Sensex up 303 pts, Nifty ends tad below 8600; banks rally

03:30pm Market Closing: The market staged spectacular performance on first day of the financial year 2015-16. The Sensex rallied 302.65 points or 1.08 percent to 28260.14 and the Nifty climbed 95.25 points or 1.12 percent to 8586.25. Banks led the market higher ahead of RBI policy next week.

About 2006 shares have advanced, 697 shares declined, and 161 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

Sun Pharma, Tata Motors, SBI, ICICI Bank, Hindalco Industries, PNB, IndusInd Bank, Yes Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank surged 2-5 percent.

Shares of Zuari Agro Chemicals, Madras Fertiliser, FACT, NFL, Pipavav Defence and SpiecJet rallied 4-12 percent.

03:20pm Market Update: The Sensex rose 317.78 points or 1.14 percent to 28275.27, and the Nifty climbed 102.75 points or 1.21 percent to 8593.75.

About 2000 shares have advanced, 697 shares declined, and 151 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

03:10pm IT cos in focus: With a fortnight to go for the fourth quarter earnings announcements, tech companies have already indicated that they may face headwinds due to cross currency moves, the latest being HCL Tech. So now the big question is whether the sector headed for a deeper consolidation?

Shashi Bhusan, IT analyst at Prabhudas Lilladher says constant currency growth in Q4FY15 will be better year-on-year. He says the dollar strength will impact profitability by 30-60 basis points for IT companies.

03:00pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks extended rally in last hour of trade. The Sensex spiked 245.02 points to 28202.51 and the Nifty jumped 72.45 points to 8563.45, supported by banks, FMCG and pharma stocks. Reliance Industries recouped its losses, up over 1 percent. Bank Nifty shot up 350 points led by further gains in ICICI Bank, SBI and Axis Bank.

The BSE Midcap gained 1.4 percent and Smallcap surged over 2 percent. About 1885 shares have advanced, 727 shares declined, and 159 shares are unchanged on the BSE. 

02:45pm IPOs in action: Catholic Syrian Bank has filed draft papers with capital markets regulator Sebi to raise up to Rs 400 crore through an initial public offer (IPO) to shore up its capital base.

"The bank will issue equity shares aggregating up to Rs 4,000 million," according to draft documents available with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

Besides, the mid-sized private lender is considering to garner up to Rs 150 crore via pre-IPO placement.

The proceeds of the issue would be utilised towards augmenting the bank's capital base to meet its future capital requirements. The issue is being managed by ICICI Securities and Kotak Mahindra Capital Company. This is the eighth draft document filed with Sebi to float an IPO, since January.

Among the firms that have already filed IPO papers are Amar Ujala Publications, AGS Transact Technologies, S H Kelkar and Company, Shree Shubham Logistics, Precision Camshafts, Pennar Engineered Building Systems and SSIPL Retail. 

02:30pm Maruti March Sales: Maruti Suzuki Ltd, India's top selling car maker, expects car sales to grow at a faster pace than the forecast of 5-6 percent growth for the industry in the fiscal year that started on April 1, a company executive told Reuters.

Maruti Suzuki, which sells about one in every two cars in India, reported its best-ever annual sales in the year to end-March but is yet to see a strong recovery in the passenger car market, executive director, RS Kalsi said today.

Sales growth in the 2014/2015 fiscal year was mainly helped by new product launches, an expansion of its dealer network and discounts, Kalsi said.

Maruti Suzuki sold 1.29 million passenger vehicles in the fiscal year ended March 31 - a 12 percent increase from a year ago and higher than its previous peak of 1.27 million in the year 2010/2011.

02:00pm Market Check

The market extended rally in afternoon trade with the Sensex trading above 28000 and Nifty above 8500 led by banks, pharma and FMCG stocks. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rallied 1.2 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively.

The Sensex rallied 163.51 points to 28121 and the Nifty jumped 49.60 points to 8540.60. About 1829 shares have advanced, 723 shares declined, and 159 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

Adrian Mowat of JP Morgan that he maintained an overweight stance on the market, foreign investors positioning in India is still very low.

Banks led the rally with the Bank Nifty rising 250 points. ICICI Bank surged 1.8 percent and its rival HDFC Bank, SBI and Axis Bank climbed nearly 1 percent.

Global markets too were upbeat today, Shanghai and Hang Seng closed with gains of 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent while European markets were also in the green after a solid round of manufacturing data, euro zone PMI for March was revised upwards to 52.2 versus a reading of 51 in February. More information please visit this site www.appsmine.org