 "Sensex falls 150 points, Nifty slips below 8,000 as Rupee nears record low")
The benchmark equity indices on Thursday was trading lower ahead of the expiry of November series futures and options contracts later in the day.
At 10:42 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 25,923, down 127 points, while the Nifty50 was ruling at 7,987, down 46 points.
The market took cues from the negative trend seen in Asian markets after the upbeat US economic data released on Wednesday strengthened the prospects for higher US interest rates. The minutes from the US Federal Reserve’s November policy meet, meanwhile, showed Fed policymakers appeared confident on the eve of the US Presidential election to hike interest rates soon.
“We may witness a decent bounce soon. On the lower side, 7,940-7,900 would be seen as the immediate support level for Nifty, whereas 8,055-8,120 would act a resistance zone,” said Angel Broking in a research note.
Rupee, meanwhile, was heading towards its record low of 68.84 against dollar, hit on August 28, 2013. The currency fell to as much as Rs 68.83 vs dollar in the early trade.
On Wednesday, foreign institutional investors were net sellers, with net equity sell value of Rs 1,023 crore, while domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 1,254.67 crore, provisional data available with BSE suggested.
Sectors and stocks
Sectors and stocks
Tata Motors was the top loser on Sensex and fell nearly 2% after the company said it has called an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on December 22 to seek shareholders' approval for removing Cyrus Mistry and Nusli Wadia as directors of the company.
NTPC, Lupin and Adani Ports were other Sensex losers and lost over 1% each.
Sectorally, BSE Power index slipped the most (1%), led by losses in Reliance Infrastructure, NTPC and JSW Energy.
Infosys and Wipro edged higher and were the top gainers on Sensex after the rupee depreciated as much as 68.83, just one paise higher to its all-time low of 68.84 against dollar. Falling rupee improves the profit of export-driven companies.
Among other gainers, Oil India hit a fresh 52-week high of Rs 445, up 4% on the BSE after the company on Thursday after market hours announced that the board will meet on November 28 to consider issue of bonus shares.
Reliance Capital rose nearly 3% after the company said it will reduce debt by Rs 1900 crore through value unlocking in radio and TV businesses.
Rollovers on Wednesday
“The Nifty November expiry rollover came in at 43.97% on Wednesday, compared to 51.44% on the same day of October expiry, while the Bank Nifty rollover stood at 32.52% compared to 47.45% on the day of the previous expiry,” said brokerage Nirmal Bang in a technical note.
Sectors such as telecom, media, metals, FMCG and real estate witnessed higher rollovers, with stocks such as Torrent Pharma, NTPC, STAR, Cummins and Dr Reddys, leading the rollover charts.
Finance, cement, textile, infrastructure and capital goods sectors, on the other hand, saw lower rollovers.
Global markets
Most Asian stock markets fell on Thursday as upbeat economic data strengthened the prospects for higher US interest rates, while the dollar's bull run continued as US bond yields hovered near multi-year highs.
Japanese stocks swam against the tide and rose to a near-11-month high, as the yen weakened and after Wall Street shares closed at record highs overnight.
The dollar index against major currencies rose nearly 0.2% to 101.84, not far from 101.91 touched overnight, its highest since March 2003.
The greenback drew support from a further rise in US Treasury yields.
The two-year yield hit its highest level since April 2010 on Wednesday as the market continued to bet that the Trump administration would increase debt-funded spending and spur higher growth and inflation.
(With inputs from Reuters)
