After opening their day on a flat note, Indian share markets witnessed choppy trades and ended their session marginally higher. Losses were largely seen in the consumer durables sector and telecom sector, while banking stocks ended the day in the green.
At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 21 points (up 0.1%) and the NSE Nifty stood flat. Both, the BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index, ended the day down by 0.9% and 1%, respectively.
Asian stock markets finished on a positive note as of the most recent closing prices. The Hang Seng was up 1.4% and the Nikkei was trading up by 0.5%. The Shanghai Composite stood up by 0.3%.
The rupee was trading at 67.52 to the US$ at the time of writing.
Stocks from the cement sector were witnessing selling pressure today after reports stated that the government is mulling pan-India ban on burning coke as fuel.
As per the news, the government is planning to propose banning burning petroleum coke as a fuel nationwide to comply with a Supreme Court request as part of a long-running case to clean the country's air.
How this pans out remains to be seen. Meanwhile, we will keep you updated from all the developments from this space.
In the news from oil & gas sector, shares of oil marketing companies were witnessing buying interest today. Gains were seen as fuel retailers hiked prices of petrol and diesel.
The price hike was the first since April 24, 2018 and also comes amid rising crude oil prices.
Note that crude oil prices are trading near three-year-high levels. Prices have been escalating as US President Donald Trump yesterday pulled the United States out of a nuclear deal with Iran. The rise in prices is also seen due to a pick-up in global demand coupled with supply cuts by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia.
Steadily Rising Crude Oil Prices
Rising crude oil prices is not good news from India's perspective.
What does rising crude prices mean for stock markets?
How the above decision by the US affects crude oil prices in the near term remains to be seen. Meanwhile, we will keep you updated on all the developments from this space.
In the news from the macroeconomic space, as per an article in the Economic Times, the commerce and industry ministry has started the exercise to revise base year to 2017-18 for computation of wholesale inflation with a view to present more realistic picture of the price situation.
The government, in May last year, revised the base year for WPI-based inflation to 2011-12 to give a better indication of changes in prices of commodities.
The new index, with 2017-18, is expected to have new items. This would provide a more realistic picture of price rise and its impact on people.
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