Volatility witnessed in markets; Sensex, Nifty regain shortly

Mumbai :A bout of volatility was witnessed in morning trade as key benchmark indices pared gains after surging, still up by 97 points in late morning trade following sustained buying mainly in auto, consumer durables, realty, capital goods and metal sectors amid firmness in Asian cues.

The 30-share index, Sensex, resumed higher at 26,704.02 and hovered in a range of 26,800.06 and 26,656.12 before quoted at 26,688.77, at 1115 hours, showing a rise of 98.18 points, or 0.37 per cent, from its last close.

The NSE 50-share Nifty were also trading up at 20.90 points, or 0.26 pct, to 8,081.60 at 1115 hours.

Major gainers were, Tata Motors by 5.58 pct, Bajaj Auto 1.65 pct, M&M by 1.56 pct, HUL by 1.09 pct, HeroMotoco 1.00 pct, Hindalco by 0.91 pct and Vedl by 0.86 pct.

However, GAIL fell by 0.78 pct, Tcs 0.69 pct, NTPC 0.66 pct, BhartiAirtel 0.59 and Reliance by 0.46 pct.

Meanwhile, Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 449.84 crs yesterday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

At the overseas, Asian shares rose in early trade, taking early cues from overnight Wall Street gains, while investors’ sharper risk appetite lifted US debt yields and supported the dollar.

US stocks finished higher yesterday, shrugging off lackluster corporate results to extend gains for a second session in a row, as energy shares helped prop up the main indexes.

The rupee pared its initial gains, but was still higher by 6 paise to 65.58 against the US currency in late morning trade on sustained bouts of dollar selling by banks and exporters.

The Indian rupee opened higher at 65.56 as against yesterday’s level of 65.64 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market.

It hovered in the range of 65.52 to 65.62 per dollar during the morning deals, before quoting at 65.58 at 1030 hours.

The dollar index is currently trading up by 0.13 per cent at 97.31 against a basket of six currencies.

“The weakness in the rupee yesterday was due to dollar strengthening against major currencies and dollar demand by custodial banks, expect the same trend to continue today,” says a forex dealer.

Oil prices were flat in Asia early trade as investors weighed US petroleum industry data showing a build-up in crude stockpiles and news that shipments from a Libyan port were halted due to tensions.

The US dollar, yesterday moved higher against most of its main rivals fueled by optimism ahead of Friday’s non-farm payrolls report along with rising interest-rate hike expectations.

Meanwhile, the benchmark Sensex were trading higher by 119 points, or 0.45 per cent, at 26,709.57 at 1030 hrs.

 

PTI