Sensex opens over 100 points up; Bharti Airtel, Reliance gain

Domestic markets opened in green despite weak global cues on Monday morning.

At 0921 hours BSE Sensex was trading at 28,964.08, up 131.63 points or 0.46%, while NSE Nifty was at 8,921.50, up 23.95 points or 0.27%. 

On 30-share benchmark, among top gainers were Coal India (1.38%), Reliance Industries (1.19%), Bharti Airtel (1.18%), Maruti Suzuki (1.05%) and Bajaj Auto (1.05%). Among top losers were TCS (-0.90%), Infosys (-0.75%), Sun Pharmaceutical (-0.70%), Tata Steel (-0.43%) and Hindustan Unilever (-0.25%).

This week, the markets will witness two IPOs raising around Rs 2,300 crore. Radio City FM channel operator Music Broadcast Ltd and Avenue Supermarts that runs supermarket retail chain D-Mart will come out with their initial public offerings this week.

Music Broadcast IPO: The bidding in the initial share sale offer of Music Broadcast will begin on today and close on March 8. It's IPO comprises fresh issue of shares of up to Rs 400 crore and an offer for sale of up to 26.59 lakh scrips. It has fixed a price band of Rs 324-333 for its share offering.

Moreover, the investors will remain cautious ahead of Assembly election results this week. According to a PTI report, today, the stock markets may also react to Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen's speech, which indicated that an interest rate increase could be "appropriate" later this month if the economy holds up.

Stocks in focus: 

Bharti Airtel: Bharti Airtel on Sunday said that its board of directors have approved their acquisition deal with Telenor Communications.

In a BSE filing, Airtel said, "The board of Directors has approved the scheme of amalgamation between Telenor (India) Communication (Transferor company/Telenor India) and Bharti Airtel (Transferee company/Airtel) and their respective shareholders and creditors."

Hindalco: The shares will be in focus as the company on Friday had raised Rs 3,300 crore through its Qualifies Institutional placement (QIP). 

State Bank of India: After a gap of five years, State Bank of India has decided to reintroduce penalty on non-maintenance of minimum balance in accounts from April 1, and revised charges on other services, including ATMs.

As per the list of revised charges of SBI, failure to maintain Monthly Average Balance (MAB) in accounts will attract penalty of up to Rs 100 plus service tax.

Tata Steel: As per the UK media reports on Sunday, Tata Steel may be considering breaking off talks over a planned merger of its European business with German conglomerate Thyssenkrupp. 

The deal has been slow moving as Tata Steel tries to solve the problem of its own 15-billion-pound British steel pensions scheme.

On global front, Asian shares and US stock futures dropped on Monday as investors weighed the near-certain prospect of an interest rate hike in the United States this month against news of slower growth in China this year, as reported by Reuters.

MSCI's broadest dollar-denominated index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat but Seoul shares were down 0.5% and Australia dipped 0.1%, the report added.