Sensex closes 216 points higher, Nifty at 8963; RIL up 4%

3:30 Markets at close:After a subdued afternoon session, the market has closed higher.

The 30-share Sensex was up 215.74 points at 29048.19, while the Nifty was up 65.90 points at 8963.45. The market breadth remained narrow with 1,503 shares having advanced, 1,414 shares having declined, and 176 shares were unchanged.

2:47 pm IIP, WPI with new base year: The government may launch two macroeconomic indicators, the index of industrial production and the wholesale price index, with new base year 2011-12 by April-end to ensure compatibility with growth numbers.

The change in the baseline for IIP and WPI, currently at 2004-05, is expected to bring in more accuracy in mapping the level of economic activity and calculating other numbers like national accounts.

2:40 pm BEML stake sale: SBI Capital Market Services is set to get government’s mandate to advise it on the strategic stake sale in BEML, an investment banker with one of the bidders told Moneycontrol.

The merchant banking arm of the country’s largest bank beat Kotak Securities, Axis Capital, ICICI Securities and the big four consulting firms to emerge as the lowest bidder in the tender.

As transaction advisor, SBI Caps will manage the stake sale process and assist the department of investment and public asset management derive the fair reserve price to get optimum proceeds from the divestment.

2:19 pm Bosch lines up Rs 800-cr investment: Auto component major Bosch is looking to invest up to Rs 800 crore annually for the next few years as it aims to develop its Bengaluru-based headquarters into a modern technology park and move out the manufacturing operation from the facility to a new location.

The Group, which currently has a turnover of around Rs 18,000 crore and employs over 30,000 people across 10 legal entities, expects its growth in India to continue in a steady manner.

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The market remained subdued after opening higher on Monday, led by gains on Reliance and Bharti Airtel.

The 30-share Sensex was up 159.65 points at 28992.10, while the Nifty was up 43.05 points or 0.48 percent at 8940.60. The market breadth was narrow as 1,456 shares advanced, 1,326 shares declined, while 169 shares remained unchanged.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Sun Pharma and Grasim were the top losers on the indices.

Music Broadcast’s initial public offering (IPO), has hit the Street on Monday. The Radio City operator’s issue will close on March 8, 2017. The price band has been set between Rs 324 and Rs 333.

Reliance Industries shares touched a fresh nine-year high of Rs 1,307.05, up 3.86 percent intraday Monday as investors remained bullish on its telecom as well as energy prospects.

Shares of information technology (IT) companies were under pressure in early trade on Monday, following the developments on H1-B visa front in the US. Infosys and TCS were down over 1.25 percent intraday, while Wipro was lower by 0.62 percent. HCL Technologies, meanwhile, gained around 0.20 percent.