Mumbai: The BSE Sensex closed over 350 points higher on Wednesday. The NSE’s Nifty ended more than 100 points to close at record high. India’s ranking in the World Bank ease of doing business survey for 2018 climbed a record 30 notches to 100 as a range of regulatory and policy reforms put in place by the Union and state governments over the past four years started delivering results.
Traders await the start of central bank meetings and the nomination of the next Fed chair. According to Bloomberg report, rates are widely seen staying unchanged and investors appear more focused on the nomination of the next Fed chair, which is expected on Thursday. Here are the latest updates from the markets:
■ 3.33pm: BSE Sensex closed higher by 387.14 points, or 1.17%, to 33,600.27, while the Nifty 50 gained 105.30 points, or 1.02%, to close at 10,440.60.
■ 3.14pm: Bharti Airtel, SBI, ICICI Bank and HDFC were top gainers with gains to the tune of 8.47%, 4.59%, 4.58% and 2.68%, respectively. On the losing side, Dr. Reddy’s, Power Grid, Hero MotoCorp and Sun Pharma fell 3.06%, 1.41%, 1.17% and 0.90%, respectively.
■ 3.07pm: UFO Moviez India Ltd said it has been in discussions with Qube Technologies for a possible transaction. UFo Moviez gave the statement in response to an ET Now report that the company is in talks with Qube for a merger. UFO Moviez shares rose 1.11% to Rs438.
■ 2.43pm: BSE Sensex rose 405.40 points, or 1.22%, to 33,618.53, while the Nifty 50 gained 106.25 points, or 1.03%, to 10,441.55.
■ 2.37pm: Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services Ltd plans to issue up to 25 million shares on preferential allotment basis to Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, and approved issuance of upto 2.4 crore equity shares through qualified institutions placement. The company’s shares rose 1.89% to Rs439.20.
■ 2.35pm: Shares of Indian fertilizer companies gain in the afternoon trade after the government approved outstanding subsidy payment of Rs10,000 crore to fertilizer companies for FY 2016-17. National Fertilizers Ltd rose 7.7%, Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd gained 4.09%, Southern Petrochemicals Industries was up 4.9% and Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd up 4.8%.
■ 2.30pm: Reliance Infrastructure Ltd said it has completed the sale of western region system strengthening scheme transmission undertakings to Adani Transmission Ltd. Reliance Infra shares rose 0.06% and Adani Transmission was up 0.72%.
■ 1.47pm: BSE Sensex rose 376.66 points, or 1.13%, to 33,589.79, while the Nifty 50 gained 91.55 points, or 0.89%, to 10,426.85.
■ 1.45pm: Among the sectoral indices, the telecom index gained most to 4.44% followed by realty, which was up 3.66%, and Bankex 1.97%. Meanwhile, power, utilities, healthcare, consumer durables, auto and IT were trading lower.
■ 1.30pm: Premier Explosives Ltd shares surged 6.7% to Rs456.45 after the company said it has received orders worth Rs145 crore from Coal India Ltd.
■ 12.42pm: BSE Sensex surged 421.84 points, or 1.27%, to 33,634.97, while the Nifty 50 rose 109 points, or 1.05%, to 10,444.30.
■ 12.40pm: New India Assurance Co. Ltd’s (NIA) Rs9,600 initial public offering (IPO) was subscribed 87% so far on the first day of the share sale on Wednesday, data from stock exchanges showed. As of 12.15pm, the IPO received bids for 104,165,532 shares against the total issue size of 120 million shares, according to NSE data.
■ 12.35pm: The initial public offering (IPO) of Mahindra Logistics Ltd was subscribed 71% on the second day of the share sale on Wednesday. As of 12pm, the IPO received bids for 9,698,874 shares against the total issue size of 13,570,143 shares, according to NSE data. The IPO will close on 2 November.
■ 11.40am: Eicher Motors Ltd’s total motorcycles sales rose 18% in October to 69,492 units. Oct total exports jumped 98% to 1,478 units. The company’s shares fell 2.13% to Rs31,600.
■ 11.10am: BSE Sensex jumped 368.10 points, or 1.11%, to 33,581.23, while the Nifty 50 rose 95.55 points, or 0.93%, to 10,431.85.
■ 11.05am: Pincon Spirit Ltd shares rose 1.18% to Rs72.75 after the company said its September-quarter net profit rose to Rs13.08 crore versus Rs9.44 crore year ago.
■ 11.00am: Maruti Suzuki India total sales up about 9% in October to 146,446 vehicles versus 133,793 vehicles last year. Total domestic sales stood at 136,000 vehicles versus 123,764 vehicles last year. Passenger cars sales were at 99,077 vehicles versus 92,886 vehicles last year. Export sales were at 10,446 vehicles versus 10,029 vehicles last year. Shares were trading 0.39% lower at Rs8,185.
■ 9.56am: BSE Sensex surged 301.07 points, or 0.91%, to 33,514.20, while the Nifty 50 rose 84.90 points, or 0.82%, to 10,420.20.
■ 9.53am: InterGlobe Aviation Ltd rose 2.2% to Rs 1271.35 after the company on Tuesday reported a 294% increase in net profit to Rs551.55 crore, helped by credits received from manufacturers for aircraft delivery delays and grounding, besides better revenue management.
■ 9.50am: Syndicate Bank rose 10% to Rs 90.65 after the bank reported a net profit of Rs 105.24 crore, up 27.7% from Rs 82.42 crore a year ago.
■ 9.47am: Dredging Corp. of India Ltd rose 11% to Rs 616.90 after news report said that the cabinet may consider stake sale in the company.
■ 9.45am: Dabur India Ltd rose 4.5% to Rs348 after the company on Tuesday reported consolidated net profit of Rs361.93 crore in the quarter ended 30 September as compared with Rs357.27 crore reported in the year-ago quarter. On absolute numbers, its net profit grew just 1.3%. However, the company said numbers are not comparable since the latest quarter came under the goods and services tax (GST) regime.
■ 9.25am: BSE Sensex jumped 266.53 points, or 0.80%, to 33,479.66, while the Nifty 50 rose 69.45 points, or 0.67%, to 10,404.75.
■ 9.23am: Bharti Airtel Ltd rose 5% to Rs520. Airtel’s net profit declined to Rs343 crore in the quarter ended 30 September from Rs1,461 crore a year earlier, the company said on Tuesday. That missed the Rs351.3 crore profit estimate of 16 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
■ 9.20am: State Bank of India up 1.3% to Rs310 after the bank cuts retail term deposit rates by 25 basis points across tenures. PSU Banks trading higher. Allahabad Bank rose 3.4%, Bank of India 3.2%, Punjab National Bank 3%, Andhra Bank 2.5%, Uco Bank 2.2%, Canara Bank 2.2%, Central Bank of India 2.2%, Bank of Baroda 2.2%, Oriental Bank of Commerce 2.1%, India Bank 2%, Corporation Bank 1.8%
■ 9.17am: Axis Bank rose 1.6% to Rs 531.45 after Mint reported that Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte. Ltd and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) are in talks to co-invest with private equity firm Bain Capital to acquire a 10% stake in Axis Bank Ltd.
■ 9.15am: The rupee opened at 64.67 a dollar and touched a high of 64.64 -- a level last seen on 21 September. At 9.15am, the home currency was trading at 64.65 against the dollar, up 0.15% from its Tuesday’s close of 64.75.
■ 9.13am: The 10-year bond yield was at 6.879% compared to its previous close of 6.862%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
■ 9.10am: Asian currencies were trading lower. Japanese yen was down 0.22%, Indonesian rupiah 0.19%, Philippines peso 0.13%, Malaysian ringgit 0.04%. However, South Korean won was up 0.32%, Thai baht 0.14% and China renminbi 0.1%. The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 94.695, up 0.14% from its previous close of 94.552.