Nifty ends at 8206, Sensex rallies 331 pts; SBI up 4%

Moneycontrol Bureau3:30 pm Market closing: In a late rally triggered by cabinet decisions on SBI merger and National Civil Aviation Policy. The Sensex was up 330.63 points or 1.2 percent at 26726.34, and the Nifty ended 97.75 points or 1.2 percent at 8206.60. About 1660 shares have advanced, 961 shares declined, and 170 shares are unchanged.

NTPC, SBI, L&T. Maruti and Bharti Airtel were top gainers in the Sensex while Dr Reddy's Labs, M&M, Sun Pharma, Adani Ports and Axis Bank were losers.

3:15 pm Market outlook: An exit for Britain from the Eurozone is likely to result in a sell-off for the euro and pound, and put upward pressure on the US dollar. This could be detrimental for all emerging markets, says Hans Goetti, Chief Strategist Middle East and Asia, Banque Internationale À Luxembourg.However, he adds that it won't be much of a problem as Federal Reserve will hold off any hike in interest rates.Brexit could lead to uncertainty and volatility mainly in the European markets in the short-term, he says. It could also affect the US Dollar and the Yen for a few days.2:55 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks rallied further in late trade. The Sensex surged 307.38 points or 1.16 percent to 26703.09 and the Nifty jumped 91.45 points or 1.13 percent to 8200.30.2:40 pm Interview: VG Kannan, Managing Director & Group Executive, SBI said the bank will now start working on merger process which will be completed by March 2017, he added.

Post merger, treasury gains will be a good boost, quality of investment will get better and cost of deposits will come down for the entity. In addition, merger will reduce account duplication for all the banks, he added.  Backing Kannan, N Krishnamachari, MD, State Bank of Mysore, said he is positive to move into the SBI fold. Branch overlaps will significantly be reduced by the act.

Calling this a ‘win-win’ situation, CR Sasikumar, MD, State Bank of Travancore said stake holders are happy about moving into SBI.2:35 pm NITI Aayog VC on GDP: India's economic growth will cross the 8 percent-mark this fiscal on the back of good monsoon and pick up in manufacturing, NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya has said.

"India will cross 8 percent economic growth during the current fiscal. Good Monsoon will push farm sector growth to 4-5 percent this year," Panagariya said.

He said the growth in the last quarter of the previous fiscal touched 7.9 percent because of uptick in manufacturing activity and improved performance of agriculture sector.

According to the data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), manufacturing sector during the fourth quarter recorded a growth rate of 9.3 percent while farm sector grew at 2.3 percent.

India economy clocked a five-year high growth rate of 7.6 percent in 2015-16, mainly on account of good performance of manufacturing and improvement in farm sectors.2:25 pm JLR's new plant: Jaguar Land Rover has inaugurated its new factory in Itatiaia, Brazil which has been set up with an investment of 240 million pounds. This is the company's first overseas facility which is completely owned by them.This new factory will manufacture the Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Discovery Sport models for the Brazilian market. In an official release, the company has stated that both vehicles will be on sale by this month across their dealerships in Brazil.2:15 pm Expert on Brexit: An exit for Britain from the Eurozone is likely to result in a sell-off for the euro and pound, and put upward pressure on the US dollar. This could be detrimental for all emerging markets, says Hans Goetti, Chief Strategist Middle East and Asia, Banque Internationale À Luxembourg.However, he adds that it won't be much of a problem as Federal Reserve will hold off any hike in interest rates.Brexit could lead to uncertainty and volatility mainly in the European markets in the short-term, he says. It could also affect the US Dollar and the Yen for a few days.Also read - Govt clears aviation policy, eases 5/20, caps 1-hr airfare at Rs 25002:00 pm Market Check

Equity benchmarks extended rally in afternoon trade with the Sensex rising 243.02 points to 26638.73 and the Nifty climbing 68.85 points to 8177.70. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 0.6-0.9 percent.

About two shares advanced for every share falling on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

State Bank of India surged nearly 5 percent after the Cabinet has approved merger of five subsidiary banks with itself. State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Travancore rallied 20 percent each.