Markets edge lower on weighing Rupee concerns

Markets edged lower in the morning session this Tuesday as slide in Rupee sparked concerns foreign investors would turn net sellers after strong buying this year.

Trading was also cautious ahead of April industrial output and consumer price index-based inflation data on Wednesday which will help determine the Reserve Bank of India’s stance on the June 17 monetary policy review.

The local currency touched 58.66 in the late-morning deals versus Monday’s close of 58.15. FIIs have withdrawn $ 2.7 billion from the Indian debt market since the end of May. The government, however, tried to play down the rupee’s depreciation, calling the panic among investors unwarranted.

At 10:15AM, Sensex fell 122 points at 19,3202 points and the Nifty down 36 points at 5,841 levels.

Asian stocks swung between gains and losses after the regional equity benchmark index rose the most in three weeks yesterday. Japanese stock futures fell after the Bank of Japan kept its policy unchanged.

The Nikkei fell 1% to 13,405  while Singapore Straits Times declined 1% to 3,164..

Back home, barring technology sector, rest all declined with metal, banks, realty and power leading drops on the BSE.

The gainers included counters such as Cipla and Dr Reddy’s gaining 1% and 0.4% respectively, Wipro and Infosys notching up nearly 0.8% each while TCS rose 0.3%, Hero MotoCorp gained 0.8%  while GAIL was tad up 0.3% on the BSE.

The laggards included names like Jindal Steel and Tata Steel dropping 3.5% and 1.6% respectively, M&M falling 1.7%, ICICI Bank declined 2.8% , Sun Pharma fell 0.7%, Reliance Industries shed 0.6%, while HDFC was down 0.66% on the BSE.

The key notable movers included counters such as, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank which have fallen more than 2% each on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed a fine on these banks for violating its instructions.

Elder Pharmaceuticals is locked in upper circuit of 5% at Rs 357 on reports that the promoter is looking for buyer for the company.

The broader markets was negative with mid-caps and small-caps falling 0.7 per cent on the BSE.

The market breadth was negative. Out of 1,329 stocks traded so far, 890 stocks declined  while 369 advanced on the BSE.