Indian stocks fell yesterday after swinging between losses and gains, trimming the benchmark index’s best two-month advance since 2009.
The S&P BSE Sensex dropped 0.3% to 37,606.9 points in Mumbai after rising as much as 0.4% and dipping as much as 0.8%. The gauge rose 16% since the end of May. The NSE Nifty 50 Index also slipped 0.3%. Both measures have added about 8% this month, triggering technical indicators that some investors read as a signal to sell.
Investors looking beyond the worst economic outlook in more than 40 years and the third-highest coronavirus case count globally have driven the Sensex to its best two-month performance since polls that led to the Manmohan Singh government’s re-election to office in May 2009.
“Many first-time investors moving savings into stocks helped move the market up, together with international flows over the last two months,” said Umesh Mehta, head of research at Samco Securities in Mumbai. “We see August as a bad month, where the excess froth of the last couple months could be corrected.”
Of the 29 firms that announced results so far, 19 exceeded or matched estimates. While Reliance Industries Ltd posted results that beat estimates, profit before tax dropped 6% after stripping out a one-time gain. The shares fell 2%. Tata Motors Ltd is due to report quarterly results. Thirteen of 19 sector sub-indexes compiled by BSE Ltd advanced, led by a gauge of healthcare companies.
Ten Sensex shares fell while 20 rose.
Reliance Industries Ltd’s 2% fall was the biggest drag on the index, while Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd advanced the most and contributed most to the index gain, with a Technologies Ltd’s 4.3% gain.
Meanwhile the Indian rupee settled 3 paise higher at 74.81 (provisional) against the American dollar yesterday tracking weakness in the greenback.
At the interbank forex market, the rupee opened at 74.74, and witnessed an intra-day high of 74.68 during the session and a low of 74.90 against the US dollar.
The domestic unit finally settled for the day at 74.81, 3 paise higher over its previous close of 74.84.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.22% to 92.81.
Traders said the uptick in the domestic currency was he driven by weak US dollar, which extended losses following poor economic data.
The US economy plunged by a record-shattering 32.9% annual rate last quarter.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs207.30 crore on Thursday, according to provisional exchange data.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.72% to $43.25 per barrel.
from Gulf Times https://ift.tt/30gDIAr
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