Fall in oil prices, strong rupee lift equity indices (Roundup)

The Indian equity markets rose for the second consecutive day on Friday as a fall in global crude oil prices along with strengthened rupee enhanced investors' risk-taking appetite.

However, geopolitical uncertainties after US President Donald Trump pulled out of the planned talks with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un capped gains.

Index-wise, the wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed at 10,605.15 points, up 91.30 points or 0.87 per cent from the previous close of 10,513.85 points.

Similarly, the barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which had opened at 34,753.47 points, closed at 34,924.87 points -- up 261.76 points or 0.76 per cent -- from its previous session's close of 34,663.11 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 35,017.93 and a low of 34,700.52 points. The BSE market breadth was bullish with 1,599 advances and 1,037 declines.

"Continued buying by domestic institutions helped to push the markets higher. Gain in

rupee and fall in crude prices helped sentiments," HDFC Securities' Head of Retail Research Deepak Jasani told IANS.

"Major Asian markets have closed on a mixed note. European indices like FTSE 100, CAC 40 and DAX are trading in the green."

On the currency front, the Indian rupee strengthened by 65 paise against the US dollar to 67.78, from its previous close at 68.43 per greenback.

Besides, provisional data with exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors sold scrips worth Rs 768.29 crore, while the domestic institutional investors bought stocks worth Rs 887.76 crore.

Sector-wise, the S&P BSE oil and gas index surged by 412.34 points, the auto index rose by 404.63 points and the banking index gained by 299.14 points.

On the other hand, the S&P BSE consumer durables index was the only sector-wise loser, which fell by 62.27 points.

The major gainers on the Sensex were ONGC, up 4.59 per cent at Rs 175.35; Tata Steel, up 3.43 per cent at Rs 567.20; Yes Bank, up 2.71 per cent at Rs 339.45; Adani Ports, up 2.34 per cent at Rs 379.90; and IndusInd Bank, up 2.33 per cent at Rs 1,914.75 per share.

The top losers were Coal India, down 1.36 per cent at Rs 276.05; ITC, down 1.04 per cent at Rs 271.95; State Bank of India, down 0.56 per cent at Rs 267; Tata Consultancy Services, down 0.43 per cent at Rs 3,589.45; and ICICI Bank, down 0.25 per cent at Rs 296.50 per share.

--IANS

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