D-St on fire: Sensex soars 479 pts, Nifty ends above 8300

03:30 pm Market close: The market was on fire fueled strongly by oil, FMCG and pharma stocks. The Sensex ended up 479.28 points or 1.8 percent at 27490.59 and the Nifty scaled the 8300-level. The 50-share index closed up 150.45 points or 1.8 percent at 8331.95. About 1954 shares advanced, 838 shares declined, and 153 shares were unchanged.

ONGC was up 8 percent while Bajaj Auot, Cipla, M&M and BHEL were major gainers in the Sensex. Among the laggards were ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Tata Motors with marginal losses

03:20 pm Big fall: Shares of Shriram Transport slumped 16 percent intraday after it announced disappointing March quarter results. Its net profit declined 73 percent to Rs 84.23 crore in Q4 of FY15. During the period, its net interest income stood at Rs 1,105.57 crore against Rs 975.95 crore year-on-year.

Morgan Stanley has also downgraded the stock to underperform from equalweight. The brokerage has slashed target price to Rs 900 per Rs 1230 per share. “Non-performing loan (NPL) ratio at the equipment finance subsidiary is likely to almost double in F1H16, after increasing 5 times in Q4 FY15. A weak monsoon could delay growth and asset quality recovery in the parent vehicle financing business. We view risk-reward as poor with valuation above mean,” it says in a report to clients.

03:05pm Market Update: The Sensex jumped 475.77 points or 1.76 percent to 27487.08 and the Nifty rose 148.60 points or 1.82 percent to 8330.10. About 1890 shares have advanced, 821 shares declined, and 152 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

02:50pm IPOs in focus: PNC Infratech's up to Rs 488-crore initial public offer (IPO) will open on Friday, making the infrastructure firm sixth company to hit the capital markets this year. The Agra-based firm's issue will open on May 8 and closes on May 12, PNC Infratech said in a statement.

The company, which specialises in construction of highways, bridges, flyovers and airport runways, is making a public issue of up to 12,921,708 equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each including a share premium per equity share.

The price band is fixed from Rs 355 to Rs 378 per equity share. The infrastructure-firm would raise around Rs 488 crore at the upper end of the price band and Rs 456 crore at the lower end.

Meanwhile, apparel and lifestyle accessories firm Numero Uno Clothing has approached capital markets regulator Sebi to float an initial public offer (IPO). The proposed public issue comprises fresh issue worth Rs 65 crore and an offer for sale up to 84 lakh from its promoter and AA India Development Capital Fund.

02:30pm Brent crude update: China, the world's second-largest oil consumer, posted its biggest drop in factory activity in a year to 48.9 in April, a private business survey showed on Monday.

The sub-50 point level indicates a contraction compared with the previous month.

The data came on the heels of a top government think tank's forecast that China's economic growth could slow further to 6.8 percent in the second quarter.

Oil supplies from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which produces about 40 percent of oil supplies, climbed 0.2 percent to a more than two-year high in April, a Reuters survey showed.

02:00pm Market Check

The Sensex continued to rally more than 300 points and the Nifty gained more than 100 points led by banking & financials, FMCG, healthcare, select auto and oil stocks.

The Sensex jumped 341.71 points or 1.27 percent to 27353.02 and the Nifty rose 103.20 points or 1.26 percent to 8284.70. About 1839 shares have advanced, 789 shares declined, and 155 shares are unchanged.

In market opinion, Ridham Desai of Morgan Stanley says the government's biggest achievement in the last one year is control on inflation while Ramesh Damani says investors should continue focussing on buying good businesses.

The fiscal has started off on a strong note with auto sales growth across OEMs picking up in April. Maruti registered a solid 30 percent growth in sales while Bajaj Auto saw rise in sales for the first time in 4 months.

ONGC, Cipla and Bajaj Auto topped the buying list, up 5.5-6.5 percent followed by HDFC, Dr Reddy's Labs, Bharti Airtel, Hindalco, GAIL, ITC, Reliance Industries, Infosys and SBI with 1-2.5 percent upside. However, ICICI Bank and Tata Motors fell over a percent.

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