The benchmark indices ended at record highs on Friday after the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided against cutting down their output to stem the current fall in Brent crude prices. The CNX Nifty touched the 8,600-mark for the first time, while the BSE benchmark Sensex ended 6th straight week in the green.
According to provisional data on the exchanges, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth $150.9 million, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth $70.85 million. In YTD, FIIs have bought shares worth $16.03 billion.
On Friday, the 30-share BSE Sensex ended higher by 255.08 points or 0.9% to 28,693.99 points, while the broader 50-share Nifty ended 94.05 points or 1.1% higher to 8,588.25 points. On Thursday, OPEC members decided against cutting their output to curb the fall in crude prices. As per a Bloomberg report, OPEC hopes that the low prices will curtail shale oil production from United States.
The likelihood of low crude prices in the coming days sparked a buying frenzy in certain pockets of the markets.
Among the oil-marketing companies, HPCL closed at its lifetime high, BPCL hit 52-week high while IOC ended 4.42% higher.
Shares of paint companies which use crude-oil derivatives for raw materials, gained 3-5%. Asian Paints closed at record-highs. Berger Paints ended 3.65% while shares of Kansai Nerolac Paints ended 1.1% higher. Among aviation stocks, Spice Jet and Jet Airways gained 18.36% and 20%, respectively.
The Brent crude was trading at a 4-year low of $73.02/barrel on Friday at 6.00 pm IST.
Meanwhile, shares of the oil & gas exploration and production company Cairn India fell 4.3% as lower crude prices would mean lower realisations for the company.
Bank stocks led the gains after the government’s plans to sell stake in state-run lenders and in anticipation of a rate-cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) next week. The Bank Nifty hit all-time high of 18,513.15, ending 2.7% higher. Among banking stocks, Punjab National Bank (7.9%), Canara Bank (7.7%), Bank of Baroda (7.2%) and Bank of India (5.4%) were the major gainers.
It was a positive week for the markets with the benchmark indices advancing in 4 out of 5 sessions and the BSE Sensex ending higher by 1.3%, or 359.36 points.
19 of the 30 Sensex stocks ended in the green on Friday. Howevever, in the broader market, breadth was weak with 1,548 stocks traded on the BSE ending lower compared with 1,481 advances. Most of the 12 BSE sectoral indices ended in the green. The BSE Bankex (2.9%), BSE Auto (1.9%) and BSE Realty (1.6%) were among the top gainers.
The NSE cash turnover on Friday stood at R21,126.67 crore, while turnover in the F&O segment stood at R1.57 lakh crore.