Sensex ends 341 points higher, Nifty above 11,000; SBI up 4%

3:30 pm Market at Close: After clocking fresh milestones, the market has closed at record highs. The Nifty managed to end above 11,000 for the first time ever.

The Sensex is up 341.97 points or 0.96% at 36139.98, while the Nifty is up 117.50 points or 1.07% at 11083.70. The market breadth, however, is narrow as 1374 shares advanced, 1541 shares declined, and 246 shares are unchanged.

State Bank of India, Tata Steel, Vedanta and Hindalco were the top gainers, while Wipro, Tata Motors, Ambuja Cements and Eicher Motors lost the most.

3:00 pm Digital projects: IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said today that India with its software prowess as well as expertise in large digital projects and the ASEAN nations, which lead in hardware, should explore ways to "supplement" and "complement" each other.

He also said that India and ASEAN members are negotiating the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement which may be firmed up by the year-end.

The 16-member RCEP comprises 10 ASEAN members (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam) and their 6 FTA partners - India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

2:45 pm ONGC nod: State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has got approval from the government for selling its stake in IOC and GAIL to help fund the Rs 36,915 crore acquisition of HPCL.

ONGC holds 13.77 per cent stake in nation's biggest refiner Indian Oil Corp (IOC), which at today's trading price is worth over Rs 26,200 crore. It also holds 4.86 per cent stake in gas utility GAIL India Ltd, which is worth over Rs 3,847 crore.

Top sources with direct knowledge of the issue said the government gave ONGC nod to sell its shareholding in IOC and GAIL earlier this month but the company is waiting for the right price to offload the shares.

2:25 pm Raghuram Rajan speaks: Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan today said the Western world must realise they cannot go a long way without the help of the emerging economies and warned that no one would be able to resolve any problem of a 'fractured world' if things are not set right soon.

Without naming any country, he said the West must realise that their population is ageing and the demand for their products would mostly come from the emerging world.

Speaking here at a session of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting, Rajan said there is a risk that by the time the West goes to the emerging world for their support, they may have to answer quite a few questions about why they did not share the benefits earlier.

2:10 pm Buzzing Stock: Shares of Rane Madras locked at 20 percent upper circuit, hitting 52-week high of Rs 863.45 on the back three fold rise in its December quarter net profit.

There were pending buy orders of 21,613 shares, with no sellers available.

The company's Q3 (Oct-Dec) net profit has increased by 317 percent at Rs 14.2 crore against Rs 3.4 crore in a year ago period.

1:55 pm European markets: European markets opened higher on Tuesday morning, after U.S. lawmakers secured a deal that allowed government operations to get back into action.

The pan-European STOXX 600 rose 0.3 percent at the beginning of trade, while sectors were mostly trading in the black.

1:35 pm IPO news: Defence PSU Bharat Dynamics Ltd has filed draft papers with capital markets regulator Sebi to float an initial public offer.

This is the fourth PSU that has approached Sebi for IPO in less than one month. The other three are - Mishra Dhatu Nigam Ltd, RITES Ltd and Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA).

Going by the draft papers, Bharat Dynamics's IPO will see sale of equity shares by the government and the public issue will help the company in achieving the benefits of listing.

1:15 pm MF news: Shriram Mutual Fund has revised classification of Shriram Equity and Debt Opportunities Fund according to new guidelines issued by the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the fund house said in a newspaper notice.

Come Feb 23, the scheme will be categorised as an aggressive hybrid fund, as against its current category of an open-ended equity-oriented fund.

To bring uniformity, standardise scheme categories and enable ease of investment to investors, the regulator, on Oct 6 had mandated fund houses to categorise all their existing and future schemes into five broad categories and 36 sub-categories.

12:59 pm Asian Paints falls: Shares of Asian Paints fell around 2 percent intraday on Tuesday as investors could have reacted negatively to the company's revenue figures.

The company reported a 15.92 percent increase in its consolidated net profit at Rs 567.21 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2017.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 489.31 crore during the same period of the previous fiscal, Asian Paints said in a regulatory filing.

Total income during the quarter under review stood at Rs 4,317.15 crore as against Rs 4,315.31 crore in the October-December period last fiscal.

12:35 pm Market Check: Bulls are on a rampage on D-Street. After clocking fresh milestones in the morning, benchmark indices have extended their gains. The Sensex is up over 300 points, while the Nifty is nearing 11,100. The strengthening of the market has come in on the back of buying momentum across the board.

All sectoral indices are trading higher, led by metals, PSU banks, pharmaceuticals and IT. Midcaps, too, are outperforming the benchmarks. Around 140 stocks have hit fresh 52-week highs today.

Tata Steel, Vedanta, Coal India and Hindalco are the top gainers on both indices, while Wipro, Eicher Motors, Zee Entertainment and Asian Paints lost the most.

12:20 pm Buzzing Stock: Shares of Havells India touched 52-week high of Rs 584.20, gaining nearly 6 percent intraday Tuesday on robust third quarter numbers.

The company's standalone December quarter net profit was up 27 percent at Rs 194.4 crore against Rs 153 crore in same quarter last year.

The revenue was up 30.5 percent at Rs 1,965.8 crore against Rs 1,506 crore.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 37.4 percent at Rs 262.3 crore and EBITDA margin was up at 13.3 percent.

12:00 pm Management Speak: The steel industry will benefit if the government invests more on infrastructure which will lead to an increase in the demand for steel, Tata Steel Global CEO and managing director T N Narendran has said.

Narendran also hoped that in the forthcoming Union budget the government would spend more on infrastructure.

"If you invest in infrastructure, the demand for steel goes up. You cannot build infrastructure without steel," he said.

11:40 am Hester Bio surges: Shares of Hester Biosciences surged 12 percent intraday Tuesday on the back of strong Q3 numbers,

The company's Q3 (Oct-Dec) net profit rose 11.7 percent at Rs 6.5 crore against Rs 5.8 crore in the year ago period.

The company's revenue was up 6.1 percent at Rs 27.1 crore versus Rs 25.5 crore.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased 33.6 percent at Rs 7.7 crore and EBITDA margin was up 590 bps at 28.5 percent.

11:25 am Bajaj Corp gains: Shares of Bajaj Corp gained 3.6 percent intraday Tuesday on the back of launching new product.

The company has launched new product Bajaj Coco Jasmine Hair oil in the domestic market on January 22.

The product has been launched under the hair care segment.

The share touched its 52-week high Rs 525 and 52-week low Rs 342.50 on 11 January, 2018 and 30 May, 2017, respectively.

11:05 am Davos report: Chief executives are more optimistic about the economic outlook than they have been for many years although anxieties are rising about geopolitics, cyber threats and terrorism, a survey showed on the eve of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.

The PwC survey of nearly 1,300 CEOs found that 57 percent expect global growth to improve in 2018, almost twice the level of last year and the largest increase since the survey began in 2012.

The optimism was especially strong in the United States after a year of robust growth, deregulation and tax cuts under President Donald Trump.

10:45 am Bitcoin crackdown: South Korea will ban the use of anonymous bank accounts in cryptocurrency trading from Jan. 30, regulators said on Tuesday in a widely telegraphed move designed to stop virtual coins from being used for money laundering and other crimes.

The measure comes on top of stepped up efforts by Seoul to temper South Koreans' obsession with cryptocurrencies. Everyone from housewives to college students and office workers have rushed to trade the market despite warnings from global policymakers about investing in an asset that lacks broad regulatory oversight.

The bitcoin price in South Korea extended loss following the latest regulatory announcement, down 3.34 percent at $12,699 as of 0409 GMT, according to Bithumb, the country's second-largest virtual currency exchange.

10:20 am Staff strength: Bharti Airtel will be absorbing around two-third employees of Telenor India and Tata Teleservices' consumer mobility business after merger with both companies, according to a report by The Economic Times.

The report adds that the Sunil Mittal-led telecom company may post about 15 percent of the employees from the two telcos overseas, including Africa.

An Airtel spokesperson told the newspaper: "It is inevitable in a post-merger scenario that all employees will not find meaningful roles and accordingly, will be provided complete support to deal with such an outcome. An exercise is under way to map the employee pool to the post-merger requirements."

10:05 am Market Check: After hitting fresh milestones in the opening minutes, the market has extended its gains. The Sensex is up over 200 points, while the Nifty is comfortably holding 11,000 for the first time.

The Sensex is up 240.00 points or 0.67% at 36038.01, while the Nifty is up 75.30 points or 0.69% at 11041.50. The market breadth is positive as 1432 shares advanced, against a decline of 744 shares, while 190 shares are unchanged.

9:51 am Buzzing stock: Shares of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) rose more than 4 percent in the early trade on Tuesday as board to consider bonus on January 30.

A meeting of board of directors is scheduled on January 30 to consider and approve the unaudited financial results of the company for the quarter ended December 31, 2017.

The board may also consider declaration of interim dividend for the financial year 2017-18 and issue of bonus shares in the said meeting.

9:40 am Axis Bank surges: Shares of Axis Bank gained 2 percent intraday on Tuesday as investors cheered the bank's December quarter financial performance.

The bank's earnings beat analyst expectations, with improvement in asset quality performance.

Profit during the quarter grew by 25.3 percent year-on-year to Rs 726.4 crore despite fall in other income & operating income, driven by lower provisions and higher net interest income.

Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest expended, grew by 9.2 percent to Rs 4,731.52 crore compared to Rs 4,333.73 crore in year-ago, with strong loan growth at 21 percent YoY.

9:30 am Sensex hits 36,000: The Sensex has now hit the psychological mark of 36,000 for the first time ever. The index is currently trading over 200 points higher. The index had hit 35,000 just last week.

9:27 am Buzzing stock: Shares of Kalpataru Power Transmission added 11 percent in the early trade on Tuesday as company received orders worth Rs 871 crore.

The company secured new orders/ notification of award of Rs 871 crore, which includes orders worth Rs 282 crore for design, supply and construction of substations and associated transmission line work from APTRANSCO.

9:15 am Market opens: Shares began the day on another strong note, with the Nifty hitting a fresh milestone of 11,000 in the first few minutes of trade. The Sensex gained over 100 points.

At 09:16 hrs IST, the Sensex is up 134.91 points or 0.38% at 35932.92, and the Nifty up 43.00 points or 0.39% at 11009.20. The market breadth was positive as 523 shares advanced, against a decline of 246 shares, while 152 shares are unchanged.

Axis Bank gained around 2 percent on the back of its December quarter performance.

BHEL, Coal India, IOC and Yes Bank gained the most, while Hero MotoCorp, Asian Paints, HUL, and Zee Entertainment were the top losers.

The Indian rupee opened lower at 63.90 per dollar on Tuesday versus previous close 63.87.

Bhaskar Panda of HDFC Bank said, "Any rally around or move above 64 is meeting with customer selling. For today, expect a range of 63.70-63.90 to hold."

"The yields of the Indian benchmark is trying to find a base just above 7.40 percent. Expect today's range between 7.44-7.48 percent, "he added.
Among global markets, Asian stocks advanced after US senators struck a deal to end a three-day government shutdown, sending Wall Street's main indexes to record highs and keeping the dollar well supported.

US lawmakers passed a short-term measure on Monday to fund the federal government through February 8.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2 percent to a fresh record peak.

Meanwhile, US stocks advanced as each of Wall Street's main indexes touched a record intraday level after US senators struck a deal to end the federal government shutdown.

US senators voted to move forward on legislation that would reopen the federal government until February 8. Funding legislation cleared a procedural hurdle in the Senate and was expected to pass a full Senate vote promptly, allowing government to re-open.

"The only way politics affects what the market does is if they end of having a negative impact on the economy and corporate earnings and so far that hasn't been the case," said Michael Arone, Chief Investment Strategist at State Street Global Advisors in Boston.