Reliance drives up indices

STOCK REPORT

Key indices ended 1.5 per cent higher on Thursday as index heavyweight Reliance Industries gained 4 per cent to close at Rs 1,626. Sentiment was bolstered as key Asian indices scaled new highs on robust earnings from companies.

"Reliance Industries' growth is expected to remain good. News that gross refining margins from Singapore will be above $10 also helped the stock," said Priyadarshi Srivastava, head institutional sales, Niche Brokerage.

Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share Sensex ended at 14078.21, up 205.84 points, or 1.5 per cent, from Monday. Intraday, it moved between 13987.77 and 14107.06. National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty ended at 4150.85, up 62.95 points, or 1.5 per cent. Intraday, it moved between 4080.75 and 4161.20.

Turnover on both the exchanges was roughly Rs 13,750 crore compared with Rs 10,800 crore on Monday. CNX Midcap Index was up 1.8 per cent and S&P CNX 500 Index ended up 1.5 per cent. Bajaj Auto, up 5 per cent to Rs 2,562, was the top Nifty gainer. Renewed talk of demerger improved sentiment for the company that reported a 10 per cent on-year decline in April sales.

Newspaper reports said the company would discuss demerger plans at its board meeting on May 17. Shares of oil retailers also gained as crude oil prices eased to $64 a barrel on rising US crude oil inventories. Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum were up 4 per cent each, at Rs 348 and Rs 280, respectively.

Technology shares extended gains from the previous session as the rupee further eased against the dollar. HCL Technologies and Tata Consultancy Services ended up 2 per cent each, at Rs 342 and Rs 1,290, respectively. Ambuja Cements was up 4 per cent at Rs 123.

Holcim on Thursday said its first-quarter profit more than doubled after it spent $1.2 bln on acquisitions in India. Holcim bought Ambuja Cements (formerly Gujarat Ambuja Cement) and Ambuja Cement India last year.

Deccan Aviation ended up 5 per cent at Rs 109 on a newspaper report that Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines may buy its low-cost airline Air Deccan. Wockhardt fell 0.3 per cent to Rs 428 on profit sales after rising 4 per cent.