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Sensex Opens Over 500 Points Up; Banking and Finance Stocks Lead
Wed, 3 Jun 09:30 am

Asian stock markets are higher today as Chinese and Hong Kong shares show gains. The Shanghai Composite is up 0.4% while the Hang Seng is up 1.1%. The Nikkei 225 is trading up by 1.2%.

A late-session rally pushed Wallstreet to solid gains on Tuesday as market participants looked past widespread social unrest and pandemic worries to focus instead on easing lockdown restrictions and signs of economic recovery.

Back home, Indian share markets opened higher.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 514 points. The NSE Nifty is trading higher by 153 points.

Bajaj Finance and ICICI Bank are the top gainers on the BSE, up by 4.4 and 4% respectively.

Meanwhile, the BSE Mid Cap index has opened up by 1%.

BSE Small Cap index is trading higher by 1.2%.

All sectoral indices are trading in green. Banking stocks are witnessing maximum buying interest. The index on the BSE is up by 2.8%. BSE Auto Index is also trading up by 2.2%.

Moving on, gold prices are currently trading down by 0.6% at Rs 46,796.

The rupee is currently trading at 75.36 against the US$.

Moving on to the news from FMCG sector.

Britannia Industries share price is in focus today after the company reported largely in-line numbers for the fourth quarter (Q4FY20) of the last financial year, despite the lockdown hitting revenue and profit growth by 7-10%.

The company stated that after the initial hiccups, the firm coped up well and witnessed 20% rise in revenues in April, and 28% in May, both year-on-year (YoY) aided by several measures.

Profit before tax (PBT) witnessed a marginal rise of 1.6% YoY. However, consolidated net profit rose 26.5% YoY helped by a lower tax outgo, with the firm migrating to the new tax regime.

Sequentially, it remained flat during this period.

As regards the impact of the pandemic on operations, Britannia stated the firm swiftly adopted to the changing landscape.

For the entire FY20, consolidated net profit rose 21% Consolidated revenues increased 5.4% in the last financial year.

In the news from oil & gas sector. Oil rose on Wednesday to a near three-month high amid optimism that major producers will extend production cuts as the world recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.

Brent crude was up 0.6% at US$39.79, the highest since March 6, having gained 3.3% on Tuesday.

US West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) gained 0.9% at US$37.14, also the highest since March 6.

The contract ended the previous session up 3.9%.

Note that crude oil prices have rebounded in recent weeks on anticipation of improved demand, after the coronavirus pandemic sapped worldwide consumption by roughly 30%.

Speaking of crude oil, on a year-to-date (YTD) basis, crude oil prices are down about 42%.

Crude Oil Prices Fall Sharply

Crude oil witnessed selling during the start of the year due to oversupply concerns amid subdued demand.

Prices crashed further in March in what was the worst price dip since the 1991 Gulf War with Brent prices plunging to US$ 31 per barrel.

In April, crude oil futures crashed and briefly went to negative prices, implying that investors would need to pay buyers to take delivery of crude oil amid dwindling storage space.

What effects crude oil prices have on Indian stocks markets and the Indian economy remains to be seen. Meanwhile we will keep you updated on the latest developments from this space.

To know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.

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