Equity benchmarks extend gains; oil & gas shares rally

The key domestic indices extended gains in mid-morning trade. The Nifty traded above the 20,550 level. Oil & gas shares witnessed strong buying demand for five consecutive trading sessions.

At 11:27 AM IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 958.68 points or 1.42% to 68,439.87. The Nifty 50 index added 298 points or 1.47% to 20,565.90.

The benchmark, Nifty50 and Sensex index hit a fresh all-time high of 20,602.50 and 68,587.82 in early trade respectively.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.03% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index advanced 1.11%. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index and S&P BSE Small-Cap index has hit an all time high of 35,124.23 and 41,221.91.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,520 shares rose and 1,135 shares fell. A total of 196 shares were unchanged.

Politics:

The BJP is set to form the government in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The counting of votes in Rajasthan concluded with the BJP securing a landslide victory with 115 seats. Meanwhile, the ruling Congress won 69 seats out of the 199 which had gone to the polls on November 25. In Chhattisgarh, the BJP won 54 seats, the ruling Congress won 35 and the Gondvana Gantantra Party managed to win one seat.

In Telangana, Congress won 64 seats, the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi won 39, the BJP got eight seats, and AIMIM won seven. The Communist Party of India won one seat. The BJP has won 163 of the total 230 seats in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly. On the other hand, the Congress has won 66 seats.

Buzzing Index:

The Oil & Gas index jumped 3.02% to 8,776.10. The index rallied 7.53% in five consecutive trading sessions.

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (up 7.9%), Indian Oil Corporation (up 4.76%), GAIL (India) (up 4.74%), Adani Total Gas (up 4.6%) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (up 4.5%) were the top gainers.

Among the other gainers were Oil India (up 4.36%), Oil & Natural Gas Corpn (up 4.14%), Mahanagar Gas (up 3.86%), Indraprastha Gas (up 2.28%) and Gujarat Gas (up 1.74%).

Stocks in Spotlight:

Kalpataru Projects International rallied 4.10% after the company and its international subsidiaries received new orders of Rs 2,263 crore.

J Kumar Infraprojects rose 2.26% after the company received letter of acceptance (LoA) from Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) amounting to Rs 378.70 crore.

Global Markets:

Asian stocks are trading mixed on Monday, with investors awaiting a slew of key economic data Tuesday and inflation readings later this week.

US stocks ended higher on Friday with the S&P registering its highest close of the year after remarks from US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell boosted the view that key policy rates have peaked.

US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday reaffirmed the central bank�s intent to remain cautious on interest rates but also said that the hoped-for �soft landing" of the US economy seemed to be falling into place.

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