Market Live: Sensex up 150 pts, Nifty reclaims 10,150; RIL, Bharti Airtel lead

10:15 am Buzzing: Reliance Industries hit a fresh record high of Rs 891 in morning ahead of second quarter earnings later today.

10:10 am Rupee trade: The rupee strengthened 17 paise to 64.91 against the US dollar today, buoyed by a set of positive economic data.

Industrial production expanded to a 9-month high of 4.3 percent in August while retail inflation was stagnant at 3.28 per cent in September compared to the previous month.

A stronger opening in domestic stocks and the dollar’s reduced strength against some currencies overseas kept the rupee on a firm ground, traders said. But continuous outflow of foreign money kept the upmove in check.

Yesterday, the rupee had appreciated by another 6 paise to end at a fresh one-week high of 65.08 on continued selling of the greenback.

9:55 am Divestment: The government invited bids from private companies, including foreign ones, to buy out its entire 51 percent stake along with management control in helicopter service operator Pawan Hans Ltd.

The Miniratna PSU is under the administrative control of the civil aviation ministry and the remaining 49 percent stake is held by oil behemoth ONGC.

In a “global invitation for expression of interest”, the government asked private players to submit the bids by December 8.

“The government proposes to disinvest its entire equity shareholding of 51 per cent in Pawan Hans Ltd by way of strategic disinvestment to investors, along with transfer of management control,” it said while inviting bids.

The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) has already lined up a host of PSUs for strategic disinvestment.

9:45 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks gained further in morning as the Nifty hit its previous record closing high of 10,153.10, backed by Reliance Industries and telecom stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 165.45 points at 32,347.67 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 48.20 points at 10,144.60.

9:34 am Listing on Monday: Godrej Agrovet is set to debut on bourses on Monday, October 16. The issue price is fixed at Rs 460 per share, the higher end of price band.

The Rs 1,157-crore initial public offer was a big hit as the issue oversubscribed 95.34 times.

The issue comprises a fresh issue of shares worth Rs 291.51 crore besides an offer for sale worth up to Rs 300 crore by Godrej Industries and sale of up to 1.23 crore shares by V- Science.

The price band has been fixed at Rs 450-460 per share.

9:25 am Management Interview: We at TCS are finding that the customers are much more specific about the projects that they are speaking about and they are working towards a strategy, a plan, Rajesh Gopinathan, CEO & MD said in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

Diligenta will start growing here onwards, the pipeline still continues to be good for Diligenta, he added.

It is difficult to call the timeframe but directionally we definitely see optimism returning, he further mentioned.

COO, NG Subramaniam said demand environment remains stable. The way we have structured ourselves now, we are able to more positively participate in some of the digital initiatives and our digital services growth is a direct result of some of those initiatives that we have taken.

9:20 am IPO subscription: The initial public offer (IPO) of state-owned General Insurance Corporation of India has been subscribed 90 percent. Today is the last day for its subscription.

GIC Re’s Rs 11,370-crore IPO received bids for 11,16,79,024 shares against total issue size of 12,47,00,000 shares, data available with the NSE showed.

The portion meant for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) was oversubscribed 1.68 times, that for non- institutional investors by 2 percent and retail investors’ quota by 16 percent.

9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks extended previous day’s gains in opening, with the Nifty reclaiming 10,100 level and inching towards its record high level.

The rally was driven by Reliance Industries and Bharti Airtel.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 113.08 points at 32,295.30 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 31.40 points to 10,127.80.

Bharti Airtel was up 6 percent, Tata Teleservices up 9 percent and Tata Communications up 2 percent after Airtel decided to buy consumer telecom business of Tata Sons. Bharti Infratel was up 3 percent.

Reliance Industries gained a percent ahead of second quarter earnings later today.

Shriram EPC rallied 15 percent post bagging of multiple orders.

Bharat Financial and IndusInd Bank gained 0.4 percent each ahead of IndusInd’s board meeting on Saturday.

Nifty Midcap was up 0.3 percent as about three shares advanced for every share falling on the NSE.

BHEL, EON Electric, LEEL Electricals, Indian Toners, Aimco Pesticides, Indo Count, Teamlease, NBCC, Adani Transmission, Cyient, MCX (ahead of Q2 earnings later today), Manappuram Finance and DHFL gained 1-10 percent.

The Indian rupee started off last day of the week at Rs 64.95 against the US dollar, continuing the appreciation further.

It gained 13 paise compared with previous closing value of 65.08 per dollar.

Disclosure: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.