The market firmed up once again and hit fresh intraday in mid-afternoon trade. At 14:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 130.07 points or 0.36% at 36,453.84. The Nifty 50 index was up 53.45 points or 0.49% at 10,990.30. Nifty touched the psychologically important 11,000 mark in mid-afternoon trade.
Investors sentiment got a boost following a steep fall in crude oil prices overnight. The slide in global crude oil prices could help India contain inflation, current account and fiscal deficits. India imports about 80% of its crude oil requirement.
In the global commodities markets, Brent for September 2018 settlement was up 32 cents at $72.16 a barrel. The contract had fallen $3.49 a barrel, or 4.63% to settle at $71.84 a barrel during the previous trading session.
After opening lower, the indices firmed up as the session proceeded. Indices pared gains in mid-morning trade and hovered in a narrow range with small gains in early afternoon trade. Indices firmed up once again and hit fresh intraday in mid-afternoon trade. The Sensex rose 179.89 points, or 0.50% at the day's high of 36,503.66 in mid-afternoon trade. The index fell 61.99 points, or 0.17% at the day's low of 36,261.78 in early trade. The Nifty rose 67.55 points, or 0.62% at the day's high of 11,004.40 in mid-afternoon trade. The index fell 11.25 points, or 0.10% at the day's low of 10,925.60 in early trade.
Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was up 1.68%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.67%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 1276 shares rose and 1168 shares fell. A total of 143 shares were unchanged.
Shares of three state-run oil marketing companies jumped after crude oil futures finished sharply lower Monday, 16 July 2018. HPCL (up 5.46%), Indian Oil Corporation (up 3.94%) and BPCL (up 2.79%), edged higher.
Lower crude oil prices could reduce under-recoveries of public sector oil marketing companies (PSU OMCs) on domestic sale of LPG and kerosene at controlled prices. The government has already freed pricing of petrol and diesel.
Most auto stocks rose. Ashok Leyland (up 2.27%), Tata Motors (up 2.13%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 1.79%), Hero MotoCorp (up 1.20%), Escorts (up 0.94%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 0.28%) and TVS Motor Company (up 0.08%), edged higher. Bajaj Auto (down 0.06%) and Eicher Motors (down 1.09%), edged lower.
On the economic front, the IMF has cut India's growth forecast by 10 basis points to 7.3% for the current year and by 30 basis points to 7.5% for 2019, citing faster-than-anticipated monetary tightening and higher crude prices. The international body had projected 7.4% and 7.8% growth for 2018 and 2019, respectively in its April forecast.
Overseas, most European shares declined as investors awaited further corporate results and remarks by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Most Asian stocks declined as energy stock came under selling pressure amid overnight fall in crude oil prices.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday warned that there was an increased risk of "worse outcomes" amid recent international trade tensions, although it kept its forecasts for global growth this year the same at 3.9%.
In US, the Dow industrials bucked the trend of an otherwise downbeat session on Monday as upbeat economic data and a fresh round of quarterly results failed to stoke buying appetite. Investors also watched President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin convene for a summit in Helsinki, Finland but reaction to a joint conference with the two leaders was muted.
On the US data front, US retail sales rose 0.5% in June. Separately, the Empire State Index fell 2.4 points to 22.6 in July. Business inventories in the US rose 0.4% in May, the Commerce Department said. Sales jumped 1.4% in the month.
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