India : Nifty opens above 8350, Sensex up 200 pts; ONGC gains 4%

The market has opened on a strong note Monday with the Nifty drawing close to 8400. The Sensex is up 199.95 points or 0.7 percent at 27344.86, and the Nifty up 57 points or 0.7 percent at 8385.35. About 996 shares have advanced, 194 shares declined, and 45 shares are unchanged.

ONGC, Tata Motors, BHEL, Dr Reddy’s and Lupin are gainers while ITC is down on the Sensex.

The Indian rupee gained in the early trade. It has opened higher by 9 paise at 67.23 per dollar versus 67.32 Friday. Dollar fell against the euro on Friday due to reduced expectations of a US interest-rate hike this year.Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity said, “Rupee to trade with positive bias and will continue to take cues from the domestic equity market where we will see optimism prevailing.”Finance Ministry will soon issue a draft Cabinet note on listing of public sector general insurance companies in line with the announcement made in the Budget.

“Cabinet note for consultation on listing of four PSU general insurance companies will be issues in the next few weeks,” sources said.

Final shape is being given to various issues including quantum of stake dilution, sources added. Listing of PSU general insurance was announced in Budget 2016-17 by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

FMCG major ITC plans to add 6-7 boutiques of luxury chocolate brand Fabelle at its hotels over the next 15 months.

“We have forayed in the luxury chocolate segment with Fabelle brand. Over the next 15 months, we plan to add 6-7 boutiques for Fabelle at our hotel properties in the country.

Our aim is to sell the best chocolate in the world,” ITC Foods CEO V L Rajesh said. The company at present sells Fabelle through a boutique at its hotel ITC Gardenia, Bengaluru.

Morgan Stanley says June was a good month for the broader market with BSE Small-cap index rising 6 percent month-on-month, while the narrow market was up 1 percent. MSCI

India’s performance ranking in emerging market slipped to the 17 position from 3 in May.

Utilities and Materials were the best-performing sectors, while Technology and Telecoms were the worst. Eight out of the 10 sectors delivered positive monthly return. FPIs remained buyers in the cash market, while they remained sellers in the debt markets for the second month running. DIIs turned sellers during the month.

Commodity prices were up during the month with gold price gaining 6.7 percent (MoM) in Indian currency and 8.8 percent (MoM) in USD.

Asian markets traded higher, continuing a post-Brexit global recovery, with major indexes in Australia and Japan reversing early losses.

Australia’s benchmark ASX 200 was up 0.3 percent, paring earlier losses of 0.38 percent. The heavily-weighted financials subindex fell 0.47 percent, dragging on the benchmark index.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.24 percent, retracing earlier declines of 0.44 percent, while across the Korean Strait, the Kospi added 0.38 percent. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was up 1.25 percent. Chinese mainland markets were up, with the Shanghai composite up 0.52 percent and the Shenzhen composite up by 0.11 percent.

Among asset classes, crude prices are steady amid speculation that global policy makers will act to limit the fallout from Brexit. Dollar fell against the euro on Friday due to reduced expectations of an US interest-rate hike this year. Gold prices trade around 1340 dollars an ounce.