Sensex, Nifty end 1% higher: RIL jumps 4%

Markets have closed the session on a firm note led by strong buying among index heavyweight shares like RIL and financial shares.

Provisionally, the Sensex ended at 28,504.93, up 322.79 points while Nifty rose 8,631.90 up 102.45 points.


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Updated at 14:30

The benchmark indices have soared around 1% this afternoon, ignoring the sluggishness in other markets, led by strength in Reliance Industries and a rebound in other heavyweights such as Sun Pharma and Hindustan Unilever. In the process, the markets have recouped the losses of the previous session.

At 2:10PM, the Sensex was up 300 points or 1% at 28,485 and the Nifty was up 96 points at 8,626.

The broader markets were also trading in tandem with their largecap counterparts; gaining about 1% each at 11,220 and 11,678 respectively. The market breadth was positive, with 1,678 advances against 970 declines on the BSE.

Meanwhile, the market participants would be keeping a close watch on the monsoon session of Parliament, which started on a stormy note on Tuesday. The government is looking to pass key bills including the controversial Land Acquisition Bill and GST bill. In related news, a Rajya Sabha Select Committee on the GST bill presented its report in the upper house. Passage of GST Bill would undoubtedly be a big trigger for the markets.

The rupee has trimmed losses and was trading flat at 63.54 against the US dollar.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stock markets declined on Wednesday after U.S. earnings fell short of expectations and investors began to focus on next week's Federal Reserve meeting. Japan's Nikkei fell 1.3% to 20,579, South Korea's Kospi lost 1.1% to 2,060 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.9% to 25,303. The European indices, including the CAC, DAX and FTSE have shed about 0.5% in early trades.

SECTORS & STOCKS

The BSE Oil & Gas index has strengthened by more than 2% to emerge as the top sectoral gainer on the BSE. Reliance Industries is the leading Sensex gainer, jumping by 3.5% at Rs 1,043 ahead of its April-June earnings on Friday. Analysts expect Reliance’s gross refining margins (GRM) to come at $9.5 in the June quarter, while petchem margins could compensate and provide the kicker. RIL has galloped by nearly 15% since mid-June post announcement of the company's plans to launch Reliance Jio. Among other oil stocks, HPCL, BPCL, IOC and Coal India have gained about 2% each.

The pharma pack is also in good health in this session. Sun Pharma, which had recorded its biggest single-day decline of 15% in the previous session due to a bleak profit warning, has rebounded by 3%. Among other pharma stocks, Cadilla Healthcare, Cipla and Novartis have gained 1-5% each.

On the other hand, the IT stocks are having a sluggish session of trade. TCS is seeing weakness for the second straight session, shedding about 1%. And Infosys is seeing some profit-booking after ralling more than 10% in the previous session, in wake of its stellar Q1 numbers. The stock has shed about 1% at Rs 1101. Lupin, Bharti Airtel and Vedanta are the other significant losers on the BSE.