Money on the markets

Reliance Industries gains

Reliance Industries gained 3.7 percent on Monday, recovering from the recent underperformance.

Shares in India’s top listed firm closed at 998.2 rupees after helping the benchmark index gain more than 200 points.

Oil marketing firms rally

Shares in oil marketing firms like BPCL, HPCL and IOC surged on Monday, helping the BSE Oil & Gas index close marginally in positive.

Shares of such firms rose amid reports that companies have received subsidy from the government to ease selling losses and on expectations that the government may deregulate diesel prices soon.

BPCL ended as the top performer in the index with gains of 11 percent, followed by HPCL which gained 5.3 percent and IOC which rose 3 percent.

Reliance Industries, India’s top listed firm, ended as the top loser in the index, with losses of 1.2 percent.

Do you think such counters would continue to rally?

Oil & gas index dragged lower by RIL

The BSE Oil & Gas Index closed as the top sectoral loser on Wednesday, falling 1.92 percent mainly on losses in Reliance Industries which saw brokerage downgrades.

Shares of Reliance Industries fell 3 percent after brokerages such as Edelweiss, Motilal Oswal and IIFL downgraded the firm saying the company would take longer to increase gas production at the KG-D6 block.

Other losers in the index were Reliance Natural, which fell nearly 1 percent, and GAIL which slipped 0.8 percent.

Prominent among those that bucked the downtrend was Aban Offshore, which jumped nearly 9 percent after the company said it had received a major portion of the $235 million insurance claim for its semi-submersible rig.

Which your favourite pick in this sector? Would you take advantage of the fall in RIL’s price?

BSE Oil & Gas Index tops sectoral losers

The BSE Oil & Gas index ended 0.8 percent lower on Monday with all but one of its constituent stocks closing in the red.

The big mover of the day was Reliance Natural, which dropped 27.2 percent after a deal to fold into sister firm Reliance Power valued the company at a steep discount to its market capitalisation on Friday.

The stock ended with trading volumes of 18.7 million shares on the BSE and was the second-most traded counter.

Other big losers in the index included Aban Offshore which slipped 2.54 percent,  and HPCL which dropped 1.9 percent. GAIL was the only stock that closed in the green, rising 0.85 percent.

Stocks in this index, especially those of oil marketing firms, had risen sharply last week when the government decided to free-up petrol prices and hike other fuel prices.

Which is your favourite pick in this sector?

Sensex H1 performance

India’s benchmark stock index did reasonably well in the first half of 2010 as compared to its emerging market peers. The Sensex gained 1.4 percent during the period, and outperformed China’s Shanghai Composite Index and Brazil’s Bovespa which declined 9.6 percent and 26.8 percent respectively.

Shares in Reliance Industries, India’s top listed firm which has the heaviest weight in the index, barely changed during the period, but a Supreme Court ruling on a gas dispute and Ambani brothers reconciliation kept the company in focus.

Banking stocks performed well during the period, with the sectoral Bankex posting gains of more than 7 percent. Shares in SBI, India’s largest lender rose marginally, but private lender HDFC Bank jumped 12.6 percent during the period.

Among other sectors, oil & gas index rose 3.85 percent whereas the realty index was battered and posted losses of 17 percent.

Foreign funds have pumped in $6.7 billion in Indian equities so far in 2010, after investing a record $17.5 billion in 2009.

Rakesh Rawal, head of private wealth management at Anand Rathi said that if things turn better overseas, he expects the Sensex to touch 21,000 (points) by the year

Reliance Natural falls 7.5 percent

Shares in Reliance Natural slipped 7.55 percent on Tuesday and ended as the top loser in the BSE Oil & Gas index. The benchmark index dropped nearly 250 points.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule by next week on a long and high-profile gas pricing dispute between the Ambani brothers.

Reliance Natural shares could jump by almost a third if the ruling goes in its favour, traders say, but could slide 15 percent or more if the verdict goes against the company.

Other stocks in the oil & gas index also ended weak. Shares in Cairn India dropped 2.7 percent, Essar Oil slipped over 3 percent and Reliance Industries ended down 0.2 percent.

HPCL was the only share in the index that closed positive.

Would you invest in shares of Reliance Natural or wait for more clarity on the on-going battle?

Bad day for oil and gas counters

The BSE Oil & Gas index ended as the worst sectoral performer on Thursday, posting losses of 1.8 percent, as the Sensex slumped 255 points on increased expectations of a rate hike.

Reliance Industries and Cairn India dropped over 2 percent each and were the top losers in the index. ONGC slipped 1.97 percent.

Shares of Essar Oil, however, rose 3.2 percent to end as top sectoral gainer. Essar Group on Thursday said it plans to raise about $2.5 billion by listing its energy and power businesses on the London bourse.

Oil marketing firms HPCL and BPCL ended in the positive.

The oil & gas index has gained 4.8 percent since mid-March. Do you think it is worth taking advantage of this dip?

Reliance Industries drops 3 percent

Shares in India’s top listed firm, Reliance Industries, plunged 3 percent on Monday, dragging the benchmark lower by 118 points.

The shares of the energy major, which recently began trading ex-bonus, closed 33 rupees lower at 1055.65.

RIL’s shares also pushed the BSE Oil & Gas Index lower by almost 2 percent.

Reliance shares have gained over 9 percent since November. Would you enter this stock at the current levels?

Reliance Industries shines

Shares in Reliance Industries gained 2 percent on Friday, helping the BSE Sensex gain 236 points.

RIL shares had fallen more than 3 percent over the last three days in the absence of any major announcement at the company’s annual general meeting earlier this week.

The Oil & Gas Index rose 1.52 percent, helped by gains in stocks like Reliance, BPCL, Aban Offshore and HPCL.

Investors in RIL have been rewarded well as shares of the country’s top listed firm have gained 10 percent in November so far.

Do you think Reliance shares will continue to rally?

Weak day for oil & gas stocks

Shares in ONGC dropped over 2 percent and ended as the top Sensex loser as the broader market closed just 18 points higher.

The Oil & Gas Index slipped around 0.7 percent in trade, with ONGC, BPCL and Reliance among the losers.

Energy major Reliance Industries shed 0.7 percent to 2,133.75 rupees, as the energy major did not make any major announcement at its annual general meeting today. Chairman Mukesh Ambani said the company would work towards attaining global scale for its conventional energy platform and invest in new businesses such as retailing and alternative energy.

The BSE Oil & Gas Index has gained over 8 percent this month – a little higher than the benchmark’s gain of 7.2 percent in the same period.

Do you think it is a good time to allocate funds to this sector?