Nifty breaches 8150, Sensex strong; Reliance, Infosys surge 2%

Moneycontrol Bureau1:50 pm Market outlook: Though a forecast for good monsoon is being made, how it pans out will be crucial to earnings cycle in FY17, Nitin Jain, Principle Fund Manager at Kotak Mahindra AMC, told CNBC TV-18. He, however, said that he expects earnings cycle to pick up in the second half of the year. Good monsoon, monetary policy are key triggers to improvement in earnings cycle, he said. He said, that the impact of RBI's interest rate cut is yet to be seen and is one of the triggers that one should watch out for in the second half of the year. The company is positive on consumer durables, oil marketing companies and private banks, he said.1:30 pm SBI Result: India's largest lender State Bank of India 's (SBI) fourth quarter standalone profit fell sharply by 66 percent to Rs 1,263.8 crore, impacted by more than 2-fold increase in provisions and slow growth in net interest income. Profitability was supported by other income, operating profit and tax write-back. Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest expended, grew by 3.9 percent to Rs 15,290.76 crore from Rs 14,711.76 crore YoY. Gross advances increased 13.04 percent to Rs 15.09 lakh crore and deposits growth was 9.76 percent at Rs 17.3 lakh crore as of March 2016.Don't miss: BPCL at record high, up 10%; OMCs rally as analysts bet on GRM recovery

The market is surging ahead with the Nifty breaching 8150. The Sensex is up 222.29 points or 0.8 percent at 26588.97, and the Nifty up 70.60 points or 0.8 percent at 8140.25. About 1369 shares have advanced, 1017 shares declined, and 198 shares are unchanged.

Sun Pharma, Adani Ports, Lupin, Reliance and Infosys are top gainers while ONGC, Axis Bank, NTPC, L&T and ITC are losers in the Sensex.

Amid a weak global trend, gold prices drifted lower by 0.15 percent to Rs 28,695 per ten grams in futures trade today as participants cut their bets. Analysts said the weakness in gold futures was mostly in tune with a subdued trend overseas as investors anticipate higher borrowing costs in the US.