Adding to its rally for the fifth straight session, the benchmark Sensex surged about 117 points in early trade on Monday as investors went in for more bets amid upbeat fourth quarter numbers and on monsoon hopes.

The 30-share barometer rose 116.82 points, or 0.43 per cent, to 26,770.42. The gauge had gained 1,423.24 points in the previous four sessions.

Shares of power equipment maker BHEL fell by 5 per cent after the company’s standalone net profit declined 59.5 per cent in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2015-16.

The company’s result came post market hours on Friday.

ITC is trading higher by 1% at Rs 355 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) after the stock turned ex-dividend for Rs 8.50 per share on Monday.

The board of directors of ITC at its meeting held on May 20, 2016, recommended dividend of Rs 8.50 (including special dividend of Rs 2) per ordinary share of Re 1 each for the financial year ended March 31, 2016.

Coal India was up 5% to Rs 296 on the BSE in early morning trade after the company raised prices by 6.29% across all its subsidiaries for both regulated and non-regulated sectors.

“The board has approved revision of coal prices w.e.f. 00:00 hours of May 30, 2016 appx. 6.29% increase over the current price. This will be applicable to all subsidiaries of Coal India and NEC for regulated and non-regulated sectors,” Coal India said in a statement.

The world's largest consumer goods company, Procter & Gamble (P&G), appears to be slowly but steadily getting its act together in India, after announcing recently that it was moving away from unprofitable businesses.

The latest financial results of Gillette India, one of its two listed companies, had it reporting double-digit revenue growth for the three months ended March, after consecutive quarters of single-digit growth (see chart).

The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty surged over 5 per cent for the first time in nearly three months due to factors such as robust quarterly numbers, expectation of good monsoon and firm global cues. The 30-share index soared 1,351.70 points, or 5.25 per cent, to 26,653.60 on May 27, 2016 from 25301.90 on May 20 last week. Likewise, the 50-share index jumped 406.95 points to 8156.65 from 7749.70 during the same period.

After recording profit for two consecutive quarters, Lanco Infratech today announced a reported loss of Rs 200.7 crore for the quarter ending March 31, 2016 as against a loss of Rs 563.2 crore in January-March 2015. The company managed to reduce its yearly loss too due to better performance of its EPC and construction business. It reported loss of Rs 265.6 crore last financial year as against loss of Rs 1,975.3 crore for 2014-15.

The company said it would continue to look at sale of assets and getting strategic investors for some of its businesses.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has asked all listed companies to disseminate the cumulative impact of all audit qualifications in a separate format.

This is to ensure the information is available to investors. An audit qualification is typically a statement written upon the front page of any check done by a professional auditor. The management of the listed entity will have the option to explain its views on the audit qualifications.

NEW DELHI: Gold's downward movement continued for the second straight day as the prices fell Rs 20 to Rs 28,850 per 10 grams on Saturday, tracking a weak trend overseas amid easing demand from jewellers and retailers at the domestic spot market. Silver followed suit and lost another Rs 70 at Rs 39,000 per kg on lack of buying support from industrial units and coin makers.

Traders said sentiment remained bearish in line with a sluggish global trend on investors' anticipation of higher borrowing costs in the United States (US).

The proposed merger of State Bank of India (SBI) with its five associate banks and the Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) will cost it around Rs 3,000 crore, said SBI chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya, while announcing the bank’s fourth-quarter results here on Friday.

However, the benefits from the merger will outweigh the costs, she added. “We have sought the government’s permission to begin negotiations. We hope the permission will be forthcoming... We have tried to assess what a merged entity would look like, and I can assure you that there will not be any impact either on capital or NPA (non-performing asset) position, and we are well positioned for the merger.”

Inviting Real Estate Agents, Job Placements Agents, Educational Institutes, Software Service Providers, Real Estate Builders, Marriage Bureaus, Travel Agents, Restaurant Owners, Health & Fitness Centers and other Local Businesses to Post a FREE Classified Advertisement on Cootera.com Classifieds Website.