Markets gain as rupee strengthens

INR strengthened to 55.05 against the US dollar

Markets continued the upmove in the morning deals on the back of Indian rupee gaining strength against the US Dollar. The Sensex has advanced 106 points to 16,324 and the S&P CNX Nifty is hovering around the crucial psychological levels of 4,950, up 30 points.

The rupee today strengthened by another 32 paise to 55.05 against the US dollar in early trade on the Interbank Foreign Exchange, on the back of a higher opening on the stock market amid selling of the American currency by exporters.

Meanwhile, the Asian markets are trading marginally higher. The Hang Seng is up 54 points at 18,767, Shanghai is up 2 points at 2,334 and the Nikkei is flat at 8,580 levels.

Back home, BHEL continued to lead the gainers chart on the Sensex, up 3% to Rs 215. State Bank of India, Tata Power, Bharti Airtel, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hindalco, ITC, Tata Steel and Reliance Industries are also among the gainers, up 1-2% each. On the other hand, Coal India has slipped nearly 2% to Rs 330 ahead of its quarterly results which are to be announced later in the day today. HUL, ONGC, Maruti Suzuki, TCS, Infosys and Bajaj Auto are also among the laggards.

Among the individual stocks, JK Cement has soared over 10% at Rs 139 on reporting a healthy 50% year-on-year (y-o-y) surged in net profit at Rs 80.34 crore for the quarter ended March, on the back of higher realization and rise in other income.

Hotel Leelaventure has soared 5% to Rs 32.25 after the company said it has fully redeemed outstanding bonds for $41.6 million that were issued in 2007 and were listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Ltd

Reliance Communications (RCom) is trading higher by 4.5% at Rs 68.55 in opening trades after reporting an over two-fold increase in its consolidated net profit at Rs 332 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2012, due to lower costs and a Rs 119-crore tax adjustment. India’s second-biggest mobile phone carrier by subscribers had reported a net profit of Rs 168 crore in previous year quarter.

All the sectoral indices barring the IT index are trading higher. BSE capital goods index is the top gainer, up 1.3% to 8,979 levels. Power, bankex, metal, consumer durables and FMCG indices are also up 0.5-1% each.

The overall breadth is positive as 1,401 stocks are advancing while 644 are declining.