The markets opened on positive note on Monday, the start of a new trading week. Equity benchmark Sensex rallied over 400 points in early trade on Monday, tracking gains in index majors Reliance Industries, Infosys and HDFC twins amid a positive trend in global equities.
Sensex was up 362.90 points or 0.66 percent at 55,692.20 while the Nifty50 was 141.80 points or 0.85 percent up at 16,592.30 points. Nifty Bank was up 390.35 points or 1.11 percent at 35,424.20 points. Nifty Midcap 100 was up 256 points or 0.94 percent at 27,380.80.
HCL Tech was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising over 2 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finance, L&T, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, TCS and Reliance Industries. On the other hand, PowerGrid and HUL were the laggards.
Tata Steel Rs 1412.50 (+2.67 percent), ICICI Bank Rs 691 (+1.56 percent), Tech Mahindra Rs 1414.95 (+1.11 percent), Bajaj Finance Rs 6730 (+1/10 percent) were among the major winners while ITC Rs 208.56 (-0.24 percent), Kotak Bank Rs 1700 (-0.22 percent, Sun Pharma Rs 760 (-0..15 percent) and Hindustan Uniliver Rs 2617 (-0.-2 percent) were among the early losers.
In the previous session, Sensex slumped 300.17 points or 0.54 per cent to close at 55,329.32, and Nifty tumbled 118.35 points or 0.71 per cent to 16,450.50.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 2,287.03 crore on Friday, as per provisional exchange data.
Asian stocks up
Asian share markets were trying to pick up the pieces on Monday following last week's thrashing as coronavirus concerns showed little sign of abating, while safe-haven flows benefited the dollar ahead of a key update on US monetary policy. Stocks rose early Monday as traders sought to take advantage of last week’s selloff while weighing risks from the delta virus strain and China’s regulatory curbs. Stocks edged higher after an advance in the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 at the end of last week.
Fuel rates unchanged
Petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged across the country on Monday after a marginal decline on Sunday. Accordingly, in Delhi, petrol continues to be sold for Rs 101.64 per litre, while diesel is also being sold at the unchanged price of Rs 89.07 a litre.
In Mumbai, where petrol price crossed the Rs 100-mark for the first time ever on May 29, the fuel price is at Rs 107.66 per litre. Diesel price in the city is also at Rs 96.64, the highest among metros. In Chennai, petrol is priced at Rs 99.32 a litre and in Kolkata Rs 101.93 a litre. Diesel is also priced at Rs 93.66 and Rs 92.13 per litre in both cities respectively.
State-run oil refiners such as Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum, and Hindustan Petroleum revise fuel rates on a daily basis, considering the crude oil prices in international markets and the rupee-dollar exchange rates.
Oil prices decline
Brent oil was steady at the open of trading after capping the worst losing streak in more than three years amid dollar strength and economic strains from the latest COVID-19 comeback.
International oil benchmark Brent crude rose 1.79 per cent to $65.91 per barrel.
Oil prices closed out their biggest week of losses in more than nine months with another down day on Friday, as investors sold futures in anticipation of weakened fuel demand worldwide due to a surge in COVID-19 cases. The crude market has now posted seven consecutive days of losses.
