Sensex trades 170 points higher; auto, oil and gas shares rise

 

Mumbai: The 30-share bellwether BSE Sensex on Wednesday was trading over 170 points higher led by shares of auto and oil and gas firms.

 

At 9.28am, the Sensex was trading up 0.76%, or 170.01 points, at 22,636.2 points, while the National Stock Exchange’s (NSE’s) broader 50-share Nifty was trading higher by 0.78%, or 52.2 points, at 6,767.45 points.

 

The gainers included Bharti Airtel Ltd that was trading up 1.49% at Rs.340.15 after it reported 89% growth in its net profit to Rs.962 crore for the March quarter. Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd (ONGC) rose 0.95% to Rs.323.05.

 

Among the losers, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd fell 1.27% to Rs.631.25 after Andhra Pradesh high court asked stock exchanges not to approve Sun Pharma’s all-share transaction to buy Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd until it decides on a petition alleging insider trading before the Rs.24,000 crore deal. Ranbaxy was trading at Rs.471.85, down 2.35%. Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (Bhel) fell 1.02% to Rs.184.8.

The BSE oil and gas index was the top sectoral gainer, up 0.78%. The auto and FMCG indices were up 0.61% and 0.5%, respectively. The metal index was the top sectoral loser, down 0.53%. 

 

Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX) was trading at Rs.565 on BSE, down 1.59%, while Financial Technologies India Ltd (FTIL) was trading 0.78% lower at Rs.329.75 after MCX on Tuesday gave in to demands by potential investors and released the findings of a special audit conducted on it by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) that raised questions around so-called related party transactions and questioned whether dealings between the exchange and its parent FTIL had been conducted at “arm’s length”.

 

Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd, Marico Ltd, IDBI Bank Ltd, Petronet LNG Ltd, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Shriram City Union Finance Ltd, Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd, Dewan Housing Finance Corp. Ltd, Raymond Ltd, Polaris Financial Technology Ltd, Sterlite Technologies Ltd, Orient Cement Ltd will be in focus on account of March quarter earnings announcement. 

 

Since the beginning of this year, the BSE Sensex has gained 6.36%, while foreign institutional investors have bought $5.08 billion from local equity markets.

 

Asian markets were trading marginally higher on Wednesday ahead of the Bank of Japan and the US Federal Reserve reporting on monetary policy and upbeat global cues. China’s Shanghai Composite was trading up 0.11%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 1.18% while Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average was up 0.23%.

 

Overnight, US markets were buoyed by a slew of better corporate earnings, shrugging off the impact of beefed-up sanctions against Russia. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 advanced 0.5% each and Nasdaq Composite closed up 0.7%

 Rahul kumar Gupta

PGDM,1st Year.

Source:-Mint.