Sensex tops 19,000; Eicher, Videocon lead midcaps

Equity benchmarks built on their early gains, with the BSE Sensex now up close to 200 points at 19039. The December series of Nifty futures were quoting at a 40-point premium to the spot Nifty rate of 5780, indicating that traders were betting on the market to extend its rise next month.

Brokers said the upbeat mood could partly be due to reasons of sentiment rather than fundamentals.

"December is very kind to equities. Going back 32 years to 1980, December has produced a 4.6% median return with an 80% probabilitythe best for any month in the calendar," said a report by Morgan Stanley .

"Over the past 20 years, 1994, 2000, 2001 and 2011 are the only for occasions when December generated negative returns," the report said.

Realty, auto and FMCG shares are the big gainers in the first hour of trade. HDIL, Videocon and Eicher Motors were among the top gainers in the midcap space, up 4-5%.

Apollo Hospital was the biggest loser, down over 9% to Rs 792 on heavy volumes. Market talk is that CLSA has sold its 6.15% stake in the company at a discount to the market price.

Sensex gains strength as President Obama wins re-election

Indian equity benchmarks gained strength following a win of Barack Obama as 44th President of the United States of America, but the US markets seem disappointed with these results as the Dow Jones futures lost 55 points.

The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 57.30 points at 18,874.68 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 17 points to 5,741.15. Even the Indian rupee was up by 31 paise to 54.12 against the US dollar.

Country's largest lenders State Bank of India and ICICI Bank topped the buying list, rising 1.35 percent each while housing finance company HDFC went up 0.75 percent.

Commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors extended gains to 1 percent ahead of second quarter numbers.

Technology majors saw buying interest following US elections outcome. Infosys, TCS and Wipro were up 0.4-0.8 percent.

Among metals stocks, Tata Steel, Hindalco Industries, Sterlite Industries and Jindal Steel climbed 1 percent each.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries and private sector lender HDFC Bank slipped 0.2 percent, limiting the upside of market. FMCG major Hindustan Unilever fell 0.7 percent.

Private power producer Tata Power remained under pressure, losing over 1 percent following weak second quarter numbers.

In the second line shares, DB Realty, Apollo Hospital, Berger Paints, 
Anant Raj Industries and J&K Bank rallied 3-6 percent while Chennai Petroleum, Tata Communications, Allcargo, Blue Circle and Era Infra Eng lost 1-3 percent.

Advancing shares outnumbered declining by a ratio of 1331 to 647 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Sensex gains 100 pts post Cabinet reshuffle; RIL, ITC lead

Indian shares opened higher on Monday with the BSE Sensex gaining 100 points following the reshuffle of cabinet ministers yesterday. In the biggest reshuffle of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Cabinet, Manmohan Singh inducted 17 new faces and a total of 22 ministers giving several new and young faces a chance to prove their mettle as his government tries to remove the taint of scams and non-performance from its progress report.

Veerappa Moily received petroleum ministry while Ministry of State (MoS) (Independent) for Power has given to Jyotiraditya Scindia.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 114.41 points to 18,740 and the 50-share NSE Nifty went up 32 points to 5,696.25. But the rupee fell by 26 paise to 53.82 against the US dollar.Shares of Reliance Industries, Wipro, Dr Reddy's Labs, Hindalco, ITC, Tata Steel and Tata Power gained 1-1.5 percent.

Tata Motors, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Bharti, ICICI Bank, TCS, State Bank of India, ONGC and M&M were up. Hindustan Unilever shed another 0.3 percent following disappointing volume growth in Q2FY13.

Infosys, Sterlite Industries, Sun Pharma and PNB were under pressure. BHEL erased early gains immediately ahead of quarterly earnings today. The BSE Midcap Index rose 0.4 percent and Smallcap went up 0.6 percent. About two shares advanced for every share declining on the National Stock Exchange.

All UB group stocks caught in bear grip following a statement to Reuters by the promoter Vijay Mallya saying he would not sell priced assets to save Kingfisher Airlines. United Spirits tanked 5 percent and United Breweries Holdings lost 8 percent. United Breweries was down 4 percent. Kingfisher gained 5 percent Mallya is confident of licence suspension being revoked. "We will submit a robust revival plan to Directorate General of Civil Aviation," he said.

India Infoline was up 5 percent after strong numbers. Consolidated net profit jumped significantly to Rs 66 crore in the quarter ended September 2012 from Rs 22 crore in a year ago  period. CESC bounced back with 2 percent gains after Friday's sharp fall. Firstsource Solutions gained 2.5 percent after good results. HCC, Yes Bank, IRB Infrastructure, GMR Infra, GVK Power, Sintex Industries, Chambal Fertiliser and LIC Housing Finance were up 1-2 percent.

BHEL Q2: Analysts expect margins to remain under pressure

State-run power equipment manufacturer BHEL  is set to announce its results for the quarter ended September 2012 today. Analysts on an average expect subdued revenues by the company due to sluggish order inflows.

Even margins are expected to remain under pressure due to increased pricing pressure and negative operating leverage, say analysts.

Profit after tax is likely to go up by 2.4 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,446 crore in the three months ended September 2012 and net sales are seen going up by 11.2 percent to Rs 11,448 crore from Rs 10,299 crore during the same period.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) is expected to go up by 12.7 percent YoY to Rs 1,930 crore in the second quarter.

Analysts feel the operating profit margin will rise by 20 basis points to 16.9 percent versus 16.6 percent YoY.

German company close to buy Orient Refractories; stk up 6%

German company RH1 is close to buying Orient Refractories  for Rs 550 crore, reports The Economic Times.

At 09:22 hrs Orient Refractories was quoting at Rs 38.60, up Rs 2.30, or 6.34%. It has touched a 52-week high of Rs 41.50. 
 
It was trading with volumes of 8,650 shares. In the previous trading session, the share closed down 1.36% or Rs 0.50 at Rs 36.30.

The latest book value of the company is Rs 6.25 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company was 6.18. The dividend yield of the company was 2.59%.