Gains in RIL, ONGC, ITC keep benchmark indices in green

Market remained nestled in the green zone supported by buying in heavyweight oil & gas stocks as Reliance Industries and Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). Buying in cigarette maker ITC counter too pushed benchmark indices higher. The three heavyweight blue-chip counters collectively pushed the benchmark Sensex 90 points higher.

The 30-share Sensex was up 62 points 22,465 levels and the 50-unit Nifty was up 11 points at 6,706 levels.
 
Among blue-chips, Infosys, HDFC and Bharti Airtel slipped 1.3 while RIL, ONGC and ITC gained between 1-4%. 
 

Oil & gas stocks are top gainers at this hour; ONGC is up 3.25% at Rs 339.80, RIL is up 2.13% at Rs 948.10, BPCL is up 1.93% at Rs 472.30 and HPCL edged 1.7% higher at Rs 335.

 
Real estate stocks are currently losing with D B REALTY slipping 3.22% to Rs 66.10 followed Godrej Properties which shed 2% to Rs 209, Unitech down 1.5%, Phoenix mill down 1.6% are other losing stocks.
 
Among other stocks, V-Guard Industries has surged 8% to Rs 530 after reporting a 129% year-on-year growth in net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2014 (Q4FY14) at Rs 20.48 crore, due to higher sales and lower ad spends. The consumer electrical and electronics firm had reported a profit of Rs 8.94 crore during the same quarter a year ago.
 
Shares of sanitaryware companies have rallied by up to 20% for the second consecutive day in a row on back of heavy volumes. Cera Sanitaryware, HSIL, Orient Bell and Kajaria Ceramic are up 3-20% on the NSE, in otherwise subdued market.

 
Cera Sanitaryware has soared 20% to Rs 1,380, which is also its record high on the NSE.  The counter has seen huge trading activity, with a combined 334,000 shares already changing hands till noon deals, as against an average sub-100,000 shares that were traded daily in the past two weeks on the NSE and BSE.
 
The stock has rallied 63% in the past six trading sessions from Rs 845 on April 23, after reporting a strong set of numbers for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2014 (Q4FY14). The benchmark CNX Nifty has declined nearly 2% during the same period.

 
The company has reported 38% year-on-year (yoy) jump in net profit to Rs 19 crore for Q4, on the back of higher operational income. Its net sales surged by 38% yoy to Rs 218 crore.
 
Broader markets were mixed; BSE small index was marginally in red while mid-cap was trading flat with a positive bias.
 
Market breath was negative as 1166 stocks declined against gains in  1106 stocks on the BSE.
 
Asian share markets took a turn lower on Monday after a survey of Chinese manufacturing disappointed, while the simmering conflict in Ukraine kept gold and bonds well bid.

 
Early gains evaporated when HSBC's final reading of its April PMI eased back to 48.1 from an initial 48.3, though it was still up a tick on March.
 
At least the services industry fared better, according to a separate official PMI released on Saturday. That measure rose to 54.8 in April from 54.5 in March, the National Bureau of Statistics said.
 
Investors seemed inclined to accentuate the negative and Shanghai shares slipped 0.75% while Taiwan eased 0.1%.
 
Australia's market reversed course to be down 0.2% , while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.3%.

 
Market holidays in Japan and South Korea thinned trade, as did caution over the crisis in Ukraine.
 
Pro-Russian militants stormed a Ukrainian police station in Odessa on Sunday and freed nearly 70 fellow activists, two days after over 40 pro-Russian activists died in a blaze at a building they had occupied.
 
The tensions were cited as one reason for a rise in gold prices, which pushed up another $5 to $1,305.56 an ounce, after bouncing over $14 on Friday.