Indian equities failed to hold on to gains made earlier in the session, ending lower for the second day in a row yesterday.
The Sensex fell 134 points to close at 38,846 while the Nifty declined 11 points to settle at 11,505. Banks and financials fell the most, but gains in pharma and auto stocks prevented steep declines.
HDFC Twins, Infosys, Kotak Bank, HUL & TCS were the worst hit stocks on the Nifty, while a surge in pharma stocks pushed Nifty Pharma to a five-year high.
Meanwhile the rupee strengthened by 21 paise to close at 73.45 against the US dollar yesterday as weak American currency and positive domestic equities buoyed investor sentiment.
At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened at 73.47 against the US dollar, and finally settled for the day at 73.45, registering a rise of 21 paise over its previous close.
During the session, the domestic unit witnessed an intra-day high of 73.15 and a low of 73.55 against the greenback.
On Thursday, the rupee depreciated by 14 paise to end at 73.66 against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.12% to 92.85.
“In coming sessions, the Indo-China border and Brexit uncertainty will occasionally keep the dollar bulls active,” Emkay Global Financial Services Head of Research-Currency Rahul Gupta said.
Gupta further said “this week the spot respected both the crucial support of 73 and the resistance of 73.75.
Even next week, we expect the sideways trend to continue. Unless the support zone of 72.90-73 doesn’t break, the spot will trade higher towards 73.75.”
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex was trading 76.50 points higher at 39,056.35, and the broader NSE Nifty advanced 53.50 points to 11,569.60.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs249.82 crore on a net basis on Thursday, according to exchange data.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.51% to $43.52 per barrel.
The rupee strengthened by 21 paise to close at 73.45 against the US dollar yesterday as weak US currency and positive domestic equities buoyed investor sentiment
