Indian markets end on a strong note

Tue, 17 Jun Closing

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Gaining their lost momentum after trading lower in the afternoon session, Indian equity markets closed the day on a firm note. With index heavyweights putting up good show and the Indian rupee recovering from lows, the benchmark indices held up higher. Stocks from sectors such as banks and oil and gas were the market boosters today. Both the BSE Mid Cap and the BSE Small Cap indices gained strength and were up by 1.5% and 2.1% respectively. The BSE Sensex closed higher by about 331 points. The NSE-Nifty ended higher by about 103 points.

On the global front, most of the Asian indices have closed the day on a positive note. The European indices too have been witnessing optimistic performance. The rupee was trading at Rs 60.08 to the dollar at the time of writing.

All the stocks from the energy sector closed on a firm note. Stocks of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) led the pack of gainers today. As per a leading business daily, Cairn India has received environmental nod for raising crude oil production from its Rajasthan fields. It can raise the production by 50% to 300,000 barrels per day or 15 m tonnes a year. The company has enhanced oil recovery programme from the Rajasthan block. The company had made 31 oil and gas discoveries in the Rajasthan block, of which four - Mangala, Bhagyam and Aishwariya (together known as MBA fields) and Raageshwari have been put on production. These contribute to about 30% of India's domestic crude oil production. The company has also set up a gas processing plant at its existing Raageshwari gas terminal for processing 100 to 300 m cubic feet of gas per day. As part of Rajasthan gas development project, the company also plans to lay pipelines to take gas to the nearest grid. The stock was up by 1.7% today.

In the wake of Iraq situation, the RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has mentioned that the country is better equipped to face any external shocks despite the domestic uncertainties. On account of geo-political risks emerging from Iraq, Indian rupee has tumbled to its lowest levels since last two months. Also, the outrage in the key oil producing nation, i.e. Iraq can only lead to brent crude oil prices soaring higher and even impacting the markets back home. But RBI is more confident and opines that India stands in a better position today as against last year. Given the sufficiency in reserves and the narrowing down of current account deficit, RBI believes that the economy stands firm on the external front.

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