Market Update: Midcap index outshines; Tata Steel, ONGC jump 3-4%; Ashok Leyland hits new 52-week high, SBI falls 3%

A new week and a new start - it was a green opening from the Indian indices with the Sensex jumping over 256 points or 0.75 percent in early trade while the Nifty added 73 points or 0.72 percent.

Nifty pharma gained 1.2 percent intraday on Monday led by stocks like Cadila Healthcare, Piramal Enterprises, Sun Pharma, Cipla, Divis Labs and Aurobindo Pharma.

The Nifty midcap index was also up over 1 percent pushed by Apollo Tyres, Ashok Leyland, CG Power, Biocon, Canara Bank, IDBI Bank, Jain Irrigation and Just Dial among others.

Bank Nifty was also trading on the higher side by 0.5 percent led by Bank of Baroda which zoomed 6 percent while PNB was up 2.5 percent. However, State Bank of India fell 3 percent after reporting Q3 loss last week.

From the Nifty, the stocks that gained the most were ONGC which jumped 3 percent followed by Tata Steel which added 2.6 percent. Hero Moto, Larsen & Toubro and Yes Bank were the other top gainers.

The most active stocks included SBI which shed 3 percent followed by Tata Steel. HEG, Bank of Baroda, both jumping 5 percent were the other active stocks.

From the BSE, Bombay Burmah jumped over 6 percent followed by Mahindra Holidays which added 6 percent while NALCO, Amara Raja Batteries were some of the top Sensex gainers.

The stocks that hit new 52-week high on BSE included L&T Infotech, Mphasis and JSW Steel among others.

23 stocks hit new 52-week high on NSE in morning trade including the likes of Abbott India, L&T Infotech, Mphasis, 3M India, Bharat Forge and Ashok Leyland among others.

The market breadth was in favour of the advances with 1398 stocks advancing in while 227 stocks declined and 390 remained unchanged. On the other hand, 1687 stocks advanced on BSE with 344 stocks declining and 74 remained unchanged.

Deutsche Bank has maintained a buy on ONGC with a target price of Rs 250. It believes that Q3FY18 net profit was below estimates while EBITDA was inline. The firm is of the view that valuations are still inexpensive and expects 11 percent EPS CAGR over FY18-20.

On the other hand, Nomura has maintained a neutral stance with target of Rs 200. It expects dividend announcement in next few weeks while it continues to prefer OMCs over upstream with IOCL, BPCL and HPCL as the pecking order.