Asian stock markets are lower today as Japanese and Hong Kong shares show losses. The Nikkei 225 is up 0.3% while the Hang Seng is down 0.1%. The Shanghai Composite is trading down by 0.1%.
Back home, India share markets have opened the day on a positive note. The BSE Sensex is trading up by 146 points while the NSE Nifty is trading up by 55 points. The BSE Mid Cap index and BSE Small Cap index both opened the day on a positive note.
Sectoral indices have opened the day on a positive note with oil & gas stocks and metal stocks witnessing maximum buying interest. While, IT stocks have opened the day in red.
The rupee is trading at Rs 72.08 against the US$.
In the latest development from the results corner, Tata steel has reported 3 fold jump in its profit at Rs 36.1 billion in the September ended quarter as compared to Rs 9.7 billion for the same quarter in the previous year.
Net sales of the company rose 34% to Rs 435 billion over Rs 324.6 billion on a yearly basis.
Tata steel share price has opened the day up by 2%
In another news, Sun pharma share price has also reported its quarterly results for the September ended quarter.
Drug major Sun Pharmaceutical Industries reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 2.2 billion for the September quarter on account of a Rs 12 billion provision for the settlement of the Modafinil antitrust case in the US.
You can also read our recently released Q2FY19 result analysis of the following companies: Asian Paints, TVS Motors, Wipro, Ambuja Cement, HDFC Bank, Infosys and more.
Speaking of quarterly result announcements, there is typically a big contrast between quarterly and annual earnings performance of companies and the extent to which they find favour among investors.
Over the last two months, for instance, stocks of companies that showed earnings recovery in September quarter, were as beaten down from 52-week highs as the stocks that underperformed in earnings.
Beware of following such herds.
Instead, stick to the best safe stocks in the market.
Moving on to the news from the commodity space, oil markets continued downtrend after a 7% slump in the previous session, with surging supply and expectations of faltering demand pressuring crude prices.
The latest falls came after oil cartel organization of petroleum exporting countries (OPEC) reduced its forecast for global oil demand next year.
OPEC now expects world demand to grow 1.3 million barrels a day next year, about 70,000 barrels a day lower than last month's forecast.
Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih had already said on Monday that OPEC had agreed there was a need to cut oil production next year to prevent oversupply.
Saudi Arabia is the largest member of the OPEC cartel of Middle East and African oil producers.
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