Sensex up 517 pts, Nifty ends tad below 8500; banks lead

03:30pm Market Closing: The market staged spectacular performance on Monday with the Nifty reclaiming 8500 level and Sensex hitting 28000-mark led by banking & financials, FMCG, capital goods and IT stocks.

The Sensex surged 517.22 points or 1.88 percent to 27975.86 and the Nifty rallied 150.90 points or 1.81 percent to 8492.30. Nearly three shares advanced for every share declining on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Idea Cellular was the biggest gainer on Nifty, up 6.21 percent. UltraTech Cement, Asian Paints, HDFC, Bharti Airtel, ONGC, Axis Bank and L&T rallied 3-5 percent. Hindalco, Tech Mahindra and Cairn India lost 1.5-3 percent.

03:25pm FII View: Vivek Misra, Strategist- Asian Equities, Global Research & Strategy, Societe Generale, said he is overweight on both India and China, with the latter being his top pick.

According to Misra, the investor flows have been relatively strong into India. He expects relatively strong earnings from Indian corporates over the next 2 years, with signs of improvement being visible in 2-3 quarters.

Societe Generale expects potential upside of 32 percent in India by 2016 and has a Sensex target of 32,500 by the end of 2015, Misra said.

03:15pm Nifty eyes 8500: The Sensex rallied 520.10 points or 1.89 percent to 27978.74 and the Nifty climbed 154.40 points or 1.85 percent to 8495.80.

About 2042 shares have advanced, 746 shares declined, and 147 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

03:00pm Market Update: The market gained more strength in last hour of trade. The Sensex rallied 480.04 points or 1.75 percent to 27938.68 and the Nifty rose 140.35 points or 1.68 percent to 8481.75. About 1987 shares have advanced, 725 shares declined, and 139 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

Bank Nifty gained 250 points as State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank rallied 1-2.6 percent. Housing finance company HDFC, cigarette major ITC and state-run oil company ONGC climbed over 3 percent.

02:50pm Global Markets: Shares rose today with Asian stocks buoyed by hopes for stimulus to boost China's economy, but the euro slipped on more concern about Greece's finances.

In Europe, a rally in technology shares, tracking Friday's surge in the US tech sector, helped equities bounce back from losses last week, although Athens' stock market was down on concern about whether the country will be able to reach agreement with its creditors.

Germany's DAX index rose 1.5 percent, Paris gained 1.2 percent and the overall FTSE Eurofirst index of 300 leading European companies was up by 1.1 percent.

Chinese stocks surged to seven-year highs, helped by Beijing's unveiling of an ambitious plan to build a modern Silk Road to Europe and Africa and signs from People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan that added to expectations of more monetary policy easing.

Shanghai shares were up another 2.5 percent today, the market's best day since the middle of January.

02:40pm Interview: Irfan Razack, CMD of Prestige Estates said the company is confident of beating FY15 sales guidance of Rs 5000 crore backed by a healthy demand scenario.

The company did pre-launch of six projects in Bangalore and it is also seeing a good response for their new projects in Hyderabad.

Going forward they are confident of attaining 15-20 percent growth and expect revenues from Kochi and Chennai to improve significantly in FY16.

02:20pm Gold Update: Gold dropped for a second straight session today, slipping further from a three-week high, as the dollar climbed after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen signaled the US central bank may be on course to raise interest rates later this year.

Bullion may be set to give up recent gains fueled by the Fed's March policy statement that it was prepared to move more slowly in hiking US rates than the market expected. The metal rose for seven consecutive sessions after the Fed's meeting this month in its longest rally since 2012.

On Friday, Yellen said an increase in the Fed's benchmark rate "may well be warranted later this year" given sustained improvement in US economic conditions.

Bullion is headed for a second consecutive monthly drop in March as a looming US rate hike dims the appeal of a non-interest bearing asset.

02:00pm Market Check:

Bulls kept complete control over Dalal Street today. The Sensex extended rally, up 401.19 points or 1.46 percent at 27859.83 and the Nifty surged 111.50 points or 1.34 percent to 8452.90.

The broader markets also gained further with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 1.6 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively. About 1911 shares have advanced, 723 shares declined, and 133 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

UltraTech Cement, Idea Cellular, ONGC, ITC, Bharti Airtel and Coal India topped the buying list on Sensex, up 3-4 percent.

HDFC gained 2.5 percent after Keki Mistry with regards to HDFC Life the timing or amount of IPO is not decided yet and Standard Life will want to increase stake in HDFC Life but the quantum is not decided. Separately, they see scope of further 25 to 50 bps rate cuts but don't expect any movement on April 7.

Shares of HDFC Bank, L&T, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, TCS, SBI, HUL, Wipro, Hero Motocorp and Tata Steel climbed 1-2 percent whereas Reliance Industries, Hindalco Industries and Tata Power remained under pressure. More information please visit this site www.appsmine.org