Sensex northbound

Heavyweight Reliance Industries has seen huge buying interest that pushed the Sensex 200 points higher again. Short covering as well as fresh longs build up has been helping RIL since yesterday; the stock gained another 4%. RIL added 2.8 lakh shares in the open interest.

The market was showing strong uptrend but profit booking at higher levels capped the upside. The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading at 16,617, up 199 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 60 points at 4,980.

Nifty 5000 call added 8 lakh shares in open interest, which shows that the market may go up further. EvenNifty 5200 call added 5 lakh shares in open interest.

European markets too were quite supportive; France's CAC and Germany's DAX were up over 0.5%. Britain's FTSE rallied 2.8% (it was closed yesterday).

Global cues lift Sensex 200 pts

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trend higher on Tuesday morning led by positive global cues. The indices reacted to the 15% jump in Athex (Greek market) Composite on consolidation in the banking industry. There was also a sigh of relief as the damage from Hurricane Irene was less than feared.

Technology, financial, metal, realty and capital goods stocks were seeing buying interest. But investors looked a bit cautious ahead of GDP data today.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading at 16,621, up 205 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 62 points to 4,982 led by gains in 45 stocks.

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group's stocks like Reliance Capital, Reliance Communications and Reliance Power maintained uptrend; stocks rallied 2-4%.

DLF, HCL Tech and Infosys were up 2-3%. In the financial space, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and SBI moved up 1.5-3%.

Among other largecaps, Tata Steel, JSPL, SAIL, Reliance Industries (up 2%), Bharti Airtel, L&T and Tata Motors too were on buyers' radar.

Sensex gains 450 pts

Indian equity markets continued to trade higher on the back of positive global cues. European markets too opened strong; France's CAC and Germany's DAX were trading 1.5% higher. The 30-share BSE Sensexmoved up 450 points to 16,298 and the 50-share NSENifty shot up 133 points to 4,880.

TCS and Jindal Steel have topped the gainers list; both stocks rallied 6% each.

Reliance Industries, Infosys, HDFC Bank, SBI, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Wipro, L&T, HDFC, Cairn, M&M, Tata Steel and Bajaj Auto surged 2-4%. NTPC and ITC gained 1-1.5%.

Kotak Mahindra Bank jumped 5.5%. However, ONGC turned negative; the stock fell 1%.

Maruti Suzuki declined further; it lost 2% due to problems emerged at Manesar Plant. Ranbaxy Labs, Sesa Goa and Ambuja Cements were other losers.

About four shares advanced for every share falling.

TD Power IPO subscribed 3 times on QIB support

Manufacturer of AC generator TD Power Systems ' initial public offering has received good response from qualified institutional buyers (QIBs). The Rs 227-crore issue has subscribed nearly three times, as per data available on the National Stock Exchange.

The issue has received bids for 2.2 crore equity shares as against issue size of 75.6 lakh shares (excluding anchor book). Maximum bids have seen at lower-end of price band of Rs 256-261 a share, which was on expected lines because the anchor book was subscribed at Rs 256 a share.

QIBs helped the issue with their reserved portion being subscribed 6.52 times. Non-institutional and retail investors' portion subscribed 0.38 times each.

Manufacturer of AC generator has output capacity in the range of 1 MW to 52 MW.

The company proposes to utilize the net proceeds of the issue mainly to finance the expansion of the existing manufacturing plant in Dabaspet, Bangalore and for the construction of a project office in Bangalore. It also proposes to utilize part of the net proceeds to repay debt, fund working capital requirements and for other general corporate purposes.

It also executes Turbine Generator (TG) island projects for steam turbine power plants with output capacity up to 52 MW using a Japanese turbine combined with TD Power generator.

Milk prices may rise more in festive season

Prices of milk and its products are expected to go up further during the ensuing festive season due to supply concerns amid rise in demand, Assocham said in a study.

"The price of milk and milk-based products in India is set to surge on the back of a variety of natural and human factors, including a shortage during monsoon months," it said.

In the last one year, prices of milk have increased by about 25-30% and any further rise in rates could have an adverse impact on food inflation, which rose to 9.8% for the week ended August 13.

The chamber said fodder scarcity and export of cattle fodder are some of the main reasons which had pushed up the milk prices in the country.

"Once milk prices go up, the prices for milk-based products like butter and cheese will also go up. The prices will be further impacted by the upcoming festivals season which sees a spike in the demand and consumption of milk based products, especially sweets," the industry body added.

India is the world's largest milk producer with more than 110 million tonnes of production. However, the growth in production is lower than the rise in demand.

It further said between 2005-06 to 2010-11, the prices of eight essential commodities have gone up by nearly 72%. On the contrary, the per-capita income of an average Indian in the metros has gone up by 38%.

Prices of condiments and spices, eggs, fish and meat, milk and pulses have witnessed a sharp increase.