Sensex opens volatile; oil & gas, capital goods find takers

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The BSE benchmark gained 50 points in the opening trade on Tuesday after a long weekend, tracking positive global cues. A confidence vote in Italy is awaited later in the day, which will have an impact on the markets. In the morning, oil & gas, capital goods, metal and select financial stocks were on buyers' radar. The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 57 points at 17,620.02 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 16 points to 5,300.45 amid volatility.

ONGC surged 3.5% post stellar performance in Q2. It has posted a net profit of Rs 8642.23 crore for the quarter ended September 30, up 60% year-on-year boosted by lower subsidy payments and gains from high crude oil and gas prices.

Tata Motors, Reliance Infrastructure (ahead of numbers today), Bharti Airtel, Hero Motocorp, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, HDFC, Sterlite Industries, Hindalco, SBI, BHEL and L&T were leading the market higher.

The CNX Midcap went up 30 points to 7,350. About two shares gained for every share falling on National Stock Exchange.

Results Reaction: SKS Microfinance fell 10%; Parsvnath Developers down 2.5%; Motherson Sumi fell 5%; Jain Irrigation rose 2%; Emami lost 1.6%; Punj Lloyd surged 3.5% and MTNL gained 0.8%.

Voltas and Petronet LNG jumped 2%.

Global cues

Markets are happy to see these ministers (Greece, Italy) resigning. SGX Nifty rallied 1%.

Asian markets were trading higher. Shanghai, Hang Seng and Straits Times rose 0.5-0.8%. Kospi and Taiwan were flat.