Sensex Trades 225 Points Higher; Sesa Sterlite, Hindalco Gain

MUMBAI: The 30-share bellwether BSE Sensex was trading higher by over 225 points, led by shares of metal, realty and auto companies. At 12.20pm, the Sensex was trading higher by 0.83 percent, or 226.56 points, at 27,468.34, while the 50-share CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange rose 0.78 percent, or 63.90 points, to 8,264.60.

 All the 30 Sensex stocks were trading up. Sesa Sterlite Ltd was the top gainer, up 4.3 percent to Rs.216.30, Hindalco Industries Ltd jumped 3 percent to Rs.156.75, Tata Steel Ltd rose 2.7 percent to Rs.408.75. After coal and insurance reforms, the government may take the ordinance route soon to pave the way for auction of iron ore and other minerals as proposed amendments to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act have been pending since long, according to PTI.

All the sectoral indices were trading higher. BSE metal was the top sectoral gainer, up 2.8 percent followed by BSE realty which was up 2.1%. BSE auto, power and consumer durables were up 1.5 percent, 1.4 percent and 1.2 percent respectively. BSE oil and gas, capital goods, healthcare were up 1 percent each. BSE IT and Teck indices were up 0.5 percent each. Auto shares were trading higher.

 Tata Motors Ltd up 2.4% to Rs.496.70, TVS Motors Co. Ltd rose 2.4 percent to Rs.268.30, Eicher Motors Ltd 1.3 percent, Hero MotoCorp Ltd rose 1.2 percent to Rs.3133.50, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd rose 1 percent. Aban Offshore Ltd rose 12.1 percent to Rs.468.35 after the rating agency Credit Analysis and Research Ltd (CARE) has revised the rating to BB- from D. United Breweries Holdings Ltd rose 12.5 percent to Rs.21.55 after Mint reported that the Culcutta high court has rejected the United Bank of India’s decision to tag directors at Kingfisher Airlines Ltd as wilful defaulters on technical grounds.

Spice Mobility Ltd rose 20 percent to Rs.26.40 on BSE after the company said in a notice to BSE that it will consider delisting of the company on 2 January. Career Point Ltd rose 8.5% to Rs.146.60 after the company said in a notice to BSE that it is in pact with Rajasthan government for skill development and training opportunities courses. Jindal Photo Ltd rose 2.1 percent to Rs.241.25 while Jindal Poly Films Ltd rose 2.8 percent to Rs.283.90. On 19 December both the company informed to BSE that its board will consider merger of both the company on 29 December.

 Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd rose 1.4 percent to Rs. 789.50 after news report says that the company plans to out-license its molecule for pain management. According to the report, the molecule may have a market potential of $1 billion. Since the beginning of this year, the Sensex has gained 29.53 percent, while foreign institutional investors have bought a net of $15.99 billion from local equity markets and $26.38 billion from the debt market. Asian stocks rose to the highest level in almost three weeks, buoyed by gains in the U.S. and new bank rules in China that will help spur lending.

The euro traded near a two-year low while oil advanced, Bloomberg reported. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was trading up 2 percent and China’s Shanghai Composite was up 1.1 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average up 0.2 percent. U.S. stocks ended higher on Friday, with both the Dow and S&P 500 closing at records in a broad rally, though trading was light with many market participants still out for the Christmas holiday, Reuters reported. S&P500 Index up 0.33 percent, The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.13 percent and Nasdaq Composite gained 0.7 percent.