Markets open firm led by RIL
Reliance Industries surge after upbeat Q3 results
Indian shares opened higher on Monday led by buying in index-heavyweight Reliance Industries after better-than-expected results in the fiscal third quarter.
The Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share index Sensex gained 93.79 points and opened at 20,132.83 while the National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty rose 21.35 points to open at 6,085.75.
In the results calendar, Asian Paints, HDFC, NTPC and SpiceJet will declare their third quarter performances later today.
Globally, Asian shares edged lower on Monday, ahead of the outcome of the Bank of Japan policy meeting this week amid expectations for bold monetary easing measures.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.11% to 23,627, Taiwan's Weighted index fell 0.2% to 7,718, Singapore's Straits Times was up 0.3% to 3,221 while China's Shanghai Composite added 0.4% to 2,327 and Japan's Nikkei dropped 0.85% to 10,820.
Back home, oil &gas, FMCG, auto, power, capital goods, metals gained while IT, technology, banks, real-estate indexes dropped on BSE.
Among key Sensex stocks, HDFC Bank fell 1%, TCS & Infosys dropped 0.7%, Bajaj Auto dec;ined 0.7% while Mahindra & Mahindra was down 0.88% on BSE.
Among gainers, ONGC and GAIL up 0.6% and 1.4%, Reliance Industries gained 4.3%, Wipro rose 1.2%, Sterlite Industries and Tata Steel gained 1% and 0.3% , among autos, Maruti Suzuki gained 1% , Coal India was up 0.1% on BSE.
Reliance Industries Ltd, owner of world's biggest refining complex in Gujarat, reported its third straight quarterly net profit increase, at Rs 5,502 crore. Its gross refining margin-- at $9.6 per barrel--jumped 41 per cent as compared to the third quarter of financial year 2012.
The broader markets traded flat with mid-caps and small-caps tad up by 0.1% on BSE.
The market breadth was positive. Out of 632 stocks traded, 4420 stocks advanced compared to 165 declined on BSE.