Markets gain on short-covering; Rupee weakens

The broader markets declined with mid-caps and small-caps falling 0.1 per cent on the BSE.

Markets edged higher after a weak opening this Thursday on back of short-covering witnessed in metal and mining shares after China’s manufacturing unexpectedly expanded.

Investor sentiments, however, remained frail after rupee fell to a yet another life-low of 65 against US dollar.

At 10:10AM, 30-share Sensex was up 51 points to trade at 17,958 and the 50-share Nifty rose 13 points at 5,315 levels.

Risk aversion in equities enhanced after minutes from the Federal Reserve's July policy meeting showed it was still on track to start tapering stimulus as early as next month, sending Treasury yields to two-year highs.

The broader markets were flat with mid-caps and small-caps down a tad by 0.02 per cent on the BSE.

The market breadth was positive. Out of 1,215 stocks traded, 537 stocks declined while 615 stocks advanced on the BSE.


RUPEE

Despite recent measures from the central bank and the government to defend it, the rupee on Thursday opened lower against the dollar. The partially convertible currency traded at 64.80 from previous close of 64.11 against the dollar in early trades on the Interbank Foreign Exchange market.


GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stocks fell, with the regional gauge headed for its longest losing streak since November, after Federal Reserve minutes showed officials support stimulus cuts this year if the U.S. economy improves. Shares pared losses after a preliminary report showed China’s manufacturing unexpectedly expanded this month.

Japan’s Nikkei was down 0.7% to 13,326, Singapore’s Straits Times fell 1% to 3,075, China’s Shanghai Composite index was tad up 0.2%  at 2,079 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.7% to 21,662 today.


STOCK MOVERS

Domestically, barring realty and FMCG indices, rest all gained with PSU, oil % gas healthcare indicesleading rise on the BSE.

The gainers included counters such as Tata Steel rising 4%, ONGC gained 3.3%, Sterlite Industries rose 3%, Tata Motora added 2.5% on the BSE.

The laggards were SBI and ICICI Bank declining 1% each, M&M declined 2%, Hero MotoCorp fell 1.2%  on the BSE.