Share of four oil exploration firms rose by 1.09% to 2.51% at 10:30 IST on BSE after crude oil prices extended recent sharp surge in prices.
Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 35.84 points, or 0.12%, to 29,086.43.
Among oil exploration and production firms, ONGC (up 2.11%), Cairn India (up 2.51%), and Oil India (up 1.09%) gained.
Higher crude oil prices would result in higher realizations from crude sales for oil exploration firms.
Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 1.89% after the company said it has applied for payments banking license. RIL will be the promoter and State Bank of India (SBI) will be the joint venture partner with equity investment of upto 30%, RIL and SBI jointly announced this after market hours yesterday, 2 February 2015. The payments bank will leverage SBI's nationwide distribution network and risk management capabilities along with the substantial investments made by RIL in its retail and telecom businesses, the two companies said in a press release. It will deploy state-of-the-art technology, build scalable infrastructure and create extensive branch and business correspondent network in order to provide last-mile access and intuitive user experience to all sections of society, the press release added.
Besides promoting financial inclusion by providing banking and transaction services to unbanked, under-banked and small businesses, the partners see formation of the payments bank as an opportunity to lead and co-create an eco-system to provide accessible, simple and affordable banking solutions, digitize payments and act as catalyst towards a cashless society and democratise banking and payment services through massive adoption and low transaction costs, the joint press release indicated.
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Brent crude oil futures extended sharp surge in the past few sessions. Brent for March settlement was up 41 cents at $55.16 a barrel. The contract had risen $1.76 a barrel to settle at $54.75 a barrel during the previous trading session. The contract had jumped 7.85% on Friday, 30 January 2015.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 61.66, compared with its close of 61.80 during the previous trading session.
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