Global cues lift Sensex 245 pts; ICICI, Reliance, tech lead

Dennis is bullish on India and says the recent correction should be viewed in the context of the global market turmoil. He sees 2015 as being a challenging year for emerging markets as the Fed is likely to hike rates sometime in the middle of the year. But India is expected to do much better as the economy is recovering, corporate earnings growth too is improving and the government is pushing through key reforms. That makes India the best bet in the emerging market space, Dennis says.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rallied 245.27 points or 0.90 percent to close at 27371.84 and the 50-share NSE Nifty climbed 65.90 points or 0.81 percent to 8225.20 supported by private banking & financials, oil & gas, technology and metals stocks.

The broader markets underperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.4 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively.

For the week, the Sensex, Nifty and CNX Midcap ended flat while the Bank Nifty gained a percent.

Globally Asian markets except Shanghai extended previous day's rally taking positive cues from the robust rally in the US markets last night. Shanghai, Hang Seng, Nikkei, Straits Times and Kospi gained 1-2 percent. Bank of Japan kept its key policy unchanged.

European markets like CAC, DAX and FTSE were trading 0.4-0.7 percent higher (at 16 hours IST. Brent crude (February futures) climbed above USD 60 a barrel to trade at USD 60.43 a barrel, up 2 percent while US crude (January futures) too rose 2 percent to USD 55.15 a barrel.

Back home, technology stocks like TCS, Infosys and Wipro rallied 2 percent each after Accenture's strong Q1 numbers released last evening. The 10 percent revenue growth for Accenture was the highest in 11 quarters and the company upped their FY15 revenue growth guidance to 5-8 percent versus 4-7 percent earlier.

India’s biggest private sector lender ICICI Bank surged 3 percent. A media report suggested that the bank was calibrating its global ambitions - selling its subsidiary in Russia, repatriating capital from its UK (United Kingdom) and Canada arms due to uncertain global macroeconomic environment.

Rivals Axis Bank and HDFC Bank gained over 0.5 percent while State Bank of India declined 0.9 percent. Housing finance company HDFC rose 1.55 percent.

Shares of Reliance Industries, Sesa Sterlite, Coal India, Hindalco Industries and Tata Power topped the buying list on Sensex, up more than 2 percent.

Dr Reddy’s Labs advanced 1.3 percent as the drug maker closed the acquisition of Habitrol brand from Novartis Consumer Health Inc.

However, shares of ITC, Hindustan Unilever, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki and Cipla dropped 0.9-1.6 percent.

In the broader space, air carrier SpiceJet surged 20 percent as sources told CNBC-TV18 that the company promised pilots that the salaries will be paid by December 24.

Crompton Greaves gained a percent as the RBI allowed foreign institutional investors to invest up to 100 percent of the paid-up capital in the company.

Jindal Photo rallied 20 percent as a meeting of the board of directors of the company will be held on December 29 to approve a scheme of arrangement between the company and Jindal Poly Films (up 5 percent).

Panacea Biotec climbed 3.6 percent on strategic alliance with the US-based Rising Pharmaceuticals Inc.

It was a weak listing for Monte Carlo Fashions today as the stock closed at Rs 566.40 per share, down 12 percent compared to issue price of Rs 645 per share. Management told CNBC-TV18 they expect revenue growth to be in the range of 15 percent in FY15.

About 1481 shares advanced while 1419 shares declined on the Bombay Stock Exchange.