Sensex, Nifty end 1% higher as oil prices rally

The S&P BSE Sensex surged 267 points to end at 23,649 and the Nifty50 soared 83 points to close at 7,192

Benchmark indices gained for the second straight day, amid a firm rally in the Asian equities, as crude oil prices advanced on hopes that the big oil producers will cap the output in order to tackle the supply glut. Gains were witnessed across the board led by private banks and IT majors while oil exploration major ONGC was among the top Sensex gainers.

The S&P BSE Sensex surged 267 points to end at 23,649 and the Nifty50 soared 83 points to close at 7,192. Meanwhile, BSE Midacp and Smallcap indices underperformed the larger peers and closed 0.5% higher. The market breadth closed strong with 1,420 advances versus 1,115 declines on the BSE.

“It's been a comforting week for the markets so far. We have witnessed a recovery of almost 350 points from our recent lows. The move being backed by select Pharma stock, IT, as well as Capital goods major L&T, provides a lot of stability to the markets. The short term technical patterns are indicating further legs to this 'bounce' till 7,300-7,350 levels,” said Kunal Bothra, Head-Advisory, LKP Securities. 

Meanwhile, Global ratings agency Moody's Investors Service rehashed faith in the Indian economy. According to Moody's Investors Service, country’s economy will grow at 7.5% in 2016 and 2017 as it is relatively less exposed to external headwinds, like China slowdown, and will benefit from lower commodity prices.

The Asian shares gained strength across the board as crude oil prices escalated as hopes that the big oil producers will cap the output in order to tackle the supply glut. Japan’s Nikkei and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng surged over 2% each.  However, a flat trend in the European equities is seen on mixed earnings. FTSE, CAC 40 are up 0.25 each and DAX 100 is down 0.5%.

Crude oil remained the main market driver. US crude was up 2.1% at $31.34 a barrel following a 7% jump on Wednesday after Iran voiced support for a Russia-Saudi-led move to freeze production to deal with the market glut that had pushed prices to 12-year lows.

Minutes of the January Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting released on Wednesday showed that policymakers are concerned about the global financial conditions hitting the U.S. economy and considered changing their planned path of interest rate hikes in 2016.

STOCK TRENDS

Shares of oil exploration & production companies such as Cairn India, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India closed higher up to 4% after a sharp surge in global crude oil prices provided some respite to these companies.

The Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) slashed prices of petrol by 32 paise per liter and raised diesel rates by 28 paise per liter in order to align the domestic rates of the automobile fuels with global benchmarks. The pack closed mixed. BPCL and IOC gained up to 1% each while HPCl slipped 1.3%.

Mahindra & Mahindra closed flat after the company announced that its recently launched sports utility vehicle KUV 100 has crossed 21,000 bookings in just a month post launch.

Shares of Quick Heal Technologies closed 16% lower at Rs 255 against its issue price of Rs 321 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).The stock of the antivirus software provider raised Rs 451 crore via its initial public offer (IPO) was listed at Rs 305, 5% below the issue price on NSE. It touched intra-day high of Rs 330 post listing.

Drug major Cipla ended nearly 1% higher after it announced the completion of its $ 550 million acquisition of US generic drug makers InvaGen and Exelan.

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories rallied nearly 5% and emerged as the top gainer after the company said it will buyback around 4.49m shares representing 2.6% of the existing paid up capital of the company, at a price not more than Rs 3,500 per share under the open market route.

Metal stocks gained sheen in today’s trade.  Hindalco, Jindal Steel and Power, Vedanta, NALCO, SAIL and Tata Steel soared up to 6%.

ICICI Bank gained 3% after media reports stated that the bank plans to lend more to retail customers and go slow and be more prudent with corporate loans in an effort to reduce so-called “concentration risk”, or lending too much to one company, business group, or industry.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) plans to add around 50,000 km of road network in five to six years involving an investment of Rs 17 lakh crore. Sensing a huge opportunity in this sector, engineering and construction giant L&T galloped 2.5%.

Glenmark Pharma gained 1% after the company announced the receipt of tentative approval from USFDA for its generic version of azelaic acid topical gel that is used for treating skin inflammation.

RPP Infra Projects jumped 5% after the company said in a notice to BSE that it got two orders from Engineering Projects India Ltd worth Rs.58.50 crore.

On the flip side, some of the prominent losers in today's trade were Axis Bank, RIL, Adani Ports, BHEL and Maruti Suzuki closing between 1%-3% lower.