Sensex Posts Biggest Gain in 29 Months, Nifty Settles Above 7,200

The Sensex posted its biggest single day gain (in percentage terms) on Tuesday in over two years and Nifty closed above its crucial psychological level of 7,200 on hopes of a out of the turn rate cut from RBI governor Raghuram Rajan a day after Finance Minister Arun Jailey stuck to path of fiscal consolidation by maintaining fiscal deficit target of 3.5 per cent of GDP for financial year 2016-17.

In absolute terms, the Sensex posted biggest single-day gain in nearly seven years.

The Sensex surged 777 points or 3.38 per cent to close at 23,779 and Nifty rallied 235 points or 3.37 to settle at 7,222.

Buying was visible across the board with banking, FMCG, real estate, IT and capital goods indices advancing 3.5-4.9 per cent.

From the Nifty-50 basket of shares, 47 stocks ended higher while only three stocks closed in the red.

ITC was the top Sensex gainer, the stock closed 9.1 per cent higher at Rs 325.10. ICICI Bank, Infosys, TCS, Larsen & Toubro, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Axis Bank and Reliance Industries also ended higher supporting gains in the benchmark indices.

3:17 p.m.: The stock markets continued to rally on rate cut hope. The Sensex rallied as much as 800 points to 23,810.64 and 50-share Nifty advanced 247 points to 7,233.

2:36 p.m.: The broader markets were also trading firmly higher. The BSE mid-cap index advanced 2.47 per cent and the small-cap index surged 2.75 per cent.

2:06 p.m.: The Sensex rallied over 700 points and Nifty recalimed its crucial psychological level of 7,200 on the back of broad-based buying.

2:01 p.m.: Rally in the stock markets was led by gains in ITC, ICICI Bank, Infosys, TCS, Larsen & Toubro, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Reliance Industries.

1:48 p.m.: The stock markets continued their northbound journey in afternoon trades. The Sensex surged as much as 680 points to 23,682 and Nifty rose over 200 points and was close to its crucial psychological level of 7,200.

1:42 p.m.: BSE FMCG index extended gains. The index rose 4.5 per cent led by gains in ITC, Godrej Consumer Products, Britannia Industries, Tata Global Beverages and Godfrey Philips.

1:27 p.m.: BSE IT index was up 3.15 per cent; Infosys, TCS, HCL Technologies, Wipro, Mind Tree and NIIT Tech were among the top gainers.

1:14 p.m.: BSE Realty index advanced 2.84 per cent; Indibulls Real Estate was the top gainer from this space, up 5.6 per cent at Rs 48.20. DLF, HDIL, Phoenix Mills, NBCC, Unitech, D B Realty, Sobha Developers and Omaxe were also among the gainers, up 1-5 per cent each.

12:51 p.m.: The stock market rally extended to the noon deals. The Sensex surged as much as 619 points to 23,621 and Nifty rallied 187 points to 7,175.

12:30 p.m.: ONGC, HDFC, Dr Reddy's Labs and Hindustan Uniliver were among the notable losers in the Sensex.

12:21 p.m.: The Sensex rallied nearly 600 points and Nifty was firm above 7,150 on the back of broad-based buying which was triggered on hopes that RBI governor Raghuram Rajan would cut interest rates after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stuck to the path of fiscal consolidation by maintaining fiscal deficit target of 3.5 per cent of GDP for FY16-17.

12:10 p.m.: PSU banking shares were also witnessing buying interest. The PSU Bank Nifty advanced 2 per cent; Punjab National Bank, Bank of India, Canara Bank, IDBI Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Indian Overseas Bank were among the top gainers, up 2.7-3 per cent each.

12:03 p.m.: Market breadth remains positive as 1,730 stocks advance while 489 decline.

11:56 a.m.: Nifty 7,000 strike price put option was the most active options contract on the National Stock Exchange. The premium on the contract declined 44 per cent to Rs 83.2. Over 1 million shares were added to the open interest of over 6 million shares.

11:40 a.m.: Madhucon Projects, Nucleus Software Exports, Igarashi Motors, Shakti Pumps, Suven Life Sciences and Federal-Mogul Goetze were among the gainers from the small-cap space, up 9-16 per cent each.

11:34 a.m.: Buying visible across the sectors. Banking, FMCG, IT, capital goods, auto and realty indices rally 2 to nearly 4 per cent each.

11:30 a.m.: FMCG stocks were witnessing buying interest. The BSE FMCG index rallied 3.8 per cent led by gains in ITC.

10:59 a.m.: The market breadth was extremely positive as 1,605 stocks were advancing while 404 were declining.

10:45 a.m.: Shares of salt-to-cigarette-to-hotel conglomerate, ITC rallied as much as 8.11 per cent to hit intraday high of Rs 319.80 on the back of lowest excise duty hike in five years.

10:30 a.m.: Shares of upstream oil companies like ONGC and Oil India extended selloff to the second day after the government proposed to revise the cess on crude oil, a move which will lower earnings of oil producing companies. 

Shares of ONGC and Oil India fell 3 per cent and 2 per cent each respectively. (Read)

9:56 a.m.: Buying in banking, FMCG and IT stocks boosted the stock markets. The Sensex rallied as much as 510 points to 23,512.42 and Nifty surged 153 points to 7,140.

9:51 a.m.: Banking stocks were witnessing buying interest. The Bank Nifty advanced 2.44 per cent to hit high of 14,287; ICICI Bank was the top gainer from this space, up 5.3 per cent to Rs 200.10. Axis Bank, Yes Bank, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, IndusInd Bank, Bank of India and Federal Bank were also among the gainers, up 2.2-3.45 per cent each.

9:48 a.m.: The Sensex surged over 450 points to 23,462 and Nifty rallied 141 points to 7,128 as clamour for rate cut grows post Budget 2016.

9:45 a.m.: There were apprehensions that government would not stick to the path of fiscal consolidation and would tinker with long term capital gains tax and both the things did not came which is positive for the markets in the near term, says Nilesh Shah of Envision Capital Services.

9:40 a.m.: Buying interest was visible in banking stocks as well. The BSE mid-cap index advanced 1 per cent and the small-cap index surged 1.2 per cent. From the mid-cap space, IDBI Bank was the top gainer from this space, up 3.42 per cent to Rs 60.45. Berger Paints, NALCO, Sun TV Network, Yes Bank, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Crompton Greaves and Bank of India were also among the gainers, up 2.2-3 per cent each.

9:31 a.m.: The stock markets extended gains on rate cut hopes. Sensex surged as much as 436 points to 23,438 and Nifty rallied 131 points to trade above its crucial psychological level of 7,100.

9:21 a.m.: The Sensex rose over 300 points and Nifty moved above its crucial psychological level of 7,050 on hopes of rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India a day after Finance Minister Aun Jaitley stuck to his path of fiscal consolidation by maintaining fiscal deficit target of 3.5 per cent of GDP for the financial year 2017.

At day's highest level, the Sensex rose as much as 302 points to 23,303.66 and Nifty advanced 91 points to 7,077.90.

Buying was visible across the sectors. FMCG, banking and IT stocks were on investors' radar. The BSE FMCG index was the top gainer, the index surged over 2.5 per cent on value buying in ITC after yesterday's massive selloff. 

The Bank Nifty rose over 1.5 per cent on hopes of rate cut from Raghuram Rajan after finance minister stuck to the path of fiscal consolidation.

From the Nifty-50 basket of shares, 40 stocks were advancing while only 10 were declining.

ITC was the top Nifty gainer. It was followed by ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Infosys, Yes Bank, Punjab National Bank, HCL Technologies, Tata Motors and Wipro, up 1.65-3.2 per cent each.

8:10 a.m.: The Indian benchmark indices are likely to open higher tracking positive trading of Nifty futures on Singapore Stock Exchange amid positive global cues.

The Nifty futures traded on Singapore Stock Exchange also known as the SGX Nifty was trading 0.60 per cent or 41 points higher at 7,048.

Meanwhile, in a boost to the equity markets, The People's Bank of China (PBOC) said on its website on Monday that it cut its reserve requirement ratio, or the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves, by 50 basis points.

Most of the Asian markets were trading on a positive note. China's Shanghai Composite advanced 0.45 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.56 per cent. On the other hand, Japan's Nikkei fell 0.7 per cent.

Overnight, Wall Street ended lower on Monday, falling out of lockstep with oil prices as energy and healthcare shares lost ground.

US indexes gave up early gains despite a 3 percent rally in US oil prices. Stocks and oil have been strongly correlated in recent months as crude prices tanked to decade lows, and their movements in opposite directions during the session was notable to investors.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.74 per cent to 16,516.5 points and the S&P 500 lost 0.81 per cent to 1,932.22.

The Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.71 per cent to 4,557.95.

Back home, foreign institutional investors continued to sell Indian shares in the cash segment. According to the NSE data, the FIIs sold shares worth Rs 2,018.02 crore while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 1,445.25 crore on Monday.