Sensex ends up 172 pts,oil cos surge

Meanwhile,auto and banking sectors bolstered the market,up for the third session straight.

Stocks of state-owned oil companies jumped after the government hiked prices of diesel,cooking gas and kerosene last Friday — a move that would reduce subsidy burden on them and boost their earnings.

As a result,HPCL spurted by 5.80 per cent,Oil India by 5.69 per cent,BPCL by 4.62 per cent,ONGC by 4.16 per cent,IOC by 3.10 per cent and GAIL by 1.83 per cent.

Besides,there was good support by other heavyweights such as L&T,ICICI,HDFC Bank,SBI,M&M,HDFC,TCS,Tata Steel,Bharti Airtel,Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki.

The Bombay Stock Exchange’s 30-stock bellwether index resumed lower,tracking weak Asian trends,but recovered.

It bounced back to a high of 18,494.11 before ending at 18,412.41 — up 171.73 points or 0.94 per cent,a total gain of 861.78 points or 4.91 per cent in three trading sessions.

The NSE 50-issue Nifty also shot up 55.35 points or 1.01 per cent to end at 2-week high of 5,526.60.

“Oil,banking and auto stocks witnessed smart rally. The Government hiked oil price and cut excise duty,while Brent crude declined to 4-month low — all this boosted the market sentiment,” said Parag Doctor,Associate VP at Motilal Oswal Securities.

“The three-day rally was mostly powered by short covering ahead of the Futures & Options expiry. One must be careful and be vigilant as volatility is on the rise,” said Amar Ambani,Head of Research at IIFL.

He added,”India was perhaps by the top gainer in Asia today even as the world markets remain jittery over Greece’s precarious financial health and an apparent slowdown in the US. European markets were trading marginally higher though and US stock futures also advanced.”

After injecting Rs 483.70 crore on June 23,FIIs pumped in Rs 890.44 crore Friday,as per provisional data,boosting market sentiment.

The market shrugged off weak Asian cues. Asian stocks,except China,fell. The key benchmark indices in Hong Kong,Japan,Singapore,South Korea and Taiwan finished down between 0.38 per cent and 1.04 per cent.

However,European markets displayed a firm trend in afternoon trade. The CAC,the DAX and the FTSE were trading higher despite lingering concerns over the Greek debt crisis.

Amongst the Sensex stocks,23 ended in gains,while seven settled with losses. M&M rose by 3.09 per cent,Maruti (2.86 pc),L&T (2.69 pc),Tata Steel (1.65 pc),SBI (1.60 pc),HDFC Bank (1.46 pc),HDFC (1.36 pc),Tata Motors (1.31 pc),Cipla (1.29 pc),TCS (1.28 pc),Bharti Aritel (1.15 pc) and BHEL (1.01 pc).

From the 13 sectoral indices,10 closed in the green,while Realty,FMCG and Consumer Durables settled in the red. The BSE-PSU closed up by 1.92 per cent,Capital Goods (1.75 pc),Bankex (1.61 pc),Auto (1.49 pc) and Oil & Gas (1.40 pc).

The market breadth at BSE remained positive as 1,636 counters finished with gains,while 1,193 that closed with losses. The total turnover declined to Rs 2,566.18 crore from Rs 2,830.49 crore last Friday.