Record high: Nifty at 7725, Sensex up 325points on Budget hope

03:45 pm Market outlook
India is in the middle of a big bull market, is the word coming in from Samir Arora of Helios Capital. He says investors should bet on Modi and unless corruption or some other such issue derails the government, which will be disappointing, people should rejoice. He is unwilling to sell just because the market has rallied 20 percent.

Though, according to him, it is time for the government to look at bigger things – focus on addressing key, big issues such as retrospective tax amendment, which he says is more important than excise duty cuts. He adds there is no point in extending low excise duty to auto sector now.

Arora says a fiscal deficit target of 4.1 percent is not achievable at all. He adds that 4.4-4.5 percent is more realistic. He expects the market to become more balanced post the Budget.

03:35 Market closing
Budget hopes and firm global cues boosted market sentiments as benchmark indices see record closing high. The Nifty ended above 7700, for first time ever, at 7725.15, up 90.45 points or 1.18 percent. The Sensex closed at 25841.21, up 324.86 or 1.27 percent.

Sesa Sterlite was the biggest gainer of the day, pocketing 4 percent profit. NTPC, BHEL and HDFC were up 3 percent each while Coal India rose 2 percent. On the losing side were GAIL and Infosys.

03:20 pm Fund raising
Infrastructure firm NCC has sought market regulator Sebi's clearance to raise up to Rs 600 crore through a rights issue.

NCC would issue equity shares for an aggregate amount "not exceeding" Rs 600 crore to existing shareholders, says a draft letter filed by the company with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

In a rights issue, shares are issued to existing investors as per their holding at a pre-determined price and ratio.

The Hyderabad-based firm would use the proceeds from the issue towards repayment/pre-payment of certain loans availed by it and for general corporate purposes.

ICICI Securities and SBI Capital Markets are lead managers to the issue while Karvy Computershare would act as the registrar to the issue.

03:10 Monsoon
Monsoon rains have revived in central and northern parts of India known for soybean and sugarcane cultivation, a government official, but warned the country is still expected to have below-average monsoon this year.

Rainfall in July and August is likely to be better than in June, the first month of the four-month monsoon season when the precipitation was 43 percent below average across India, said Shailesh Nayak, the top bureaucrat in the Earth Sciences Ministry. One of the world's biggest producers and consumers of rice, corn, cooking oil, sugar and cotton, India relies heavily on the annual monsoon rains as nearly half of its farmland is rainfed.

03:00pm Moil in News
State-run Moil says in line with company's business practice of quarterly revising the prices of manganese ore, it has fixed price of various grades of manganese ore for the quarter July-September, 2014.

"The prices of all ferro grades of ore have been reduced by 10 percent on the pervious quarter price. The existing prices of all SM grades and chemical grades of ore have been maintained. The prices of manganese ore fines have been increased by 7.5 percent on the previous quarter prices while the existing price of electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD), are reduced by 5 percent," it elaborates.

02:50pm BoAML on Aurobindo Pharma
Bank of America Merrill Lynch raises its target price for Aurobindo Pharma to Rs 880 (Rs 740 earlier) to factor in the 1-3 percent increase in its FY15/16E EPS (6/7 percent ahead of street) and new target P/E of 15x (14x earlier), due to improving profitability/return ratios and a marked reduction in leverage.

"The recovery that began in FY13 and gained momentum in FY14 has helped to address many factors, such as anemic growth, below-par margins/RoCE, and an over-leveraged balance sheet, that were a drag on valuations," says the report. The brokerage house maintains buy on the stock.

02:40pm Mphasis gains 7%
A media report suggested that promoter company Hewlett-Packard (HP) has hired UBS to manage stake sale in Mphasis

"Infotech companies and private equity players have shown interest in buying Hewlett-Packard's stake in Mphasis. Prominent among these are Japanese technology companies NEC and Fujitsu," says the report.

HP, which holds 60.49 percent stake, is the largest client of the company and contributes 40 percent of its revenues. The US-headquartered technology major's stake in Mphasis is valued at more than Rs 5,000 crore at current market price.

02:30pm Citigroup on Apollo Hospitals
Shares of Apollo Hospitals Enterprises gain as much as 3.4 percent after Citigroup raises its price target for the company to Rs 1,140 from Rs 960, with a 'buy' rating on the stock.

Citi said in a note that aggressive ramp-up has resulted in lower margin for FY14 and that it expects a pick-up in growth from FY15 as a result of the move.

"We believe Apollo looks well set to achieve over 20 percent topline growth and 80-100bps EBIDTA margin expansion every year over the next few years," it said.

Apollo has funded over 70 percent of its capex internally over the last three years, up from 21 percent in FY08. Citi said net debt/equity seems comfortable and that this greater comfort on funding has allowed the company to shift a gear up and step up investment for longer-term growth, reports Reuters.

02:20pm Interview
Sidhant Gupta, director,  Kwality Dairy believes the market is taking note of the company's good results and hence the stock has risen 90 percent year-to-date (YTD).

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Gupta says FY15 is poised to be a better year vis a vis FY14.

''We are expecting better revenues and also good profitability owing to changes in the product mix,'' adds Gupta

02:10pm Market Expert
Deven Choksey, MD of KR Choksey Securities says technically the market is poised to cross the limit of 7700 and it could possibly go in the territory of 7950-8000 levels. "Whether it happens before the Budget or it happens after the Budget is difficult to predict immediately but readings says that technically, market is poised for going above 7900 levels, it looks little bit more clear now," he adds.

According to him, the macro factors are probably easing out. "I wouldn't say that the situation is completely under control but the rain factor has started giving some better hopes in the month of July, so obviously, it is going to be a positive that one can add into the entire analysis," he says.

02:00pm Bulls are on fire today with the benchmark indices hitting fresh record highs ahead of Budget (on July 10) and first quarter earnings season. The Sensex climbed 290.11 points or 1.14 percent to 25806.46 and the Nifty rose 80.60 points or 1.06 percent to 7715.30.

About 1836 shares have advanced, 1113 shares declined, and 107 shares are unchanged.

Top car maker Maruti Suzuki extended gains to 3 percent, in addition to 6 percent rally in previous session post strong sales numbers in June.

UBS says Maruti remains its top pick in the large cap auto space. "With five new launches over CY15-16, we see Maruti as well placed to capture this growth. Maruti will launch a diesel engine option for entry-level hatchbacks in FY17, which could drive strong growth for the segment," says the report.

Mahindra and Mahindra rose over 2 percent, in addition to 4 percent gains in earlier session as its tractor sales showed growth on month-on-month basis. Total domestic sales of its two-wheelers shot up to 14,389 units versus 7,849 units (Y-o-Y).

Shares of HDFC Bank, L&T, HDFC, Reliance Industries, ITC, ICICI Bank, Sesa Sterlite, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, SBI, NTPC, Hero Motocorp and Bharti Airtel gained 1-3.5 percent while GAIL and Infosys fell marginally.

2:00 pm Oil: State-refiners have taken the unusual step of importing gasoline as maintenance outages at some plants have created shortages of refined products in a number of regions, industry sources said, reports Reuters.

Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) and Indian Oil Corp (IOC) have so far bought a total of around 65,000 tonnes of gasoline for prompt July delivery through tenders. The pair aim to import at least another 100,000 tonnes for July to August delivery.

India is generally self-sufficient in gasoline, but is sometimes forced to import additional due to refinery outages and increased demand over summer.

HPCL has bought 35,000 tonnes gasoline from Gunvor for July 15-19 deliveries, a source familiar with the matter said.

1:50 pm IPO plans: IndiGo is likely to be the latest entrant in the listed aviation companies' category, quote sources. India's largest airline by market share has started appointing investment bankers to facilitate the initial public offer (IPO) proceedings.

The airline, promoted by InterGlobe Enterprises, is looking at a Q3FY15 for the company going public. Sources says Axis, JM Financial, Deutsche Bank, Citi, UBS and Morgan Stanley are pitching for carrying out the listing procedure.

1:40 pm Interview: Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Bajaj Auto Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj said the company's market share in the motorcycle segment has been stable at 18-19 percent for the last few months. On market share trends, Bajaj said Honda has been increasing its presence at the expense of Hero and Bajaj.

He said the Pulsar segment (sports bike) saw a double digit growth in June. Bajaj is aiming for a similar growth rate in both its domestic and export markets.

The company is planning to launch an upgraded version of Discover next month. In an interview last month, Bajaj had said that pushing sales of Discover continued to be a challenge. Bajaj is pinning its hopes on Discover to recoup its market share in the motorcycle segment.

1:30 pm Buzzing: Shares of Tata Steel jumped around 2 percent intraday as it is planning to restructure UK strip products business to improve competitiveness.

The proposed changes would enable the UK strip products business to compete in Europe's lower market demand era by reducing costs equivalent to the loss of about 400 jobs in Port Talbot, the company said.

The company said that it has invested more than £250 million over the last two years in state in the strip products business and are currently investing in Hot Strip Mill in Port Talbot, also upgraded galvanising line in Llanwern to increase production of high value automotive steels.

1:20 pm Market outlook: A likely drought and geopolitical tensions in Iraq and Ukraine are the key threats to the ongoing rally in Indian equities, feels Punita Kumar Sinha, Managing Partner Pacific Paradigm Advisors. In an interview to CNBC-TV18 she said the renewed upswing in the market in the last few days is in line with global trends.

''I don't think the rally in India has to do with pre-Budget expectations only. I definitely believe India has some specific factors, but one cannot ignore global developments,'' she said. Sinha feels India is vulnerable to a disappointment because valuations are overly optimistic.

Bulls are in total control of Dalal Street as both the Sensex and Nifty scale new highs on firm global cues and ahead of Budget. The Sensex is up 293.31 points or 1.15 percent at 25809.66 and the Nifty is up 84.25 points or 1.10 percent at 7718.95.

About 1831 shares have advanced, 1069 shares declined, and 99 shares are unchanged. Sesa Sterlite, Maruti, NTPC, Coal India and Cipla are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Infosys and GAIL.

Asian markets gain on upbeat US manufacturing data which hit a four year high. Nikkei extends gains, rising to a new one-week closing high. European markets open mixed as investors look ahead to US jobs numbers.

Drought fears loom large as monsoon in June is the third driest on record with a deficiency of 43 percent. However, the met department tells CNBC-TV18 that monsoon is likely to advance over most parts of country by mid-July and is too early to call 2014 a drought year.

01:00pm Indigo's IPO
The latest entrant in the listed aviation companies' category is likely to be IndiGo, quote sources.

India's largest airline by market share has started appointing investment bankers to facilitate the initial public offer (IPO) proceedings.

The airline, promoted by InterGlobe Enterprises, is looking at a Q3FY15 for the company going public. Sources says Axis, JM Financial, Deutsche Bank, Citi, UBS and Morgan Stanley are pitching for carrying out the listing procedure.

12:50pm Hindustan Zinc divestment
Hindustan Zinc gained nearly 3 percent as the government has started undertaking valuation and assessment of fair share value of the company. As it plans to divest its 29.5 percent stake in the company, it has shortlisted IFCI, SPA Capital, RBSA Valuation Advisers and Resurgent India to value that stake.

12:45pm Rupee gains past 60 per dollar
The Indian rupee hit more than two-week high today, gaining past 60 a dollar. It appreciated by 18 paise to 59.89 a dollar compared to previous day's closing value

12:40pm Mphasis rises 7%
Media reports suggested that parent company Hewlett-Packard has hired UBS to manage stake sale in IT firm Mphasis. HP holds 60.49 percent stake in company.

PE players and global IT companies have shown interest in stake buy, says the report.

At current market price, HP's stake is valued at more than Rs 5,300 crore. HP is the largest client and contributes 40 percent of Mphasis' revenues.

12:30pm Barclays' budget expectations
Market expectations from the upcoming Budget are high, as the  government looks to have made all the right noises in the run-up to it, feels brokerage house Barclays.

The government is likely to focus on four themes in the Budget, says the Barclays note to clients. These are 1) long-term improvement in fiscal position; 2) improving the investment climate in the country; 3) controlling inflation; and 4) tax reforms.

And yet, these may not really fire up the market.

''Although these measures should be positive medium term, a sharp run-up in stock prices and a lack of near-term earnings triggers could keep the equity markets range-bound in 2H14 (July-December),'' says the Barclays note.

12:20pm Hotel Leelaventure in News
CDR Empowered Group has approved the exit of Hotel Leelaventure from CDR.

The company says the lenders had restructured its debts under the corporate debt restructuring mechanism effective from January 2012. "The total debt of the company as on June 30, 2014 was about Rs 5000 crore, of which about Rs 4000 crore was from CDR lenders," it adds.

State Bank of India informed the company that out of 17 CDR lenders, 14 lenders with exposure of about 97 percent of the total CDR debt have assigned the debt in favour of JM Financial Asset Reconstruction Company Private Limited on June 30, 2014.

12:10pm Exide Industries gains 3%
Barclays raised its target price on Exide Industries to Rs 177 from Rs 133 earliers.

The broader house says the stock price has underperformed peers owing to concerns about volume growth (across both auto and industrial) along with price cuts, which have curbed the profitability of the firm.

It expects operations for Exide to improve on the back of inverter batteries experiences a healthy pick-up due to a prolonged summer season; improvement in auto demand (especially commercial vehicles) is expected to fuel a replacement cycle in FY16; and pricing premium versus Amara Raja has lowered to 5-8 percent (versus 10 percent earlier) indicating limited headroom for a further drop.

Barclays raised FY15/16 expected earnings per share by 5 percent and 13 percent, respectively.

12:00pm Benchmark as well as broader indices remained strong in noon trade. The Sensex climbed 234.06 points or 0.92 percent to 25750.41 and the Nifty advanced 63.60 points or 0.83 percent to 7698.30.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained nearly a percent as advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of 1703 to 1003 on the BSE.

Banks and capital goods stocks drove the market to its new high. Shares of HDFC Bank, HDFC, ICICI Bank and State Bank of India gained 1-1.7 percent. Index heavyweights Reliance Industries and Larsen & Toubro advanced 1.3 percent each.

Sun Pharma, Hero Motocorp, Coal India, Maruti Suzuki, NTPC and BHEL extended gains today, up 1-2 percent. Sesa Sterlite maintained its top position in the buying list, up 3 percent after JP Morgan continued to remain overweight and increased target price on the stock to Rs 350 from Rs 265 earlier.

However, Infosys, Hindalco Industries and Tata Motors underperformed, falling 0.2 percent on profit-taking.

Adani group stocks saw buying interest ahead of NDA government's first Budget (on July 10). Adani Enterprises surged nearly 6 percent, Adani Power jumped 3 percent and Adani Ports spiked 10 percent.

11:55 am Market chcek: The Sensex is up 226.22 points at 25742.57 and the Nifty is up 62.50 points at 7697.20. About 1691 shares have advanced, 989 shares declined, and 100 shares are unchanged.

Sesa Sterlite are up 3 percent while Coal India, Cipla, BHEL and HDFC are top gainers in the Sensex. Infosys, Tata Motors, Hindalco and GAIla re major losers.

11:50 am FII view: Market expectations from the upcoming Budget are high, as the  government looks to have made all the right noises in the run-up to it, feels brokerage house Barclays.

The government is likely to focus on four themes in the Budget, says the Barclays note to clients. These are 1) long-term improvement in fiscal position; 2) improving the investment climate in the country; 3) controlling inflation; and 4) tax reforms.

And yet, these may not really fire up the market. Barclays is advising its clients to follow a stock specific approach, and its top three picks are Axis Bank, Coal India and TCS.

11:40 am Buzzing: Shares of Tata Motors falls over 1 percent intraday as its June sales were disappointing. The auto manufacturer's total sales (including exports) fell 27 percent year-on-year to 38,557 vehicles in June.

The company's domestic sales of Tata commercial and passenger vehicles for June 2014 were 34,743 units, a 29 percent decline over 48,716 units sold in June last year. 

The company's sales of commercial vehicles in June 2014 in the domestic market were 26,832 units, a 27 percent decline compared to 36,912 vehicles sold in June last year. LCV sales were 17,212 units, a decline of 33 percent over June last year, while M&HCV sales stood at 9,620 units, down 14 percent over June last year.

11:30 am Houseview: Brokerage house Kotak Securities has upgraded its rating on United Spirits to buy, and raised target price to Rs 3000 per share, from Rs 2700 earlier.

''Now that elections are over, price increases would start coming through in 1HFY15; should help margins in 2HFY15,'' said the Kotak note to clients.

The brokerage sees even smaller liquor players having to move up the value chain as raw material price inflation and inability to increase prices sufficiently in the last year have squeezed profitability in low-price brands.

11:20 am Economic outlook: With barely eight days to go before Union Budget 2014 is announced, finance minister Arun Jaitley sent out strong signal that the country needs to practice fiscal prudence.

Welcoming Jaitley's intentions, Ambit Capital's Ritika Mukherjee told CNBC-TV18 that the government is moving in the right track. She said inflation concerns will remain which will constrain tweaking of direct taxes. the previous government's projection of 4.1 percent fiscal deficit is irrational as it was based on absurd assumption that tax revenue growth in FY15 will be 19 percent.

"We see it at 15 percent," she said. She says the government could look to cut back on revenue expenditure and hopes it aggressivly pushes through the divestment process.

Budget hopes fuels market rally as both benchmark indices hit record high in morning trade today. The Sensex is up 231.47 points or 0.91 percent at 25747.82 and the Nifty is up 61.65 points or 0.81 percent at 7696.35.

About 1613 shares have advanced, 821 shares declined, and 101 shares are unchanged.

Sesa Strelite, Coal India, L&T, HDFC and Sun Pharma are top gainers in the Sensex. Infosys, Tata Motors, Hindalco and TCS are major laggards.

Gilts are sharply higher as FM's comments raise hope of a fiscally prudent Budget.

Asian stocks rose in their early trade after reports showing manufacturing expansion in US, the world's biggest economy, sent American stocks to record-highs. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, China, Japan and Taiwan rose 0.13-1.14 percent.

11:00am IFCI on buyers' radar
IFCI has acquired 49 percent equity shareholding in Rajasthan Consultancy Organization (RAJCON), an unlisted company, from one of its associate companies viz. HARDICON.

As a result of the above said purchase of equity shares, IFCI's shareholding in RAJCON shall become 49 percent of the total paid-up equity capital and RAJCON shall become an associate company of IFCI, says the company in its filing.

10:50am Castrol India hits 52-week high
Castrol is exploring options to delist its India subsidiary Castrol India, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting unnamed sources, adding it is likely to seek delisting by year-end.

It is learnt that Castrol is in talks to appoint bankers to formulate delisting.

Promoter holds 71 percent in Castrol India and needs to make offer for 19 percent stake to get delisted. At current market price of Rs 359, a 19 percent stake is valued at Rs 3,100 crore.

10:40am A2Z Maintenance in news
"A2Z Maintenance secured orders worth approximately Rs 2,400 crore for EPC work against advance purchase order received by Sterlite Technologies and ITI. These orders are for end to end deployment including design, engineering, implementation and maintenance of parts of network for spectrum project - optical fibre network in the state of Jammu & Kashmir and eastern & north-east part of India for optical fibre network for defence services," says the company in its filing.

In addition to the above, further annual maintenance contract orders worth approximately Rs 900 crore will also be release, aggregating total value of orders to approximately Rs 3,300 crore, it adds.

10:30am L&T Construction bags orders
L&T Construction, the brand of Larsen and Toubro, has bagged orders worth Rs 2,002 crore in June. Out of which, Rs 1,547 crore order in heavy civil infrastructure business is from Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation for design and construction of cable stayed bridge across river Mandovi at Panji. Other order worth Rs 392 crore is in power transmission segment.

10:20am Interview
Bajaj Auto 's June sales declined 13 percent to 3.05 lakh units over the previous month, as motorcycle sales fell 16.3 percent. The company sold 2.62 lakh motorcycles in June, compared to 3.13 lakh in May.

The company's three wheeler sales rose around 13 percent to 43263 units month-on-month, but were not enough to offset the weakness in motorcycle sales.

The downtrend was seen in overall exports as well, with the company selling 1.35 lakh units (motorcycles and three-wheelers) compared to 1.56 lakh units in May.

Year-on-year, total sales, as well as those of motorcycles, were up 3 percent each.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Bajaj Auto Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj said the company's market share in the motorcycle segment has been stable at 18-19 percent for the last few months. On market share trends, Bajaj said Honda has been increasing its presence at the expense of Hero and Bajaj.

He said the Pulsar segment (sports bike) saw a double digit growth in June. Bajaj is aiming for a similar growth rate in both its domestic and export markets.

10:10am FII View
A likely drought and geopolitical tensions in Iraq and Ukraine are the key threats to the ongoing rally in Indian equities, feels Punita Kumar Sinha, Managing Partner Pacific Paradigm Advisors. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, she said the renewed upswing in the market in the last few days is in line with global trends.

''I don't think the rally in India has to do with pre-Budget expectations only. I definitely believe India has some specific factors, but one cannot ignore global developments,'' she said.

A disappointing Budget could be one of the factors that may trigger a correction, Sinha feels, but adds that it would have only a short term impact. The bigger concerns were the possibility of a drought because of weak monsoons, and crude oil prices surging because of continuing violence in Iraq.

10:00am Equity benchmarks hit record highs with the Sensex rising 250.35 points or 0.98 percent to 25766.70 and the Nifty gaining 70.95 points or 0.93 percent to 7705.65. The broader markets too gained further with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices surging 1 percent each.

About 1604 shares have advanced, 600 shares declined, and 78 shares are unchanged.
 
Sesa Sterlite topped the buying list, rising 3 percent after JP Morgan continued to remain overweight and increased target price on the stock to Rs 350 from Rs 265 earlier. The brokerage house also raised FY16 earnings per share estimate by 7 percent as it believes the company has the potential for further corporate re-structuring which could drive re-rating. It also expects volume growth in power and aluminum businesses of the company.

Shares of HDFC, ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro, State Bank of India, Sun Pharma, Coal India, Bajaj Auto, Tata Steel and NTPC gained 1-1.7 percent.

9:55 am Buzzing: Shares of Tata Motors fell over 1 percent intraday on its dismal June sales number. Its total sales (including exports) of commercial and passenger vehicles in June 2014 were 38,557 vehicles, a 27 percent fall over the 52,712 vehicles sold in June 2013.

The company's domestic sales of commercial and passenger vehicles for June 2014 were 34,743 units, a 29 per cent decline over the 48,716 vehicles sold in June last year.

Cumulative sales (including exports) for the company for the fiscal were 1,09,974 units, lower by 28 per cent over the 1,53,195 vehicles sold last year.

9:45 am FM's Budget pitch: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has made a massive pitch for fiscal prudence. Speaking at an event organized by the chartered accountants association Jaitley sai that populism does not win votes anymore. Stressing on the need for fiscal consolidation, the FM said some tough decisions now will ensure faster recovery of the economy.

Jaitley also warned that Iraq and the drought threat may throw revival plans off track. However, he remains optimistic that foreign investors now have a renewed interest in India and the current crisis may also provide us with opportunities.

9:35 am Monsoon update: S Pai, Director (Long-Range Forecasting Division) at The India Meteorological Department expects monsoons to advance over most parts of India by middle of July. He maintains a long-range forecast of 93 percent.

India's monsoon rainfall was 43 percent below average in June, the weather office said on Monday, the weakest first month of the season in five years. Rains were 34 percent above average a year earlier, as the monsoon arrived on the normal date of June 1 and covered half the country by mid-June, two days ahead of schedule.

This year, the monsoon covered half of the country four days behind schedule following a late onset over the southern Kerala coast. IMD says it is too early to call 2014 a drought year, expecting to see better rainfall in July and August.

9:25 am FII view: Neelkanth Mishra, Credit Suisse says MSCI India P/E re-rating started in June 2012 and should continue as rising global risk appetite and growth bottoming in India help. ''However, as election-related euphoria dissipates in a few months, PSUs, midcaps, and over-leveraged companies should correct,'' he adds.

He further says the brokerage also stays cautious on steel, and believes slower-than-expected impact of reforms on earnings is likely to hurt financials and industrials going forward. ''Buy Shriram Transport, Axis Bank, Maruti, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, ITC while sell Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, Bank of India,'' he adds.

The market sees a stellar opening with the Sensex hitting all-time high of 25732.87 as just eight days are left for the Budget. Positive global sentiment and pre-Budget optimism fuels the upmove. Finance Minister makes a strong pitch for fiscal prudence. He says voters have rejected mindless populism and fiscal prudence is the need of the hour.

The Sensex is up 181.94 points or 0.7 percent at 25698.29 and the Nifty is up 51.50 points or 0.7 percent at 7686.20. About 819 shares have advanced, 88 shares declined, and 27 shares are unchanged.

Infra, metals and banking stocks are rallying. Sesa Sterlite, Hindalco, Tata Steel,  L&T and HDFC are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the loser is Tata Motors.

The Indian rupee opened flat at 60.06 per dollar versus 60.07 Tuesday. The dollar index inched up to 79.82 mark from a two-month low while against the yen, the greenback edged up to 101.54 from Tuesday's low.

Himanshu Arora of Religare said that, ''USD-INR pair is expected to trade lower today as dollar inflows into the country may continue supporting the rupee. Also long list of expectations from Union Budget may keep rupee underpinned. Along with that, weak trend in the dollar index may keep dollar under pressure against a stronger rupee. Range for the day is seen between 59.88-60.25/dollar,'' he added.

It's a global risk rally as manufacturing data across major economies signals an expansion in activity. S&P 500 rallied to an all-time high marching towards the 2000-mark while Dow is within kissing distance of 17000.

In Asia, Nikkei rose to five-month high. Sentiment got a boost after May wage data showed salaries rose for the first time in more than two years, up 0.2 percent in a sign that Prime Minister Abe's stimulus policies are gaining traction. South Korean stocks opened above the key 2,000 level.

European shares closed higher. Manufacturing activity in the euro zone slid to a seven-month low in June. But the euro zone's unemployment rate, meanwhile, held steady in May, at 11.6 percent.

Brent crude prices edge lower towards USD 112 per barrel, its lowest since June 11 as US stockpiles fell less-than-expected. From precious metals space, gold is trading close to a three-month peak boosted by a second straight day of inflows into the top bullion-backed fund, while platinum held sharp overnight gains to trade at a near 10-month high on supply worries.