New Delhi, April 24: A rise in global crude oil cost to around $75 per barrel lifted the domestic retail petrol price higher for the sixth consecutive day in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Consequently, the widely-consumed transportation fuel became dearer by 13 paise to Rs 74.63 per litre from Monday's cost of Rs 74.50 per litre.
As per data available on IndianOil's website, Tuesday's motor spirit price level in New Delhi was the highest since September 14, 2013 when it had touched Rs 76.06 a litre.
Besides New Delhi, petrol prices climbed to new multi-year highs in other major metro cities -- Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai -- at Rs 77.32, Rs 82.48 and Rs 77.43 per litre respectively on Tuesday.
The previous highs in these cities were Rs 78.03 (Kolkata, August 2014), Rs 83.62 (Mumbai, September 2013) and Rs 77.48 (Chennai, September 2013).
Apart from petrol, diesel prices, too, touched record high levels on Tuesday in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai. They rose to Rs 65.93, Rs 68.63, Rs 70.20 and Rs 69.56 per litre respectively.
According to analysts, the recent upsurge in the costs of transportation fuel have been triggered due to a rise in global crude oil prices.
On Tuesday, Brent crude price rose to $75 per barrel due to geo-political tensions in the Middle East, whereas it cost over $100 a barrel in 2013.
Currently, prices of transport fuels are changed on a daily basis unlike the previous norm of fortnightly revisions.
In addition, the high rate of excise duty has contributed to the rise of transportation fuel prices.
In the Union Budget 2018-19, the government had reduced the basic excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 2. The government also abolished additional excise duty on fuel. But to compensate the move on the fiscal front, it increased the road cess to Rs 8 per litre.
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Sensex rallies for 3rd day to regain 77,000-mark; Nifty climbs 108.65 points
Mumbai, Apr 16 (PTI): Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty closed higher for the third straight day on Wednesday following buying in banking stocks and fresh foreign fund inflows as retail inflation slipping to near six-year lows raised hopes of further rate cuts.
Defying a weak global market trend, the 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 309.40 points or 0.40 per cent to settle at a two-week high of 77,044.29 in a volatile session. After a weak start, the index moved between gains and losses during the session. It hit a high of 77,110.23 and a low of 76,543.77, gyrating 566.46 points.
The NSE Nifty rallied 108.65 points or 0.47 per cent to 23,437.20.
Positive macro data and forecast of normal monsoon boosted investor sentiment, analysts said.
IndusInd Bank rose the most by 7.12 per cent amonf Sensex shares. The bank stated that external agency PwC has assessed a negative impact of Rs 1,979 crore on the bank's networth due to accounting lapses in the derivatives portfolio.
Axis Bank jumped 4.26 per cent while Adani Ports rose by 1.81 per cent. Asian Paints, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, State Bank of India and ITC were among the gainers.
Maruti was the biggest loser, falling by 1.51 per cent. Infosys, Tata Motors, Larsen & Toubro, NTPC and Bajaj Finance were among the laggards.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers after days of selling as they bought equities worth Rs 6,065.78 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.
"Globally, markets are undergoing fresh consolidation as tariff tensions intensify... Amidst global weakness, the Indian market exhibited a mild positive sentiment in anticipation that the trade fight between the US & China will not harm but benefit India, and March's CPI inflation which is at a nearly 6-year low is indicative of further rate cuts in the near future," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.
Domestically, the Q4 FY25 earnings season has started on a weak note. Overall expectations remain subdued, suggesting potential profit booking at higher levels, Nair added.
The BSE smallcap gauge climbed 0.91 per cent and midcap index rallied 0.62 per cent.
Among BSE sectoral indices, oil & gas climbed the most by 1.78 per cent, followed by bankex (1.45 per cent), energy (1.25 per cent), telecommunication (1.08 per cent), financial services (1.07 per cent) and services (0.73 per cent).
IT, auto, capital goods and BSE Focused IT were the laggards.
As many as 2,636 stocks advanced while 1,309 declined and 133 remained unchanged on the BSE.
"Participants responded positively to favourable cues, including the update on a normal monsoon, further easing of retail inflation, and, importantly, the absence of any negative surprises from global markets. Notably, the sustained strength in banking and financial stocks, along with rotational buying in other sectoral heavyweights, played a significant role in driving the momentum," Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd said.
In the borader market, shares of Gensol Engineering tumbled 5 per cent to hit the lower circuit limit after Sebi barred the firm and its promoters -- Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi -- from securities markets till further orders in a fund diversion and governance lapses case.
In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi index, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng settled lower. Shanghai SSE Composite index ended higher. European markets were quoting lower. US markets ended in the negative territory on Tuesday.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 0.91 per cent to USD 65.22 a barrel.
Rallying for the second straight session on Tuesday, the Sensex jumped 1,577.63 points or 2.10 per cent to settle at 76,734.89. The Nifty surged 500 points or 2.19 per cent to 23,328.55.
