Sensex up 350 pts, Nifty hovers around 8200; heavyweights lead

Moneycontrol Bureau11:50 am Polaris OFS: Global IT services major - Virtusa Corporation which had a majority interest in Polaris, will sell 18.86 lakh shares or 1.86 percent in the company via an offer for sale (OFS) at a 40-percent discount to the acquisition price within 1 year. The issue has opened today and will close on December 9.

The stock price of Polaris tumbled close to 5 percent on the news

The OFS floor price has been fixed at Rs 130 per share or 19 percent discount to Wednesday’s closing price. It also has an upsize option of another 18.86 lakh shares.

11:40 am Earnings: GMR Infrastructure today reported that its standalone net loss for the September quarter widened to Rs 700.34 crore due to provision for diminution in value of investments and advances in subsidiaries.

The company had reported a net loss of Rs 7.41 crore in the year-ago period.

Its total income from operations rose to Rs 331.22 crore as against over Rs 292.6 crore a year ago, it said.

During the quarter under review, the company reported provision for diminution in value of investments and advances in subsidiaries of Rs 752.65 crore.11:30 am FII View: Once the western market rally is over, emerging markets are likely to outperform, believes Richard Harris, Chief Executive of Port Shelter Investment Management. Western market rallies, he said, are usually short-lived. The market has already discounted a probable rate hike by the US Federal Reserve. Policies of President elect Donald Trump will be positive for the US economy, which is why US is seen moving ahead now. Global tensions like Brexit and geopolitical issues are seeing some relief now. Among emerging markets, India is becoming less volatile, Harris added.11:20 am Nov auto sales: Domestic passenger vehicle sales rose 1.82 percent to 2,40,979 units in November, from 2,36,664 in the same month last year.

Domestic car sales ticked up to 1,73,606 units as against 1,73,111 in November last year, according to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).

Motorcycle sales last month declined 10.21 percent to 7,78,178 units, from 8,66,696 a year earlier. Total two-wheeler sales in November fell 5.85 percent to 12,43,251 units compared with 13,20,552 units in the year-ago month.

Sales of commercial vehicles were down 11.58 percent at 45,773 units in November, SIAM said.

Vehicle sales across categories registered a decline of 5.48 percent at 15,63,665 units, from 16,54,407 in November 2015, it added.Also read - Buy, sell, hold: 4 key stocks that may boost your portfolio11:00 am Market Check

Relief rally continued in morning trade after renewed buying by FIIs seen for the second consecutive session yesterday. They net bought Rs 400 crore worth of equity shares after selling nearly Rs 17,000 crore worth of equities in previous 18 consecutive sessions due to likely Fed rate hike in December and US elections.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 353.79 points or 1.35 percent at 26590.66 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 110.40 points or 1.36 percent at 8212.45. The broader markets also participated in the rally, up 1.3 percent on strong breadth.

About four shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE.

Heavyweights ITC (up 2 percent), Infosys (up 1.6 percent), HDFC Bank (up 1.2 percent), Reliance Industries (up 1.4 percent) and HDFC (up 1.15 percent) continued to support the market.

Tata Motors surged over 3 percent after solid JLR sales growth in China (up 42 percent) and North America (up 20 percent) in the month of November, though the fall in UK (down 13 percent) and Europe (down 6 percent) sales restricted overall retail sales growth to 2 percent on yearly basis.