Sensex, Nifty surge 1%; SBI gains 8%, Cipla & HUL down 1%

Consumption of fuel, a proxy for oil demand, totalled 14.92 million tonnes, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry showed.

Sales of gasoline, or petrol, were 14.7 percent higher from a year earlier at 1.92 million tonnes.

Cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sales increased 8.8 percent to 1.71 million tonnes, while naphtha sales surged 6.3 percent to 1.10 million tonnes. Sales of bitumen, used for making roads, were 0.7 percent lower, while fuel oil use edged up 6.5 percent in July.

1:30 pm LPG: Drilling holes into government claims of huge subsidy savings from direct benefit transfer (DBT), the CAG today said only Rs 1,764 crore in subsidy was saved on LPG on account of the scheme and the bulk of Rs 21,552 crore was due to sharp fall in global prices.

In a report tabled in Parliament, the Comptroller and Auditor General said "the actual subsidy payout during the period from April 2015 to December 2015 was Rs 12,084.24 crore as against Rs 35,400.46 crore during April 2014 to December 2014." The significant reduction of Rs 23,316.12 crore in subsidy payout was "on account of the combined effect of decrease in offtake of subsidised cylinders by consumers and lower subsidy rates arising form the sharp fall in crude prices in 2015-16."

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The market is still on a rise with major support from SBI. The Sensex is up 275.39 points or 0.9 percent at 28134.99, and the Nifty up 73.90 points or 0.9 percent at 8666.05. About 1294 shares have advanced, 1133 shares declined, and 168 shares are unchanged.

SBI is up 8 percent while SBI, Axis Bank, Tata Motors, Reliance and Tata Steel are top gainers while Cipla, HUL, Infosys. Asian Paints and HDFC Bank are losers in the Sensex.

SBI the country's biggest lender by asset size, said profit in Q1 fell 31.7 percent year-on-year to Rs 2,520.96 crore. Overall earnings met analysts' expectations and the major positive was that the bank managed to lower its slippages significantly on sequential basis that drove the stock higher by 9 percent intraday.

Profit was supported by other income & operating profit and lower tax cost but remained impacted by higher provisions.

Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest expended, grew by 4.2 percent to Rs 14,312.31 crore on yearly basis.

European stocks were flat after record closes on Wall Street, helped by an oil price rise, failed to offset negative sentiment caused by disappointing Chinese data. M

eanwhile, oil prices continue to be watched for signs of recovery. Prices edged up in early trading on Friday, extending gains from the previous session on expectations that major OPEC producers could discuss ways to prop up a market dogged by oversupply.