Sensex, Nifty up over 1.5%; Mid & Smallcap outperform, ITC down

Moneycontrol Bureau10:58 am Market Update: The Sensex rallied 394.88 points or 1.66 percent  to 24174.23 and the Nifty climbed 133.05 points or 1.84 percent to 7355.35.About six shares advanced for every share declining on the BSE.10:45 am Interview: Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) reported 16 percent rise in total sales to 44002 units year-on-year (YoY) for the month of February.

The domestic sales went up 18.41 percent (YoY) whereas, exports fell 15 percent (YoY), the company reported on Tuesday.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Pravin Shah, President and Chief Executive-Automotive at M&M said that the demand in urban market remains to be strong while the rural demand continues to struggle.

Regarding newly launched TUV300 and KUV100, he said both the vehicles are doing well and 27000 KUV100 have been booked so far.10:30 am Market Expert: The market has taken off sharply since witnessing some volatility on Budget day. Following the highest single-day gain (777 pts) in seven years yesterday, the Sensex has tacked on another 300 points today.But Ajay Srivastava of Dimensions Consulting has a word of caution: the current bounceback may have some more legs to go but till economic fundamentals solidly change, investors must be cautious to not over invest."This is a good opportunity to rebalance your portfolio [and lighten up on stocks that were badly hit]," Srivastava told CNBC-TV18.He also said the RBI's move yesterday to tweak capital norms will help banks shore up capital but this may be a followed by another NPA hit in the fourth quarter. 10:15 am Jaitley to meet RBI, SEBI: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will address the boards of Reserve Bank and Securities and Exchange Board of India on March 12, to discuss various financial sector reforms announced in Budget 2016-17.

The address of the finance minister comes in the backdrop of the government's announcement of meeting current year's fiscal deficit target and sticking to the target of 3.5 percent.

The minister would first address the board of Sebi and then RBI in Delhi on March 12, sources said.

It has been a custom that the finance minister addresses RBI board, consisting of RBI governor and existing three deputy governors, after the Budget.Also read - Was Budget 2016 historic? Verdict will come in 10-15 yrs10:00 am Market Check

Equity benchmarks continued to rally with the Sensex rising 408.51 points or 1.72 percent to 24187.86 and the Nifty climbing 120.30 points or 1.67 percent to 7342.60.

The broader markets outperformed benchmarks with BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gaining 2 percen each. The market breadth was strong as more than seven shares advanced for every shares declining on the Bombay Stock Exchange.ICICI Bank and SBI were leading contributors to Sensex's gains, up 6-9 percent. Hindalco also gained 6 percent and BHEL was up 6.5 percent on order worth Rs 5,600 crore in Tamil Nadu.HDFC, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, L&T, Hero and Adani Ports were up 1-5 percent.

ITC retreated on profit booking, down 1 percent after rallying 10 percent in previous session as excise duty hike on cigarettes was on expected lines.

Mahindra & Mahindra slipped over 2 percent on profit taking. Wipro and TCS lost half a percent as rupee recovered sharply in three trading sessions.

Coal India declined 0.4 percent as its February offtake dropped to 45.5 MT compared to target of 47.13 MT and production was down to 51.01 MT against target of 52 MT.The rupee appreciated for fourth consecutive session today, rising from 68.71 a dollar (at close on Thursday) to 67.7 a dollar today.