Sensex above 25000, up 150 pts; Nifty reclaims 7650, ITC leads

Moneycontrol Bureau10:58 am Market Update: Equity benchmarks maintained rally with the Sensex rising 178.10 points to 25130.84 and the Nifty climbing 53.40 points to 7657.75.The market breadth remained positive as about two shares advanced for every share declining on the Bombay Stock Exchange.10:40 am Rate cut possible?: The RBI is likely to cut interest rates by 25 basis points in the upcoming credit policy in April, says Neeraj Gambhir, ‎Managing Director, Head Fixed Income, Nomura India. He feels it could be even more if the RBI feels that the downtrend in consumer inflation is sustainable, though the possibility of that is slim.However, the market has already priced in a 25 basis point-cut and will be watching for the language of the RBI commentary in the credit policy, Gambhir says in an interview to CNBC-TV18.He says the RBI decisions in the credit policy will also be based on the liquidity situation. Gambhir expects at least two open market operations (OMOs) by the RBI by December.10:20 am Buzzing: Shares of SKS Microfinance, the micro finance lender, gained more nearly 2 percent intraday on seventh securitisation transaction in FY16.

"SKS, on March 19, completed seventh securitisation transaction during current financial year 2015-16 for a pool value of Rs 538.1 crore," said the Hyderabad-based lender in its filing.

With this transaction, total sum of securitisation completed during FY16 (year-to-date) is Rs 2,319.93 crore.

SKS said pool has been rated AA (SO) by a leading rating agency, signifying a high degree of safety regarding timely servicing of financial obligations, adding such instruments carry a very low credit risk.

Additionally, on same date, the company also assigned a pool of loan receivables of Rs 506.6 crore to one of largest public sector banks on direct assignment basis as per guidelines prescribed by Reserve Bank of India.Don't miss - Likely 25 bps RBI rate cut; buy rate-sensitives: Ajay Bodke

10:00 am Market Check

The market extended gain in morning trade with the Sensex rising 153.10 points to 25105.84, aided by banking & financials and FMCG stocks. The Nifty reclaimed 7650, rising 46.15 points to 7650.50.

The market breadth remained positive as about two shares advanced for every share declining on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

ITC was the biggest contributor to Sensex's gains, up 3 percent. Credit Suisse maintains its outperform rating on the stock, stating that it can rejoice as most states have not hiked value added tax on cigarettes in Budget.Among others, HDFC, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI, Axis Bank, Sun Pharma, HUL and Bharti Airtel gained more than 1 percent while Lupin, Dr Reddy's Labs and BHEL declined over a percent.