Sensex crosses 29,000-mark, Tata Motors rise3%

Indian equity indices opened higher for the second consecutive day, with Sensex touching its 29,000-mark. 

At 9.35 am, Sensex was trading at 29,071.77 above 87.28 points or 0.30%, while Nifty was trading at 8,976.15 up by 30.35 points or 0.34%. 

Also Indian rupee was trading higher against US dollar. The rupee was trading at 66.773 up by 0.077 paisa or 0.12% against dollar. 

Analysts at HDFC Securities said, "The markets are likely to open positive today, driven by positive domestic and global cues, following US President Donald Trump's Joint Congress address. Realty and Metal is expected to trade in positive zone, while Auto and Energy sectors are likely to trade in the negative zone. Crucial support for Nifty is at 8890 level, while strong immediate resistance is at 8980."

Tata Motors was the top gainer on BSE after its February months sales number. Share price of the company was trading at Rs 463 per share, rising by Rs 13.90 or 3.10%. It sold a total of 47,573 vehicles in the month of February 2017, rising by 2% as against 46,674 vehicles in the corresponding period of the previous year. 

Other gainers were - Asian Paints at Rs 1042.95 per share (1.21%), Housing Development Finance Corp at Rs 1413 per share (0.89%), Coal India at Rs 323.15 per share (0.67%), Tata Steel at Rs 503.60 per share (0.66%), Bharti Airtel at Rs 364.95 per share (0.65%) and Adani Ports at Rs 304.80 per share (0.59%). 

Bajaj Auto shares was up by 0.97% after it announced its February sales number on Thursday. The company said it has sold a total of 2,73,513 vehicles in the month of February 2017, compared to 2,72,719 vehicles sold in the similar month of previous year. 

Shares of ICICI Bank (Rs 280.95 per share), Axis Bank (Rs 515.50 per share) and HDFC Bank (Rs 1394.30 per share) were trading positive in the range of 0.30% - 0.75%. On Wednesday, these bank announced that they have begun charging a minimum amount of Rs 150 per transaction for cash deposits and withdrawals beyond four free transactions in a month.

While top losers were - Dr Reddy at Rs 2885 per share (1.44%), followed by Sun Pharma at Rs 688.85 per share (0.81%), Power Grid at Rs 191.40 per share (0.60%) and ITC at Rs 267.20 per share (0.52%). 

National Aluminium will also be in focus as the company is set to announce its third quarter result on Thursday.

Global market:

On Thursday, asian shares rose as investors were encouraged by President Donald Trump`s less combative tone in his first speech to Congress, which sent Wall Street stocks sharply higher, while growing bets on a U.S. rate hike this month buoyed the dollar.

Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average confounded through the 21,000-point mark for the first time. Both the Dow and the S&P 500 rallied around 1.4 percent.

India's PMI numbers: 

Manufacturing in India continued to grow in the month of February as PMI manufacturing index stood at 50.7, up from 50.4. 

Nikkei, in a statement said, "February data indicated that Indian manufacturing production continued to increase, as a rebound in export demand contributed to a stronger expansion of total new orders."