Markets open flat; Rupee in focus

Markets opened flat and traded range bound this Thursday as investors awaited fresh measures from the government to lift rupee from its unprecedented lows.

Indian Rupee, the worst currency of Asia this year, remained weak today on back of aggressive dollar buying by the banks. The currency traded at 61.35 a dollar from Wednesday's close of 61.30 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange Market.

At 9:30AM, the 30-share Sensex rose 1 point at 18,666 and the 50-share Nifty gained 6 points at 5,525 levels.

The first meeting was of the sub-committee of Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC), was held yesterday. It is learnt measures to relax ECB norms to allow leveraged firms to tap foreign markets for funds, and repayment of rupee loans from ECB proceeds was discussed.

Globally, Asian shares traded higher after the Bank of Japan maintained its stimulus policy and Chinese exports grew more than forecast.

Exports rose 5.1 percent in July, compared to a Reuters forecast of a 3 percent rise, and much better than the 3.1 percent fall in June.

Meanwhile, imports jumped 10.9 percent in the month, versus expectations of a 2.1 percent rise and following the 0.7 percent drop in June.

Japan’s Nikkei gained 1.3% to 14,006, China’s Shanghai Composite index was up 0.05%  at 2,047 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.7% to 21,753 today. Markets in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia are closed for holidays.

Domestically, among the key sectoral indices,  consumer durables, auto, realty  sectors declined while oil & gas, healthcare and IT indices gained on the BSE.

The gainers included counters such as Tata Motors rising 2.5%, Maruti Suzuki gained 2.2%, Bharti Airtel added 1.5%, HDFC was up 1% on the BSE.

The laggards were Sun Pharma declined 4.2%, Coal India declined 1.6%, TCS and Wipro dropped 1.3-1.5%  on the BSE.

The broader markets traded firm with mid-caps and small-caps gaining 0.6 per cent on the BSE.

The market breadth was positive. Out of 2,238 stocks traded, 526 stocks advanced while 259 stocks declined on the BSE.