Oil stocks gain

Stocks traded in a small range amid positive bias in mid-morning trade. At 11:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 90.86 points or 0.25% at 36,412.15. The Nifty 50 index was up 22.75 points or 0.21% at 10,913.05. Oil stocks gained.

Local stocks nudged higher in early trade on positive Asian stocks. Key indices hovered in positive zone in morning trade.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.15%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.11%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 1095 shares rose and 996 shares fell. A total of 148 shares were unchanged.

Oil stocks gained. Among shares of oil exploration and production (E&P) companies, ONGC (up 0.62%) and Oil India (up 032%) edged higher.

Reliance Industries rose 0.83% ahead of its Q3 result today, 17 January 2018.

Among PSU OMCs, HPCL (up 2.06%), BPCL (up 1.15%) and Indian Oil Corporation (up 1.85%) gained.

Larsen & Toubro Infotech rose 1.19% after the company acquired Ruletronics, a pure-play Pega consulting and implementation company with offices in the UK, USA, and India. Ruletronics enables businesses to transform and evolve digitally by providing innovative BPM and CRM solutions leveraging Pega Platform. The company offers unique product based offerings for Disability Claims management, KYC Bulk Remediation, and Insurance Sales & Service applications. The announcement was made during market hours today, 17 January 2019.

Overseas, Asian shares were trading higher on Thursday as upbeat bank earnings bolstered Wall Street. But a report that the US was investigating China's Huawei for allegedly stealing trade secrets from American companies limited gains.

In US, Wall Street's major indexes hit one-month highs on Wednesday as strong earnings from Bank of America Corp and Goldman Sachs Group Inc boosted investor sentiment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 141.57 points, or 0.59%, to 24,207.16, the S&P 500 gained 5.8 points, or 0.22%, to 2,616.1 and the Nasdaq Composite added 10.86 points, or 0.15%, to 7,034.69.

Investors are watching the implications of a protracted, partial government shutdown, which has now stretched to a record 26th day. While markets have largely shrugged off the drama unfolding in Washington, economists warn that the longer the impasse lasts, the greater the effect on the economy will be.

In Europe, UK Prime Minister Theresa May's government survived a vote of no-confidence in parliament, a day after her proposed Brexit plan was overwhelmingly rejected by lawmakers. The defeat, 432 against compared with 202 in favor, was the largest margin of defeat by a sitting British government since the 1920s, and throws into doubt the country's plans to exit from the EU without disrupting global markets.

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