Oil & Natural Gas Corporation rose 2.2% to 643.90 rupees and Cairn India gained 0.9% to 153.65 rupees as crude oil prices jumped $2.20 to $38.80 per barrel.

State run oil marketing firms fell on reports government will lower petrol, diesel and cooking gas prices by 5 rupees a liter, 3 rupees a liter and 25 rupees a cylinder respectively. HPCL dipped 1%, BPCL plunged 0.5%, and IOC declined 1.1%.

Petronet LNG jumped 9.3% to 37.65 rupees after announcing that Qatar will sell additional LNG cargo to the company.

Auto stocks gained. Tata Motors increased 1% to 156.75 rupees, Mahindra & Mahindra edged up 4.4% to 317 rupees, and Hero Honda rose 3.7% to 829.90 rupees.

However Maruti Suzuki India fell 0.7% to 584.50 rupees on profit booking.

NTPC rose 3.5% to 174.55 rupees and DLF soared 3.2% to 211.75 rupees on bargain hunting.

Financial stocks advanced. ICICI Bank jumped 3.7% to 442 rupees and State Bank of India climbed 1.9% to 1,200 rupees.

HDFC Bank dropped 1.6% to 973 rupees after the company reported that gross net performing assets (NPA) rose 120.47% to 1911.41 crore rupees as at December 31, 2008 from 866.97 crore rupees from the comparable period a year ago.

Sun Pharma lost 0.8% to 1,125.35 rupees.

HDFC Bank Profit Rises 45%

HFDC Bank Ltd. reported today that its net profit in the three months to December 31 increased 45% to 6217.40 million rupees from 4293.60 million rupees in the same period a year ago.

Total income in the period soared 59% to 54078.90 million rupees.

The results include operations of erstwhile Centurion Bank of Punjab Ltd, following its amalgamation with HDFC Bank with effect from April 1, 2008.