Markets rebound; Bajaj Auto, Coal India up 3-5%

Benchmark indices have recovered and are trading with marginal gains owing to fresh capital infusion in Index heavyweights. A smart rally in the auto stocks has contributed the most to the rise on the Sensex.

Bajaj Auto, Coal India, Axis Bank, Sun Pharma and Tata Motors are the top five gainers on the Sensex are trading higher between 1-4.5%.  

At 1:40 PM, the Sensex is at 27,863, up 25 points and the Nifty is quoting at 8,432, up 9 points.

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(updated at 1.40 PM)

Benchmark indices continue to trade lower amid choppy trades weighed down by metal, financials and index heavyweight ITC and RIL shares.

At 12:40, the Sensex was at 27,786, lower by 51 points or 0.2% and the Nifty was quoting at 8,409, down 14 points.

The broader markets continue to trade lower in line with the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap index has slipped by 0.6% and the Small index is trading marginally lower.

The market breadth is weak. Out of 2,234 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 875 advancing stocks as against 1,253 declines.

In the currency front, the rupee strengthened to 63.68 against the dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange today on fresh selling of the US currency by exporters and banks amid a higher opening in the equity market.

Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry yesterday constituted a three-member committee headed Justice A P Shah to look into the issue of Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) on foreign institutional investors (FIIs).  Foreign portfolio investors bought shares worth a net Rs 123.49 crore yesterday as per provisional data.

SECTORS & STOCKS

BSE Oil & Gas, FMCG and Healthcare and Bankex indices are down 0.4-1%. However, BSE Auto index has gained over 0.5%.

Tata Steel is the top Sensex loser, down almost 5% after reporting a consolidated net loss of Rs 5,674 crore in the quarter ended March 2015 (Q4) due to a sharp decline in revenues and an exceptional loss of Rs 4,811 crore.

Vedanta has slipped by 2.5%. Rating agency Moody's today said that Vedanta will have to strengthen its balance sheet in FY16 to avoid further pressure on its ratings.  

ITC and SBI are trading lower between 1-2% ahead of their earnings tomorrow.

Other notable losers are Cipla, GAIL, Tata Power, ICICI Bank, RIL and NTPC.

On the gaining side, Bajaj Auto has surged over 4%. The company reported a Q4 net profit of Rs 621.6 crore compared to 762.56 in the year-ago period, a decline of 18.5%. Total income fell 3.9% to Rs 4,739 crore in the quarter.

Mahindra & Mahindra and Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) today entered into a strategic partnership for agricultural machinery. The stock is trading marginally positive.

The environment ministry has given Coal India the go-ahead to expand the Jhanjra underground mining project in West Bengal, one of the few such proposals in recent years, which will help the state monopoly extract coal worth more than Rs 8,000 crore without destroying forests. Coal India is up around 3%.

Axis Bank, HUL Tata Motors and Hero Moto are other notable gainer, up 1-3.5%.

Among other shares, ABG Shipyard has tanked nearly 20% to fresh 52-week lows of Rs 138 on the BSE in intra-day trades after the company said that the principal repayments of loans are yet to start.

UltraTech Cement has moved higher by 2.6% to Rs 3,110, extending its 9% rally in the past four days on the BSE, on plans to acquire Jaiprakash Associates' Bhilai plant.