Lower oil prices and continuing liquidity flows help indices to new highs

19 December 2005

Indices opened with good gains today, continuing the rally from Friday. The decline in oil prices and continued rally across Asian markets helped the markets to maintain their momentum. Asian markets were firm today with Japan, Hong Kong, Korea and Indonesia adding more than a per cent each.

Recovery on the Rupee against the US Dollar is also helping the markets considerably by allaying fears of a slowdown in overseas inflows. The Rupee has gained more than 2 per cent over the last one week.

Frontline indices saw a minor dip towards noon, only to recover and continue their rally in the afternoon. The last hour of trade saw some volatility, with the indices dipping sharply before recovering and closing at their day's highs.

The Sensex saw a new intra-day lifetime high of 9403 and the Nifty saw a new high of 2846.

The drop in oil prices helped the stocks of oil marketing companies. HPCL was the biggest gainer, closing 2.5 per cent higher. Indian Oil added 2 per cent while BPCL closed half-a-per cent higher.