ITC, TCS, Reliance Industries Take Nifty Beyond 9,500

The Sensex and Nifty extended their record run. The Sensex rose over 250 points while the broader Nifty closed above 9,500 levels for the first time ever. The surge in Sensex and Nifty was on the back of gains in heavyweight shares such as ITC, TCS, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel and HDFC. The sentiment on Dalal Street turned upbeat after the foreign institutional investors resumed buying shares in Indian markets after being net sellers in the month of April.

Here are live stock market updates:

3:35 pm: The stock markets extended record run. The Sensex advanced 260 points to close at 30,583 and Nifty closed above 9,500 levels for first time ever, the index advanced 67 points to 9,512. 

3:06 pm: Reliance Industries is looking positive on charts after a phase of consolidation. It can go up to Rs 1,410 in the near term and the stock also has a potential to go up to 1,500 levels as well, says Sumeet Bagadia, associate director at Choice Broking

2:45 pm: Sumeet Bagadia, associate director at Choice Broking, says "Nifty is looking strong and it has given breakout on charts. Nifty can go up to 10,000 levels in next 2 months on the downside support for Nifty is around 9,400-9,450 levels."

2:40 pm: Market breadth turns neutral as 1,355 shares advance while 1,326 were declining on the BSE.

2:00 pm: The NSE benchmark Nifty moved above 9,500 for first time while the Sensex rose as much as 240 points to lifetime high of 30,562.

1:50 pm: Banking shares were witnessing buying interest. The BSE Bankex was up 0.4 per cent; Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, State Bank of India, IndusInd Bank and Yes Bank were among the top gainers.

1:40 pm: Punjab National Bank reports net profit of Rs 262 crore against loss of Rs 5,367 crore during the same quarter last year. Its gross non-performing assets as a percentage of total advances came in at 12.53 per cent compared 13.7 per cent in the previous quarter. PNB shares jump 6 per cent to Rs 177.

1.10 pm: Sensex was up 151 points at 30,473 and the Nifty50 index traded 38.4 points higher at 9,483.8. ACC was the top gainer in Nifty, up 2.94 per cent followed by Bharti Airtel and Bank of Baroda, which were up 2.91 per cent and 1.96 per cent respectively. Meanwhile, Zee Entertainment was the top loser in Nifty, down 1.85 per cent.

12:33 pm: Tata Steel will report its full year and March quarter earnings later in the day. Analysts expect Tata Steel to post net profit of Rs 961 crore against loss of Rs 3,213 crore during the same quarter last year. Its sales are expected to come in at Rs 31,620 crore compared with Rs 29,164 crore in the same period last year.

12:27 pm: ITC, TCS, Reliance Industries, Tata Motors and Bharti Airtel were among the top Sensex movers. Gains in these shares collectively contributed 100 points to the Sensex.

12:08 pm: Adani Power, NTPC, Tata Power, Reliance Power and Reliance Infra were among the gainers from the power space.

10:49 am: The Sensex and Nifty came off the record highs as profit-booking emerged in select banking, capital goods, realty and power shares. The Sensex was up 94 points at 9,466 and Nifty was at 9,466, up 20 points.

10:46 am: The overall market breadth remains marginally positive as 1,203 shares advance while 1,035 decline on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

10:39 am: Domestic brokerage Kotak has maintained its buy call on Vedanta for target price of Rs 300 per share.

10:36 am: AK Prabhakar, head of research at IDBI Capital Markets and Research, says "Liquidity is moving the markets higher and the recent rally in the markets can take Nifty to 9,600-9,700 levels before any meaningful correction comes. However, a correction would be welcome step for long term investment perspective."

10:21 am: Shares of Skipper Ltd rallied as much as 9 per cent to hit freash 52-week high of Rs 214 after the company post market hours reported net profit of Rs 52.8 crore on sales of Rs 583.7 crore. During the same period last financial year, the company reported net profit of Rs 36.1 crore on sales of Rs 530 crore.

10:19 am: Reliance Industries, TCS, ITC, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, Tata Motors and Dr Reddy's Labs were among the top contributors towards today's gain in the Sensex.

9:56 am: Indosolar Ltd was the top gainer from the small-cap space, up 14.35 per cent at Rs 9.72. Future Lifestyle Fashions, TGB Banquets And Hotels, Voltamp Transformers and Avanti Feeds were also among the gainers.

9:47 am: Adani Power was the top gainer from the mid-cap space, up 8 per cent at Rs 33. OFSS, JSW Energy, Reliance Power, Tata Power, GE T&D Ltd, Indian Hotels and M&M Financial Services were also among the gainers, up 1.5-3 per cent each.

9:44 am: Asian Paints, Hindalco, Zee Entertainment, Bank of Baroda, Cipla, Bajaj Auto and Coal India were among the laggards in the Nifty.

9:41 am: The broader markets were underperforming the benchmark indices. The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices were up 0.26 and 0.4 per cent each respectively.

9:26 am: Buying visible across the sectors all the sectoral indices were quoting higher. IT, FMCG, oil & gas indices were up between 0.5-0.8 per cent each.

9:21 am: From the Nifty basket of shares, 37 were advancing while 14 were declining. Bharti Airtel was the top Nifty gainer, up 3 per cent at Rs 375. Reliance Industries, Bharti Infratel, TCS, Dr Reddy's Labs, ACC, Tata Motors and ICICI Bank were also among the gainers.

8:40 am: On the macro-economic front, India's trade deficit witnessed about three-fold increase to $13.24 billion mainly on account of a sharp jump in gold and crude oil imports during the month.

8:33 am: The foreign institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 235 crore while domestic institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 66 crore on Monday.

8:31 am: Punjab National Bank will also report its earnings today. Analysts expect the state-run lender to report net profit of Rs 460 crore against loss of Rs 5,367 crore in the same period last year. Its gross non-performing assets as a percentage of total advances is likely to come in at 13.1 per cent compared with 13.7 per cent in th previous quarter.

8:27 am: Tata Steel will be in focus today as the company will report its full year and March quarter earnings later in the day. Analysts expect Tata Steel to post net profit of Rs 961 crore against loss of Rs 3,213 crore during the same quarter last year. Its sales are expected to come in at Rs 31,620 crore compared with Rs 29,164 crore in the same period last year.