Markets open with a gap-up; Energy stocks rally

Markets opened on a positive note this Friday tracking gains in Asian shares amid assurances on stimulus efforts by the US Federal Reserve.

Oil and gas companies gained after the government on Thursday approved near doubling of natural gas prices to $8.4 from April 1 next year, a move which will result in rise in power tariff, urea cost and CNG prices. This will be the first revision in gas prices in 3 years.

At 9:20AM, the 30-share Sensex rose 271 points at 19,142 and the 50-share Nifty gained 83 points at 5,766 levels.

Global risk appetite improved after three US Federal Reserve officials eased investor concerns over tapering off the bond-buying programme.

Chinese shares rose after Bank of Japan calmed investor nerves after it send a message to banks that they could no longer count on cheap cash to fund riskier operations.

Asian stocks traded firm with Nikkei gaining 3.2% to 13,649, Singapore Straits Times gained 1% to 3,148, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1% to 20,652 while China’s Shanghai Composite index was up 1% at 1,972.

Back home,  the key sectoral gainers were PSU, metal, capital goods and realty while FMCG and IT indices dropped on the BSE.

The gainers included counters such as ONGC surging 7.6%, Reliance Industries soared 3.8%, Tata Steel and Sterlite Industries gained 2% each, Tata Motors was up 3.5% while ICICI Bank added 1.4% on the BSE.

The laggards were Infosys shed 2%, GAIL falling 1.7%, TCS dropped 1.3%, while HUL fell 0.2% on the BSE.

The broader markets traded higher with mid-caps and small-caps rising 0.5-0.8 per cent on the BSE.

The market breadth was positive. Out of 440 stocks traded so far, 366 stocks advanced while 66 declined on the BSE.