After Markets: Oil & gas, realty stocks on a high; 15 stocks hit fresh 52-week highs

Oil & gas stocks had a field day on Dalal Street on Friday after reports that the government may be exploring the option of selling a majority stake in BPCL to a global oil company, while buying emerged also in bank and auto stocks as investors cheered signs of progress in the trade dispute between the US and China and announcement of fresh QE by ECB.

BSE benchmark Sensex rose 280 points for the day to close at 37,384 points while NSE’s 50-share Nifty climbed 93 points to 11,075.

"Subdued inflation kept hopes alive for another rate cut and positive vibes for auto sector lifted the markets. Broadbased recovery in rate-sensitive stocks fueled the domestic market while new QE from European Central Bank powered global peers,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

Here is lowdown on the key market trends from Friday’s session:

Oil & gas sector top gainer
BSE Oil & Gas sector emerged top sectoral performer on BSE, with a 2.73 per cent gain All the components closed higher. Shares of state-run oil marketing companies BPCL (up 6.42 per cent ), IOC (up 4.50 per cent) and HPCL (up 3.22 per cent) were among top gainers.

PI Industries marches ahead
Shares of agrosciences firm PI Industries rose 4.4 per cent after the company said it has signed an agreement with Italian company Isagro SpA to acquire its wholly-owned Asian subsidiary.

Realty shares firm up
Realty shares ended in the green, with the sectoral index rising 1.40 per cent amid expectations of some government measures to address the slowdown in the sector. DLF ( up 4.10 per cent), Godrej Properties (up 1.58 per cent) and Prestige Estates ( up 0.85 per cent) were the top performers on the index.

Who moved my Sensex
Private lender ICICI Bank contributed the most, 66 points, to Sensex’s gain. It was followed by oil-to-telecom major Reliance Industries, which added 48 points besides Infosys (48 points), Kotak Bank (30 points) and Axis Bank (20 points).

Market breadth favours bulls
The broader market breadth was positive, with the gainers beating the losers in the 1.6:1 ratio on BSE. The ratio was better for the frontline index. Twenty-five of 30 Sensex stocks logged gains on Friday.

Most active stocks
With 27.8 crore shares changing hands, YES Bank emerged as the most traded stock on NSE, followed by Vodafone Idea (number of shares traded: 7.3 crore), Tata Motors (6.9 crore), Ashok Leyland (4.1 crore), and GMR Infra (3.6 crore). YES Bank (Rs 1,853 crore) also was the most active stock in terms of value. Maruti Suzuki (Rs 1,243 crore), Tata Motors (Rs 886 crore), HDFC Bank (865 crore) and Indiabulls Housing Finance (Rs 814 crore) were among other most active stocks in terms of value.

Spurt in open interest
BPCL led the pack of stocks with the biggest spurt in open interest (36.13 per cent) on NSE. It was followed by Raymond (33.84 per cent), Torrent Pharma (15.89 per cent) and Container Corporation (14.38 per cent).

37 stocks hit 52-week lows
As many as 37 stocks hit fresh 52-week lows on NSE. The list included BAG Films, C&C Constructions, Dlamia Bharat, Eveready Industries, Indian Energy Exchange and Kwality.

15 stocks hit 52-week highs
Career Point, Gujarat State Petronet, Tree House Education and Vadilal Industries were among 15 stocks that hit fresh 52-week highs.