The market has opened on very strong note. The Sensex gained 208.62 points to be at 19596.12 while the Nifty soared 50.75 points to 5954.85. Star of the day Hindustan Unilever fired up the benchmark indices with the stock rising 18.9 percent on the BSE.  Unilever Plc, the parent of Hindustan Unilever  Tuesday said it would make an open offer for an additional 22.52 percent stake in the company at Rs 600 per share.   The offer price represents a premium of 20.5 percent to Monday’s closing price of Rs 497.

The FMCG index itself was up 5.4 percent while other stocks in the counter like ITC (up 3.1 percent), Marico (up 5 percent), Godrej Consumer Products (up 3.2 percent) too rallied.

Sterlite Industries, Tata Motors and Tata Steel were the other lead gainers in the Sensex. Meanwhile, banking, auto and oil & gas stocks were growing weak. Hero MotoCorp, ONGC, M&M, Jindal Steel and HDFC dragged.

Investors are closely watching corporate earnings which and patiently awaiting for the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy review on May 3.

Asian share markets edged higher on Tuesday as hopes for political stability in Italy and expectations for global central banks to continue their growth-supporting monetary stimulus bolstered  investor risk appetite.

The dollar wallowed at 1-1/2 week lows against a basket of currencies in early Asian trade on Tuesday as declining bond yields and slowing inflation put pressure on the Federal Reserve for more action.

Brent crude steadied under $104 a barrel on Tuesday, holding on to most of its gains from the previous session as investors remained cautiously optimistic that further global stimulus measures would boost oil demand.

U.S. Treasuries were firm on Monday with benchmark 10-year note yields holding near four-month lows as investors focused on a heavy calendar of central bank meetings and highly anticipated jobs data scheduled for later this week.

    LOCAL MARKETS PREVIOUS CLOSE
* BSE index 19,387.50 (+0.52 pct)
* NSE index 5,904.10 (+0.56 pct)
* Rupee 54.23/24 per dollar (54.3750/3850)
* 10-year bond yield 7.76 pct (7.74 pct)
* 5-year OIS rate 6.93 pct (6.95 pct)
* 1-year OIS rate 7.21 pct (7.21 pct)
* Call money 7.55/7.60 pct (7.50/7.60 pct)