Share Market Updates: Sensex gains 164 points, Nifty closes at 11,655 level; Tata Motors, PNB Housing Finance top gainers

The Sensex crossed 39,000 level for the first time ever in early trade and Nifty was trading just short of its record high of 11,760 hit in August last year. Markets are buoyant today ahead of RBI's monetary policy on April 4 where analysts expect the central bank to cut key rates to spur growth. Asian markets in the green on the back of US stocks logging biggest gain in nearly a decade on Friday led the domestic indices higher. While the Sensex rallied 339 points to 39,012 in early trade, the Nifty climbed 85 points to 11,673.The Nifty is trading close to its record high of 11,760 hit in August last year. The Sensex hit 38,989, a record high, in August last year.

On Friday, Sensex and Nifty closed in the green powered by gains in metal and auto stocks. While the Sensex closed 127 points higher at 38,672, the Nifty gained 53 points to 11,623 level.

Here's a look at live updates for the Indian share market today.

3:35 pm: Top Gainers (BSE 200): PNB Housing Finance (8.81%), Tata Motors - DVR (7.75%), Tata Motors (7.29%) ; Top Losers (BSE 200): REC (-4.74%), Shriram Transport (-3.80%), Rel. Nippon LifeAsset (-3.69%).

3:30 pm: The Sensex closed 164.27 points higher at 38,837.18 and Nifty gained 31.70 points to 11,655.60 level in trade today. Top gainer Nifty Metal (1.99%), top loser Nifty CPSE (1.14%). Nifty bank slides 175 points down to 30,250 level.

3:15 pm: SML Isuzu Ltd's March total sales up 14.1% at 2,003 units against 1,756 units (YoY). Shares up 8.6%, touches an intraday high of Rs 899.90 on BSE.

3:00 pm: GST collections for March hits record high of 1.06 lakh crore, up from Rs.97,247 crore in February.

2:45 pm: Nifty nearing record high of 11760.

2:30 pm: Reliance Industries' shares hits lifetime high of Rs.1406.50 on BSE and Rs. 1,406.80 on NSE; up nearly 3%.

2:15 pm: Bombay High Court adjourns Kotak Mahindra Bank Vs RBI Case to April 22; shares sees a sharp surge; trading 1.52% up at Rs. 1356.

2:05 pm: M&M's stock goes bearish after reporting one per cent increase in total sales at 62,952 units against 62,076 units in March. Share trades at Rs.667.35 on BSE, 0.66% down.

1:55 pm: Atul Auto shares up 6.83% at Rs. 367.50 on BSE as 15.21 % growth rate YoY from 4,003 unit sales to 4,612 units.

1:30 pm: Eicher Motors commercial vehicle sales for the month of March at 8,676 units, 7.8% lower against 9,411 units reported same month last year. Stock is trading 0.89 % down at Rs. 20355.

1:15 pm: 37 Sectors are advancing (Top gainer: BSE Metal 3.04%) while 6 Sectors are declining (Top loser: Nifty CPSE -0.73%).

1:00 pm: Market has gained 0.70% while volumes have increased by 14.49%

12:45 pm: Wockhardt rises as India Ratings revised company's short-term ratings to IND A3 from IND A3+ & long-term loan facilities to IND BBB-, shares jump 6.21% to touch intraday high of Rs 470.50.

12:30 pm: Nifty is trading up by 83.65 points and Sensex is up by 315.73 points.

12:15 pm: Tata Motors among top gainers today, climed 6.2 per cent to Rs. 185.20 on NSE and Rs. 185.70 on BSE.

12:10 pm: Infosys completes Formation of Joint Venture with Hitachi, Panasonic and Pasona in Japan, climbs 1.63 % to intraday high of Rs. 756 on NSE.

12:00 pm: Amar Singh, head - advisory at Angel Broking said, "A strong opening to FY20 backed by optimistic overseas cues, steady foreign fund inflows and hopes of the incumbent central government coming back to power in the upcoming general elections bolstered Sensex to surpass 39,000 on Monday morning and mark new record highs.

Global economic factors like an unexpected expansion in Chinese Caixin/Markit PMI and optimism over progress on US-China trade talks contributed to the initial rally of markets.

Foreign fund inflows to the tune of Rs 32,000 crore in the month of March along with participation across sectors supported by improving market breadth and above average trading volumes, signifies inherent strength of the market for current year.

On the macro front, lower oil prices, strengthening Rupee, higher probability of dovish stance by RBI, narrowing trade deficit and increased corporate earnings signal a positive year for the markets ahead in FY'20."

11:55 am: Embassy Office Parks- the country's first real estate investment trust- makes a positve listing, rises as much as 6.66 per cent to Rs. 320 against its issue price/opening price of Rs. 300 on BSE.

11: 50 am: Rahul Agarwal from Wealth Discovery/EZ Wealth said, "There are several factors that are playing crucial role in pushing benchmark indices to record highs; perhaps the biggest one is the clarity on the political front.

The markets seem to be convinced that the ruling dispensation is coming back and the possibility of a stable government at the center is pretty high. Adding to the sentiments is the sustained inflows from FII's since the beginning of the Year. In March alone, FIIs pumped in upwards of $5 Billion in the Indian equity markets.

Sustained foreign fund inflows, a stronger Rupee, a possibility of another rate cut by the RBI on April 4 are other positives that the markets are pricing in. On the global front amidst global growth concerns there is optimism about a possible trade deal between US and China, which is being viewed positively by the global equity markets.

After a 25 basis point rate hike in December, the US Fed last week has indicated a dovish policy stand, therefore a rate hike in 2019 is off the table. This is another positive sign for the US equity markets along with emerging markets of the world Including India.

The Indian markets are in a sweet spot at this point, flush with liquidity and optimism. The current rally has been led by financials with broader participation from the midcap and small cap counters.

For investors, however there is a word of caution. The V shape rally has led to the markets getting ahead of themselves and the valuations have gotten expensive. A prudent advice would be to create all long positions in steps and if one is already sitting on huge profits, perhaps this is the right time to take a significant portion of those profits off the table."

11:45 am: Nifty is trading up by 76 points and Sensex is up by 301.90 points

11:30 am: L&T gains 2.8 % to intraday high of Rs 1,423.15 after getting new strategic gas export pipeline contract that has been awarded through international competitive bidding on a Lump Sum Turn Key (LSTK) basis.

11:15 am: Cipla falls 2.5% to intraday low of Rs 515.90, as USFDA issued 8 GMP observations and 10 observations pertaining to the PAI for a novel technology product slated for approval beyond 2024 while inspecting Kurkumbh plant.

11:05 am: Vinod Nair, head of Research at Geojit said, "The pre-election rally has got a new wing in the financial year in expectation of a stable political and economic performance post-election. Currently, it is supported by a likely cut in repo rate in the upcoming RBI policy, govt bond yield has reduced by 83 bps to 7.35% from a 52-week high of 8.18%, means for new capex supported by reduction in NPAs level in the coming year."

11:00 am: Sensex at record high, crosses 39,000 today, Nifty tops 11,700 fir the first time since September 3, 2018. Nifty traded 0.54% away from its 52 week High of 11760.20.

1: 57 am: Mustafa Nadeem, CEO at Epic Research said, "This was bound to happen as the force behind the trend looks intact for further gains that may push Nifty to reach beyond 12K mark and Sensex beyond 39500. Lower inflation, lower interest rate scenario, dovish stance from Fed reserve and liquidity-driven markets, all these factors are favouring the current run.

We believe there may be some minor profit booking in the short term as the hurdle placed at 39K and 11750 levels. Dalal Street is also looking forward to RBI meet this week and expects a rate cut. This has further pushed bullish sentiment and now almost any dip is being utilized for buying at lower levels.  We remain to buy on dips with a target of 39500 plus levels for Sensex."

10:55 am: Shares of Bank of Baroda (BoB) jumped over 3 per cent in early trade on Monday, as the bank amalgamated with State-run Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank in a government-forced merger, making it the first-ever three-way merger in India's banking sector.

10:41 am: Metal stocks led the rally with the index rising 350 points to 11,697.

10:39 am: Auto and banking stocks led the rally in benchmark indices.

10: 22 am: Sensex crosses 39,000 level for first time ever, Nifty trading at 11,673, a rise of 85 points from previous close. 

9:50 am: Tata Motors share price rose over 5.5% to 184 in trade today after its UK subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover Automotive expressed disappointment over S&P's decision to downgrade the company to 'B+' with credit watch negative.

The firm said it expects improved financial results in the fourth quarter period to March 31, 2019, compared to the first nine months of the financial year, with significant positive cashflow in the fourth quarter.

Jaguar Land Rover is continuing to execute its product plans and Project Charge turnaround strategy to deliver 2.5 billion pound sterling of cashflow improvements by March 2020, it added.

9: 32 am: Meanwhile, the mid cap and small cap indices were trading 109  points and 133 points higher in early trade.

9: 30 am: Market breadth was positive with 1054 stocks trading higher compared to 321 falling on the BSE.

9: 27 am: Metals and consumer durables stocks led the gains with their BSE indices rising 258 points and  235 points, respectively.

9: 25 am: Among 19 BSE sectoral indices, oil and gas index was the only loser falling 50 points to 15,220.

9: 22 am: On a net basis, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net of Rs 86 crore on Friday, and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers to the tune of Rs 1724 crore, provisional data available with BSE showed.

9: 20 am: Vedanta (3.21%), Tata Motors (2.25%), Tata Steel (2.20%) were the top Sensex gainers.

9:15 am: Top Sensex losers were ONGC (1%), Coal India (0.97%) and HDFC (0.45%).

9:00 am: Forex, bond markets closed today for annual account closing of banks. Trading will resume on Tuesday.

The rupee closed at 69.15 per dollar on Friday and the 10-year benchmark bond yield ended at 7.49 percent.

8:55 am: Stocks finished broadly higher on Friday as Wall Street closed out the first quarter with the market's biggest gain in nearly a decade. The S&P 500 index gained 18.96 points, or 0.7 percent, to 2,834.40. The index also notched a gain for the week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 211.22 points, or 0.8 percent, to 25,928.68. The Nasdaq composite added 60.16 points, or 0.8 percent, to 7,729.32. The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks picked up 4.63 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,539.74.