The benchmark Sensex gave up early gains to end lower for the fourth straight session yesterday after investors moved in to book profits. The 30-share index rose over 267 points in morning trade to hit the day’s high of 29,701.19, before losing momentum to end 94.56 points, or 0.32% lower at 29,319.10. The broader NSE Nifty shuttled between 9,217.90 and 9,095.45, before ending 34.15 points, or 0.37% down at 9,105.15.
Earlier, Indian shares rose yesterday after three straight sessions of falls as the corporate results season kicked in with banks rallying on expectations of stronger earnings. NSE Nifty reclaimed the psychological 9,200-mark and BSE benchmark Sensex soared about 267 points in early trade, triggered by across-the-board buying amid mixed overseas cues.
The earnings season got off to a weak start with IT major Infosys issuing a lower-than-expected revenue guidance last week, but analysts still see signs of positive results this quarter.
The Nifty PSU bank index gained up to 2.47%, touching its highest since August 2015.
Meanwhile the rupee yesterday weakened against the US dollar after local equity markets fell for seven out of eight trading sessions. The home currency closed at 64.63, down 0.18% from its Monday’s close of 64.41. The rupee opened at 64.51 a dollar and touched a high and a low of 64.48 and 64.64, respectively. It has gained 5.1% in the year so far.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers for the fifth consecutive session and sold nearly $358mn in the local equity markets in this period. So far this year, FIIs have bought $6.57bn and $6.76bn from local equity and debt markets, respectively.
India will receive normal rains during the June-to-September southwest monsoon season, the India Meteorological Department said yesterday. Rainfall will be 96% of the long-period average and there is a 38% probability that monsoon will be near normal, said KJ Ramesh, director general of IMD. He added that the normal rains will be good for the economy and agriculture and rains will be distributed fairly across the country.
The 10-year bond yield closed at 6.864% compared with its previous close of 6.847%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
Asian currencies were trading lower. The South Korean won was down 0.39%, Thai baht 0.21%, Taiwan dollar 0.17%, Philippines peso 0.16%, Malaysian ringgit 0.15%, Indonesian rupiah 0.09%, China offshore 0.09%, Japanese yen 0.07%, China renminbi 0.07% and Singapore dollar 0.06%.