Crude oil for July delivery fell as much as 86 cents to $134 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange today, 16 June 2008, on speculation Saudi Arabia will increase production, reducing risks to global growth from near-record energy prices.
Asian markets were trading higher today, 16 June 2008, on speculation demand for the region's exports will be sustained as the yen weakened against the dollar and crude oil prices retreated. Japan's Nikkei (up 1.47% at 14,179.62), Hang Seng (up 1.66% at 22,966.30), Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted (up 1.36% at 8,215.54), Singapore's Straits Times (up 1.59% at 3,027.07), South Korea's Seoul Composite (up 0.92% at 1,763.38), China (1.06% at 2,899.153), edged higher.
US markets rallied on Friday, 13 June 2008, led by financial and technology stocks, as a tame core-inflation reading and lower crude prices boosted market. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 166 points at 12,307. The Nasdaq Composite index surged 50 points up at 2,454.50. The S&P 500 500 index advanced 20.16 points to 1360.03.
At 10:25 IST, the 30-share BSE Sensex was up 313.56 points or 2.06% at 15,503.18. At the day’s high of 15,553.37 Sensex gained 363.75 points in early trade.
The broader based S&P CNX Nifty was up 84.25 points or 1.87% at 4601.35.
The market breadth was strong on BSE with 1495 shares advancing as compared to 364 that declined. 33 remained unchanged. All 30 Sensex stocks were in green
The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.66% to 6,331.30 and BSE Small-Cap index up 1.65% to 7,706.99.
Banking shares were in demand after a sharp sell-off in the past few trading sessions. ICICI Bank (up 4.37% at Rs 798.25), HDFC Bank (up 2.98% at Rs 1,156.80), Bank of India (up 2.75% at Rs 276.15), and Axis Bank (up 2.36% at Rs 721), moved up. The BSE Bankex was up 2.91% at 7261.69.
India's top state-run commercial bank State Bank of India (SBI) rose 1.90% to Rs 1359.95. After a review of interest rates on Friday, 13 June 2008, SBI said it will not to raise its prime lending rate even though the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had raised its key short term lending rate earlier this week.
The top Sensex gainers were, Infosys Technologies (up 3.27% at Rs 1924.55), HDFC Bank (up 3.36% at Rs 1161.10), Housing Development Finance Corporation (up 2.90% at Rs 2195), Bharti Airtel (up 2.98% at Rs 838.25), and Reliance Infrastructure (up 2.27% at Rs 1043.50).
India’s second largest telecom services provider by sales Reliance Communication was up 0.40% at Rs 545.50 after Reliance Industries claimed first right of refusal to buy a controlling stake in it. Reliance Communications, controlled by Anil Ambani, is in exclusive talks with South Africa's MTN about a tie-up that could create a top-10 global telecoms firm. As part of a tie-up, Anil Ambani would likely swap his controlling stake in Reliance Communications to become the largest shareholder in MTN.
India’s largest private sector firm by market capitalisation and oil refiner Reliance Industries was up 1.82% at Rs 2309.
Back home, the market slipped on Friday, 13 June 2008, as data showed a surge in inflation to a seven-year high and weak European markets. The 30-share BSE Sensex lost 60.58 points or 0.4% at 15,189.62 and the broader based S&P CNX Nifty was down 22.25 points or 0.49% at 4,517.10, on that day.
As per provisional data, foreign funds sold shares worth a net Rs 116.51 crore on Friday, 13 June 2008. Domestic funds bought shares worth a net Rs 457.33 crore on that day.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers of Rs 625.28 crore in the futures & options segment on Friday, 13 June 2008. They were net buyers of index futures to the tune of Rs 167.32 crore and bought index options worth Rs 173.58 crore. They were net buyers of stock futures to the tune of Rs 224.58 crore and bought stock options worth Rs 59.80 crore.