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Markets continued their range-bound trend with positive bias amid hopes that the government may soon unveil fresh measures to curb rupee’s slide.
Foreign institutional investors bought Rs 2.27 billion of cash shares on Tuesday, exchange data showed, while domestic institutions were net buyers of Rs 1.15 billion of shares.
At 10:30AM, 30-share Sensex rose 59 points at 19,288 and the 50-share Nifty gained 20 points at 5,719 levels.
The rupee today fell and traded at 61.51 against the dollar in early trade against the previous close of 61.28 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market.
Forex dealers said besides dollar's gain against other currencies overseas, increased demand for the American currency from importers put pressure on the rupee.
Globally, Asian stocks swung between gains and losses. Bonds fell in Asia after the 30-year Treasury yield approached a two-year high on signs of faster U.S. growth.
Japan’s Nikkei was down 02 3% to 13,833, Singapore’s Straits Times added 0.04 % to 3,245, China’s Shanghai Composite index was up 0.04% at 2,105 . Trading on Hong Kong bourses were delayed on account of storm.
Overnight, US stocks ended higher after retail sales climbed in July for the fourth month in a row, a report showed yesterday.
Domestically, among the key sectoral indices, realty, consumer durable, power, healthcare and auto sectors gained while FMCG, capital goods declined on the BSE.
The gainers included counters such as Tata Steel surging 5.5%, Tata Motors gained 5%, Jindal Steel rose 1.4%, Bajaj Auto added 1.4% while Hindalco Industries was up 3.7% on the BSE.
The laggards were Dr Reddy’s falling 1%, HDFC was down 1.5%, HUL shed 1%, ITC dropped 1.3% while Hero MotoCorp dropped 0.5% on the BSE.
The key notable movers included counters such as Strides Arcolab that has slipped 6% to Rs 774 after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that foreign institutional investor (FII) cannot buy shares of the pharmaceutical company.
Tata Steel has rallied 6% after reporting a strong 87.5% year-on-year (yoy) surge in its consolidated net profit at Rs 1,121 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2013 (Q1) on account of better-than-expected cost performance at its European operations.
Financial Technologies (India) has tanked nearly 35% to Rs 111 in early morning deals on BSE, on reports that a top stockbrokers threatened to seek legal recourse if the National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) was unable to repay its dues to the brokers and investors.
The broader markets traded firm with mid-caps and small-caps gaining 0.6 per cent on the BSE.
Market breadth was positive. Out of 1,672 stocks traded, 964 stocks advanced while 607 stocks declined on the BSE.
