Sensex, Nifty end at record closing highs; Oil & Gas up 5%

03:30pm Market Closing
Equity benchmarks saw new all-time highs on Friday supported by oil & gas and banking & financials stocks. ONGC was the leading gainer, rising 11 percent followed by GAIL with 8 percent.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rallied 376.95 points or 1.51 percent to 25396.46 and the 50-share NSE Nifty shot up 109.30 points or 1.46 percent to 7583.40. Not only benchmarks but also the CNX Midcap touched fresh record high, up 1.65 percent to 10,952.35.

03:05pm Nifty, Sensex at all-time high
Equity benchmarks as well as broader indices touched fresh all-time highs. The Sensex rallied 360.89 points or 1.44 percent to 25380.40 and the Nifty jumped 102.05 points or 1.37 percent to 7576.15. ONGC and Reliance Industries contributed most to these gains.

About 2132 shares have advanced, 931 shares declined, and 82 shares are unchanged.

ONGC spiked 11 percent to trade at record high and Reliance Industries jumped 3 percent. GAIL rallied 7.5 percent. HDFC and Hero Motocorp rose 3 percent each. ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and SBI advanced 1-1.5 percent.

03:00pm Amtek Auto gains 20%
Brokerage house Nomura initiated a buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 416, offering 107 percent implied upside from closing price of Rs 201 on June 3. Amtek Auto surged 20 percent intraday to touch a six-year high of Rs 265.70.

Nomura says Amtek Auto is India's second-largest auto components company, with revenues of Rs 15,600 crore. "It has a global market share of 20 percent in turbocharger housings and 15 percent in ring gears. Amtek has been very aggressive with capex and acquisitions in the past - this has not played out as expected by management, as downcycles in the key markets of India (57 percent) and Europe (around 37 percent) led to a build-up of significant debt," it adds.

The brokerage house believes management is now focused on improving return ratios and generating free cashflows, which should be taken positively by the market.

02:55pm Market Update
The market extended rally in last hour of trade with the Nifty surpassing the 7550 level. The inded surged 83.75 points or 1.12 percent to 7557.85 and the Sensex jumped 298.42 points or 1.19 percent to 25317.93.

PSU Oil & Gas Index shot up over 4 percent with the ONGC and GAIL rising over 9 percent and 6 percent, respectively.

02:35pm Interview
RS Sharma, Former Chairman, ONGC, feels gas price revision would be a big trigger for ONGC. He, however, thinks that diesel prices should not be fully deregulated as diesel is highly sensitive for an emerging economy like India. He even does not feel that total under-recoveries could be done away with.

Sharma thinks the new government will look for options to reduce cash subsidy support. He is in favour of bringing in a fair price mechanism for subsidy sharing.

For LPG, Sharma said that a one-time price hike will not go down well with consumers. He feels the government should approach the price hike in the same ''steady manner and in small doses'' as it did for diesel.

02:20pm FII View
The market still has steam left to rise another 20 percent between now and March, feels S Nagnath, President and Chief Investment Officer, DSP Blackrock Investment Managers. The veteran fund manager sees increased infrastructure spending, policy reforms and a steady uptick in corporate earnings as being the key drivers over the next three years.

''I expect corporate earnings to grow 14-15 percent this year, and then 20 percent for each of the following two years,'' he said in an interview to moneycontrol.com.

This is expected to lead to a re-rating of the Sensex price earning multiple from its historical average of 15.0-15.5 to 18-19 times.

''Once the market sees the consistency in earnings growth, there will be a re-rating of the Sensex multiple and you could see the index touching 40,000 over the next three years,'' Nagnath said.

''Market may have run up in the last few months, but we are still in the early stages of a bull market,'' he said.

02:00pm Benchmark as well as broader indices remained on buyers' radar. The Sensex rose 242.95 points or 0.97 percent to 25262.46 and the Nifty gained 66.50 points or 0.89 percent to 7540.60.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap continued to outperform benchmarks, rising 1.5 percent each. About 2035 shares have advanced, 978 shares declined, and 95 shares are unchanged.
 
Top gainers are ONGC, GAIL, Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance Industries, Hero Motocorp, DLF and Kotak Mahindra Bank that rallied 2.5-7.5 percent.

However, Sesa Sterlite, Infosys, Hindalco Industries, TCS, NTPC and NMDC are top losers, falling 1-3 percent.

Shriram Transport, ONGC, Reliance Industries, DLF, Reliance Capital, SBI, Infosys and ICICI Bank were most active shares on exchanges.

01:52pm Market Update
The market remained on strong footing. The Sensex rose 186.17 points to 25205.68 and the Nifty advanced 46.15 points to 7520.25. About 1957 shares have advanced, 1000 shares declined, and 109 shares are unchanged.

01:50pm Sugar stocks sweeten
Sugar stocks like Bajaj Hindusthan, Balrampur Chini, Dhampur Sugar, Shree Renuka Sugars and Triveni Engineering rallied 8-13 percent after Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Thursday says the government will examine raising import tax on sugar to support local prices and help mills clear dues to cane growers.

"We have to keep farmers' interest in mind and have to ensure that sugar mills are in good financial health to clear Rs 11,000 crore (USD 1.85 billion) arrear to cane growers," he says after a meeting with some of his cabinet colleagues.

Paswan also says that the government is examining providing additional interest-free loans of Rs 4,400 crore to cash-strapped sugar mills to clear dues to cane farmers. Also, to boost liquidity of mills, the government may increase ethanol blending in petrol to 10 percent.

01:40pm LPG price hike?
There are no immediate plans of the government to raise LPG and kerosene prices, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting unnamed sources of Reuters.

It is learnt that the government will decide on deregulating diesel prices post Budget.

01:30pm Asian Paints in focus
Sources told CNBC-TV18 that Asian Paints has hiked decorative paint prices by 1.2 percent this week due to rising input costs. The company has raised decorative paint prices by Rs 6-10 per litre, say sources.

01:20pm Interview
Jammu & Kashmir Bank will be exiting PNB MetLife Insurance by selling 5 percent stake in the life insurance joint venture, Mushtaq Ahmad, Chairman & CEO, Jammu & Kashmir Bank told CNBC-TV18 in an interview. He said that stake sale process is in initial stages at this point and the bank is looking for right price and time to exit.

PNB MetLife India Insurance Company (PNB MetLife) is a joint venture between MetLife International Holdings Inc. (MIHI), Punjab National Bank Limited (PNB), Jammu & Kashmir Bank Limited (JKB), M. Pallonji and Company Private Limited and other private investors, with MIHI and PNB being the majority shareholders.

Ahmad is hopeful that this stake sale would be completed in this fiscal.

01:10pm FII View
Richard Gibbs of Macquarie Securities has marked India as one of the attractive destinations in emerging market but he cautions investors to be watchful of equity market rallies from here on. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Gibbs said all is going very well now but another 5-7 percent run will make him anxious. He also sees some bubble effect in the emerging market bonds.

01:00pm Benchmark indices gained further strength in afternoon trade led oil & gas and banking & financials stocks. The Sensex shot up 246.34 points or 0.98 percent to 25265.85 and the Nifty climbed 64.45 points or 0.86 percent to 7538.55.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 1.5 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively. Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of 1951 to 980 on the BSE.

ONGC surged over 7.5 percent on hopes of hike in natural gas prices on July 1. The government is likely to hike natural gas rates from July 1 after a new price formulation is approved by the cabinet, a top oil ministry source said on Thursday. GAIL and Reliance Industries gained 3-5 percent.

Top private sector lender ICICI Bank advanced 2 percent while its rival State Bank of India and Axis Bank rose 1.5 percent each. Housing finance company HDFC jumped nearly 2 percent.

However, Infosys, TCS, Hindalco and Sesa Sterlite topped the selling list, falling 1-3 percent.

12:55pm Gainers and Losers
ONGC spiked 6.82 percent and GAIL gained 5 percent followed by Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Hero Motocorp, DLF, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Bank of Baroda with 2-4.4 percent.

However, Sesa Sterlite, Infosys, Hindalco Industries, TCS, Tata Motors and NMDC lost 1-3 percent.

12:45pm Amtek Auto on buyers' radar
Amtek Auto gained 18.5 percent after brokerage house Nomura initiated a buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 416, offering 107 percent implied upside from closing price of Rs 201 on June 3.

Nomura says Amtek Auto is India's second-largest auto components company, with revenues of Rs 15,600 crore. "It has a global market share of 20 percent in turbocharger housings and 15 percent in ring gears. Amtek has been very aggressive with capex and acquisitions in the past - this has not played out as expected by management, as downcycles in the key markets of India (57 percent) and Europe (around 37 percent) led to a build-up of significant debt," it adds.

The brokerage house believes management is now focused on improving return ratios and generating free cashflows, which should be taken positively by the market.

12:30pm Interview
ONGC has hit a lifetime high on Friday following talks that there could be a gradual cut in LPG and kerosene under-recoveries going forward.

RS Sharma, Former Chairman, ONGC, feels gas price revision would be a big trigger for the company. He, however, thinks that diesel prices should not be fully deregulated as diesel is highly sensitive for an emerging economy like India. He even does not feel that total under-recoveries could be done away with.

Sharma thinks the new government will look for options to reduce cash subsidy support. He is in favour of bringing in a fair price mechanism for subsidy sharing.

For LPG, Sharma said that a one-time price hike will not go down well with consumers. He feels the government should approach the price hike in the same ''steady manner and in small doses'' as it did for diesel.

12:15pm FII View
Geosphere Capital Management's Arvind Sanger sees the Nifty closing in on 8000 pre-Budget in anticipation of policy reforms. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Sanger said India's structural advantage can help drive growth, in turn attracting the attention of global money managers.

Sanger said he has been buying midcaps for the last few months and thinks they are still a good bet because the risk-reward ratio is not too high.

He is advising investors to be cautious about what they buy in the run-up to the Budget as he expects a sell off after the event.

12:00pm Equity benchmarks consistently held positive momentum amid choppy trade. The Sensex gained 130.41 points to 25149.92 and the Nifty rose 32.50 points to 7506.60. About 1859 shares have advanced, 972 shares declined, and 113 shares are unchanged.

The broader markets continued their outperformance with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gaining more than a percent.

Sugar stocks like Bajaj Hindusthan, Balrampur Chini, Dhampur Sugar, Shree Renuka Sugars and Triveni Engineering rallied 7-12 percent after Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Thursday says the government will examine raising import tax on sugar to support local prices and help mills clear dues to cane growers.

"We have to keep farmers' interest in mind and have to ensure that sugar mills are in good financial health to clear Rs 11,000 crore (USD 1.85 billion) arrear to cane growers," he says after a meeting with some of his cabinet colleagues.

Paswan also says that the government is examining providing additional interest-free loans of Rs 4,400 crore to cash-strapped sugar mills to clear dues to cane farmers. Also, to boost liquidity of mills, the government may increase ethanol blending in petrol to 10 percent.

11:55am Cement companies' price hike
Deepak Khetrapal, MD & CEO, Orient Cement, said that prices have indeed gone up but by Rs 30-40 per bag, which is around 10 percent hike. He said if there has been a 30 percent hike, it could have happened only in select parts due to high demand, but is not an across-the-board increase.

Khetrapal said the hike has mainly been cost-driven.

Ashish Guha, CEO and MD, Heidelberg Cement, said they have taken a marginal price hike in central India on the back of higher input costs.

He said the demand in the month of May has showed signs of improvement, mainly due to pre-monsoon sales. He expects the demand to pick up hereon. The company's current net debt stands at Rs 1,000 crore.

11:40am Infosys under pressure
Shares of Infosys fell as much as 2.55 percent intraday today after the India's second largest software services firm on Thursday saw the exit of its global head of strategic sales, marketing and alliances Prasad Thrikutam.

The exit of Thrikutam, who was also the head of Infosys Americas , comes within a fortnight of the resignation of president and board member BG Srinivas as the company searches for a CEO to succeed SD Shibulal who is due to retire by January next year.

Interestingly, both Srinivas and Thrikutam worked with Infosys for 19 years.

11:30am Interview
The government will examine raising import tax on sugar to support local prices and help mills clear dues to cane growers, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Thursday.

"We have to keep farmers' interest in mind and have to ensure that sugar mills are in good financial health to clear Rs 11,000 crore (USD 1.85 billion) arrear to cane growers," he said after a meeting with some of his cabinet colleagues.

India, the world's second-biggest producer after Brazil, imposes a 15 percent tax on sugar imports.

Local mills have been demanding raising the duty to as much as 40 percent to help lift prices, which have been pressured by huge stocks.

"One cannot rule out 10 percent hike in sugar prices if the import duty is raised," Narendra Murkumbi, MD, Shree Renuka told CNBC-TV18 in an interview.

Paswan also said that the government is examining providing additional interest-free loans of Rs 4,400 crore to cash-strapped sugar mills to clear dues to cane farmers. Also, to boost liquidity of mills, the government may increase ethanol blending in petrol to 10 percent. "Strong commitement to the ethanol programme has been a positive of previous NDA government," Murkumbi said.

11:15am Market Expert
Broking firm IIFL's chairman Nirmal Jain does not expect the Nifty to see 8000 before the finance minister Arun Jaitley unveils his maiden Union Budget. He believes a healthy bull market rises slowly, steadily and with healthy corrections.

"If market is able to hold on to these gains, there has been a run-up from the exit poll day, then it shows that it is clearly a bull market and may be it is a long bull market. It will last for at least five years," he told CNBC-TV18.

11:00am Equity benchmarks continued to see buying interest supported by oil & gas, banks and healthcare. The Sensex advanced 159.33 points to 25178.84 and the Nifty gained 37.85 points to 7511.95. About 1859 shares have advanced, 804 shares declined, and 103 shares are unchanged.

ONGC kept its top position in the buying list in Sensex, rising 6 percent followed by Reliance Industries and GAIL with 2.7 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively. Shares of ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, Axis Bank, Hero Motocorp and Dr Reddy's Labs gained 1-2 percent.

However, Infosys, TCS, Sesa Sterlite and Hindalco Industries fell 2 percent each.

In the midcap space, Shree Renuka Sugars, Sobha Developer, Akzo Nobel and Responsive Industries jumped 8-12 percent while Tilak Finance, Jubilant Life, KSK Energy Ventures, Jain Irrigation and Shoppers Stop lost 3-5 percent.

10:58am Maruti Suzuki's Gujarat unit
The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India will kick off a roadshow this month to explain to global and domestic investors its move to let parent Suzuki Motor Corp own a proposed plant in Gujarat.

According to sources, the company's management led by Chairman RC Bhargava, along with Managing Director and CEO Kenichi Ayukawa and Chief Financial Officer Ajay Seth will meet institutional investors from the US, UK, Asia and India.

"It is a two-month long programme starting from the middle of June to middle of August. The meetings with the institutional investors will take place during this period," a source said.

A Maruti Suzuki India spokesperson did not comment. "Once the roadshow is over, the process for voting by shareholders will start," a source said, reports PTI.

10:50am Amtek Auto group in focus
Nomura initiated a buy rating on Amtek Auto with a target price of Rs 416, offering 107 percent implied upside from closing price of Rs 201 on June 3.

"Amtek Auto is India's second-largest auto components company, with revenues of Rs 156 billion. It has a global market share of 20 percent in turbocharger housings and 15 percent in ring gears. Amtek has been very aggressive with capex and acquisitions in the past - this has not played out as expected by management, as downcycles in the key markets of India (57 percent) and Europe (around 37 percent) led to a build-up of significant debt. We believe management is now focused on improving return ratios and generating free cashflows, which should be taken positively by the market," says Nomura in its note.

10:40am Real estate stocks in action
Bangalore-based real estate stocks see buying interest. Sobha Developers jumped 13.4 percent and Puravankara Projects rose 8 percent. Brigade Enterprises gained 12 percent and Prestige Estates Projects up 5 percent.

All these above stocks touched 52-week highs.

10:30am Interview
The Andhra Pradesh government's proposal to waive farm loans of around Rs 54,000 crore is a negative for the banking sector, feels Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman, State Bank of India.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, she said the Indian Banking Association was likely to protest the move.

On her bank's plans to merge its subsidiaries, she said there could be some progress over the next four months. There were no talks yet of listing the life insurance arm, SBI Life, she said.

Bhattacharya also said SBI would not form a holding company to fund subsidiaries.

10:20am ONGC on fire
Oil ministry sources told CNBC-TV18 that a decision on gas prices needs to be taken by July 1.

It is learnt that presentation (by oil ministry) to Prime Minister Narendra Modi includes short-term roadmap to hike production. Sources say ONGC will come out with policy to monetise its marginal fields.

The government must make existing production sharing contracts less rigid, more flexible, say sources.

10:10am Ranbaxy Labs in focus
The European drug regulator has said that drugs from the pharma company Ranbaxy's Toansa unit are fine.

EMA in a statement said, while they found number of GMP deficiencies in Toansa, but in their assessment they were assured that there was no risk to public health from these deficiencies.

European regulator also said the corrective measures put in place by Ranbaxy to ensure GMP-compliance at the Toansa were satisfactory. And hence the regulators will reinstate Toansa's GMP certificate, which was suspended in January 2014 after USFDA's import ban on the plant.

10:00am The market maintained early gains with the Sensex rising more than 200 points led by oil & gas stocks. The index climbed 214.40 points or 0.86 percent to 25233.91 and the Nifty gained 53.05 points or 0.71 percent to 7527.15.

The broader markets continued to outperform benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 1.3 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively. More than three shares advanced for every share declining on the BSE.

ONGC topped the buying list, gaining 7.38 percent followed by Reliance Industries with 4 percent. DLF, BPCL, GAIL, Tata Power and Hero Motocorp climbed 2-4 percent.

However, TCS, Infosys, Sesa Sterlite, Hindalco Industries, Wipro, Sesa Sterlite and HCL Technologies declined 1-2 percent.

09:55am TCS falls 1.6%
TCS is quoting ex-dividend today. The company announced final dividend of Rs 20 per share on April 16, 2014.

Tata Consultancy Services says the register of members & share transfer books of the company will remain closed from June 10, 2014 to June 13, 2014 (both days inclusive) for the purpose of payment of final dividend & 19th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company to be held on June 27, 2014.

09:45am Infosys falls 1.2%
India's second largest software services firm, Infosys Thursday saw the exit of its global head of strategic sales, marketing and alliances Prasad Thrikutam.

The exit of Thrikutam, who was also the head of Infosys Americas, comes within a fortnight of the resignation of President and Board Member B G Srinivas as the company searches for a CEO to succeed S D Shibulal who is due to retire by January next year.

Interestingly, both Srinivas and Thrikutam worked with Infosys for 19 years.

This is the 11th top-level exit from the Bangalore-based company since the return of co-founder N R Narayana Murthy at the helm of affairs in June last year, reports PTI.

09:35am Praj Industries in focus
Ace investor Rakesh Radheyshyam Jhunjhunwala and his wife has offloaded 8 percent equity stake in biofuel company Praj Industries through block deals on Thursday.

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala sold 1.22 crore shares (representing 6.87 percent stake) of the company at Rs 75.06 apiece and Rekha Rakesh Jhunjhunwala sold 20 lakh shares at Rs 75 on the BSE.

As of March 2014, he and his wife held 6.99 percent and 1.46 percent stake in the company, respectively.

However, the stock gained 2 percent today.

09:25am FII View
Geosphere Capital Management's Arvind Sanger sees the Nifty closing in on 8000 pre-Budget in anticipation of policy reforms. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Sanger said India's structural advantage can help drive growth, in turn attracting the attention of global money managers.

He said select oil and gas shares can rise 20-25 percent from these levels if the government clarifies on its energy pricing policy. HPCL, BPCL and ONGC are the stocks he is bullish on. Sanger said he will advise investors to increase exposure to the sector if a decision on gas pricing is taken soon.

He is advising investors to be cautious about what they buy in the run-up to the Budget as he expects a sell off after the event.

09:15am Equity benchmarks extended rally in early trade Friday with the Nifty reclaiming 7500-mark supported by oil & gas, FMCG and banks stocks. The index rose 52.30 points or 0.70 percent to 7526.40 and the Sensex jumped 207.96 points or 0.83 percent to 25227.47.

About 1128 shares have advanced, 180 shares declined, and 24 shares are unchanged.

Reliance Industries, ONGC, Hero Motocorp, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, DLF and BPCL topped the buying list, rising 2-2.5 percent. However, Infosys, TCS, Wipro, UltraTech Cement and HCL Technologies fell.

The Indian rupee opened higher by 19 paise at 59.14 per dollar on Friday versus previous day's closing value of 59.33 a dollar.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity says, "The stimulus from ECB to the banks has spread positive sentiment globally. Taking cues from this, we expect local equities to trade strong resulting in appreciation of rupee. The profit booking will keep market under pressure,"

He expects the rupee to trade in a range of 59-60/dollar.

On the global front, Wall Street closed at record highs on Thursday, with both the Dow and the S&P 500 advancing further into uncharted territory, after the European Central Bank moved to combat disinflation and investors looked to today's employment report.

The European Central Bank has cut the headline interest rate across the Eurozone to 0.15 percent from 0.25 percent. Staying with global central bank action… the Bank of England left interest rates unchanged at their record low of 0.5 percent.

The European markets closed mixed, as investors digested the raft of stimulus measures announced by the European central bank to halt deflation and fire up the economy. Asian markets were mixed.