The benchmark indices opened at all-time highs. At 09:16 AM, the Sensex was up 433.40 points or 0.71 percent at 61,739.35, and the Nifty was up 132.00 points or 0.72 percent at 18,470.50. About 1,726 shares have advanced, 422 shares declined, and 111 shares are unchanged.
The Nifty Metal index rose 3 percent led by the Hindustan Zinc, NALCO, Hindustan Copper.
US stocks rose on Friday and the Dow scored its biggest weekly percentage gain since June, as Goldman Sachs rounded out a week of strong quarterly earnings for the big banks. Goldman Sachs Group shares jumped 3.8 percent and gave the Dow its biggest boost, as a record wave of dealmaking activity drove a surge in the bank’s quarterly profit.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 382.2 points, or 1.09 percent, to 35,294.76, the S&P 500 gained 33.11 points, or 0.75 percent, to 4,471.37 and the Nasdaq Composite added 73.91 points, or 0.5 percent, to 14,897.34.
Asian shares up
Asian shares were on edge on Monday morning ahead of the release of Chinese economic data for the third quarter, as investors fret about the health of the world’s second-largest economy even as U.S companies report strong quarterly earnings.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was little changed in early trading on Monday, off 0.07 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei lost 0.12 percent. U.S. stock futures, the S&P 500 e-minis, were down 0.13 percent.
Oil prices hit record levels
Oil prices hit their highest in years on Monday as demand continues its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, boosted by more custom from power generators turning away from expensive gas and coal to fuel oil and diesel.
Brent crude oil futures rose 87 cents, or 1 percent, to $85.73 a barrel by 0111 GMT, the highest price since October 2018.
Gold imports zoom
Gold imports, which have a bearing on the current account deficit, zoomed to about $24 billion during April-September 2021 due to higher demand in the country, according to data from the Commerce Ministry.
Imports of the yellow metal were $6.8 billion in the corresponding period last year, the data showed. Gold imports during September this year too rose to $5.11 billion as against $601.4 million in the same month last year.
Forex up
The country’s foreign exchange reserves rose by $2.039 billion to $639.516 billion in the week ended October 8, according to RBI data. In the previous week ended October 1, the reserves had dipped by $1.169 billion to $637.477 billion. The reserves had surged by $8.895 billion to a life time high of $642.453 billion in the week ended September 3.
During the reporting week ended October 8, the rise in the reserves was on account of an increase in the Foreign Currency Assets (FCAs), Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) weekly data released on Friday showed.
PE inflows in realty up 24%
Private equity investment in real estate rose 24 per cent year-on-year to $477 million (about Rs 3,500 crore) during the July-September 2021 period but fell 45 per cent as compared with the previous quarter, according to Savills India.
PE inflows in real estate had stood at $385 million in the year-ago period and around $900 million in the previous quarter. In its latest report ’India Investment Market Watch’, Savills India attributed the temporary slowdown in investment activity to delayed decision-making by investors in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Company results today
UltraTech Cement, Larsen & Toubro Infotech, Route Mobile, Alok Industries, Concord Drugs, Craftsman Automation, Gujarat Hotels, Hathway Bhawani Cabletel & Datacom, Hatsun Agro Product, International Travel House, Lloyds Steels Industries, Navigant Corporate Advisors, Sunedison Infrastructure, SVP Global Ventures, Tanfac Industries, Tata Coffee, and Uniply Decor among others have results today.
Six stocks under F&O ban
Six stocks - Bank of Baroda, BHEL, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Vodafone Idea, IRCTC, and Sun TV Network -are under the F&O ban.
