The Sensex and Nifty ended marginally higher on Thursday, led by gains in oil refiners such as Reliance Industries Ltd as oil prices stabilised and financial stocks such as ICICI Bank Ltd.

The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended higher by 32.12 points or 0.1 per cent at 33,250.93 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty closed up by 5.8 points or 0.06 per cent at 10,308.95.

Among BSE sectoral indices, consumer durables index gained the most by 3.23 per cent, followed by power 0.62 per cent, banking 0.53 per cent and metal 0.48 per cent. On the other hand, healthcare index was down 0.27 per cent, auto 0.25 per cent, FMCG 0.06 per cent and oil & gas 0.03 per cent.

Top five Sensex gainers were Bharti Airtel (+2.39%), Asian Paints (+2.08%), ICICI Bank (+1.9%), Tata Steel (+1.66%) and Reliance (+1.5%), while the major losers were ITC (-2.00%), Coal India (-1.7%), ONGC (-1.33%), Lupin (-1.24%) and HDFC (-1.21%).

Early trade

The Sensex gained 244.99 points or 0.73 per cent to 33,463.80 in the opening trade due to value-buying by investors in select stocks and optimism ahead of GST Council meeting.

Buying by domestic institutional institutions (DIIs) and a firm trend in other Asian bourses, tracking overnight gains in the US markets, influenced the domestic trading sentiment.

Expectations that the GST (goods and serivces tax) Council might give some relief to some sectors by slashing the indirect tax rates at its meeting also supported the rebound, brokers said.

Oil refiners such as Reliance Industries Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd gained as oil prices fell overnight after they hit a more than two-year high earlier in the week.

Oil prices settled had slightly lower on Wednesday after US government data showed rising domestic crude production, a surprise build in US stockpiles and a decline in monthly Chinese crude imports, a triple blow that was offset somewhat by rising tensions in West Asia.

“Markets have started reacting to crude prices,” said Krish Subramanyam, co-head - Equity Advisor at Altamount Capital Management.

Rising bond yields were, however, dragging banking stocks down, Subramanyam said.

“These are not very good indications for the market. Broadly, market might be heading for some correction,” he said.

FII selling

Foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth Rs 3,838.27 crore yesterday, as per provisional data released by stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors bought shares worth a net Rs 3,038.16 crore.

Asia stocks hovered near a decade high on Thursday following another record breaking day on Wall Street, while the New Zealand dollar rallied as hawkish-sounding statements by the country's central bank boosted the recently battered currency.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.3 per cent and in close reach of a 10-year high set the previous day.

(With inputs from Agencies)

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