Officials say a fall in global oil prices will reduce the government's subsidy burden, giving it a greater chance of hitting its ambitious fiscal deficit target of 4.1 percent of gross domestic product in the fiscal year to March.
Results of some blue-chip companies exceeded expectations, providing additional thrust, traders said.
Earlier this year, the government raised around Rs 1,000-crore by selling its stake in Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam.
The economy can't grow without increasing electrification, which requires more power plants, and given coal is the cheapest form of fuel and is abundant, it makes sense that India is looking to boost the use of the fuel.
The NSE 50-share after moving between 10,309.85 and 10,261.50 on alternate bouts of selling and buying, finished at 10,298.75, with paltry gains of 15.15 points, or 0.15 per cent.
According to the decision, such entities can now first operate through e-commerce and then open brick-and-mortar stores.
The BSE benchmark Sensex surged about 241 points to end at 35,165.48 and the NSE Nifty gained 84 points to close at 10,688.65.
Euphoric about India's biggest IPO, possibly to garner up to Rs 15,000 crore, from the world's largest coal producer CIL, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal on Friday said October is an "auspicious" month to launch the issue.
It will be helpful advice for a chief minister-in-waiting who is going to have to deal with empty coffers and overflowing expectations
The broader market outperformed with the S&P BSE Midcap down 0.3%, while the S&P BSE Smallcap was little changed.
Top sources in the government told Business Standard that Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's opposition to divestment plans of profit-making public sector entities prompted the cabinet not to take it up for discussion today.
If cleared, the ONGC arm will become the first subsidiary company of an existing Maharatna to get into this superior league among government-owned entities.
The government on Wednesday expressed disappointment over a French company snapping up Mahatma Gandhi's Johannesburg house, through Sotheby's auction firm, but said it will continue efforts to acquire the heritage property through a public sector company."The matter concerns national sentiment and I will leave no stone unturned to acquire the historic property and declare it a national monument," said Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal.
Stock market bellwether Sensex hit an all-time closing high of 20,893-mark on Thursday and analysts are bullish that the index may surpass its life-time peak of 21,206.77 on Friday on the auspicious occasion of Diwali.
Mutual funds breathed easy today, with the flow into liquid and liquid-plus schemes soaring to Rs 30,000-35,000 crore. This is in contrast to the situation over the past few days when a liquidity squeeze caused by the Coal India issue soaking up cash forced companies and banks to withdraw money from mutual funds.
There was a sharp fall in power output on Thursday from a plant in Gujarat that left India more than 9,000 megawatts short of peak demand, according to two officials at the state grid operator.
Nifty crosses 9,750-mark; Bharti Airtel, TCS, Wipro, Lupin and Coal India gained the most on BSE Sensex
In the run-up to the Coal India initial public offering (IPO), brokers are offering Rs 500-700 to 'rent' the demat accounts of retail investors not subscribing to the issue. The rent is for the duration of the issue, which opens on Monday and closes four days later.
In view of flurry of IPOs expected in the immediate future, here is a simple tip which will make investors' participation in IPOs more profitable and enjoyable.
Road projects alone worth $10 billion face delays over land disputes and other clearances.
The provision in the new mining bill approved by a group of ministers last week for 26 per cent profit sharing by mining companies with affected residents of the area they operate in hasn't been welcomed by many in the sector.
Committed to keep fiscal deficit under check, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has convened a high-level meeting on Tuesday to push forward the disinvestment programme with a view to achieve the budgetary target of Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) in the current fiscal.
The broader NSE Nifty, after shuttling between 10,600.25 and 10,491.45 points, ended the last session of Samvat 2074 with a rise of 6 points, or 0.06 per cent, to end at 10,530.
Sun Pharma was the biggest loser among Sensex components, plunging 3.94 per cent, followed by Tata Steel falling 3.12 per cent.
Reliance Industries on Tuesday toppled state-run oil major ONGC to become the country's second most valued firm after TCS.
Coal India Ltd, the world's largest coal producer, may buy up to a 15 per cent stake in US-based Peabody Energy Corp's Australian assets early next fiscal for an estimated USD 100 million (about Rs 450 crore).
The BSE Sensex was down 326 points at 23,277 and the Nifty was down 107 points at 7,056.
It is up to the government to take a decision on this before it starts auctioning.
Select companies in infra, capital goods, private banks, auto, oil & gas, and mining could be considered by investors.
The incidence of shareholder activism in India is more than that in other Asian countries, according to a BNP Paribas Asia Strategy report.
Its market capitalisation tops those of the 3 largest Indian firms combined
Among Sensex components, shares of Reliance Industries, India's largest company by market value, stole the show by surging 1.61 per cent to their highest in over three months.
The amount is around a fifth of the cumulative investment in fixed assets by these companies.
ArcelorMittal, Anglo Australian major Rio Tinto, Hyderabad-based GVK Power & Infrastructure, Essar Mineral Resources and JSW Steel are among 10 prominent corporations in a shortlist to develop 18 abandoned coal mines owned by state-owned Coal India Ltd and its eight subsidiaries.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
Government-owned companies are more generous in rewarding their shareholders with dividends.
Kicking off its disinvestment drive, the government will sell 5 per cent of its stake in steel major SAIL on Nov 5.
The Ministry of Finance may seek the Union Cabinet's approval for the proposed 10 per cent stake sale in state-owned Coal India Ltd by the end of this month, a senior Coal Ministry official said
The top gainers on the Sensex are Gail(India), HDFC, Infosys.
