The markets opened flat on Thursday on monthly F&O expiry day. At 09:16 AM, the Sensex was up 11.78 points or 0.02 percent at 51,029.30, and the Nifty was up 4.20 points or 0.03 percent at 15,305.70.
Mohit Nigam, Head-PMS, Hems Securities said, the results of strategic sale-bound BPCL were declared later yesterday, declaring a high final dividend of Rs 58 in addition to the Rs 25 dividend in the FY21, mainly on back of the sale of 62.5 percent stake in NRL to consortium of Oil India Ltd. and Engineers India Ltd. The oil is trading at the range of $66 per barrel on back of shrinking crude inventories signalling the strong demand pick up after the pandemic linked lockdowns. Factors like these are benefitting the economy and the markets which may make the market see the all-time highs in the coming days. The support at 15,100 needs to watched closely for the newer highs in the Nifty50.
The Nifty future were trading at 15,305 on the Singaporean Exchange. US stocks closed out Wednesday's session with modest gains as recent comments from Federal Reserve officials helped tamp down concerns about runaway inflation and kept bond yields in check.
Eicher Motors, Sun Pharma, Cadila Healthcare, IRB Infrastructure Developers, 63 Moons Technologies, Ador Fontech, Aegis Logistics, among others will release their quarterly results today.
Amara Raja Batteries and Canara bank are under the F&O ban for May 27.
Asian shares
Asian shares retreated from two-week highs on Thursday. China started on the backfoot on fears central banks were closer to considering winding back their emergency stimulus while the dollar held at a one-week top.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 shed 0.8 percent in early trading to 28,409.41. South Korea's Kospi dipped 0.7 percent to 3,146.54. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 inched down less than 0.1 percent to 7,089.90. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.5 percent to 29,019.84. The Shanghai Composite index edged 0.1 percent to 3,597.85.
The Japanese government is expected to extend its “state of emergency” in some areas including Tokyo past May 31, in an effort to curb COVID-19 cases. Public concern has grown with the Olympics due to begin in Tokyo on July 23. Surveys show a majority of residents want the games canceled or postponed.
“There are push-backs all round right now, and they are going to buffet markets, largely because they aren't all pushing in the same direction,” RaboResearch said in a report.
Fuel prices touch new highs
Petrol price inched towards the Rs 100-mark in Mumbai on Thursday after fuel rates were hiked again.
Petrol price was increased by 24 paise per litre and diesel by 29 paise a litre, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers.
The hike - 14th this month - pushed petrol and diesel prices to record-high levels across the country.
After today’s hike, petrol prices in Delhi rose to Rs 93.68 per litre against Rs 93.44 on Wednesday, while diesel price soared to Rs 84.61 per litre as compared to Rs 84.32 a litre on Wednesday.
In Mumbai, petrol is now being sold at Rs 99.94 a litre just one increase short of crossing another milestone of Rs 100. Diesel in the country’s financial capital costs Rs 91.87 per litre.
In Chennai, petrol is priced at Rs 95.28 per litre while the price of diesel is Rs 89.39 per litre. The price of petrol in Kolkata is Rs 93.72 per litre while diesel is sold at Rs 87.46 per litre.
(With PTI inputs)