New reform hopes lift Sensex above 19,000

Markets ended a strong session of trade near its highest in 15 months on Thursday led by financials on the latest proposal by the government for foreign direct investment in pension and insurance sectors.

The Sensex ended up 188 points at 19,058. Nifty was up 56 points at 5,788.

The cabinet will approve amended bills on Thursday that seek to permit 26% foreign direct investment in the pension sector and 49%in the insurance sector, a minister said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the rupee on Thursday rose above the Rs 52 level by gaining 28 paise to fresh five-and-half month high of 51.88 against the American currency in early trade on persistent dollar selling by exporters amid hopes of further reforms measures.

Elsewhere in Asia, the Nikkei surged 1% to 8,824 as auto firms stood out as a weakened yen spurred the nation's exporters, while regional energy shares were hit by a sharp fall in oil prices.

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Hang Seng and Straits Times edged up as well.

Broader markets under-performed the benchmark indices. BSE mid-cap index was up 28 points at 6,732 while small-cap index went up 25 points at 7,211.

Most of the sectoral indices, barring IT, auto and healthcare, traded in the green. BSE realty index was up 5% at 1,944.
Real estate shares were in limelight on the bourses with most of the frontline stocks are trading higher on expectations of an interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India at its policy meeting on October 30 and higher demand in festive season.

Bankex, consumer durables, power and oil & gas indices were up 1-2.5% each. However, the healthcare index slipped 1% at 7,533.

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"Range for Bank Nifty is 11000 and 12000 for the next few weeks. Even the Option buildup indicates that this would be the likely range for Bank Nifty for short term.I think an ideal strategy would be to exit high momentum stocks near to 12000 levels of Bank Nifty," said Kunal Bothra, Technical Analyst, LKP Securities.

Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited traded higher by almost 6.5% to Rs 266, also its four month high, on back of heavy volumes.

The stock of state-owned heavy electrical equipment maker outperformed the market by appreciating 30% in past three weeks after the government announced multiple reforms to kick-start economic growth.

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Index heavyweight Reliance Industries rose 0.7% at Rs 853 after company said that RIL and Venezuelan state run oil company Petroleos de Venezuela have signed a 15 year heavy crude oil supply contract and a memorandum of understanding with PDVSA to further development of Venezuelan heavy oil fields.

Bharti Airtel jumped higher by 1.5% at Rs 270 after the Delhi High Court (HC) said not to take action against the company.
The high court has granted a stay on a government order asking the telecom major to stop offering 3G mobile services outside their licensed areas through roaming pacts.

Banking shares are the top movers with ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and HDFC contributing 90 points to the Sensex's upmove. SBI was up 2% at Rs 2,345.

On the other hand, Cipla slipped 4% at Rs 366. Bajaj Auto, Coal India and Hero MotoCorp slipped 2% each. Mahindra & Mahindra was down 1.2% at Rs 859. According to news reports, M&M is considering Rs 3000 cr investment in SUV manufacturing unit in MP.

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Gujarat Gas Company tanked almost 8.5% to Rs 308 after British Gas (BG) sold controlling stake in its Indian subsidiary to the state-owned company Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation for Rs 2,464 crore.

Shares of companies engaged in insurance business such as Aditya Birla Nuvo, Max India, Reliance Capital and Bajaj Finserv were in focus on optimism for government action.

The Union Cabinet will consider today to approve a proposal to hike the cap on foreign direct investment in the insurance sector from 26% to 49%.

Shares of the above mentioned companies moved up 1-5% each.

BSE market breadth was positive. Out of 3,074 stocks traded, 1,706 shares advanced while 1243 shares declined.