Markets end higher fourth straight day; Sensex up 146 points

The rally was led by RIL and defensive shares

Benchmark share indices gained for the fourth straight session led by defensives while steel shares rallied on reports that the government has raised import duty on steel products.

The 30-share Sensex ended up 146 points at 26,833 and the 50-share Nifty closed 42 points higher at 8,090.

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(Updated at 2:20PM)

Benchmark share indices edged higher in late trades led by index heavyweight Reliance Industries along with FMCG majors while steel shares rallied amid reports that the government has notified hikes in import duty on steel products.

At 2:20PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 225 points at 26,911 and the 50-share Nifty was up 64 points at 8,111.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net sellers to the tune of Rs 522 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

RUPEE

The Indian currency firmed up against the US dollar on the back of selling of the US dollars by banks and exporters while gains in domestic equities also aided sentiment. The rupee was trading higher at 64.09 compared to the previous close of 64.24.

BUZZING STOCKS

According to reports, the government has notified hike in long steel products to 7.5% from 5.5% and flat steel products to 10% from 7.5%.

Among steel majors, Tata Steel was up over 5%, SAIL gained 3.8%, JSW Steel rose 4.5%, Jindal Steel was up 3.1%.

In the mid-cap space, Bhushan Steel was up 6% and Uttam Galva Steels surged 7.7% each while Kalyani Steel gained 7%.

Reliance Industries was up 2.2%. The company plans to gradually reopen all its 1,400 fuel retail outlets by next March. It has nearly 400 filling stations working now.

FMCG shares firmed up on hopes that the monsoon which has been 13% above normal so far pan-India would boost the rural economy and help volume growth. Hindustan Unilever was up 4% and ITC gained 1%.

Wipro was up nearly 2% on plans to set up facility in Odisha that would house 28,000 staff in Bhubaneswar.

TCS pared early gains and was trading with marginal gains. The IT major is one of the frontrunners in the race to win Swedish truckmaker AB Volvo's IT outsourcing contract, worth about $500 million.

Other Sensex gainers include, L&T, Cipla and HDFC among others.

Meanwhile, Vedanta was the top Sensex loser down over 2% on reports that LIC which holds 9.06% stake in Cairn India, is seeking a better offer, including higher dividend on the redeemable preference shares that the metal producer plans to offer Cairn shareholders as part of its planned merger. Cairn India was down nearly 1%.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap index was up 1.7% and Small-cap index was up 1.5%.

Market breadth was strong with 1,661 gainers and 843 losers on the BSE.