Sensex sets another record closing high, Nifty above 6500

It was another session of record closing high for the market on Friday. Pre-election rally and consistent flow of foreign money drove the 50-share NSE Nifty above 6500-mark and the 30-share BSE Sensex near 22000 level.

Interest rate sensitives and commodity stocks helped the Sensex close at 21919.79, up 405.92 points or 1.89 percent after hitting a peak of 21960.89. The Nifty touched an intraday all-time high of 6,537.80, before closing at 6526.65, 125.50 points or 1.96 percent.

As the market building up momentum ahead of general elections after announcement of polls dates, experts started forecasting benchmarks levels saying 6700-mark on the Nifty can't be ruled out before elections and then 7000 by end of 2014. The market has the tendency of building longs months ahead of the elections, Deven Choksey, MD, KR Choksey Shares & Securities said. He feels the moment it crosses 6500, it may have steam left for another 150-200 points.

''History suggests that in four out of five general elections, the market has gone up anywhere between 5-35 percent, so the momentum is sure to continue going forward. FII flows too have continued pouring in,'' he elaborated. Meanwhile, Arvind Sanger, managing partner, Geosphere Capital Management is highly bullish on the India story after the current account deficit (CAD) saw a smart decline in Q3, saying the Nifty may touch 7000-7500 levels by end of 2014.

However, Johanna Chua, Chief Economist, Asia Pacific, Citi cautions that one should not get too excited because there still are lots of things that could happen from now upto the elections.

03:52 pm Nifty losers this week: Wipro down 5.3 percent, Sun Pharma down 5 percent, Lupin down 3 percent, HCL Tech Down 5.6 percent, Dr Reddy's down 6 percent.

03:50 pm Market this week: Nifty up 4 percent, Sensex up 3.8 percent, Bank Nifty up 10.4 percent. BSE FMCG up 2 percent, BSE Auto up 1 percent, BSE Power up 5.4 percent, BSE Consumer Durables up 4 percent, BSE Metals up 8 percent, BSE Oil & Gas up 7.7percent, BSE Realty up 13percent, BSE Cap Goods up 8.1 percent.

03:40 pm Market closing: The market continued its bullish buying taking the Nifty to a record high. The Nifty ended above 6500 for the first time. The Nifty was up 125.50 points or 2 percent at 6526.65 and the Sensex was up 405.92 points or 2 percent at 21919.79. About 1356 shares have advanced, 1446 shares declined, and 157 shares were unchanged. BHEL, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Reliance and Bharti Airtel were top gainers. Export-driven stocks were under constant selling pressure as Dr Reddy's Labs, Wipro, Infosys, Sun Pharma and TCS were among top losers in the Sensex.

03:30 pm Market closing data check: Sensex hits intra-day record high of 21,961. Nifty hits intra-day record high of 6538 . Nifty, Sensex mark biggest intra-day gain since Nov 2013. Realty, Bank Nifty, Cap Goods lead the market rally. ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank contribute over 60 percent to Bank Nifty gain. ICICI Bank, RIL, HDFC Bank contribute over 60 percent to the Nifty gain.

03:20 pm FM & RBI Governor say: The Reserve Bank will issue new bank licences in a few weeks, after seeking approval of the Election Commission, Governor Raghuram Rajan said. Over two dozen public and private sector applicants, including India Post, IFCI and large business houses such as the Anil Ambani group and the Aditya Birla group, have applied for bank licences. The RBI is expected to issue only a few bank licences after completing due diligence. "My sense is, if all goes well we should be able to do it in a few weeks," RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan told reporters after Finance Minister P Chidambaram addressed the central bank's board meeting.

03:10 pm Interview: Ahead of the International Women's Day, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said that Biocon as a company has always focused on encouraging women in science and business. ''Our research efforts are certainly focused on a number of programs that deliver drugs that women can benefit from. So we are developing and have developed life-saving drugs for breast cancer, for cervical cancer. We are focused on diabetes, gestational diabetes is something that a lot of women are challenged with,'' she told CNBC-TV18. She said that the company is focusing on number of diseases which affect both men and women, but where women are affected far more than men, like psoriasis drug. ''Psoriasis is something that we have addressed. There are a number of women who have suffered from this debilitating and ugly disease, and have actually gained tremendous benefit. They are now socially far more confident of themselves and I think we have made a big difference to their lives,'' she said. Speaking on the development of the biosimilar drugs, Mazumdar-Shaw said the company has a very good pipeline, which it is developing with Mylan. She thinks biosimilars will be the next big opportunity for generic companies.

03:00 pm Rajdeep Sardesai, Editor-in-Chief, IBN18 says: NDA is holding its January gain in Feb election tracker too. Gap between NDA and UPA is more than 100 seats as per tracker. BJP likely to get 45-49 seats in UP as per election tracker. NDA can get more seats in Maharashtra if MNS does not fight Lok Sabha polls.

2:50 pm Market outlook: Punita Kumar Sinha, managing partner, Pacific Paradigm Advisors says Indian market move is in-line with other global markets in last few months. Rally in Indian market is not led by politics alone. Markets like Indonesia, Thailand have done better than India. Banking is not on top of political parties' agenda.

02:45pm Sadbhav Engineering gets order
Infrastructure company Sadbhav Engineering has won a Rs 140-crore project in Odisha for widening a highway stretch. "Our company has been awarded the project by the Chief Engineer, Roads, Bhubaneshwar, Odisha, for a aggregating value of Rs 139.5 crore," Sadbhav Engineering said in a filing to the BSE today. The company said the project pertains to widening and strengthening of Raj-Athagarh-Narsinghpur Road to two-lane under State Highways Development Project on engineering, procurement and construction basis, reports PTI.

02:40pm IT and pharma stocks under pressure as rupee hits 61/USD
Technology and healthcare stocks are taking huge knock today as the rupee reaches to 61 level against the dollar. These companies get major revenues by selling products overseas. BSE Information Technology and Healthcare indices lose more than 2 percent while the rupee appreciates by 11 paise to 60.99 a dollar. This week, the domestic currency gained more than 100 paise. Infosys slips 2.7percent and TCS drops 1.3 percent while Wipro tumbles 3.75 percent. HCL Technologies declines 0.6 percent and Tech Mahindra plunged 4.7 percent. Meanwhile, Sun Pharma, which have more than 70 percent revenues from export market in Q3FY14, loses 1.4 percent. Dr Reddy's Labs plunges over 4.5 percent, which received more than 90 percent revenues through exports in October-December quarter.

02:35pm Investors lap up shares of Bharti Airtel
Rating agency Standard and Poor's Rating Services raised long-term corporate credit rating on Bharti Airtel to BBB- from BB+ on likelihood of reduced leverage and improving regulations. The stock gains 6.5 percent to Rs 304.35. Rating agency in its report dated March 6 said the the outlook was stable. At the same time, it raised the long-term issue rating on the USD 1.5 billion senior unsecured notes due 2023 and the euro 1 billion senior unsecured notes due 2018 that Bharti guarantees to BBB- from BB+. "We raised the rating to reflect our expectation that Bharti will use its significant free operating cash flows and funds from strategic measures to reduce its leverage to a level that is in line with an intermediate financial risk profile," Standard & Poor's credit analyst Abhishek Dangra said.

02:30pm Market Update
The market extends rally in last hour of trade with the Sensex rising 412.09 points or 1.92 percent to 21925.96 and the Nifty gaining 125.40 points or 1.96 percent to 6526.55. BSE Realty Index gains up to 6%, the most since September 17, 2012. NSE cash volume jumps over Rs 15,500 crore (at highest level since October 31, 2013) with 1 hour of trade remaining.

02:25pm L&T remains on buyers' radar
L&T shares are up 5 percent to Rs 1202, after hitting a 38-month high of Rs 1221.80 in early trade. Brokerage house Citi has raised its target price for the stock to Rs 1305 from Rs 1137. In a note to clients, Citi has listed five reasons why it is bullish on the heavy engineering major. "1) L&T looks set to grow sales 15 percent over FY14E-16E with stable margins; 2) domestic capex should rebound in early FY16E; 3) we expect L&T will emerge stronger from recent Indian economic deceleration and outperform peers when economy accelerates; 4) if domestic economic rebound takes time, L&T has the ability to pick up international orders; and 5) losses from long gestation assets are adequately factored in our consolidated EPS," the report said.

02:20pm Market Expert sees Nifty at 7000
Arvind Sanger, managing partner, Geosphere Capital Management is highly bullish on the India story after the current account deficit (CAD) saw a smart decline in Q3. The CAD or the difference between the country's exports and imports, has come down to USD 4.2 billion or 0.9 percent of the gross domestic product and has been aiding the positive market sentiment. India has been getting robust flows from foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in the past 15 sessions. Despite FIIs offloading funds from emerging markets (EMs), Indian has clearly bucked this trend explains Sanger. He further adds that he has a target of low to mid-7000 on the Nifty for this year.

02:15pm Shasun Pharma forms joint venture with SeQuent
Shasun Pharmaceuticals has signed the joint venture agreement on March 07 with SeQuent Scientific. "The JV company has been formed to develop, manufacture and sell veterinary products including both API (active pharmaceutical ingredients) and formulations to cater to the global market," the company said in its filing. In line with the JV agreement, company has also executed a slump sale agreement transferring its Vizag facility to JV company. SeQuent and Shasun will hold 73 percent and 27 percent, respectively in the JV company. JV Company is expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2014-15, subject to the customary closing conditions.

02:10pm Finance minister Chidambaram speaks
The goal of economic stability must include price stability and growth and the government has the right to set the inflation target, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said at a press conference today, The Finance Minister also said the Reserve Bank of India and the government were broadly convergent on deputy governor Urjit Patel's monetary policy committee report released in late January. Chidambaram said the inflation target will be set by the parliament and the Reserve Bank of India will implement it, reports Reuters.

02:05pm HSBC says stay invested in the market
Naina Lal Kidwai, Director, HSBC Asia Pacific & Country Head, HSBC India advises investors to stay put in the market despite the recently stellar run up. However, she expects some volatility in the market due to the upcoming general elections. She says India is currently standing out within the emerging market pack. The big positive has been the current account deficit hitting a 4 year low, she said, adding, rising exports is an important trend. Going forward, she feels the policymakers should work on agricultural productivity.

02:00pm Equity benchmarks are trading at fresh life highs in afternoon trade with the Sensex rising more than 350 points supported by interest rate sensitive and commodity stocks. The Sensex climbs 370.65 points or 1.72 percent to 21884.52 and the Nifty rises 114.35 points or 1.79 percent to 6515.50 but the broader markets remain flat. BSE Realty and Bank indices gain 5 percent each followed by Capital Goods and Oil & Gas with around 4 percent upmove. However, IT and Healthcare indices continue to see selling pressure, falling more than 2 percent. Top telecom operator Bharti Airtel and private sector lenders ICICI Bank and IndusInd Bank rally over 6 percent. Jaiprakash Associates and DLF gain 12 percent and 9 percent, respectively. Reliance Industries, Axis Bank and Larsen & Toubro climb 5-6 percent whereas Dr Reddy's Labs crashed 5 percent. Wipro, Infosys, Lupin, Sun Pharma and TCS lose 1-4 percent.

2:00 pm Sahara blow: In a fresh blow to Sahara Group and its beleaguered boss Subrata Roy, the market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), has said that the company needs to pay Rs 37,000 crore debenture money with interest and that earlier it had wrongly calculated the total refund amount. This makes an additional payment burden of Rs 13,000 crore to the group, which had earlier estimated to pay around Rs 24,000 crore of refund. The original amount that was raised through the bond issue was around Rs 17,000 crore, thereafter an interest was levied which made it to Rs 24,000 crore. However, Sebi has levied a further interest, considering the delay in payment. The Sahara counsel this morning had submitted a proposal saying that it can deposit substantial amount with Sebi, while seeking an early release of Subrata Roy, who is detained in Tihar jail. The Supreme Court had asked the market regulator to reply on the Sahara's money refund proposal.

1:50 pm On selling spree: Technology and healthcare stocks are taking huge knock on Friday as the rupee reached to 61 level against the dollar. These companies get major revenues by selling products overseas. BSE Information Technology and Healthcare indices lost more than 2 percent while the rupee appreciated by 11 paise to 60.99 a dollar. This week, the domestic currency gained more than 100 paise. Meanwhile, Sun Pharma, which have more than 70 percent revenues from export market in Q3FY14, lost 1.3 percent to Rs 613. Dr Reddy's Labs plunged over 4 percent, which received more than 90 percent revenues through exports.

1:40 pm FII view: Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) are positive on Indian market despite having a widespeard negative stance on emerging markets (EMs) that comprises India too, says Punita Sinha, managind partner, Pacific Advisors. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Sinha says that the recent rally seen in India, is aided by politics and the likelihood of an NDA government coming to power, that alone, is not leading the smart uptick seen in the market. ''This is mainly because there is a lot of expectation that things are going to improve. If one looks at the consensus earnings forecast and estimates, we are seeing a very sharp uptick in earnings for FY15 by most analysts. Same thing for GDP forecast, we are seeing about 5.2 percent this year and people are expecting as high as 6.2 percent next year,'' she adds.

1:30 pm RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan: Looking at applicants for bank licences. Panel consisting Deputy Governor and Governor to take final call. Panel to give views after due diligence. Need Election Commission nod for issuing bank licences. If all goes well, may issue bank licences in few weeks

1:25 am Finance Minister says: New bank licences not discussed at RBI board meet. Looking at issuing shares to PSU banks to raise capital. To separately discuss United Bank NPA issue. Looking at rights issue, non- voting shares in PSU banks. Need 5.7 percent GDP growth in Jan- March to achieve 4.9 percent  in FY14. Made no recommendation to RBI on bank licences.

1:20 pm Finance Minister says: Measures taken by government and RBI helped revive economy. Will achieve revised fiscal gap of 4.6 percent for FY14.  FY14 current account deficit will be below USD 40 bn. Rupee has strengthened and inflows have picked up. Sovereign has right to set inflation target. Inflation target to be set through Parliament, RBI will implement it.

1:10 pm FII view: Bhuvnesh Singh, Barclays says it is tempting to attribute the rise in Nifty to investor expectations of NDA win in the upcoming general elections. His key election stock picks include ICICI Bank, Hindalco, Shree Cement, Reliance Industries and Ashok Leyland. Chris Wood, CLSA feels focus of the market last week was primarily on the biggest daily depreciation of the renminbi since December 2008. "Greed & Fear believes the currency move appears to have been instigated by the People's Bank of China (PBOC) in an effort to demonstrate that the carry trade was not without risk. The manoeuvre has worked for now. In India, we increase existing investment in Titan Industries by 1 percentage point," he adds.

The market continues to maintain the upswing with the Nifty hanging around 6500. The Nifty is up 96.25 points or 1.50 percent at 6497.40. The Sensex is up 311.52 points or 1.4 percent at 21825. About 1259 shares have advanced, 1332 shares declined, and 135 shares are unchanged. The rupee is trading at fresh 12-week high gaining past 61 per dollar for the first time since December 10 2013. Equity market sentiment, strong FII flows and strength in the likes of the euro support the rupee. Gilts is tad lower due to lack of buying support and participation. Global investors bought Indian shares worth Rs 1273 crore on Thursday, their biggest daily purchase since December 19, extended their buying streak to a 15th straight day. Adrian Mowat of JP Morgan is overweight India and expects the country to outperform emerging markets this year. Meanwhile, Arvind Sanger of Geosphere Capital Manegement sees the Nifty heading to above 7000 levels in 2014. Raamdeo Agrawal believes that conditions are conducive for domestic investors to return to the market. Globally, Asian markets are mixed as trade remains subdued ahead of the crucial US no-farm payrolls report due later today. Japanese markets continue to power on a three-day winning streak.

01:15pm Experts see 6700 on Nifty
The NSE benchmark Nifty finally took out the 6500 level on Friday for the first time, on the back of strong and consistent FII inflows. Improving macroeconomic environment and hopes that a new stable government would be able to end policy paralysis has boosted sentiment in cyclicals. Techincals are taking over right now, says market watcher Dipan Mehta. ''We need to keep an eye on the DIIs as to how much selling pressure still comes from them, because a lot of it has come off in recent times,'' he told CNBC-TV18. After 6500, the next stop for the Nifty is likely to be 6700. That's the word from Anu Jain of IIFL, who feels there is a change in the mix of the index. Tech and pharma are relaxing whereas banking and infra are now taking us there,'' she said.

01:10pm Finance Minister P Chidambaram further said
Made no recommendation to RBI on bank licences. Looking at rights issue, non-voting shares in PSU banks. Looking at issuing shares to PSU banks to raise capital. New bank licences not discussed at RBI board meet.

01:05pm Finance Minister P Chidambaram said
Sovereign has right to set inflation target. Rupee has strengthened & inflows have picked up. FY14 current accounmt deficit will be below USD 40 billion. Finance Minister Will achieve revised fiscal gap of 4.6 percent for FY14. Finance Minister Measures taken by government and RBI helped revive economy.

01:00pm Market Update
The Nifty is back above the 6500, up 100.75 points or 1.57 percent to 6501.90 while the Sensex climbed 329.98 points or 1.53 percent to 21843.85. About 1225 shares have advanced, 1293 shares declined, and 146 shares are unchanged. Among midcaps, HDIL and GSFC shot up 10-11 percent followed by GMR Infrastructure, Indiabulls Real and IRB Infrastructure with 7-8 percent upmove. However, Infotech Enterprises, NIIT Technologies, Radico Khaitan, Hexaware Technologies and Kaveri Seed fell 5-7 percent. In the smallcap space, NCC, HOEC, MT Educare, Shree Ram Urban and Steel Exchange of India jumped 10-15 percent whereas Nucleus Software, Gemmia Oiltech, Hitachi Home, Polaris Tech and PI Industries lost 5-10 percent.

12:55pm Shasun Pharmaceuticals forms joint venture with SeQuent
Shasun Pharmaceuticals has signed the joint venture agreement on March 07 with SeQuent Scientific. "The JV company has been formed to develop, manufacture and sell veterinary products including both API (active pharmaceutical ingredients) and formulations to cater to the global market," the company said in its filing. In line with the JV agreement, company has also executed a slump sale agreement transferring its Vizag facility to JV company. SeQuent and Shasun will hold 73 percent and 27 percent, respectively in the JV company. JV Company is expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2014-15, subject to the customary closing conditions. The stock declined 2 percent.

12:50pm Shriram Transport Finance on CNBC-TV18: Auto malls used to get best value for buyer & seller. Seeing better margins in used commercial vehicle space. Utilisation of vehicles much better. Don't expect things to worsen from current situation.

12:45pm Central Bank of India offloads stake in CIBIL
Shares of Central Bank of India rose nearly 2 percent after the bank offloaded entire stake in Credit Information Bureau of India. "After due approval, Central Bank of India has sold its entire stake in Credit Information Bureau of India (CIBIL) to Transunion International Inc (FII)," the company said in its filing. The bank was holding 5 percent stake in the company. CIBIL, founded in August 2000, is a credit information company. It collects and maintains records of an individual's payments pertaining to loans and credit cards. Punjab National Bank had also sold its entire shareholding (5 percent stake) in CIBIL to TransUnion International Inc (FII).

12:40pm Rupee may remain in 60-61 range
The current account deficit (CAD) number gives a lot of confidence to the overall macro picture of the country, says Shilpa Kumar, Senior General Manager – ICICI Bank . The improvement in CAD has come on the back of 2-3 things - 40 percent is gold, the cut down in gold imports, balance 60 percent is divided between import reduction and better exports, she says. For the micro picture to continue, the rupee price will have to continue to support exports. She is betting on the rupee staying at around 60-61 in the short to medium term.

12:35pm SBI, Jubilant Foodworks in focus
Morgan Stanley downgrades Jubilant Foodworks to underweight from equal weight and also cut target price to Rs 850 apiece from Rs 1,065 apiece. The stock fell 1.4 percent. Meanwhile, brokerage house Citi reduces target price of State Bank of India to Rs 1,930 per share from Rs 2,200. "SBI should trade at 15 percent discount to book," the report said. The stock surged 5 percent.

12:30pm Naina Lal Kidwai, HSBC on CNBC-TV18
India needs to work on agricultural productivity. GST needs to be passed for growth to pick up. GST can add 2 percent to the GDP. Current account deficit hitting a four-year low is a big positive. India is not in the fragile five economies. India is standing out within the emerging market pack. Advise staying invested in the market. Hoping for a government with clear majority. General elections may add some volatility to the market.

12:25pm Nikkei rises to fresh five-week high on weak yen
Japan's Nikkei share average rose to a fresh five-week high today as a weak yen lifted risk appetites following better-than-expected US jobless claims and the European Central Bank's decision to keep its rates unchanged. The Nikkei ended 0.9 percent higher at 15,274.07, the highest closing level since January 29. For the week, the index rose 2.9 percent. But volume was subdued ahead of the release of widely anticipated US job data later in the day, reports Reuters.

12:20pm L&T hits fresh 52-week high
L&T shares are up 5.8 percent, after hitting a fresh 52-week high of Rs 1221.80 in early trade. Brokerage house Citi has raised its target price for the stock to Rs 1305 from Rs 1137. In a note to clients, Citi has listed five reasons why it is bullish on the heavy engineering major. "1) L&T looks set to grow sales 15 percent over FY14E-16E with stable margins; 2) domestic capex should rebound in early FY16E; 3) we expect L&T will emerge stronger from recent Indian economic deceleration and outperform peers when economy accelerates; 4) if domestic economic rebound takes time, L&T has the ability to pick up international orders; and 5) losses from long gestation assets are adequately factored in our consolidated EPS," the report said.

12:15pm FIIs' buying continued
Foreign institutional investors have bought Rs 1,272.93 crore worth of equity shares on Thursday, in addition to Rs 5,700 crore worth of shares buying in previous 14 sessions.  However, domestic institutional investors sold Rs 567.10 crore in equities, as per provisional data on the exchange. FIIs have net bought Rs 961.33 crore in index futures and Rs 346.41 crore in stock futures on March 6.

12:10pm FII View
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) are positive on Indian market despite having a widespeard negative stance on emerging markets (EMs) that comprises India too, says Punita Sinha, managind partner, Pacific Advisors. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Sinha says that the recent rally seen in India, is aided by politics and the likelihood of an NDA government coming to power, that alone, is not leading the smart uptick seen in the market. ''This is mainly because there is a lot of expectation that things are going to improve. If one looks at the consensus earnings forecast and estimates, we are seeing a very sharp uptick in earnings for FY15 by most analysts. Same thing for GDP forecast, we are seeing about 5.2 percent this year and people are expecting as high as 6.2 percent next year,'' she adds.

12:05pm Losers
India's largest IT services providers TCS and Infosys fell over 2 percent as the rupee reached to 61 level against the dollar. Wipro declined nearly 4 percent. Defensives too are down with the Dr Reddy's Labs slipping 4 percent. Sun Pharma lost 1.7 percent and Cipla declined 0.8 percent. FMCG majors ITC and Hindustan Unilever are down 0.5 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.

12:00pm The Sensex and Nifty shares continued to see hefty buying interest but the midcaps and smallcaps are reeling under pressure on profit taking. The Sensex rose 258.59 points or 1.20 percent to 21772.46 and the Nifty climbed 85.75 points or 1.34 percent to 6486.90. However, declining shares outnumbered advancing ones by a ratio of 1253 to 1130 on the BSE. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices slipped 0.4 percent each. BSE Bankex surged 5 percent followed by Capital Goods index with 4 percent upmove. Realty, Oil & Gas and Auto indices climbed 1-2 percent, but IT and Healthcare fell over 2 percent. Top private sector lender ICICI Bank is the lead gainer in the Sensex, rising 7 percent followed by State Bank of India and Axis Bank with 5-6 percent upmove. HDFC Bank spiked 3.5 percent. Petrochemical major Reliance Industries rose nearly 4 percent while engineering & construction major L&T jumped 6 percent. Top telecom operator Bharti Airtel climbed over 4 percent. Rating agency Standard and Poor's Rating Services raised long-term corporate credit rating on the company to BBB- from BB+ on likelihood of reduced leverage and improving regulations.

12:00 pm Houseviews: Houseviews Citi cuts SBI target to Rs 1,930 per share from Rs 2,200 per share. SBI should trade at 15 percent discount to book. ''SBI is at risk  of its stressed assets going to 15 percent,'' it says.

11:55 am Sahara Case : Sahara says to SC that it will make upfront payment of Rs 2,500 crore to SEBI. It will liquidate assets to repay investors and use entire sales proceeds to repay investors. It promises to deposit money with SEBI in 5 equal installments and seeks release of Subrata Roy and directors. SEBI's lawyer objects to Sahara's repayment proposal and says must have clause to penalise Sahara in case of defaults.

11:50 am: Bank Nifty gains up to 6%, most since September 19, 2013.

11:45 am: BSE Cap Goods gains up to 5 percent, most since Sep 10, 2013.

11:43 am: ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank contributing over 60 percent to Bank Nifty gain.

11:42 am: Bank Nifty set to hit 12,000 for first time Since December 10, 2013.

11:40 am High spirits: It is finally scaled as Nifty clims up to 6500 for the first time. The Nifty is up 100.35 points or 1.57 percent at 6501.50 and the Sensex surges 334.63 points or 1.56 percent at 21848.50.  About 1221 shares have advanced, 1085 shares declined, and 115 shares are unchanged.

11:30 am Market outlook: Raamdeo Agrawal, Joint MD and co-founder, Motilal Oswal Financial Services says after seven years, Nifty is walking comfortably into new highs. The current conditions are extremely conducive after a long time. Apart from the big political event in two months, corporate earnings are more important. He says throughout the slowdown, there has not been a single year of decline in earnings. The currency is also not overvalued anymore. He says the major theme that is playing out right now is the 'Modi theme' – he moves the market, and it is looked at with optimism. According to Agrawal, other assset classes have become very muted – whether it is gold, or real estate, fixed income. He feels it is the right time for domestic investors to make a come back.

11:20 am Udayan's comments: In the past few days a lot of cyclical names have all started to warm-up and banks and capital goods and cement have been at the forefront of that, says Udayan Mukherjee. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Mukherjee says that the trade is beginning to catch on now. However, this is not the time to chunk out high quality from the portfolio just yet, cautions Mukherjee. But if nothing goes wrong, globally or domestically, then the stocks that are likely to do well in 2015 and beyond that will be the not-so-expensive capital goods, midcaps and some banks, he highlights. ''Now is it the time to jump in and therefore junk the stocks where valuations have expanded over the last many months- ITs and pharmas. Just take it little easy on a day when the market this new highs, it is tempting to say let's get the boring out of the portfolio. They have done their bit and now let us pass the baton on to something which has not moved but in doing that one just ignores the fact that there could be turbulence on the way ahead for whatever reason, global or maybe elections."

11:10 am Buzzing: Larsen and Toubro (L&T) shares are up 6 percent in morning trade to Rs 1206, after hitting a 52-week high of Rs 1221.80 earlier in the session. Brokerage house Citi has raised its target price for the stock to Rs 1305 from Rs 1137. "L&T looks set to grow sales 15% over FY14E-16E with stable margins. Domestic capex should rebound in early FY16E," it said.

Nifty and Sensex scale fresh all time highs today. The Nifty has gained 7.5 percent since February13 with the Bank Nifty rising over 14 percent. The Sensex is up 310.03 points or 1.44 percent at 21823.90, and the Nifty is up 91.50 points or 1.43 percent at 6492.65. About 1227 shares have advanced, 1050 shares declined, and 102 shares are unchanged.  The capital goods index is trading at a 15-month high today. ICICI Bank is up 8 percent while Axiz Bank gains 7 percent.  L&T, Bharti and SBI jump 5-6 percent. Wipro, TCS lose around 3 percent each with weakness in rupee. Equity market sentiment, strong FII flows and strength in the likes of the euro support the rupee. Gilts trade tad lower due to lack of buying support and participation. Asian markets are firm tracking gains in the US after jobless claims fell to a 3-month low. The US markets saw the S&P touch record highs on better-than-expected US jobless claims. The ECB's decision to keep interest rates unchanged is helping sentiment. Investors are eyeing the release of US non-farm payrolls data for February due later today. Currencies saw the dollar weaken as risk appetite improved globally with the euro surging and Asian currencies such as the Korean won, Malaysian ringgit rising.

10:50 am Arrest: The Managing Director of a top defaulting company linked to the Rs 5,600-crore payment crisis at the now defunct National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) has been arrested, taking the number of those held in the scam to six. Agroprocessors, was arrested on Thursday, an official of Mumbai Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) said on Thursday. PD Agroprocessors is the third-biggest defaulter and owes over Rs 600 crore to the commodity spot exchange, promoted by the Jignesh Shah-led Financial Technologies.

10:40 am Buzzing: Shares of Prism Cement rallied as much as 3 percent intraday Friday as the cement maker has started production of coal at the Prism Coal Mine in Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh. "The company has been granted all statutory clearances for the operation of the coal mine. The mined coal will be used for captive consumption of the cement plant located at Satna, Madhya Pradesh," it said in its filing. Meanwhile, the company had reported a loss of Rs 62.34 crore in the quarter ended December 2013 as against loss of Rs 53.86 crore in a year-ago period. Net sales declined marginally to Rs 1,142.62 crore from Rs 1,174.82 crore during the same period.

10:30 am Market outlook: Raamdeo Agrawal, Joint MD and co-founder, Motilal Oswal Financial Services says after seven years, Nifty is walking comfortably into new highs. The current conditions are extremely conducive after a long time. Apart from the big political event in two months, corporate earnings are more important. He says throughout the slowdown, there has not been a single year of decline in earnings. The currency is also not overvalued anymore. He says the major theme that is playing out right now is the 'Modi theme' – he moves the market, and it is looked at with optimism. According to Agrawal, other assset classes have become very muted – whether it is gold, or real estate, fixed income. He feels it is the right time for domestic investors to make a come back.

10:20 am Udayan's comments: In the past few days a lot of cyclical names have all started to warm-up and banks and capital goods and cement have been at the forefront of that, says Udayan Mukherjee. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Mukherjee says that the trade is beginning to catch on now. However, this is not the time to chunk out high quality from the portfolio just yet, cautions Mukherjee. But if nothing goes wrong, globally or domestically, then the stocks that are likely to do well in 2015 and beyond that will be the not-so-expensive capital goods, midcaps and some banks, he highlights. ''Now is it the time to jump in and therefore junk the stocks where valuations have expanded over the last many months- ITs and pharmas. Just take it little easy on a day when the market this new highs, it is tempting to say let's get the boring out of the portfolio. They have done their bit and now let us pass the baton on to something which has not moved but in doing that one just ignores the fact that there could be turbulence on the way ahead for whatever reason, global or maybe elections."

The market is on a roll today with the Nifty clenching 6400. The Sensex is up 172.45 points at 21686.32, and the Nifty is up 54.25 points at 6455.40. About 1149 shares have advanced, 636 shares declined, and 78 shares are unchanged. Global investors bought Indian shares worth Rs 1273 crore on Thursday, marking it their biggest daily purchase since December 19, regulatory and exchange data show. The rupee has hit a new three-month high. The euro hovered near a two-month high against the dollar early on Friday following a relief rally when the European Central Bank left its interest rates unchanged.  Most other Asian currencies like rupiah and Taiwan dollar trading stronger compared with the US dollar. IT stocks are reeling under heavy selling pressure due to rupee. TCS and Wipro are down 3 percent each, while Infosys falls 1 percent. Other losers in the Sensex are Dr Reddy's and ONGC.  L&T is star of the day with a 6 percent gain and sitting on a 38-month high. ICICI Bank, SBI, Bharti and BHEl are other gainers in the Sensex.

10:00am L&T at 38-month high, Citi bullish on the stock
L&T shares are up 6 percent in morning trade to Rs 1206, after hitting a 38-month high of Rs 1221.80 in early trade. Brokerage house Citi has raised its target price for the stock to Rs 1305 from Rs 1137. In a note to clients, Citi has listed five reasons why it is bullish on the heavy engineering major. "1) L&T looks set to grow sales 15 percent over FY14E-16E with stable margins; 2) domestic capex should rebound in early FY16E; 3) we expect L&T will emerge stronger from recent Indian economic deceleration and outperform peers when economy accelerates; 4) if domestic economic rebound takes time, L&T has the ability to pick up international orders; and 5) losses from long gestation assets are adequately factored in our consolidated EPS," the report said.

09:55am FIIs continue buying for 15th straight session
Foreign institutional investors have bought Rs 1,272.93 crore worth of equity shares on Thursday, in addition to Rs 5,700 crore worth of shares buying in previous 14 sessions.  while domestic institutional investors sold Rs 567.10 crore in equities, as per provisional data on the exchange. FIIs have net bought Rs 961.33 crore in index futures and Rs 346.41 crore in stock futures on March 6.

09:50am FII View
Chris Wood, CLSA said the focus of markets last week was primarily on the biggest daily depreciation of the renminbi since December 2008. Greed & Fear believes the currency move appears to have been instigated by the People's Bank of China (PBOC) in an effort to demonstrate that the carry trade was not without risk. The manoeuvre has worked for now, he added. In India, he increases existing investment in Titan Company by 1 percentage point.

09:45am SBI, Jubilant Foodworks in focus
Morgan Stanley downgrades Jubilant Foodworks to underweight from equal weight and also cut target price to Rs 850 apiece from Rs 1,065 apiece. The stock is up 0.5 percent. Meanwhile, brokerage house Citi reduces target price of State Bank of India to Rs 1,930 per share from Rs 2,200. "SBI should trade at 15 percent discount to book," the report said. The stock surged 2.6 percent.

09:35am Gainers and Losers
Larsen and Toubro extended gains to 6 percent, topping the buyers' list followed by ICICI Bank and Bharti Airtel with more than 3 percent upmove. Shares of Reliance Industries, State Bank of India and BHEL rose 2-2.5 percent while Axis Bank, Tata Steel, Sesa Sterlite and Hero Motocorp advanced 1 percent each. Technology stocks are under pressure amid strong trade. IT majors TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL Technologies declined 1.6 percent, 0.7 percent, 1.6 percent and 1 percent, respectively. Dr Reddy's Labs, ITC, ONGC and Tata Power too are down.

09:25am FII View
Arvind Sanger, managing partner, Geosphere Capital Management is highly bullish on the India story after the current account deficit (CAD) saw a smart decline in Q3. The CAD or the difference between the country's exports and imports, has come down to USD 4.2 billion or 0.9 percent of the gross domestic product and has been aiding the positive market sentiment. India has been getting robust flows from foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in the past 15 sessions. Despite FIIs offloading funds from emerging markets (EMs), Indian has clearly bucked this trend explain Sanger. He further adds that he has a target of low to mid-7000 on the Nifty for this year. Sanger further says that the market is likely to be volatile from a one month perspective driven by all the global events and local news flows around the general elections. However, the market is heading higher as it has a lot of tailwinds in the form of CAD and expectation of positivity from the inflation numbers, he adds. The Sensex jumped 187.87 points to 21701.74 and the Nifty rallied 54.55 points to 6455.70. Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of 894 to 334 on the BSE.

09:15am Equity benchmarks touched fresh record high in early trade Friday with the Nifty hitting 6450 level and Sensex trading over 21600 level supported by banks, capital goods and oil & gas stocks. The Sensex rose 150.96 points to 21664.83 and the Nifty climbed 47.85 points to 6,449. About 727 shares have advanced, 208 shares declined, and 35 shares are unchanged. Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro topped the buying list, rising 5 percent followed by top telecom operator Bharti Airtel gaining 3 percent. Petrochemical major and index heavyweight Reliance Industries rose 1.5 percent and top private sector lender ICICI Bank gained 1.5 percent too. Indian rupee opened with marginal gains of 11 paise at 61 per dollar today as against previous day's closing value of 61.11 a dollar. Pramit Brahmbhatt of Alpari India said the rupee was cheering the dip in current account deficit and steady FII inflows into Indian equity was helping the currency to consolidate further & trade strong. ''A strong euro will provide some positive support. However, there is good chance of strong dollar demand and profit booking at these appeasing levels which may challenge rupee's positive stride. The range for the day is seen between 60.85-61.39/dollar," he added.