Asian equities are higher today as Chinese and Hong Kong shares show gains. The Shanghai Composite is up 1.4% while the Hang Seng is up 0.7%. The Nikkei 225 is trading down by 0.3%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 closed slightly lower on Wednesday as falling crude prices and trade jitters held markets in check. The Nasdaq posted its seventh consecutive daily advance, while the Dow was down marginally.

Back home, Indian share markets have opened the day on a firm note. The BSE Sensex is trading higher by 116 points while the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 21 points. The BSE Mid Cap Index and BSE Small Cap index both opened the day up by 0.3%.

Sectoral indices have opened the day on a mixed note with bank stocks and energy stocks leading the gainers. While consumer durables stocks and power stocks opened the day in the red. The rupee is trading at 68.65 to the US$.

Energy stocks opened the day on a mixed note with Suzlon Energy & HPCL witnessing maximum buying interest. In the latest development, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) posted an 86% rise in net profit for the first quarter of the current financial year to Rs 17.2 billion backed by higher refining margins.

This is compared to a net profit of Rs 9.3 billion during the April to June quarter of 2017-18. The company’s revenue also increased to Rs 729.2 billion as compared Rs 598.1 billion last year.

The increase in profit is primarily due to higher refining margins due to inventory gains and also due to increased refining throughput and sales volume compared to last year. The combined gross refinery margin during the quarter was US$7.15 a barrel versus US$5.86 a barrel during the corresponding quarter last year.

During the quarter under review, the company had inventory gains to the tune of Rs 19 billion in refining and marketing.