New high: Sensex hits 28000, Nifty above 8350; midcaps soar

Moneycontrol Bureau

10:50 am Boardroom: The stellar Q2 numbers posted by Thermax were mainly due to order intake going up by 42 percent in the quarter said MS Unnikrishnan, managing director. Looking at past trends he is confindent of a double-digit growth of around 10 percent for FY15.

Q2 also saw an improved operational performance and some belt tightening activity, he said.

For the first time the order intake came in more from outside India than domestic. However, he is upbeat on domestic growth going forward too. The current orderbook stands at over Rs 5000 crore and the carry forward orderbook at the group level is at over Rs 6000 crore.

The company is seeing an upsurge in investment activities in Indonesia and African continent, said Unnikrishnan.

10:30 am India calling? International rating agency Moody's says India’s Baa3 rating continues to be stable and Atsi Sheth, senior vice-president, believes there is still some time for India’s sovereign rating to be upgraded.

Sheth believes some of the measures announced by the Reserve Bank will enhance India's sovereign profile, while adding that she expects the government to meet its fiscal deficit target of 4.1 percent for this year. However, she adds, that the general deficit – Centre and states combine – continues to be at an elevated 7 percent level. Moody's will be watching out for measures that can help reduce this general deficit to around 4-5 percent level. Sheth says other nations with rating higher than Baa have a general deficit closer to the 3-4 percent mark.

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The market has made record highs once again. The Sensex has hit the magical 28000 levels, up 142.10 points or 0.5 percent at 28002.48. The Nifty also is at 8351.90, up 27 points. The midcap index also touched a new high above the 10000-level.

About 1364 shares have advanced, 548 shares declined, and 65 shares are unchanged.

Sun Pharma, SBI, Axis Bank, Tata Power and GAIL are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Coal India, Bharti Airtel, Sesa Sterlite, Hindalco and Tata Steel. Rashtriya Chemicals, ABG Shipyard, Prism Cement, Hexaware Tech and Jyothy Labs are major gainers in the midcap segment.

Japanese stocks stepped back as heavyweight Softbank tumbled after slashing its profit forecast, while the broader market took a breather after outsized gains inspired by a fresh stimulus drive by the Bank of Japan.

The Nikkei benchmark soared 7.5 percent in the last two trading days, sending the index to its highest point since before the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Tuesday also saw the second highest turnover of shares on record, as investors cheered the BOJ's policy announcement on Friday, as well as the Government Pension Investment Fund's decision to increase its allocation of funds to domestic stocks.