The Indian market is rising for a second consecutive session Friday, with firm Asian cues and a 1.6 percent drop in crude prices overnight offering some support. Most Asian stocks are edging higher this morning as positive U.S. cues and higher commodity prices lifted sentiment.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan today decided to maintain the uncollateralized overnight call rate at around 0 to 0.1 percent by a unanimous vote. The central bank expects Japan's economy to return to a moderate recovery path from the second half of this year, backed by an increase in exports reflecting the improvement in overseas economic conditions and by a rise in demand for restoring capital stock.
The benchmark 30-share Sensex is currently trading near the day's high at 18,348, up 207 points or 1.14 percent while the broader Nifty index is rising by 59 points or 1.1 percent to 5,488. Second-line stocks are also rising notably and the market breadth is extremely positive, with gaining shares outpacing declining ones in the ratio of about 3:1. Capital goods, realty, power, auto, banking and metal stocks are leading the gainers.
Among individual stocks, Larsen & Toubro and Ashok Leyland are up around 4 percent each after posting strong quarterly earnings yesterday. ITC is edging up 0.2 percent ahead of its quarterly results today. Tata Power is adding a percent despite reporting a 30 percent fall in quarterly net profit.
State-run oil companies are edging higher amid reports that the subsidy burden of Rs. 6000 crore for 2010-11 could be shared among both upstream and downstream companies. ONGC is climbing 1.7 percent, while BPCL, HPCL and IOC are up around 0.7 percent each. SKS Microfinance is rallying 3.8 percent after it securitized assets worth Rs.50 crore with YES Bank.
ICICI Bank is gaining 1.5 percent after the private sector lender raised $1.0 billion via an international bond offering. Crompton Greaves is adding two percent after the electrical equipment maker acquired Sweden- based Emotron Group for about Rs.370 crore.
Telecom giant Bharti Airtel is rising 2.2 percent, aluminum maker Hindalco is adding 2.1 percent, property developer DLF is up 2 percent, two-wheeler manufacturer Bajaj Auto is gaining 1.9 percent and state-run power equipment maker BHEL is rising 1.8 percent.
Jet Airways is rising marginally, a day after the company said it reduced losses to Rs 86 crore in FY11 from Rs 420 crore in FY10. Scooters India is locked at the 5 percent upper circuit limit after the government agreed to divest its entire stake in the loss-making three-wheeler manufacturer.
Arvind is up 2.5 percent after it called a board meeting to consider fund-raising options. Vakrangee Software is climbing 7.2 percent on bagging an order from Union Bank of India to enroll people under the Unique Identification (UID) project.
Cairn India is down about half a percent after its parent Cairn Energy extended for the second time the deadline for closing the sale of a majority stake in its Indian unit.
The benchmark Sensex rose 0.31 percent and the Nifty added 0.14 percent on Thursday, with both indexes snapping their three-session losing steak, as soft inflation data, improved fourth-quarter earnings from Larsen & Toubro and a jump in U.S. stocks on Wednesday boosted sentiment.
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May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.