Sensex gains 382 pts as Fed eases angst; banks, metals lead
The Indian currency reversed its early morning gains by mid afternoon; it depreciated by 10 paise to 59.76 per dollar. This weakness, according to Moses Harding of IndusInd Bank, is due to the currency's fundamental weakness.
July 11, 2013 / 18:08 IST
Moneycontrol Bureau
The market closed at one month high Thursday with the benchmark indices rising 2 percent, tracking rally in Asian markets after the Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke announced that the Fed is not in a hurry to raise short term rates and that rates will remain low to aid recovery.Both the employment side and the inflation side are saying that we need to be more accommodative, Bernanke adds.The BSE Sensex rose 381.94 points to close at 19676.06 after hitting an intraday high of 19723.51. The NSE Nifty soared 118.40 points to finish at 5935.10.Rajiv Malik of CLSA says enjoy the ride, because it will not last long. “Whatever Bernanke has indicated overnight does not change our assessment that September is still going to be the most likely meeting when the process of tapering begins,” he adds.Meanwhile, the broader markets underperformed benchmark indices. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained nearly 0.7 percent.The Indian currency reversed its early morning gains by mid afternoon and fell 30 paise to touch an intraday low of 59.96, but it pared losses in late trade to close flat at 59.67 today as against previous day's closing value of 59.66 per dollar. Moses Harding of IndusInd Bank expects the rupee to be trading between 59 and 61 against the dollar for now. Infosys shares gained for the fourth consecutive session today, rising more than one percent ahead of first quarter numbers that scheduled to be announced on Friday. The brokerage houses are expecting around 0.7-1 percent sequential degrowth in net profit of the company, but the commentary from founder and reappointed executive chairman Narayan Murthy will be closely watched.The first quarter results are unlikely to bring much cheer to investors. Analysts on average expect Infosys' April-June quarter net profit to decline 3.3 percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 2,315 crore, according to a CNBC-TV18 poll.Metals, banks, capital goods and oil & gas stocks were leading gainers, sectoral indices gained between 1.8-3 percent.Foreign institutional investors have bought Rs 638.26 crore worth of equity shares while domestic institutional investors sold Rs 234.61 crore worth of shares today, as per provisional data available on NSE.Globally, Asian markets rallied 2-3 percent at close, but Nikkei ended with 0.4 percent gains after Federal Reserve’s dovish statement.European markets were up 0.7-1 percent, at the time of closing of Indian equities. US gold August futures gained 2.67 percent to USD 1280.75 an ounce and silver September futures rose 3.12 percent to USD 19.763 an ounce at 4:40 hours IST. Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
