Market continues uptrend, Sensex above 29000; RIL up 3%

10:40 am Market Expert:Jayant Manglik of Religare Securities says the results of the state elections hold the key for market which is scheduled on March 11. Before that, we have IIP data for the month of January on Friday i.e. March 10 after market hours. He feels bulls still have upper hand and any decline to 8700-8800 zone would attract fresh buying interest. At the same time, traders should limit their positions only in the quality stocks and avoid temptation to fall into risky penny counters.

10:33 am Market update:
Benchmark indices extended rally in morning, with the Sensex rising 199.11 points to 29031.56, driven largely by Reliance Industries that rallied 3.5 percent.

The Nifty gained 58.10 points at 8955.65. The market breadth was strong as about 1444 shares advanced against 817 declining shares on the BSE.

10:20 am Iron ore handling at ports surge: Iron ore shipments handled by the country’s 12 major ports surged 169 percent to 38.61 million tonnes (MT) in the April-January period of this fiscal.

The government-owned ports had handled 14.37 MT of the key steel-making raw material in the corresponding period of the previous financial year.

The Indian Ports Association (IPA), which maintains cargo data handled by these 12 ports, in its recent report said that “percentage variation from previous year” in iron ore handling was as high as “168.59 percent” in the first ten months of the current fiscal.

Mining giant Vedanta had recently said the worst phase for the domestic iron ore industry is over and exuded confidence that its Goa arm is prepared to sustain the export momentum amid softening global prices and subdued demand.

A Fitch arm last month said the country’s iron ore output is projected to grow to 185 MT in the next four years.

Also read – Buy, sell, hold: 6 stocks analyst are watching out

10:00 am Market Check

Equity benchmarks clocked key milestones in early trade on Monday, with the Sensex rebounding to its 29000-mark.

The 30-share Sensex was up 188.02 points at 29020.47 points, while the Nifty was up 53.60 points at 8951.15. The market breadth continued to remain healthy as 1,369 shares advanced, 634 shares declined, while 96 shares remained unchanged.

Reliance, NTPC and Eicher Motors were the top gainers on both the indices.

Meanwhile, shares of information technology (IT) companies were under pressure, following the developments on H1-B visa front in the US. It announced that from April 3 it would temporarily suspend the ‘premium processing’ of H-1B visas that allowed some companies to jump the queue, as part of overall efforts to clear the backlog.

Infosys and TCS were down over 1.25 percent intraday, while Wipro was lower by 0.62 percent. HCL Tech, meanwhile, gained around 0.20 percent.

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