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Markets traded range-bound with a positive bias this Thursday while rupee recovered against US dollar after the central bank opened a special window to sell dollars to meet the daily dollar requirements of the three public sector oil companies.
At 10:30AM, the 30-share Sensex gained 115 points at 18,109 and the 50-share Nifty added 27points at 5,312 levels.
The Futures and Options expiry of August derivate contracts today may keep market on toes, said market experts.
“Nifty future for the day, if it sustains above 5350 levels then only some relief rally may be seen towards 5400 levels, whereas if it fails to hold 5280 levels then selling pressure may be continued towards 5200 or below levels,” a report from Anand Rathi Research showed.
According to provisional data, FIIs on Wednesday sold shares worth Rs 1,120 crore, extending their selling spree to an eighth straight day. Domestic institutions, including mutual funds and insurers, net-bought to the tune of Rs 506 crore.
The broader markets were firm with mid-caps and small-caps gaining 0.5-0.6 per cent on the BSE.
The market breadth was positive. Out of 1,479 stocks traded, 787 stocks advanced while 610 stocks declined on the BSE.
RUPEE
The rupee gained against the dollar today after the Reserve Bank of India announced measures late Wednesday to curb rupee fall through dollar flows.
At 10:20AM, the partially convertible rupee was trading at 67.64 per dollar against the Wednesday’s close of 68.80/81, when it hit a record low of 68.85.
Currency dealers see the rupee trading in the range of Rs 66.50 to Rs 68.00 for the rest of the day.
GLOBAL MARKETS
Asia’s benchmark stock index rose from a two-month low as energy shares increased after concern military action against Syria will disrupt global oil supplies fuelled gains in crude prices this week.
Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.5% to 13,402, Singapore’s Straits Times gained 0.7% to 3,025, China’s Shanghai Composite index was down 0.3% at 2,096 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.2 % to 21,5634 today.
STOCK MOVERS
Domestically, among the key sectoral indices, consumer durable, IT, oil & gas and power indices gained while metal, auto, realty, PSU leading the drop on the BSE.
The gainers included counters such as HDFC rising 4.3%, Larsen & Toubro gained 2.6%, TCS was up 2%, HDFC Bank rose 1.9% while Bharti Airtel added 1.8% on the BSE.
The laggards were Sun Pharma declining 2.2%, Coal India fell 1.4% while SBI fell 1% on the BSE.
The key notable movers included counters such as IDBI Bank that has plunged over 5% at Rs 53.70 on BSE after the stock of state-run lender turns ex-dividend today. The board of directors of the bank at its meeting held on April 25, 2013 had recommended dividend of Rs 3.50 per share for the year 2012-13.
Shares of all three listed oil marketing companies (OMCs) - Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum are trading higher by over 2% in early morning deals after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has opened a special window to meet the entire daily dollar requirements of these companies.
These three OMCs are the biggest buyers of dollars, requiring $8-8.5 billion every month, for the import of an average of 7.5 million tonnes of crude oil.
