Market Live: Nifty opens at all-time high, Sensex soars 160 pts; HCL Tech gains 3%

10:15 am Rating upgrade: Deutsche Bank has upgraded JSPL to hold with a target price at Rs 112, saying its upgrade premised on improving confidence in steel volume ramp-up.

Steel volume growth and cost savings will drive 90 percent EBITDA growth over FY17-19, it feels.

At 10:00 am Market Check: Benchmark indices retained early gains as the Nifty 50 surpassed 9150 level ahead of GST Council meet later today and after Federal Reserve hiked interest rate by 25 basis points. The rally was backed by banking & financials, technology, auto, pharma and metals stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 179.32 points at 29,577.43 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 58.65 points to 9143.45.

The broader markets outperformed benchmarks again, up 0.8 percent on strong breadth. About three shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE.

Jayant Manglik of Religare Securities says his view is bullish on markets and suggests maintaining buy on dips approach.

Adani Ports was top gainer among Sensex stocks, up more than 3 percent followed by Infosys, HDFC, L&T, Tata Motors, Asian Paints and Tata Steel.

9:58 am CLSA on USL: CLSA has downgraded United Spirits to sell post recent run-up, saying regulatory issues continued as Karnataka government raised alcohol taxes on Wednesday.

It feels tax rate hike will lead to a product price hike of 7-8 percent by the company. Hikes are manageable for the company but it leaves little scope for margin-accretive hikes, the brokerage house says.

Hardening in input prices could raise concerns on margins, according to the research firm. Key stock drivers are SC verdict on liquor ban & effective GST, CLSA says.

Karnataka has raised additional excise duties (AED) by 6-16 percent on alcohol from April.

9:45 am SBI credit card JV: State Bank of India said it will hike its stake in its two credit card joint ventures with General Electric Company to 74 percent.

SBI’s board has given approval to infuse Rs 1,160 crore in the two JVs — SBI Cards and Payment Services Pvt Ltd (SBICPSL) and GE Capital Business Processes Management Services Ltd (GECBPMSL)– through purchase of equity shares from GE Capital so as to increase the bank’s stake in both the companies to 74 percent, SBI said in a filing to the BSE.

The American company seeks to exit SBI Cards.

SBI currently holds 60 percent stake in SBICPSL and 40 per cent in GECBPMSL. The balance being held by GE Capital in both the ventures.

9:30 am GST Council meet: The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is expected to approve the remaining two crucial bills — State GST (SGST) and Union Territory GST (UTGST) — today.

If it approved, then that would be another decisive step in the run up to the implementation of the overhauled tax regime from July 1. Final drafts of the three other bills — Integrated GST (IGST), Central GST (CGST) and Compensation bill — already cleared by the Council.

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9:15 am Market Check: After a day of consolidation, equity benchmarks opened sharply higher on Thursday, with the Nifty hitting all-time high after the Federal Reserve raised rates and ahead of GST Council meet.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 156.94 points at 29,555.05 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 53.90 points at 9,138.70. About 831 shares advanced against 172 declining shares on the BSE.

Adani Ports, HUL, BHEL, L&T, ONGC, Hindalco and HCL Technologies gained 1-3 percent whereas Hero Motocorp fell half a percent.

Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised interest rate by 25 basis points and set a range for interest rate at 0.75-1 percent but kept a dovish stance. It forecast 3 rate hikes each in 2017 and 2018.

The Indian rupee gained further today and opened at over one year high at 65.40 per dollar, gain of 29 paise versus previous close o f65.69.

Mohan Shenoi of Kotak Mahindra Bank says US Fed delivered another dovish hike on Wednesday. Dollar saw a sell-off as markets reassess the number of hikes this year.

“The state election results have led to a rally in equity markets in India on the back of FII inflows which is positive for rupee. We expect the USD-INR to trade in a range of 65.15-65.45/dollar for the day,” he adds.

Asian markets were mixed, after the Bank of Japan held rates steady and the Federal Reserve raised rates.