Sensex up over 100 pts; Maruti soars 7%, FT gains 3%

Moneycontrol BureauLive Market Commentary

9:50 am Buzzing: Shares of AstraZeneca Pharma gained as much as 7.68 percent in early trade Tuesday as the board of directors has finally approved delisting proposal. "The delisting proposal received from AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals AB, Sweden, the promoter of the company, vide their letter dated March 01, 2014, was considered and approved by the board of the company at its meeting held on March 15, 2014," the company said in its filing.

Earlier on March 5, the board members had deferred this proposal because after discussion, the board had decided to seek additional information from the promoter.

9:40 am FII View: Goldman Sachs has upgraded India to "overweight" with a Nifty 12-month target at 7,600, which is a 17 percent upside in stock markets from current levels. The benchmark is currently trading at 6,500.

Goldman, which expects domestic fundamentals to improve, said elections may be an important domestic catalyst for markets. Timothy Moe, Goldman Sachs says: "CPI inflation for February declined further driven primarily by a fall in vegetable prices."

 9:30 am Big soar! It is celebration time with Maruti Suzuki stock as the board reviews Gujarat project. Shares of the auto manufacture touched record high at Rs 1899.90, up 9 percent intraday on Monday.

It has also agreed to seek minority shareholder nod once contract is finalised. The company announced capex for FY15 at  Rs4,000 crore.

“The entire capex for Gujarat sub would be funded by depreciation and equity brought in by Suzuki Motor Corporation,” it said.  However, it did not make any change in its plans to hand over the Gujarat plant to parent Suzuki.

Don't miss: PSU bank recapitalisation: Golden share an option for govt

After a long weekend, the market kick-starts with a roar. The Sensex is up 126.08 points or at 21935.88, and the Nifty is up 35.70 points at 6539.90. About 348 shares have advanced, 116 shares declined, and 23 shares are unchanged.

Maruti, Sesa Sterlite, Tata Steel, Tata Power and Coal India are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are L&T, Hero MotoCorp and HDFC.

The Indian rupee gained in early trade against the dollar. The rupee opened higher by 17 paise at 61.02 per dollar against the Friday's close of 61.19.The safe-haven yen was on the defensive and the euro stood firm as anxiety over the Ukraine crisis ebbed for the time being.

US stocks rallied on Monday, with the Dow industrials rebounding after a five-day losing streak and as voting in Crimea passed without violence. US manufacturing output jumped the most in six months in February.

Fed is starting its two-day policy meeting today

Crimean parliament passes vote to proclaim Crimea an independent state, seeking to join Russia. Meanwhile US president Barack Obama says that Ukrainian referendum on Crimea won't be recognised by world.

In commodities, US crude oil edged down to slip below USD 98 per barrel, falling for the second day in a row, as expectations of growing petroleum stockpiles in US offset worries tied to tensions over Ukraine.

Gold is off six-month high after rallies in global shares hurt its appeal as an alternative investment, although tensions over Crimea still offered some support.