Firm trades continue led by oil and gas shares

Markets continued to trade firm, after retreating from the day highs, as gains in oil and gas shares helped offset partial losses in FMCG majors. Resumption of buying by foreign institutional investors also helped improve sentiment.

At 2:30PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 111 points at 19,522 and the 50-share Nifty gained 31 points at 5,868.

Foreign Institutional Investors were net buyers of equities in the cash segment worth Rs 164 crore, exchange data showed.

Asian stocks rose on Friday, while sterling hit a five-week low, after two of Europe's most important central banks surprised the market by assuring investors they were in no hurry to wind down stimulus.

 
But markets were cautious as they waited for a US jobs report that could bolster, or derail, the case for the Federal Reserve to start dialling down its asset-buying programme this year.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei average closed 2.1% higher at 14,310 and touched a five-week high. Shanghai Composite ended flat while Hang Seng surged 1.9% and Straits Times ended up 0.8%.

European shares were trading mixed as investors remained cautious ahead of the US jobs data due for release later today. The CAC-40 was down 0.2% while DAX and FTSE-100 were trading with marginal gains.

The BSE Oil and Gas index was the top sectoral gainer on the BSE up 1.4% followed by FMCG, Bankex and Capital Goods indices.

Oil and Gas shares rebounded from their lows after profit taking was seen in the previous sessions. Reliance Ind was up 2% while ONGC gained 2.4%.

FMCG shares witnessed buying after Hindustan Unilever parent's open offer received good response. HUL was up 1.2%. Earlier, the stock had rallied over 4% in opening trades to touch an all-time high of Rs 631.95 after its parent company Unilever said it has acquired 14.8% stake against target of 22.5% in Indian unit. ITC was up 1.3%.

Other Sensex gainers include, HDFC Bank and Tata Motors.

Bharti Airtel, Mah&Mah and ICICI Bank were some of the Sensex losers.

Among other shares, Gitanjali Gems and MMTC remained under selling pressure with pending sell orders for more than 15 million shares each on these counters. The stock price of these companies more than halved from their recent highs touched on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). MMTC locked in lower circuit for 17 straight days, is down 5% at Rs 79.75, its lowest value since July 2006 on BSE. Gitanjali Gems is currently trading lower by 5% at Rs 183, plunged 67% from its recent high of Rs 547 on June 18, 2013

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap was trading flat while the Small-cap index was up 0.2%.

Market breadth was strong with 1,155 gainers and 1,070 losers on the BSE.