Sensex surges nearly 250 pts, oil shares gain

Shares of state owned oil and gas companies were trading firm on reports that the government is likely to decide on the price hike

Markets edged higher in noon deals on account of gains in heavyweights like ICICI Bank, ITC, ONGC and L&T.

At 1420 hrs, the Sensex was up 246 points at 19,226 and the Nifty advanced 76 points to trade at 5,669.

Shares of state owned oil and gas companies were trading firm on reports that the government will take the price hike decision after UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi returns from United States (US).

ONGC, Hindustan Petroleum, Bharat Petroleum, Indian Oil and Oil India were trading higher by 1-4% on BSE.

A decision on raising diesel prices by Rs 3-5 per litre, kerosene by Rs 2 and LPG by up to Rs 50 per cylinder will be taken after UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi returns from US, the PTI reports suggests quoting top government officials.

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(Updated at  1420 hrs)
Markets extended gains in the afternoon session this Friday on back of buying witnessed in financial shares after the central bank raised overseas borrowing limits for lenders in a bid to prop up growth and boost the rupee.

At 1PM, the 30-share Sensex rose 225 points at 19,203  and the 50-share Nifty gained 67 points at 5,660 levels.

Traders were, however, cautious ahead of the long weekend coupled with US Non-Farm Payrolls data tomorrow that may depict the health of world’s biggest economy.

Reserve Bank of India on late-Thursday allowed banks to issue, without its approval, guarantees on behalf of non-residents acquiring shares or convertible debentures of a company in India through open offers or delisting or exit offers.

The broader markets traded firm with mid-caps and small-caps gaining nearly 0.5 per cent on the BSE.

The market breadth was positive. Out of 2,101 stocks traded, 1,145 stocks advanced while 823 stocks declined on the BSE.


RUPEE

The rupee gained some ground today after the slew of reforms announced by the central bank late-Thursday.

At 12:50PM, the partially convertible rupee was trading at 65.67 per dollar against the yesterday’s close of 66.01 on the Interbank Foreign Exchange.  


GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stocks dropped, snapping a six-day advance and paring the regional benchmark index’s biggest weekly gain since July, as investors await the monthly American jobs report.

Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.5% at 13,860, Singapore’s Straits Times gained 0.2% at 3,046, China’s Shanghai Composite index rose 1% at 2,139 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.3% to 22,659 today.

European stocks opened positive, with the Stoxx Europe 600 Index heading for a weekly gain.

France’s CAC gained 0.3% to 4,019, Germany’s DAX added 0.12% to 8,253 while UK’s FTSE was up 0.1% to 6,537.


STOCK MOVERS

Domestically, the key sectoral indices gainers included banks, capital goods, IT, healthcare, pharmaceuticals while consumer durable sector lead the drop on the BSE.

The gainers included counters such as ICICI Bank rising 5%, Jindal Steel added 4%, Cipla gained 3.5% while ONGC was up 3% on the BSE.

The laggards were Tata Power declined 2%, Mahindra & Mahindra fell 2.9%, Coal India was down 2.5% while Reliance Industries declined 1.7% the BSE.

The key notable movers included counters such as Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) that is locked in upper circuit for eleven straight trading sessions, up 5% at Rs 476 on BSE,  has been double in less than a month.

The stock hit all-time low of Rs 238 on August 19, after the National Spot Exchange (NSEL), a group company, suspended electronic trading.

Wockhardt has soared nearly 18% to Rs 546 in early morning deals after the promoters purchased equity shares worth Rs 10 crore from the open market.