Sensex closes flat; rupee hits two-week high

A customer displays bundles of Indian rupee banknotes of various denominations inside a bank branch in Mumbai. The Indian currency rose the most in almost two weeks yesterday.

IANS/Mumbai

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets yesterday closed flat, paring gains of earlier sessions with information technology (IT) and automobile stocks losing the most.

The 30-scrip S&P Sensex (sensitive index) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) which opened at 21,872.68 points, closed at 21,832.86 points – up 0.25 points from its previous close of 21,832.61 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 21,895.83 points and a low of 21,782.01 points during intra-day trade.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed 7.40 points or 0.11% up at 6,524.05 points. Heavy selling pressure was observed in IT, technology, entertainment and media (TECk) and automobile stocks. However, metal, bank and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) scrips gained.

Sector-wise, the S&P BSE IT index was down 198.97 points, followed by TECk index which fell by 79.80 points and automobile index which fell 8.98 points.

However, the S&P BSE metal index was up 189.60 points, while the bank index gained by 83.80 points and the FMCG index moved higher 82.22 points. The major Sensex gainers were: Tata Steel, up 4.58% at Rs.356.30; Hindalco Inds, up 4.44% at Rs119.95; Axis Bank, up 2.78% at Rs1,386.15; Sesa Sterlite, up 2.09% at Rs175.95; and HDFC, up 1.77% at Rs866.50.

The losers were: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), down 3.84% at Rs2,040.95; ONGC, down 3.22% at Rs314.30; Mahindra and Mahindra, down 2.79% at Rs982.10; Coal India, down 2.63% at Rs263.30; and Gail India, down 2.53% at Rs360.10.

Meanwhile, India’s rupee rose the most in almost two weeks on optimism foreigners will boost holdings of local assets as inflation eases and the deficits narrow. Global funds bought a net $959mn of Indian stocks this month, exchange data show, helping boost the S&P BSE Sensex index to a record on Tuesday. An official report last week showed consumer prices rose the least in two years, and the government has predicted shortfalls in the current account and public finances will shrink. The Federal Reserve will press on with stimulus cuts and switch to qualitative guidance for assessing interest rates, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg before a two-day meeting that ends today.

The rupee strengthened 0.4% to 60.9550 per dollar in Mumbai, the biggest gain since March 6, according to prices from local banks compiled by Bloomberg. The currency is likely to trade between 60.80 and 61.10 in the coming days, according to DCB Bank.

“There are inflows,” said Naveen Raghuvanshi, a trader at DCB Bank in Mumbai. “Stop-losses were also triggered” when the rupee advanced past 61per dollar, he said, referring to sales of the greenback meant to limit losses caused by its drop.