Sensex up over 150 points, Nifty holds 8,700; RIL gains 3%

Benchmark indices continue to trade firm amid volatility tracking select Asian cues along with strong buying among IT, metal and realty shares.

At 13:00 PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 178 points at 28,695 and the 50-share Nifty was up 55 points at 8,715.

The broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are up 1-2%.  Market breadth is strong with 1,697 gainers and 838 losers on the BSE.

For the Sensex resistance is seen at 28,637 above 28,791. Support is at 28,422 below 28,340 and 28,221. For the Nifty resistance is seen at 8,689 above 8,717.  Support is at below 8,591," Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services said in a technical note.

Further, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 143.98 crore yesterday, 7 April 2015, as per provisional data.

In the currency front, rupee is trading at 62.31 per dollar vs previous close of 62.27.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Japanese shares scaled 15-year peaks on Wednesday while Hong Kong's market leapt to seven-year highs amid speculation of more stimulus from China and Japan, as well as a delayed start to any tightening by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Shanghai scored seven-year peaks and MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 1.2% to its highest since mid-September.

South Korea's main index made a seven-month top, while the Philippines market has been on a tear over the last couple of weeks to reach record highs.

SECTORS & STOCKS

BSE Realty, Metal and IT indices have surged over 1.5% followed by counters like Consumer Durables, Auto, FMCG and Oil & Gas, all gaining between 0.5-1.4%. Infact, all the major BSE sectoral indices are trading in positive zone.

Shares of real estate companies are trading higher on the bourses on media reports that the Union government cleared amendments to the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2013, paving the way for legislation on regulators for the sector.

Housing Development & Infrastructure (HDIL), Unitech, Indiabulls Real Estate, Sobha, Delta Corp, Parsvnath Developers, Kolte - Patil Developers, DB Realty and Oberoi Realty were up 2%-8% on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

HDIL has rallied 8% to Rs 139, also its fresh 52-week high on the NSE.

Shares of Coal India (CIL) have moved higher by 5% on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on reports that the coal ministry has removed cap on the state-owned miner’s e-auction sales.

Reliance Industries’ (RIL) most significant recent gas discovery, MJ-1, in KG-D6 block may hold 1.4 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas resources, roughly half of these in the block’s main gas fields. The stock is up almost 3%.

From the IT space, TCS, Infosys and Wipro have gained between 1-2%.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories and its subsidiary, Promius Pharma LLC, have filed three new drug applications (NDAs) in support of the company's proprietary products group with the US Food And Drug Administration (US FDA). The stock is up 1%.

Other notable gainers are Bharti Airtel, Cipla, ITC, Tata Motors and BHEL.

On the losing side, Sesa Sterlite is down over 1.5% on the BSE in an otherwise firm market after rating agency Standard and Poor's downgraded Vedanta Resources one notch to 'BB-' from 'BB' with negative outlook, citing expected weak financial performance for at least next 12 more months because of low oil prices.

The country's third-largest private sector lender Axis Bank today cut its base rate or the minimum rate of lending by 0.20 per cent to 9.95 per cent, following its larger peers who also cut their offerings yesterday after Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan's hard talk. The stock is down 1%.

HDFC, ONGC, NTPC, Sun Pharma and Hero Moto have slipped between 1-2%.

Among other shares, Videocon Industries have gained after direct-to-home company Videocon d2h made its debut on the Nasdaq on Tuesday.

IFCI has now become a state-owned firm with the government increasing its stake in the infrastructure financing firm to 51.04 per cent. The stock is up 4%.