Sensex gains over 100 pts; financials & OMCs lead

The main gainers on the Sensex include ONGC, HDFC, Bharti Airtel, GAIL and HDFC Bank

Benchmark indices are trading on a higher note led by financials, capital goods and index heavyweight shares.

At 13:00 PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 105 points at 20,334 and the 50-share Nifty was up 33 points at 6,033.

Adss Chetan Jain, Deputy Manager (Derivatives Desk) - Equity Research, Anand Rathi Financial Services, “Nifty future has been trading near its crucial support zone of 6000 levels as maximum put OI is stood since the starting of the series. One interest part is the PCR has also come to its lower band near 0.87 levels along with increase in implied volatilities suggesting ahead of November expiry volatilities may be seen.”

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 59.80 crore on Thursday, 21 November 2013, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

On the global front, Japanese stocks scaled six-month peaks on Friday as the yen took a spill, while other Asian markets lagged as investors resigned themselves to an inevitable slowdown in U.S. stimulus.

Tokyo's Nikkei rallied more than 1 percent but succumbed to profit-taking late in the session to finish 0.1 percent higher. Still, it is up nearly 10 percent over the last two weeks, setting the stage for a re-test of its 2013 peak at 15,942.

European shares were seen starting modestly higher with financial bookmakers expecting major European indices to open up as much as 0.5 percent.

Back home, the rupee breached the Rs 63.01 per dollar mark today due to dollar buying by importers.

On the sectoral front, BSE Consumer Durables, Oil & gas, Capital Goods, Bankex, PSU, Power and FMCG indices have gained by 1% each. Apart from Auto and Metal, all the major BSE sectoral indices are trading in green zone.

The main gainers on the Sensex at this hour include ONGC, HDFC, Bharti Airtel, GAIL, HDFC Bank, Tata Steel, Dr Reddy’s Lab and L&T.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is trading higher by 2.5% at Rs 277 after the company said its wholly owned subsidiary ONGC Videsh has signed a memorandum of understanding with PetroVietnam (PVN) to promote the joint cooperation in hydrocarbon sector in Vietnam, India and other countries.

Oil exploration stocks gained as US crude oil futures traded near the highest price in three weeks after applications for unemployment benefits in the US declined, signaling a sustained economic recovery in the world's biggest oil consumer.

On the losing side, Tata Motors, Hindalco, Sesa Sterlite, Bajaj Auto and Sun Pharma have declined between 1-2%.  

Fiem Industries has rallied 14% to Rs 257, extending its past one week 17% rally, after reporting a strong 45% year on year (yoy) jump in net profit at Rs 9.08 for the quarter ended September 30, 2013 (Q2). The auto parts and equipment makers had profit of Rs 6.26 crore in year ago quarter.

The market breadth in BSE remains positive with 1,238 shares advancing and 896 shares declining.