The sharemarket looks poised for a spectacular rally as the Nifty inches close to 9000-mark. The 50-share index is up 58.65 points at 8960.50. The Sensex is up 151.59 points at 29513.09, and the Nifty About 1176 shares have advanced, 599 shares declined, and 158 shares are unchanged. Axis Bank, L&T, HDFC twins and BHEL are top gainers in the Sensex.

ITC is still down 3 percent while GAIL, Wipro, Tata Power and Sesa Sterlite are among the losers. Indian bonds and the rupee fell in early trading after the government set a higher-than-expected fiscal deficit target for the 2015-16 year as part of the federal budget unveiled on Saturday.

The Budget announced a fiscal deficit target of 3.9 percent of gross domestic product for the fiscal year starting in April, higher-than-expected 3.6 percent. The government also said it would cut the deficit to 3 percent of GDP by the 2017-18 fiscal year, one year later than expected.

The benchmark 10-year bond yield rose 3 basis points to 7.75 percent initially. The rupee weakened slightly to 61.86 per dollar compared to its 61.83-84 close on Friday, tracking Asian peers after China’s central bank cut interest rates on Saturday.

Coustery : http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/local-markets/nifty-inches-towards-9000-axis-bank-lt-bhel-top-gainers_1317874.html