 "Oil shares fuel markets; RIL up 2%")
The markets are on a firm footing this morning thanks to strength in RIL and ably supported by other heavyweight oil shares such as ONGC and Gail India. The Sensex is quoting at 22839, higher by 74 points and the Nifty is at 6830, up 13 points. The broader markets are doing better; the midcap index is at 7436, higher by 39 points and the smallcap index is at 7688, up 60 points.
The markets had opened on a tentative note this morning, but have gained in confidence to continue the momentum of the previous session to touch record highs for the second straight day.
The markets are likely to have a volatile session of trade as the participants roll over positions from the near month April series to May series ahead of the derivatives expiry on Wednesday. The stock markets would be shut on Thursday on account of Parliamentary elections in Mumbai. Anand Rathi, in a note to investors has said,"The medium term trend is still intact to positive, but now volatility may remain high as we are heading for derivatives settlement of April series. So traders are advised to be cautious and take the calculated risk at current zone".
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In market-related news, the BSE has revised the circuit filter for sixteen companies with effect from Tuesday. The securities whose circuit filters have been revised include Future Retail Ltd. DVR, Electrosteel Castings Ltd and Sequent Scientific Ltd. The circuit filter for the first is 10%, while it is 5% for the third.
In economy-related news, the rupee is trading near 1-month lows at 60.68/69 after hitting 60.71, its lowest since March 24, tracking broad dollar gains. The pair had closed at 60.59/60 on Monday.
RIL has zoomed by 2.4% to touch a 35-month high of Rs 983 lead the gainers charts on the BSE. ONGC has added 2% at Rs 329 and Gail India has added 2.4% at Rs 382. HPCL has added 2.9% at Rs 328, Oil India has added 2.7% at Rs 493, BPCL has added 2.7% at Rs 476 and IOC has added 2.5% at Rs 272
Capital goods shares have continued their uptrend for the second successive day, with L&T gaining 0.9% at Rs 1334 and BHEL adding 0.6% at Rs 187.
HDFC Bank is at 721, up 0.7%, ahead of its Q4 results scheduled to be declared during the course of the day.
IL&FS Engineering and Construction Company is locked at the upper circuit of 10% at Rs 50.85 on the NSE after the company bagged an order worth Rs 268 crore from Saudi Binladin Group for road drainage works for King Abdul-Aziz International Airport Development Project, Jeddah.
On the other hand, Sesa Sterlite has weakened by 1.5% at Rs 198 to emerge as the top loser on the BSE despite getting a fresh lease of life after the Supreme Court allowed resumption of iron ore mining in Goa, lifting a ban imposed about 18 months ago, but placed a cap of 20 million tonnes on annual production from these mines.
Hindalco has slipped by 1.1% at Rs 141 on the news that CBI would examine its chief Kumar Mangalam Birla in connection with the multi-crore coal block allocation scam.
Biocon is witnessing profit-booking, having slipped by 1.4% at Rs 488. The stock had soared by 9% on Monday to touch a record high on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on speculation that the company is slated to announce a major drug discovery.
The market breadth is negative. Out of 1901 stocks traded on the BSE thus far, there are 1192 advancing stocks as against 637 declines.