The Indian rupee strengthened against the US dollar, tracking the gains in Asian currencies. In global markets, European stocks pared gains and US index futures turned lower as investors shifted their focus to earnings in the absence of new developments on the trade front.
The BSE Sensex inched down 6.78 points, or 0.02%, to 36,541.63, while the Nifty 50 edged down 4.30 points, or 0.04%, to close at 11,018.90. In intraday trade, Sensex hit a fresh record high of 36,740.07 points.
The Nifty 50 touched a peak of 11,071.35, which is 100 points shy of its all-time high. For the week, the Sensex was up 2.5%, while the Nifty gained 2.3%.
The BSE MidCap and SmallCap declined 0.77% and 1.36%, respectively.
Fifteen out of 19 sectoral indices on the BSE fell with telecom, basic materials, realty and industrials losing up to 1.98%.
Energy, IT, oil and gas, and consumer durables advanced.Reliance Industries, BPCL, Bajaj Auto and Infosys were among major gainers, whereas ONGC, Axis Bank, ITC and Zee Entertainment were among the major losers.
Meanwhile the rupee strengthened against the US dollar yesterday, tracking the gains in equity market.
The rupee was trading at 68.49 a dollar, up 0.11% from its Thursday’s close of 68.57. It opened at 68.38 a dollar and touched a high and a low of 68.32 and 68.52, respectively.
The 10-year bond yield was trading at 7.77% compared to its previous close of 7.78%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
So far this year, rupee lost 6.76%, while foreign institutional investors have sold $716.57mn in equity and $8.62bn in debt respectively.
Asian currencies were trading mixed. South Korean won gained 0.235%, Indonesian rupiah 0.083% and Hong Kong dollar 0.001%.
However, China renminbi lost 0.365%, Singapore dollar lost 0.344%, Thai baht 0.339%, China offshore 0.293%, Taiwan dollar 0.212%, Malaysian ringgit 0.190%, Japanese yen 0.186% and Philippines peso 0.105%.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 95.171, up 0.36%, from its previous close of 94.83.
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