Sensex rises over 100 pts after sharp fall in crude prices; OMC stocks rally

The BSE Sensex recovered over 107 points to 36,431.17 in early trade today on fresh buying by investors after a sharp drop on global crude oil prices and a strengthening rupee.

The 30-share index, which had lost 224.64 points in the previous two sessions, rebounded 107.40 points, or 0.30 per cent, to 36,431.17 with stocks of oil & gas, FMCG, infrastructure, PSU, banking, consumer durables and auto sectors rising by up to 1.69 per cent.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty was trading 40.20 points, or 0.37 per cent, higher at 10,977.05.

Major gainers that supported the recovery were Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, Adani Ports, Yes Bank, Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, Vedanta Ltd, M&M, ONGC, RIL, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj auto and Infosys.

Shares of state-run oil marketing companies such as HPCL, BPCL and IOC were back in demand and rose by up to 3.34 per cent, supported by a sharp fall in crude prices.

Shares of FMCG major Hindustan Unilever advanced 1.48 per cent to Rs 1,779.95 in early trade after the company yesterday posted a 19.17 per cent increase in standalone net profit at Rs 1,529 crore for the first quarter ended June 30.

Traders said besides encouraging earnings posted by some bluechip companies, a mixed trend at other Asian markets as investors tracked overnight gains on Wall Street, influenced trading sentiments here.

Investors were also awaiting US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's first congressional testimony for hints on the pace of interest rate hikes, the added.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net of Rs 625.68 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) offloaded shares worth a net of Rs 70.30 crore yesterday, provisional data showed.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan's Nikkei rose 0.77 per cent, while Singapore Index was up 0.29 per cent in early trade today. However, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.92 per cent and Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.01 per cent.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.18 per cent higher in yesterday's trade.