Sensex, Nifty ends on positive note; Metal, Bank stocks top gainer

Sensex closed at 27,257.64, up 21.98 points or 0.08%, while, Nifty ended at 8,417, up 19 points or 0.23%. 

Shares of Bharti Airtel plunged as the company appoints Raj Pudipeddi as CMO for India operations. At 1422 hours the shares of the company were trading at Rs 313.10 per piece, down 1.40% or Rs 4.45 on BSE. 

Shares of ONGC dropped marginally as the company plans to sell 49% stake in Helicopter operator Pawan Hans, a Bloomberg report said.

At 1357 hours the shares of the company were trading at Rs 193.70, down 0.62% or Rs 1.20 on BSE.

Shares of Sterlite Technologies jumped post the announcement of tjhe quarterly results. The company posted 63% rise in net profit for the quarter ended on December 30. Profit After Tax stood at Rs 49 crore, up 63% vs Rs 30 crore Y-o-Y.

At 1336 hours the shares of the company were trading at Rs 110.65 per piece, up 3.60% or Rs 3.85 on BSE. 

Shares of Siemens climbed after the company announces the launch of its new range of energy efficient motor SIMOTICS 1LE7. The new SIMOTICS 1LE7 range of motors is the newest entrant in the existing range of motors offered by Siemens in India. These motors offer efficiency values higher than the IE3 standards - which is currently the highest efficiency class as recognized by Indian Standards.

At 1331 hours the shares of the company were trading at Rs 1188 per piece, up 1.32%, or Rs 15.45 on BSE.

Tata Motors shares trade flat as the company launches Tata Hexa. At 1244 hours the shares of the company were trading at Rs 522.95 per piece, down 0.06%, or Rs 0.30 on BSE. 

Tata Elxsi shares surged by 5% as the company looking to test a driverless cars on the roads in Bengaluru, a Business Standard report said.

At 1159 hours the shares of the company were trading at Rs 1491.30 per piece, up 4.78%, or Rs 68.10 on BSE. 

Shares of Hindustan Unilever jumped during early morning trade. At 1048 hours the shares of the company were trading at Rs 866.40 per piece, up 3.08% or Rs 25.85 on BSE. 

Sector-wise Banking shares (215.70 points) and  Metal (222.75 points) were top gainers. 

Under Banking shares, Yes Bank (1.74%), Kotak Bank (1.37%), IndusInd Bank (1.33%), HDFC Bank (1.05%) and Punjab National Bank (0.96%) were trading high.

Under Metal shares Vedanta Ltd (2.94%), Hindustan Zinc (2.94%), Tata Steel (2.56%), NMDC (2.55%) and National Aluminium (2.69%) were trading high. 

Shares of PVR climbed after the company has 6.3% of equity trade in single block deal. At 1009 hours the shares of the company were trading at Rs 1258 per piece, up 1.35% or Rs 16.75 on BSE. 

Shares of United Spirits surged over 5% as Diageo said to weigh upping stake. At 0958 hours the shares of the company were trading at Rs 2194.70 per piece, up 5.52%, or Rs 114.90 on BSE. 

The rupee advanced 5 paise to 67.90 against the US dollar in early session on increased selling of the American currency by exporters and banks. Besides, a higher opening in domestic stocks and fresh foreign fund inflows kept the domestic unit in good spirits, forex dealers said.

At 0930 hours, on 30-share benchmark, among top gainers were Tata Steel (1.28%), HDFC (1.09%), Wipro (0.78%), ONGC (0.77%) and Asian Paint (0.74%). Among losers were Bharti Airtel (-0.80%), Coal India (-0.62%), Dr Reddy's Lab (-0.30%), Sun Pharma (-0.22%) and Bajaj Auto (-0.22%). 

Stocks in Focus: Tata Motors: Tata Motors on Tuesday appointed Natarajan Chandrasekaran as Additional Director and Chairman of the Board with immediate effect. Last week Chandrasekaran was named at the chairman of Tata Sons. 

Reliance Industries: After reporting flat Q3 net profit, the company on Wednesday announced that RIL and Russian petrochemical giant SIBUR signed an MoU at the recently-concluded Vibrant Gujarat Summit at Gandhinagar to set up South Asia’s first butyl rubber halogenation unit at RIL’s integrated petrochemical site in Jamnagar, Gujarat.

The unit will produce 60,000 MT of halogenated butyl rubber every year under Reliance Sibur Elastomers Private Limited (RSEPL) – a joint venture (JV) of which RIL owns 74.9%, and SIBUR 25.1%.

Delta Corp: The company before the market hours announced its quarterly results for the quarter ended on December 31. The company reported a net profit of Rs 1.76 crore, down 78% as compared to Rs 8.03 crore during the same period last year. 

Indiabulls Real Estate: the Company has acquired FIM’s ((managed by Farallon Capital Management LLC and its affiliates, a leading US private equity fund) entire stake of approx. 74% in IIPL, for a total consideration of approx. Rs. 382 crores and with this IIPL has become 100% owned by the Company.

Domestic markets open in green on Wednesday after slipping marginally during yesterday's trade. At 0920 hours Sensex was trading at 27,319.26, up 83.60 points or 0.31%, while, Nifty was at 8,425, up 27 points or 0.32%.