After trading firm during post noon trading session, the Indian equity markets rallied further in the last hour of trade and closed the day in the green. While the BSE-Sensex today closed higher by 479 points, the NSE-Nifty closed higher by 150 points. Midcaps and Smallcaps too closed with strong gains today. While the S&P BSE Midcap index was up by 1.3%, the S&P BSE Smallcap index closed higher by 2%. Oil and gas and Realty stocks were the biggest gainers today with all the sectoral indices closing in the green.
As regards global markets, Asian pack closed mixed today. The rupee was trading at Rs 63.42 odd levels to the dollar at the time of writing.
Oil & gas stocks have ended the day on a strong note. Shares of upstream oil companies like ONGC and Oil India rose sharply in intraday trade today over reports that the government has decided to scrap the subsidy sharing mechanism formula. Instead, the entire subsidy for oil marketing companies will be borne by the exchequer itself for FY16. This is definitely a positive for the bottom line of upstream oil companies that are required to bear a part of the subsidy burden of OMCs. In addition, relinquishment of subsidy burden would also speed up the divestment process in companies like ONGC as this was one area where investors required more clarity.
Retail stocks ended strong today. Aditya Birla Nuvo, a fashion retailing group, owned by Birla's is likely to be merged with Pantaloon's Retail. The shareholders of Aditya Birla Nuvo shall get 26 equity shares of Pantaloon's Retail for every 5 shares held in the company. The merged entity is likely to be valued at Rs 120 bn making it the largest branded apparel player in India.
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