Nifty eyes 7950, Sensex soars over 200 pts; NTPC falls 2%

Moneycontrol Bureau1:55 pm Exclusive: Tata Steel has met with all the seven bidders looking to buy its bleeding UK assets, reports CNBC-TV18's Kritika Saxena, quoting sources. It is further learnt that out of these seven, three bidders will be shortlisted before the first week of June. All bidders have been individually assured that they won't be taking on the pending liability burden of Tata Steel's UK assets. The bidders will be meeting the UK government this week.1:30 pm Interview: The country's largest mortgage lender HDFC is not worried about low on-balance sheet loan growth as higher loans sold is helping the lender get higher returns on equity, said Keki Mistry, Vice Chairman & CEO of the company. In an exclusive chat with CNBC-TV18's Ritu Singh, Mistry said the company is earning a weighted average return of 1.2 percent on Rs 32,000 crore of loans sold. HDFC has seen a sharp growth of Rs 4000 crore in the non-individual segment in the last quarter, he said, adding, he expects it to continue once the investment cycle picks up and rural demand increases. Mistry is confident of growth this business in the medium to long term.Don't miss: Sun TV surges 11% on exit polls; DMK win to increase ad revenue

The market is still surging ahead as the the Sensex is up 222.24 points or 0.9 percent at 25875.47. The Nifty is up 64.65 points or 0.8 percent at 7925.40. About 1373 shares have advanced, 1056 shares declined, and 165 shares are unchanged.

ONGC, HDFC, Axis Bank, M&M and Maruti Suzuki are top gainers while NTPC, HUL, Adani Ports, Bharti Airtel and SBI are major losers in the Sensex.

Brent crude pushed towards USD 50 a barrel, boosted by supply disruptions from the escalating Canadian wildfires and armed attacks against oil facilities in Nigeria.

Wildfires burning around the oil sands hub of Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada, have been rapidly moving north, forcing firefighters to shift their efforts to protecting existing oil facilities.

In Nigeria, Africa's biggest crude producer, troops have made several arrests following the attacks on an offshore oil facility as the government yesterday moved to avert a labour strike over petrol prices.