Update at 3.40 PM: The BSE Sensex closed 106 points higher at 30,570 and the NSE Nifty ended at 9,438, up 10 points. The Sensex had touched intraday high and low of 30,712 and 30,516. Stocks that led the index rally included ITC, L&T and Adani Ports. On the BSE, 31.49 lakh shares of ITC changed hands while the volume was much higher at 3.59 crore on the NSE. The stock closed 6.21 percent higher at Rs 303.65, after rising to an intraday high of Rs 304.90.
Original story:
The first full-fledged day of trading after finalisation of GST tax rates saw many stocks losing sharply on the stock exchanges even as FMCG stocks led by ITC gained in a big way. Aviation stocks Jet Airways, SpiceJet and Interglobe Aviation lost on account of hardening crude oil prices after oil exporting countries (both OPEC and non-OPEC) agreed to extend output cut.
At around 3.10 pm on Monday, SpiceJet was down 7.16 percent to Rs 101.85, Jet Airways was trading 8.02 percent lower at Rs 477 and Interglobe Aviation (owner of budget carrier IndiGo) was down 2.41 percent at Rs 1,039 even though the BSE Sensex was up 92 points at 30,556.
On Monday, Brent crude was trading 50 cents higher at $54.11 a barrel in the morning while the US light crude was up 50 cents at $50.83, translating into gains of more than 10 percent from the month's low, news agency Reuters reported.
The spike in prices is due to a committment by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC countries such as Russia that the Novemer-December 2016 agreement to cut supplies by 1.8 million barrels per day (of which, 1.2 million by OPEC members) will be extended by another six to nine months.
"The decision (to extend cuts) seems to be almost a done deal," the agency quoted Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB Markets, as saying. OPEC members and other oil producers will be meeting in Vienna on Thursday.
Other stocks that plunged sharply included State Bank of India (down 4.36 percent to Rs 295), Bank of India (down 11.48 percent to Rs 158), Union Bank of India (down 3.78 percent), IDBI Bank (down 3.63 percent), Bank of Baroda (down 3 percent), Punjab National Bank (down 2.48 percent), Fortis Healthcare (down 4.52 percent) and Piramal Enterprises (down 2.30 percent).
Top gainers included ITC, United Spirits, Future Retail, Thermax, TTK Prestige and Titan Company.
SpiceJet is also expected to report drop in Q4 revenues and net profit. ICICI Securities said in a note last month that net profit will fall 60.2 percent to Rs 72 crore and net sales to Rs 1,678 crore, on a sequential basis. For the third quarter, the Ajay Singh-owned budget carrier had reported 24 percent YoY fall in net profit to Rs 181 crore.
