Sensex soars 450 points; financials rally

Tata Motors, Hindalco, HDFC, Tata Steel and L&T are the top 5 gainers on the BSE and are up between 3.5-7%

Markets continue to trade higher in the late noon trades mirroring strength in the global peers as a weaker than expected US jobs data dampened hopes of a hike in the interest rates by the Fed this year. A strong rally in financials coupled with gains in Index heavyweight Tata Motors on reports that Peugeot in talks with the company to make cars in India is contributing the most to the rise on the benchmarks.

At 1:30 PM, the Sensex has gained 465 points to quote at 26,686 and the Nifty has surged 134 points to trade at 8,085.The broader markets are trading inline with the larger peers with BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices up 1.5% each.

Tata Motors, Hindalco, HDFC, Tata Steel and L&T are the top 5 gainers on the BSE and are up between 3.5-7%. However, Maruti Suzuki, Dr Reddy’s Lab, Lupin, HUL and Sun Pharma are the top 5 losers and have lost between 0.5-3.5%.

Maruti Suzuki India has dipped 4% after the global investment bank Jefferies downgraded the stock to "underperform" from "buy" and cut its target price to Rs 3,952.

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(updated at 1:30 PM)


Markets continue to climb higher on stronger global cues and aided by banking and financial and auto shares coupled with a spectacular rally in Tata Motors.

A weaker-than-expected US jobs data have cheered the market participants as that may further push the US Fed rate hike and give the markets some more time to prepare for a hike.

At 11:30 AM, the Sensex has gained 374 points to quote at 26,595 and the Nifty has surged 108 points to trade at 8,060. In the broader market, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are trading 1.3% higher and are performing in line with the larger peers. The market breadth is extremely healthy with 1,703 advances versus 619 declines.

Meanwhile, investors continue to hail the unexpected rate-cut by the Reserve Bank of India last week.

RUPEE

Rising for the fifth day in a row, the rupee appreciated by 22 paise to trade at 65.29 against the US dollar in early trade today at the Interbank Foreign Exchange on increased selling of American currency by exporters.

CRUDE OIL

Oil extended gains in Asia today as a decline in US drilling pointed to a slowdown in production, but concerns over demand remain after a disappointing US jobs report.

In morning Asia trade, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for November delivery was up 11 cents to $45.65 and Brent crude for November jumped 15 cents to $48.28 a barrel.

TRENDING STOCKS

Sectorally, all the sectors are going strong with BSE Capital Goods, up 2.5% leading the sectors followed by BSE Bankex, up by 2.2%

Sales of Tata Motors passenger and commercial vehicles (including exports) were lower by 2% at 45,215 units, sold in September 2015, over 46,154 vehicles sold in September 2014. n commercial vehicles, medium and heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCV) sales grew by 52% to 15,915 units in September 2015 over September 2014. The stock has jumped over 6.7%

ICICI Bank on Thursday reduced its base rate by 35 basis points to 9.35%, which will be effective from today. The stock has surged 3.2%.

LIC increased its stake in Hero MotoCorp to 7.16% at September end as compared to 4.77% for the quarter ended June. The stock is up 2.3%.

NTPC will consider selling electricity to Bangladesh from its upcoming 750 MW plant at Kokrajhar in Assam once the neighbouring country finalises plans to buy power from Palatana project in Tripura. The stock has gained 1.5%

IT major Infosys has surpassed private sector lender HDFC Bank, becoming the third most valued Indian firm in terms of market valuation, with TCS leading the top 10 companies chart, followed by RIL. Infosys has lost 0.7%

NMDC has slashed prices of iron ore fines by more than 52 per cent to Rs 1,460 per tonne for the current month as compared to Rs 3,060 a tonne in January this year as it faces subdued ore demand. The stock is down 0.5%.

Bajaj Auto has gained 1.7% however, Bajaj Auto today reported 3.76% decline in total sales in September at 3,84,400 units as against 3,99,450 units in the same month last year.

Shares of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) were trading higher by up to 3% on the bourses in early morning trade after these companies announced that they have inked a pact to oversee operations of Kattupalli Port in Tamil Nadu.

L&T has jumped 3% while Adani ports has jumped 2.3%

Among other shares, Biocon has acquired business assets of Acacia Life Sciences Private Limited at Parawada.The stock has gained 0.8%