Energy reforms fuel Sensex's 520-point spurt; RIL, ONGC sparkle

Indian markets were on fire on Friday  with Sensex zooming by 520 points, its biggest gain in 22 months, with energy firms RIL and ONGC leading the surge
fuelled by steep hike in gas price amid hopes US Fed will not begin tapering monetary stimulus soon.

Buying across the spectrum saw all 13 sectoral indices closing with gains as FIIs were seen buying stocks after a flurry of reforms in the energy space. Overall, 1535 stocks gained out of 2512 traded, helping investor wealth soar by Rs
1.52 lakh crore on Friday.

The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share barometer resumed up and stayed in the positive zone throughout to end at 3-week high of 19,395.81, a spurt of 519.86 points or 2.75 per cent.

Previously, it had gained 567.50 points on August 29, 2011.

The NSE 50-issue Nifty flared up by 159.85 points, or 2.81 per cent, to end at two-week high of 5,842.20. Also, SX40 index, the flagship index of MCX-SX, ended 275.16 points, or 2.45 per cent higher at 11,494.35.

Tracking stocks, rupee rebounded to 59-levels after touching historic low of 60.76 earlier this week.

Government had yesterday approved near doubling of natural gas prices to USD 8.4 from April 1 next year and okayed setting up of a coal regulator. Last week, it allowed power producers to pass through higher imported coal prices.
Oil and gas counters were in limelight today with BPCL, IOC, GAIL, Petronet LNG, RIL, HPCL and ONGC gaining in 2.2-5.7 per cent range. Metal, capital goods, PSU, banking, auto, realty and pharma stocks attracted good buying support. Power stocks like Tata Power and NTPC too were in demand.

"Today's move was on the back of the government reforms initiative of increasing gas prices and setting up of a coal regulator," said Dipen Shah, Head of Private Client Group Research, Kotak Securities.

Asian markets cheered reports with uptp 2.2 per cent rise as reports said Fed officials are of the view that asset purchases would be more aggressive if US growth signals prove to be weaker-than-expected. QE withdrawal concerns had hit Indian markets with nearly USD 7 billion flowing out of stocks and bonds in past one month.

Key indices in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, China and South Korea were up by 1.04 per cent to 2.26 per cent. In Japan, Nikkei 225 index jumped 3.51 per cent as a weak Yen and upbeat industrial-production data lifted market sentiment.

"The (possibility of )tapering of QE by Fed, liquidity problem among Chinese banks and the rapid international capital flows have all caused turbulence in the global financial market," Credit Suisse said in a report.

European stock markets were, however, trading narrowly mixed. Key indices in Germany and UK moved up by 0.08 per cent to 0.18 per cent while France's CAC eased by 0.16 per cent.

Turning to the domestic market, Jindal Steel led Sensex pack by rising 7.89 per cent, followed by BHEL (6.90 pc), Tata Power (5.71 pc), Coal India (5.58 pc), Sterlite Ind (5.23 pc), Gail India (4.75 pc) and Tata Motors (4.43 pc).

Bajaj Auto (4.39 pc), HDFC (4.28 pc), Hindalco (4.07 pc), L&T (3.98 pc), RIL (3.78 pc), Bharti Airtel (3.66 pc), Tata Steel (3.61 pc), Sun Pharma (3.59 pc) and ICICI Bank (3.59pc) also saw good gains.

Talking about gas price hike, Emkay Global said: "ONGC and OIL are the biggest potential beneficiaries...in longer run, RIL would be biggest beneficiary, since it would benefit from greater commercial viability of other discoveries."

M&M (3.46 pc), HDFC Bank (3.43 pc), ONGC (2.98 pc), Dr Reddy's (2.37 pc), NTPC (2.31 pc), SBI (2.08 pc), TCS (1.99 pc) and Maruti Suzuki (1.08 pc) saw sharp to moderate rise.

Only, HUL ended down among the 30 constituents in Sensex.

Among sectoral indices, S&P BSE-Metal rose by 4.70 per cent, followed by S&P BSE-Power (4.15 pc), S&P BSE-CG (4.03 pc), S&P BSE-PSU (3.52 pc), S&P BSE-Oil&Gas (3.37 pc), S&P BSE-Bankex (3.18 pc), S&P BSE-Auto (3.11 pc), S&P BSE-Realty (3.04 pc), S&P BSE-HC (2.29 pc) and S&P BSE-Teck (1.18 pc).

Total market turnover rose to Rs 1,985.62 crore from Rs1,647.01 crore on Thursday.

Giving Nifty outlook, Rakesh Goyal, Senior Vice President, Bonanza Portfolio said: "In coming week, 5850 shall be crucial deciding level in near term, and index is likely to witness further buying above this level."