Sensex jumps 400 pts, Nifty near 8900; HDFC Bank zooms 9%

9:50 am Market off early high:Equity benchmarks erased more than half of early gains due to selling pressure in technology and FMCG stocks.

HDFC Bank also came off day’s high, up 5.5 percent and HDFC gained 1.5 percent after profit booking while SBI and ICICI Bank turned lower.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 145.95 points at 28447.22 and the Nifty 50-share NSE rose 33.15 points to 8811.15.

About 1073 shares advanced against 674 declining shares on the BSE.

9:45 am Nifty changes: State-run BHEL and telecom major Idea Cellular will move out of National Stock Exchange’s Nifty 50 index from March 31.

Indiabulls Housing Finance and Indian Oil Corporation will be included in the index in their place.

The changes, announced by Indian Index Services and Product, an arm of NSE, will be effective from March 31, 2017.

Apart from Nifty 50, the exchange has made changes to several indices including Nifty 500, Nifty 100, Nifty Midcap 50, Nifty Smallcap 250, Nifty Next 50.

Besides, changes have also been done in sectoral indices such as metal, private bank, media, bank and commodities.

9:30 am CLSA on Cadila: CLSA says Moraiya outcome for Cadila Healthcare is a big surprise but approvals may take time. The brokerage house has maintained outperform rating on the stock, with a target price at Rs 480 after raising FY18-19 US sales estimates by 4-10 percent leading to 3-9 percent rise in FY18-19 EPS.

It feels near-term outlook for the company is challenging. It expects investor interest to return once more companies resolve US FDA issues.

CLSA believes benefit of Moraiya clearance will be more visible in FY19 than FY18.

Watch: Exclusive interview with RBI Governor Urjit Patel

9:15 am Market Check

Equity benchmarks started off last day of the week on a spectacular note, with the Senses rising more than 400 points supported by HDFC Bank.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 400.89 points or 1.42 percent at 28702.16 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 95.60 points or 1.09 percent to 8873.60.

HDFC Bank surged 8.41 percent as RBI says restrictions placed on purchase of bank shares by foreign portfolio investors withdrawn immediately.

The rally also spilled over to HDFC that gained 2.63 percent. Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and ICICI Bank surged 1-2 percent.

GAIL and Lupin were other gainers. Cadila Healthcare gained further, up 2.8 percent hitting a 52-week high.

BHEL, Bharti Airtel, Wipro, Infosys, ITC and Reliance were losers.

The Indian rupee slipped in the early trade today. It has opened lower by 5 paise at 67.12 per dollar versus previous close 67.07.

Ashutosh Raina of HDFC Bank says the USD-INR pair has been trading in a very tight range recently, tracking global dollar weakness.

He expects the pair to trade in the 67-67.30/dollar range today with slight weakening bias.

The dollar weakened against a basket of major currencies, due to lower US bond yields and uncertainty over the timing of the Federal Reserve’s next interest rate increase.