Sensex up 180 points, Nifty touches 8950; Bharti, CIL gain

9:59 am Ex-FM hits out at banks:The move by some public and private banks to levy charges after certain number of cash transactions at branches is the most retrograde step, former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram said.

Banks including HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank at present charge a minimum Rs 150 per transaction for cash deposits and withdrawals beyond four free transactions in a month. “Bank charges for depositing cash and withdrawing cash is most retrograde step,” Chidambaram tweeted.

9:50 am Indices touch key milestones: The Sensex has continued its uptrend and regained its 29000-mark, while the broader index, Nifty, went past the 8950- mark in early trade on Monday. Experts feel the rally in the market is seen on the back of GST Council Meet’s conclusions. Key exit poll results this week would also be on investors’ radar.

9:40 am Buzzing stock: Shares of Cipla added more than 1 percent in early trade on Monday as it entered into agreements for divestment of its stake in animal health business.

It entered into agreements, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Inyanga Trading 386 Proprietary, with the group companies of Ascendis Health, South Africa for divesting its animal health business in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.

Under the terms of the deal, the company will divest its 100 percent stake in Cipla Agrimed Proprietary and Cipla Vet Proprietary, South Africa.

9:30 am Nifty at 11,500? The Nifty has traced out an impressive long-term uptrend and could even reach the 11,500 level, said Laurence Balanco, Global Technical Analyst at brokerage firm CLSA.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Balanco said this breakout would be driven by the Nifty Bank. He did not give a timeline for the record highs but said the bull run would continue at least till July and said that CLSA had set a target of 10,350 for the index once new highs are achieved.

Also Read: Bull’s Eye: Buy Sintex, Havells, Gail, Arvind, Century Textiles

The market on Monday opened in the green, with the Nifty reclaiming its 8900-mark on the back of positive cues from the GST Council meet.

The 30-share Sensex was up 94.50 points at 28926.95, while the Nifty was up 29.05 points at 8926.60. The market breadth remained healthy with 662 shares having advanced, 177 shares having declined. Meanwhile, 44 shares are unchanged.

Coal India and Bharti Airtel were the top gainers on both the indices, while IT stocks Infosys and TCS were under pressure and were the top losers.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday cleared the crucial Central GST (CGST) and Integrated GST (IGST) bills, as the country moved a step closer towards implementing its biggest tax reform from July 1. The Council will now meet on March 16 to clear the state GST law and the Union Territory GST law.

The Indian rupee opened marginally higher at 66.77 per dollar on Monday versus Friday’s close 66.81. Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity said, “The rupee will take cues from the equity market and trade with a positive bias for the day. We expect the USD-INR pair to trade in a range of 66.50-67/dollar for the day.”

The Asian markets were under pressure following launch of ballistic missiles by North Korea in Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone. The Nikkei was lower by 100 points in early morning trade.