Nifty touches new highs, Sensex up 210 pts in morning trade

Mumbai: The BSE Sensex advanced by 210 points while the NSE Nifty scaled fresh record high levels in morning session on persistent buying mainly in capital goods, telecom, auto and power stocks.

Higher global advices also boosted the market sentiment.

The Sensex resumed higher at 32,361.37 and moved in a range of 32,508.06 to 32,361.25 before quoting at 32,482.76, up by 210.15, or 0.65 per cent.

The NSE 50-share Nifty that scaled all time high level of 10,170 in morning trade, was up by 81.70 points or 0.81 per cent at 10,167.10.

Major gainers were Bajaj Auto 3.44 per cent, Tata Motors DVR 2.86 per cent, L&T 2.31 per cent, Tata Motors 1.89 per cent and Hero Motoco 1.34 per cent.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 418.86 crore last Friday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

In overseas, Asian stocks edged up as investors anticipated clues on the direction of monetary policy from central banks later in the week. The US Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision is scheduled on Wednesday. Japan markets are closed for a public holiday.

The US stocks rose to record levels on last Friday, posting sharp weekly gains, with a big assist from rallying telecommunication and bank shares as Wall Street shook off North Korea’s latest missile launch.

Rupee trims early gains, trades at 64.05 vs dollar

The rupee trimmed its initial gains against the American currency and was quoted at 64.05 per dollar in afternoon trade on mild selling of dollars by banks and exporters on hopes of foreign capital inflows in view of firm equities.

However, firm dollar in the overseas market restricted rupee’s gains.

The dollar held firm near a seven-week high versus the yen today, supported by recent rises in US yields, while sterling took a breather after surging last week on growing expectations that the Bank of England could raise interest rates soon.

The rupee resumed higher at 64.05 per dollar as against the last weekend’s level of 64.08 per dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) Market.

It hovered in a range of 63.9950 per dollar and 64.0650 per dollar before quoting at 64.05 at 1300 hrs.

PTI