Moneycontrol Bureau
12:40 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks extended gains in afternoon trade, with the Nifty hitting a fresh 52-week high of 8970.05 for the first time since September 2016. The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 113.93 points at 28978.64 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 38.95 points to 8965.85.12:33 pm IRB in action: IRB Infrastructure Developers said its wholly-owned subsidiary Kishangarh Gulabpura Tollway Private Limited has now executed concession agreement with NHAI for the project of six laning of Kishangarh to Gulabpura section of NH-79A and NH-79 in Rajasthan on DBFOT (design-build-finance-operate-transfer) basis under NLIDP Phase-V Package-1.
The estimated project cost of the company is approximately Rs 1,530 crore. The concession period of the project is 20 years including construction period of 910 days.
The company will get tolling rights on project from the appointed date. The company has offered premium of Rs 186.30 crore to NHAI.12:20 pm Market Expert: The market rally in the recent past has been getting fairly good support from domestic institutional investors.
The fundamentals of the market, however, are average and may trigger a correction, Consulting Editor Udayan Mukherjee told CNBC-TV18 in an interview. In view of factors such as average fundamentals, earnings concerns and macros, the risk-reward is not favourable hereon, he said.
Mukherjee didn’t rule out the possibility of a Nifty surging by another 200-300 points but cautioned that the markets may be setting themselves up for a correction soon. “That (market rally) is totally understandable because of liquidity. But I think the risk reward is probably against the market now,” he said.Also read - Buy, sell, hold: 13 stocks analysts recommend to watch out
12:00 pm Market Check
The market continued to hold morning gains despite volatility ahead of expiry of futures & options contracts for the month of February. It is also heading for fifth consecutive week of gains.
The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 95.76 points at 28960.47 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 29.75 points to 8956.65.
The broader markets also traded in line with benchmarks on positive breadth. About 1261 shares advanced against 1171 declining shares on the BSE.
Telecom is the leading gainer today on the back consolidation in sector. Bharti Airtel surged 4.8 percent on acquisition of Telenor India while Idea Cellular jumped over 7 percent after a media report indicated that Japanese fund SoftBank is likely to pick up some stake in proposed merged entity but the fund denied stake buy.
Jyothy Labs shares rallied 5 percent on reports that Henkel began due diligence for buying stake in the company.
Oil futures climbed nearly 1 percent after data showed a surprise decline in US crude stocks as imports fell, supporting the view that a global glut is ending. The US West Texas Intermediate crude April contract had risen 0.82 percent, to USD 54.03 a barrel. Brent crude was up 0.81 percent, at USD 56.29, although both benchmarks were still well within recent tight ranges.
Gold prices were steady, supported by uncertainty surrounding US President Donald Trump's economic policy after Wednesday's Federal Reserve minutes failed to give the market much direction, despite its support for interest rate hikes.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
