Sensex Rises 321 Points, ONGC Soars 5%

Indian stock markets rose sharply today on the back of positive global cues and a slew of reforms announced by the government over the weekend. The strong show by the BJP in the state polls also boosted the sentiments. The Sensex surged nearly 400 points while Nifty regained 7,900 levels in early trade. The Sensex ended 321 points higher at 26,429.85 while Nifty gained nearly 100 points to settle at 7,879.

Top 10 Things to Know

1. State-owned oil marketing companies BPCL, HPCL and Indian Oil were up 3-7 per cent after the government decontrolled diesel prices on Saturday. Diesel deregulation will significantly reduce subsidy payouts by these oil marketing companies. (See: Diesel Prices Deregulated: How it Impacts You)
2. The government also raised the cost of natural gas, a move that will attract investment in the energy sector. The new gas price of $5.61 per mmBtu will be effective from November 1.
3. About 80 per cent of the additional revenue due to revision in gas prices will go to state run companies ONGC and Oil India. These PSU oil & gas companies will also have to share lower subsidy burden after diesel price deregulation.
4. ONGC surged over 5 per cent while Oil India rose nearly 1.5 per cent.
5. Reliance Industries will not immediately benefit of the price rise for gas produced from its KG-D6 block as it is currently locked in arbitrations with the government over a sharp fall in production. RIL will deposit the differential between $5.61 and $4.20 in a separate account until the arbitration is resolved, said Oil Minister Dhramendra Pradhan. RIL shares ended down nearly 0.4 per cent.
6. Diesel price cut could reduce wholesale price inflation by 0.20 per cent in the next two months, domestic brokerage Motilal Oswal said.
7. Rate-sensitive stocks such as banks were also among the biggest gainers today on anticipation that a further fall in inflation could nudge the RBI to cut rates. Axis Bank rose over 4 per cent while PNB gained 3 per cent.
8. The rupee rose to 61.18 per dollar today, tracking the rally in domestic stock markets. But it pared some gains and was trading at 61.30. The rupee had closed at 61.44 on Friday.
9. IT stocks continued their weakness after weaker-than-expected earnings from TCS and HCL Tech. TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL Tech fell between 0.6 per cent to 1.6 per cent. Among other major Nifty losers, JSPL fell over 8 per cent after reports said that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case against the company over coal block mining.
10. Asian markets rallied today, with Japan's Nikkei rallying nearly 4 per cent today. However, European markets were lower today in early trade.

(With inputs from Reuters)