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Sensex ends 103 points up as Reliance surges 11% to hit 8-year high
Heavy-weight Reliance Industries jumped over 11.2% to hit 8-year high of 1,210.55 after Goldman Sachs revised its target price to Rs 1,200 a day
Indian shares on Wednesday ended near 5-month high propelled by Reliance Industries that hit 8-year high following success of its telecom arm in roping in 100 million customers and promising a steady revenue stream from a new plan.
Sensex and Nifty opened higher in line with Asian stocks after a strong show after faster industrial activity in Europe and robust earnings of US companies’ cheered investors.
Sensex opened in the green and surged 202 points or 0.5% to 28,923 by noon while Nifty was up 0.5% to breach 8,950-level. However, the Sensex ended up 103 points or 0.36% at 28,865. Nifty was up 0.2% at 8,927.
Heavy-weight Reliance Industries jumped over 11.2% to hit 8-year high of 1,210.55 after Goldman Sachs revised its target price to Rs 1,200 a day after the company unveiled a new plan for its telecom arm Jio from April after roping in 100 million subscribers with freebies within 170 days.
Axis Bank rose 3.8% on market talk of a possible merger with Kotak Mahindra Bank while Coal India gained 2.8% on expectation of an interim dividend scheduled to be taken up at its board meeting on March 6.
Infosys and TCS were down over 2% while Power Grid fell 2.5% and NTPC 3.5%.
Read | Airtel, Idea shares down after Reliance Jio’s offer announcement
On Wednesday, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.1% taking its cues from the world stock index rising to an all-time peak of 446.21 overnight. Nikkei ended flat while Kospi was up 0.2% and Hang Seng 1%.
European shares were in green with FTSE-100, DAX and CAC-40 gaining 2-4%. In the US, the Dow closed up 0.6% on Tuesday after strong earnings reports from Wal-Mart and Home Depot.
The dollar stabilised after with the dollar index against a basket of major currencies hovering at about 101.400 after two Federal Reserve officials indicated further rate hikes this year while euro eased to $1.0526 on political uncertainties in France.
Global crude oil prices traded higher in the morning on OPEC’s expectation that major producers like Russia will stick to the output cut deal, but gave away gains by evening.
