Photo: The Hindu Business line
Chennai, India (BBN) - Indian shares rose on Thursday, buoyed by gains in refiners such as Reliance Industries Ltd as oil prices dropped overnight after crude oil and gasoline stockpiles rose unexpectedly in the United States.
Inventories climbed 1.9 million barrels last week as crude oil production and refining output rose, the Energy Information Administration said. Analysts expected for a decrease of 2.2 million barrels, according to a Reuters poll, reports The Hindu Business Line.
On Thursday, oil markets were stable as rising US stocks were countered by expectations that OPEC will extend an ongoing production cut during a meeting at the end of this month.
Value-buying in recent losers and a better trend at other Asian markets triggered fresh spell of buying on the domestic bourses here.
The broader NSE index was up 0.75 per cent or 76.25 points at 10,194.30 at 12.30 pm, while the benchmark BSE index rose 0.81 per cent or 264 points to 33,024.46. Both the indexes were on track to snap three sessions of losses.
“This is more of a corrective rally after three days of losses,” said Arun Kejriwal, Founder at Kejriwal Research.
Oil refiners gained as lower crude oil prices cut input costs. The Nifty energy index gained as much as 1.25 per cent, with Reliance Industries Ltd rising 2.18 per cent and Indian Oil Corp Ltd advancing 0.76 per cent.
Infosys rose 2.95 per cent, Tata Motors 1.44 per cent, TCS 1.23 per cent, Kotak Bank 1.11 per cent and Maruti 1.03 per cent.
Financials also gained. The Nifty bank index rose 0.65 per cent. Federal Bank, Kotak Bank and IndusInd Bank and ICICI Bank gained by up to 1.5 per cent.
Shares of Suzlon Energy declined as much as 6.2 per cent, their lowest in more than a year. The renewable power producer suspended operations and declared a lockout at a plant in Karnataka due to a workers' dispute. At about 12.35 pm, the stock was down 3.66 per cent at Rs. 13.15.
Meanwhile, Asian shares got off to a cautious start on Thursday after Wall Street stumbled despite upbeat U.S. economic news and the Treasury yield curve hit its flattest in a decade as investors priced in more U.S. rate hikes.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up by 0.61 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei added 0.83 per cent in early trade today.
Shanghai Composite, however, was down 0.10 per cent.
The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.59 per cent lower yesterday.
BBN/MMI/ANS