Indices Close Higher, Oil & Gas Shines

The Indian markets shifted gear as buying interest emerged in Oil & Gas and Banking stocks following positive WPI inflation numbers. The Nifty closed up by 29 points at 5557.50 and Sensex was 92 points higher at 18,334. Both indices closed up in the range of 0.50%-0.52%.

The market breadth closed in the positive zone. On the NSE, 645 shares have advanced and 555 shares have declined.

Top 5 NSE Gainers: BPCL emerged as the top gainer on the NSE, up by 5.38%. Bank of Baroda, ONGC, JP Associates and Punjab National Bank were the others in the list.

Top 5 NSE Losers: Sesa Goa is among the top losers on the NSE, trading lower by 3.24%, followed by Dr Reddy’s Labs, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors and DLF.

6 out of the 13 sectoral indices ended in the positive zone. Oil & Gas, FMGC, PSU and Bankex were the top gainers.

The Asian markets witnessed a sell-off today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed down by 1.58%, the Hang Seng market was lower by 1.45% and Shanghai ended lower by 1.14%.

Buzzers: The shares of companies like Muthoot Finance and Manappuram Finance have tanked more than 10% in today’s trading session after the prices of the yellow metal fell about 4.5% today. Muthoot Finance closed 12.71% lower at Rs 131.50 and Manappuram Finance closed in the lower circuit of 10%.

ONGC has surged more than 3% in today’s trade on the NSE on hopes that the state-owned oil exploration and production company could find more oil reserves in Mumbai offshore.

The Nifty has closed above 5550 and 5610 is the next level to keep an eye on. If the index manages to sustain above this level, we can expect a good pullback.