over the country's ability to keep its already wobbly economic reform programme on track.

Italian shares jumped almost 3 percent in heavy opening trade and benchmark government bonds were on course for their biggest one-day percentage gain since the start of January 2013.

02:59pm Market Update
BSE Realty Index crashed 6 percent followed by Power, Consumer Durables, PSU, Oil & Gas, Metal and Bank with 1-4 percent. However, Auto and IT gained a percent each.

The Sensex declined 76.46 points to 24616.89 and the Nifty lost 37.40 points to 7329.70. Declining shares outnumbered advancing ones by a ratio of 1795 to 1176 on the BSE.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap, which rallied 14-17 percent in last six sessions, dropped 3 percent each on profit-taking as experts believe overall market looks overbought at this stage.

02:50pm India Cements Q4 nos
India Cements today reported Rs 30.56 crore standalone net loss for the January-March quarter on lower income and higher finance costs.

The company, which has 15.5 million tonne per annum capacity, had reported Rs 26.28 crore net profit in the same quarter of last fiscal (2012-13).

Its net sales fell to Rs 1,080 crore, from Rs 1,191 crore a year earlier, the company said in a statement, adding that the expenses also dipped by Rs 17 crore to Rs 1,077 crore, reports PTI.

02:40pm Midcaps Crash
Karnataka Bank, Voltas, GMR Infra, Canara Bank, L&T Finance Holdings, Exide Industries, India Cement, MMTC, Petronet LNG and NHPC plunged 5-8 percent.

02:30pm Market Update
The market lost ground in last hour of trade with the Sensex falling more than 100 points on profit-taking. Reliance Industries and State Bank of India crashed 4 percent each.

The Sensex slipped 83.57 points to 24609.78 and the Nifty declined 50.60 points to 7316.50 amid volatility. The rupee fell 25 paise to 58.76 against the dollar.

Tata Power topped the selling list, falling 9 percent followed by BHEL and NTPC with 6 percent loss. Hindalco Industries tumbled 4.5 percent. ICICI Bank slipped over a percent.

02:20pm Modi's likely cabinet
On the day of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony, all eyes are on his Cabinet. According to sources, BJP President Rajnath Singh will be the new Home Minister in Modi's cabinet. BJP leader JP Nadda is set to become the new party president. Arun Jaitley remains the frontrunner for Finance, while Arun Shourie is poised for the post of government advisor or deputy chairman of the Planning Commission.

BJP leader Sushma Swaraj is the frontrunner for the Ministry of External Affairs. Kalraj Mishra is likely to be included in the Cabinet as the HRD Minister while Nitin Gadkari is poised to take over a combination of important infrastructure ministries. Ravi Shankar Prasad is likely to be next Information and Broadcasting Minister and Nripendra Mishra will take over as the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, say sources.

2:10pm FII View
Chris Roberts of Asianomics Group has cautioned Indian investors to curb their enthusiasm.

Though Asianomics has been bullish on India for a while now, both on technical and fundamental perspective, it thinks the Indian market is at overbought level since 2006.

''The risk-reward is perhaps is not attractive as it used to be in the recent weeks… we will use any short, sharp decline to add to holdings in the stock market,'' he told CNBC-TV18.

2:00pm Equity benchmarks turned choppy in afternoon trade due to profit-taking in Reliance Industries and State Bank of India that fell 1 percent and 2 percent, respectively.

The Sensex rose 302.68 points or 1.23 percent at 24996.03 and the Nifty advanced 77.85 points or 1.06 percent to 7444.95. However, the broader markets fell for the first time since May 16; the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices declined over 1 percent. About 1607 shares have advanced, 1321 shares declined, and 113 shares are unchanged.

Capital goods, private banks, auto and technology stocks continued to support the market. Utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra topped the buying list, rising 7 percent followed by L&T, Tata Motors, Wipro and Sesa Sterlite with 3-4 percent.

Shares of ITC, ICICI Bank, TCS, HDFC Bank, Infosys, ONGC and Maruti gained over a percent.

However, Hindalco Industries and Tata Power topped the selling list, losing 2.2 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively. Bharti Airtel, NTPC and Cipla too lost ground. Realty Index plunged over 4 percent; realty major DLF dropped over 5 percent.
2:00 pm Interview: NHAI has okayed the deferment of premium repayment for two of Sadbhav Engineering's projects - Hyderabad-Yadgiri and Rohtak-Panipat. Nitin Patel ED of the company explains how the NHAI move will benefit the company and various other details of the project.

He says the company has already applied for deferment of premium rejig of the 4-laning of Gomati ka Chauraha-Udaipur project.

Patel believes the lenders and bankers for these projects will benefit greatly from the NHAI move. He says the credit quality of all the lenders that have given funding to the road sector will improve.

1:50 pm Defence deals: Rolta along with Bharat Electronics has formed an exclusive consortium for a government of India project in the defense sector. Few companies were shortlisted for the project and Rolta was one of them. It is the largest command and control programme estimated to be worth over Rs 50,000 crore (USD 8.3 billion).

KK Singh, CMD, Rolta says the company will provide software services in the joint venture for the defense project. At the moment, the sector contributes around 18-20 percent of the company's revenues. But he expects it to go up to 30-40 percent of revenue in the next few years. He expects a pilot project for the defense order in the next 6-8 months.

1:40 pm Rupee outlook: Boosted by capital inflows and euphoria around the incoming government, rupee's surge to 11-month high levels has made it the best performing currency in Asia-Pacific region against the US dollar so far in 2014.

With a gain of about 5.3 percent since the start of this year, rupee has sprinted ahead of its other Asia-Pacific peers, including Indonesia's rupiah and New Zealand dollar, in terms of year-to-date rise, shows an analysis of various currencies vis-a-vis the Greenback.

The Indian currency stood at Rs 61.8 level per US dollar at the start of 2014 and has recorded a gain of 327 paise in less than six months, partly helped by robust foreign fund inflows. This marks a major turnaround since August last year when rupee touched its life-time low of 68.80. "...positive sentiments out of the election results enabled us to upgrade our FII flows estimates by USD 5 billion to USD 20 billion, implying an overall BOP (balance of payment) surplus of USD 29 billion. We expect the USD/INR range to be 57-61 in FY2015," said Indranil Pan, Chief Economist of Kotak Mahindra Bank, in a report.

1:30 pm Result: Gold loan financing company Muthoot Finance 's fourth quarter (January-March) net profit fell 17.7 percent year-on-year to Rs 181 crore on lower income.

Total income from operations slipped 18 percent to Rs 1,152.5 crore in the quarter ended March 2014 from Rs 1,406.2 crore in same quarter last year. During the same period, net interest income dropped 11.7 percent to Rs 586 crore from Rs 664 crore.

Operating profit was down 23 percent on yearly basis to Rs 838 crore in the quarter gone by. Net interest margin dropped 50 basis points sequentially to 8.5 percent during the quarter.

Provisions for March quarter stood at Rs 18 crore as against Rs 46.4 crore in Q4FY13 and Rs 9 crore in Q3FY14. Tax expenses declined 23.3 percent to Rs 97.4 crore in January-March quarter as against Rs 127 crore in corresponding period of last fiscal.

1:20 pm Buzzing: Shares of Strides Arcolab slumped 8 percent intraday as it reported dismal March quarter earnings. The drug firm posted a net loss of Rs 48.26 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2014. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 31.57 crore for the corresponding period of previous fiscal, Strides Arcolab said in a filing to BSE.

Total income of the company for the quarter under consideration stood at Rs 256.73 crore. It was Rs 178.36 crore for the same period year ago, it added.

"The figures are not comparable as financial year has changed from Jan-Dec to April-March.Consequently financial year 2013-14 is for 15 months ending March 2014. Hence numbers for the two periods are not comparable," Strides Arcolab said.

The market cheers as Narendra Modi gets set to take oath as Prime Minister. The Sensex is up 379.79 points or 1.54 percent at 25073.14 while the Nifty is up 100.75 points or 1.37 percent at 7467.85. About 1846 shares have advanced, 1022 shares declined, and 91 shares are unchanged.

M&M, L&T, BHEL, Tata Motors and Sesa Sterlite are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are SBI, Hindalco, Bharti Airtel, Cipla and Reliance.

Narendra Modi has finalised his cabinet ahead of swearing ceremony. He has sent a list of 24 cabinet and 10 minister of states to Rashtrapati Bhawan. Rajnath Singh likely to be home minister, Arun jaitley may get finance and Sushma may get external affairs while Nitin Gadkari may get road and railways.

Asian markets are mostly higher following positive sentiment in US equities. The Japanese market is at one-week highs with a weaker yen supporting.
12:59pm Nikkei hits 7-week high

Japanese shares ended at a 7-week high on Monday, with financials leading the gains, helped by the yen's retreat against the dollar and a record-high for Wall Street on upbeat US housing data.

The benchmark Nikkei extended its winning streak to a third day and rose 1 percent to 14,602.52, its highest closing since April 8, reports Reuters.

12:50pm Cummins India rises 6%
Citi upgrades Cummins India to buy and increases target price from Rs 436 to Rs 730 a shares. It says it is the top industrial pick along with L&T and sees upside in stock price hereon.

The company has created capacity for next three years. Current facilities are operating at low utilizations of 50-60 percent, says the brokerage house.

According to Citi, on revival in demand, margin can expand 250-300 basis points over the next three years on operating leverage.

12:45pm Vardhman Textiles surges 7%
Vardhman Textiles' profit after tax grew 34 percent year-on-year to Rs 154.3 crore in the quarter ended March 2014 and total income rose 12.7 percent to Rs 1,292 crore from Rs 1,146 crore during the same period.

Operating profit jumped to Rs 335.6 crore from Rs 268.3 croer and margin expanded 260 basis points to 26 percent year-on-year.

12:35pm Sun Pharma and Ranbaxy on buyers' radar
Shares of Sun Pharma and Ranbaxy rallied 4-5 percent intraday after Andhra Pradesh High Court cleared the decks for the USD 4-billion deal by lifting the stay it had imposed last month. The deal, however, needs to be approved by regulatory bodies such as CCI, BSE, NSE and Sebi which is investigating the insider-trading allegations.

Sun Pharma was up 1.3 percent and Ranbaxy Labs up 1.6 percent now.

12:25pm Interview
NHAI has okayed the deferment of premium repayment for two of Sadbhav Engineering's projects - Hyderabad-Yadgiri and Rohtak-Panipat. Nitin Patel ED of the company says the company has already applied for deferment of premium rejig of the 4-laning of Gomati ka Chauraha-Udaipur project.

Patel believes the lenders and bankers for these projects will benefit greatly from the NHAI move. He says the credit quality of all the lenders that have given funding to the road sector will improve.

12:20pm IRB Infra at 37-month high
Shares of IRB Infrastructure jumped 14.5 percent, hitting 37-month high of Rs 218 per share intraday on Monday, as investors are building high hopes on the new government spearheaded by Narendra Modi to revive the beleaguered infrastructure sector.

With road contracts falling by 90 percent to 500 in the last two years, investors expect that NDA will give fillip to the sector. Lack of fuel supply, poor connectivity and complicated clearance processes have been plaguing the industry these years.

Meanwhile, the stock is also benefitting as its Tumkur-Chitradurga and Ahmedabad- Vadodara road is one of the nine projects that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has approved for deferment of premium repayment worth around Rs 6,000 crore. Deferment would be available from 2014-15 till 2026-27.

Citi recommends buying the stock with an increased target price of Rs 216 as it feels from hereon the stock performance will be driven by improving business fundamentals.

The stock was trading at Rs 212, up 11.51 percent.

12:10pm FII View
Chris Roberts of Asianomics Group has cautioned Indian investors to curb their enthusiasm.

Though Asianomics has been bullish on India for a while now, both on technical and fundamental perspective, it thinks the Indian market is at overbought level since 2006.

''The risk-reward is perhaps is not attractive as it used to be in the recent weeks… we will use any short, sharp decline to add to holdings in the stock market,'' he told CNBC-TV18.

12:00pm The market maintains strong momentum with the Nifty touching the 7500-mark supported by capital goods, auto, banks and technology stocks. The Sensex rose 444.40 points or 1.80 percent to 25137.75 and the Nifty climbed 125.30 points or 1.70 percent to 7492.40.

Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of 1991 to 737 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro and utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra were leading gainers, rising 5-6 percent followed by Tata Motors, ONGC, Axis Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Coal India and BHEL with 3-4 percent.

Shares of ICICI Bank, ITC, HDFC Bank, TCS, NTPC, Wipro, Tata Steel, Tata Power and GAIL gained 1-2 percent. However, Bharti Airtel, Hindalco Industries, Cipla and Dr Reddy's Labs fell over 0.4 percent.

11:50 am Inetrview: SREI Infrastructure plans to raise Rs 2,500 crore via security issuance in FY15, says the infra company's CMD Hemant Kanoria in an interview with CNBC-TV18. Kanoria credits financing construction companies and financing equipments to construction companies for increase in NPAs. However, he believes the infrastructure sector is two quarters away from seeing improvement on the NPA front.

"If you look at the NPAs last year, it was about 2.2 percent whereas the net NPA has risen to 3.9 percent. As I was just explaining this is primarily due to the fact that we are financing construction companies and financing equipments to construction companies. It is not that we are very disturbed about it," he said.

11:40 am FII view: Andrew Holland, CEO, Ambit Investment Advisors continues to be bullish on India. He says that India stands out amongst other emerging markets given its positives. He feels that the current market rally hasn't completely played out yet.

According to Holland, who would take over this post isn't important. The tone and direction of the new budget would be important monitorables, he adds. Also, he doesn't see a face-off situation between the new government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The next trigger for market remains interest rate cuts by the central bank, he adds. Meanwhile, investors should stick to private sector banks, Holland recommends. He maintains his positive stance on private banks, however, he is not too gung-ho on public sector lenders. He feels PSU banks need more accountability and would prefer waiting for big changes in the sector before pumping funds into it.

11:30 am Buzzing: Shares of IRB Infrastructure jumped 14.5 percent, hitting 37-month at Rs 218 per share intraday, as investors are building high hopes on the new government spearheaded by Narendra Modi to revive the beleaguered infrastructure sector.

With road contracts falling by 90 percent to 500 in the last two years, investors expect that NDA  will give fillip to the sector. Lack of fuel supply, poor connectivity and complicated clearance processes have been plaguing the industry these years.

Brokerages are bullish on the stock now as most of the roads in the portfolio are either complete or near complete. Also, construction completion has reduced cost of debt to 11 percent from 11.5-11.75 percent while toll hikes are likely to push cash flows in FY15.

Citi recommends buying the stock with an increased target price of Rs 216 as it feels from hereon the stock performance will be driven by improving business fundamentals.

11:20 am  Result poll: Bakery products manufacturer Britannia Industries will announce its fourth quarter (January-March) earnings today. According to CNBC-TV18 poll estimates, analysts expect standalone profit after tax of the company to rise 13.9 percent year-on-year to Rs 100 crore during the quarter due to lower interest cost.

Total income from operations is expected to jump 11.9 percent to Rs 1,681 crore in the quarter ended March 2014 from Rs 1,502 crore in same quarter last year.

Analysts say around 4-5 percent growth in volume, 3 percent price hikes and mix effects of 3-4 percent may lead to net sales growth of around 11-12 percent.

Reasonable agri-input costs (easing raw material cost) and control over operating costs are likely to help the company improve operating profit margin mildly by 10 bps Y-o-Y.

Party at Dalal Street continues as the Nifty is comfortably holding above 7450. The Nifty is up 97.10 points or 1.32 percent at 7464.20 and the Sensex is up 347.35 points or 1.41 percent at 25040.70. About 1873 shares have advanced, 668 shares declined, and 78 shares are unchanged.

Hindalco, Cipla, Dr Reddy's Labs, and Hero MotoCorp are major laggards at this hour.

Rupee rose against the dollar on positive equity sentiment ahead of the PM designate's swearing in ceremony. Gilts are lower as participants trim positions after Friday's rise and concerns over the new government's choice of finance minister

Brent edged lower from 2.5-month highs as worries over Ukraine eased slightly after its presidential election. Gold continued to struggle below USD 1300 per ounce. Platinum is trading at 8.5-month highs.

The euro weakened against the dollar while the yen trades at levels of 102 per dollar- for the first time in over a week. Asian markets notched up gains following US markets. The Japanese markets are at one-week highs with a weaker yen supporting.

10:55am SBI gains further
Shares in State Bank of India gain as much as 3 percent, adding to Friday's 9.6 percent jump, after earlier hitting their highest level since April 2011, as brokers raise target price and estimates on the stock, citing January-March quarter earnings.

Jefferies raises its target price to Rs 3,415 from Rs 2,875, while maintaining its "buy" rating on the stock, and Credit Suisse upgrades target price to Rs 2,405 from Rs 2,049 and maintains "neutral" rating on the stock.

The bank on Friday reported a drop in bad loans and market-beating quarterly net profit, reports Reuters.

10:45am Interview
After having posted a loss of Rs 8.80 crore in its January-March quarter, Narendra Murkumbi, managing director, Shree Renuka Sugars says a significant part of the losses were due to forex reasons and a large part of that is likely to be reversed in the next two quarters.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18 on its Q4FY14 results, Murkumbi says half of the forex losses were realized and the remaining are mark-to-market losses.

The company also posted poor margins, but this is likely to change as the margins have bottomed out, he adds.

However, the threat of El Nino does loom large on the sector.

''While we have manageable opening stocks, globally the eficit of 2013 is coming to an end. El Nino affects Asia, and Thailand is the main sugar producer, so sugar prices are likely to better going ahead,'' he explains.

10:35am Modi's likely cabinet
On the day of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony, all eyes are on his Cabinet. According to sources, BJP President Rajnath Singh will be the new Home Minister in Modi's cabinet. Arun Jaitley remains the frontrunner for Finance, while Arun Shourie is poised for the post of government advisor or deputy chairman of the Planning Commission.

BJP leader Sushma Swaraj is the frontrunner for the Ministry of External Affairs. Sources also suggest that Kalraj Mishra is likely to be included in the Cabinet as the HRD Minister while Nitin Gadkari is poised to take over a combination of important infrastructure ministries. Ravi Shankar Prasad is likely to be next Information and Broadcasting Minister and Nripendra Mishra will take over as the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, say sources.

10:25am Strides Arcolab falls 5%
Drug maker Strides Arcolab reported a net loss of Rs 48.26 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2014 as against profit of Rs 31.57 crore in same quarter last year.

Total income of the company increased to Rs 256.73 crore from Rs 178.36 crore during the same period.

10:15am Gold update
Gold continued to struggle below USD 1,300 an ounce on Monday after ending flat for two straight weeks, but the metal could gain from developments in Ukraine where pro-West billionaire Petro Poroshenko notched an emphatic win in the presidential election.

Poroshenko, a billionaire chocolate manufacturer, claimed the Ukrainian presidency on Sunday, taking on a fraught mission to quell pro-Russian rebels and steer his fragile nation closer to the West, reports Reuters.

10:10am FII View
Rakesh Arora, Macquarie says markets have been inching up with strong rotation happening from defensives to cyclical sectors.

''The rally is percolating to small and midcaps making it a very broad based one and consistent with a sustainable bull run. Buying at current levels is recommended,'' he adds.

10:00am Equity benchmarks continued to see hefty buying interest ahead of Narendra Modi's swearing in as prime minister today evening. Capital goods, power, metals & mining, auto and banks supported the market.

The Sensex rose 298.11 points or 1.21 percentto 24991.46 and the Nifty advanced 78.25 points or 1.06 percent to 7445.35. About 1600 shares have advanced, 545 shares declined, and 69 shares are unchanged.

Coal India and Maruti Suzuki topped the buying list, rising more than 4 percent followed by L&T, Tata Motors and NTPC with 3 percent. ONGC, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Steel climbed over 2 percent.

Top lenders State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank gained 1 percent each.

However, Reliance Industries, Dr Reddy's Labs, Hero Motocorp, Cipla and Hindustan Unilever fell marginally on profit-taking.

9:55 am Market check: Investors' appetite seems to be growing as the the Nifty up 83.05 points or 1.13 percent at 7450.15. The Sensex is up 311.11 points or 1.26 percent at 25004.46. About 1567 shares have advanced, 471 shares declined, and 66 shares are unchanged. Maruti is up 4 percent while Coal India, Tata Motors, NTPC and Tata Steel are other top gainers in the Sensex.

Among the laggards are Hero MotoCorp, Dr Reddy's Labs, HUL and Cipla.

9:50 am Buzzing: IRB is up 10 percent intraday. Citi says that the sharp outperformance over the past year does mean that a big valuation discrepancy has been corrected. It feels that stock performance should be driven by improving business fundamentals, rather than improving balance sheet. The brokerage has increased target price to Rs 216 from Rs 114 per share

9:40 am New FM? Debunking any rumour related to him being the next finance minister, BJP leader Arun Shourie, in an exclusive chat to CNBC-TV18's Shereen Bhan said there is no discussion regarding him heading the North Block, but believes PM-designate Narendra Modi may opt for a smaller Cabinet to govern the country successfully.

However, he believes circumstances may force the new government to take rational decisions. The former divestment minister says India requires a very strong government to handle the current fiscal mess. According to him, there is not much room for expenditure cut in the Union Budget except for the fuel subsidies. ''New government must be aggressive on diesel price hike,'' he adds.

9:30 am Market outlook: There are sky high expectations from investors on the back of policy announcements expected to come after Narendra Modi's swearing in today evening, says Ajay Bodke, head - investment strategy and advisory at Prabhudas Lilladher. He expects the market to remain on a positive trajectory until the Budget.

Bodke finds the ferocity of the recent rally in banks surprising. He prefers a mix of private sector and large public sector banks. He is positive on Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, YES Bank and ING Vysya Bank. He is also bullish on SBI.

He is also keeping an eye on companies such as Cholamandalam Finance.

From the capital goods space, he is looking at L&T and Crompton Greaves. He believes Motherson Sumi could be a multi-bagger. He is also bullish on Maruti Suzuki.

The market sees a spectacular opening as investors are building high hopes with Narendra Modi taking oath as new Prime Minister of India. The Nifty tested 7400, at up 61.65 points at 7428.75 and the Sensex is up 259.73 points at 24953.08. About 796 shares have advanced, 87 shares declined, and 29 shares are unchanged.

Sun Pharma is up 3 percent while infrastructure stocks are hogging limelight in early trade. NTPC, Tata Power, Coal India and L&T are other top gainers in the Sensex.

Indian rupee has opened higher at 58.44 a dollar, up 8 paise compared to Friday's closing value of 58.52 a dollar.Agam Gupta, StanChart Bank says upticks will see supply of dollars from FIIs and exporters. Nationalised banks will continue to buy dollars for RBI," he adds.He expects the rupee to trade in a range of 58.25-58.65/USD today.

Global cues, meanwhile, are mixed. US stocks gained for the third day on Friday, lifting the S&P 500 to a record finish. Asian equities are trading strong with the Bank of Japan minutes likely to be released today. European shares closed mixed on Friday, having wavered throughout the day, after weak German business morale figures capped any significant gains.

In other asset classes, the euro slipped, while the other major currencies got off to a steady start. In commodities, Brent Crude held steady near USD 110 per barrel, supported by conflicts in Libya and Ukraine as well as positive economic data in the world's top oil consumers.

From the precious metals space, gold prices trade lower, logging a modest weekly loss on Friday.