Expecting a correction has been futile, but there is hardly any record of the market rising for a 9th day in a row

Joining in India’s celebrated semi-final win in the Cricket World Cup last night, the market continued its gaining spree for yet another day. The Sensex opened 50 points higher at 19,340 and the Nifty gained 15 points to 5803.05. Banking and realty counters witnessed early demand. Volatility on account of the futures and options expiry was evident since the start of trade today.

The market touched the day’s high just after mid-day, with the Sensex scaling 19,575 and the Nifty touching 5,872. However, intense profit-booking pushed the indices to their intra-day lows at around 2.50pm. The indices fell below its opening levels and even dipped into the red (Sensex to 19,284 and the Nifty to 5,779).

The market has rallied for eight days in a row and it would be a surprise if it does not correct tomorrow.

Vodafone, the world’s largest mobile phone operator by revenue, today said it has exercised its option to acquire Essar’s stake in their joint venture for $5 billion. Essar has a 33% stake in the joint venture company and with this buy Vodafone will have a direct holding of 75% in the Indian telecom company. Essar will exit completely from the joint venture. The company also said that a final settlement is expected to be completed by November 2011.

The market picked up some momentum amid fluctuations in the last half an hour and closed in the positive for an eighth day, an indication of a strong bull-run. The Sensex closed at 19,445, a gain of 155 points over its previous close, and the Nifty was up 46 points at 5,834.

In the fiscal-end rally which started on 22nd March the Sensex has gained 1,606 points and the Nifty has risen by 469 points.

Among the broader markets, the BSE Mid-cap index gained 0.29% and the BSE Small-cap index added 0.21%.

In the sectoral space, BSE IT (up 1.92%), BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods (up 1.67%), Oil & Gas (up 1.44%), BSE TECk (up 1.42%) and BSE Metal (up 0.98%) were the major gainers. BSE Bankex (down 0.70%), BSE Healthcare (down 0.35%), BSE Consumer Durables (down 0.22%) and BSE Capital Goods (down 0.16%) were the main losers.

Bajaj Auto (up 2.90%), ONGC (up 2.76%), TCS (up 2.71%), Hindustan Unilever (up 2.50%) and Hero Honda (up 2.23%) were the best performers on the Sensex today. State Bank of India (down 3.19%), Cipla (down 2.01%), Reliance Communications (down 2%), Mahindra & Mahindra (down 1.61%) and Maruti Suzuki (down 0.95%) were the top lowers on the index.

Food inflation eased to single digits at 9.5% for the week ended 19th March helped by cheaper pulses even though vegetables and fruits remained expensive. Food inflation, measured on the basis of wholesale prices, had soared to 10.05% in mid-March after remaining in single digits for two weeks in a row.

The drop in food inflation in the week under review is also due to higher base in the corresponding period last year, when the rate of price rise was 20.18%.

Markets in Asia recovered from early hiccups and barring the Shanghai Composite, all others closed in the green. The Chinese benchmark settled lower on worries that the country’s central bank could go in for another round of rate hikes. However, geo-political issues and debt concerns in Europe capped the gains. The Seoul market gained on support from insurers and airlines. The realty sector aided the Hang Seng to close higher.

The Hang Seng gained 0.32%, the Jakarta Composite surged 1.04%, the KLSE Composite advanced 0.88%, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.48%, the Straits Times was up 0.34%, the Seoul Composite gained 0.73% and the Taiwan Weighted climbed 0.43%. On the other hand, the Shanghai Composite declined 0.88%.

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of stocks worth Rs739.61 crore on Wednesday. On the other hand, domestic institutional investors were net sellers of stocks worth Rs615.34 crore.

Aurobindo Pharma (up 1.08%) has received final approval from the US Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) to manufacture and market Fosinopril Sodium Tablets USP 10mg, 20mg and 40mg in the US. The drug is the generic version of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Pharmaceutical Research Institute’s Monopril tablets 10mg, 20mg, and 40mg. The product falls under the cardiovascular (CVS) therapeutic category and is indicated for the treatment of hypertension. The product has a market size of about $20 million for the twelve months ending September 2010.

Tata Power (up 0.34%) today said it had started commercial operation of another 120-MW unit at its coal-based power plant at Jojobera, in Jamshedpur. Commercial operation of the latest 120-MW unit at Jojobera—dubbed Unit 5—began on 27th March. With the addition of this unit, the total capacity of the Jojobera thermal power station is now 547.5 MW.

KEC International (1.66%), the flagship company of RPG Group has bagged orders totalling Rs801 crore in the areas of transmission (domestic and international) and cables.

In India, the company has secured three orders from Power Grid Corporation of India aggregating Rs224 crore and one order from state utility Aptransco worth Rs84 crore on a turnkey basis. In the global arena, the company has bagged orders worth Rs386 crore from Saudi Arabia, South Africa, United States and Brazil.