Markets extend gains, Sensex surges over 300 pts

Markets extended gains in the afternoon session this Wednesday amid expectations of fresh measures by the central bank to support growth after Raghuram Rajan took over the helm of the Reserve Bank of India replacing D Subbarao.

At 3PM, the 30-share Sensex rose 259 points at 18,494 and the 50-share Nifty gained 83 points at 5,425 levels.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Updated at 2:30PM
 

Markets continued to trade firm in the afternoon session this Wednesday on back of value-buying witnessed automobile and banking shares after benchmark indices witnessed their second biggest fall in absolute terms yesterday since October 2011.

At 2:30PM, the 30-share Sensex rose 259 points at 18,494 and the 50-share Nifty gained 83 points at 5,425 levels.

Investors considered Tuesday’s slump highly overdone after Standard & Poor’s said there was a more than one-in-three chance of a ratings downgrade for India and as fears of a war in West Asia roiled global markets.

Meanwhile hopes of fresh steps to protect rupee from the central bank with Raghuram Rajan taking over the reins of RBI as the new governor today also boosted sentiments. He will address the media at around 3pm today.

The broader markets were positive with mid-caps and small-caps gaining 0.4-0.6 per cent on the BSE.

The market breadth was positive. Out of 2,289 stocks traded, 1,240 stocks advanced while 878 stocks declined on the BSE.


RUPEE

The rupee recovered a tad after touching 67.16 in the late trades today. At 2:30PM, the partially convertible rupee was trading at 66.83 per dollar against the yesterday’s close of 67.73 against the dollar on the Interbank Foreign Exchange.

The rupee breached the Rs 68 per dollar mark in early trade. This has raised concerns that it may touch a new all-time low soon. The rupee had touched an all-time low of Rs 68.85 last week.


GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stocks fell, snapping the longest rally in three weeks, and emerging-market currencies weakened on concern the US is moving closer to striking Syria. Australia’s dollar gained after the nation’s economic growth topped estimates, while crop prices declined.

Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.5% to 14,053, Singapore’s Straits Times fell 1% at 3,021, China’s Shanghai Composite index added 0.2% at 2,127 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.3% to 22,326 today.

European stocks retreated as Ryanair Holdings Plc led a decline by travel and leisure companies.

European markets opened lower. France’s CAC declined 0.7% to 3,944, Germany’s DAX shed 0.4% to 8,147 while UK’s FTSE was down 0.5% to 6,435.

Investors are now keenly awaiting the Bank of England and the European Central Bank interest-rate decisions tomorrow for further cues.


STOCK MOVERS

Domestically, the key sectoral indices gainers included auto, metal, bankex, IT, consumer durables and healthcare while realty and FMCG sectors lead the drop on the BSE.

The gainers included counters such as Tata Motors rising 4.6%, BHEL gained 5%, Hindalco Industries added 3.6%, Reliance Industries surged 3% on the BSE.

The laggards were ITC falling 1.4% while Maruti Suzuki declined 0.4% on the BSE.

The key notable stock mover were  Ipca Laboratories has soared 9% to Rs 705 after the pharmaceutical company said it has received US-FDA approval for its oral solid dosage formulations manufacturing facility situated in Madhya Pradesh.

SKS Microfinance has dipped over 5% to Rs 125 on BSE after founder Vikram Akula and private equity firm Sequoia Capital sold over 2.4 million shares of the company for about Rs 32 crore through open market.