Crude oil falls, Sensex gains: What it means for India

A fall in crude oil prices helped the Sensex gain on Monday.

India imports most of its oil, so lower prices reduce the import bill.

Brent fell to about 101.56 dollars a barrel.

The Sensex rose about 420 points in early trade.

InterGlobe Aviation was among the gainers.

Brent crude fell about 2.2 percent to roughly 101.56 dollars a barrel, and US crude fell about 2.4 percent to about 97.93 dollars.

Asian markets had closed broadly higher, with South Korea’s Kospi up 1.43 percent and Japan’s Nikkei up 1.38 percent.

InterGlobe Aviation, which runs IndiGo, rose about 1.55 percent to Rs 4,996.50, helped by lower fuel costs.

Sun Pharma rose about 1.39 percent and Reliance Industries about 1.36 percent in early trade.

Adani Ports fell about 2.8 percent, Bharti Airtel about 2.3 percent and Wipro about 1.8 percent.

The rebound followed a sixth consecutive weekly loss for the Sensex and Nifty, the longest such run in about six years for the Sensex.

Investors were also watching the closing of the Rs 22,569 crore NSE IPO, which had drawn liquidity from the secondary market.

Oil-importing India is sensitive to crude prices, since lower prices reduce the import bill and support the rupee and inflation outlook.

Market direction in the coming days is likely to depend on crude oil, foreign fund flows and developments in the Middle East.

In early trade on Monday, September 21, the BSE Sensex rose 419.94 points, or 0.57 percent, to 74,714.90.

The NSE Nifty 50 added 39.75 points, or 0.17 percent, to 23,386.15 in early deals.

Some reports put the opening levels slightly lower, with the Sensex up about 330 points at 74,624.74 and the Nifty at about 23,372.

Market wraps later in the day reported the Sensex closing about 564 points higher at 74,858.99 and the Nifty about 68 points higher at 23,414.30.

Phiroze Jeejeebhoy Towers, Bombay Stock Exchange (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0