Markets range-bound; Rupee recovers a tad

Markets traded range-bound with a negative bias in the late afternoon session this Wednesday with Rupee strengthening for the first time today during the last five trading sessions.

The local currency traded at 57.99 in the late-afternoon deals. Yesterday it had closed at 58.39 after touching mark of almost Rs 59 per dollar prompting Reserve Bank of India to intervene in the market.    

At 2:15PM, Sensex was down 48 points at 19,093 points and the Nifty shed 10 points at 5,778 levels.

Growth concerns continued to weigh after country’s industrial production grew less than expected, at 2 percent in April from a year earlier.

Meanwhile, Consumer Price Index (CPI)- based inflation came down to 9.31% in May from 9.39% in April, government data showed on Wednesday.

Asian stocks pared most of their morning losses but closed on a negative note amid looming fear over scale-back of US Federal Reserve bond-buying plan.

The Nikkei fell 0.2% to 13,289, Singapore Straits Times declined 0.6% to 3,152, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1.2% to 21,354 while China’s Shangahi Composite index ended flat at 2,210.

European shares traded lower. France’s CAC fell 0.1% to 3,808, Germany’s DAX dropped 0.3% to 8,194 and UK’s FTSE was down 0.2% to 6,325.

Back home, barring healthcare sector, rest all declined with metal, banks, realty and consumer durables leading drop on the BSE.

The gainers included counters such as Jindal Steel gaining 2%, Cipla rose 1%, GAIL gained 0.6% while Tata Motors added 0.5% on the BSE.

The laggards included names like Coal India fell 3.4%, Hero MotoCorp declined 2.7%, Tata Steel shed 2.3%, Bajaj Auto declined 2.2% while Hindalco Industries shed 1.7% on the BSE.

The key notable movers included counters such as, Tata Coffee which is locked in lower circuit of 20% at Rs 1,100 on back of heavy volumes on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Shares of Titan Industries extended losses on Wednesday after brokerages downgraded the stock amid concerns Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s restrictions on gold imports will affect the company’s earnings. The stock was down 12.5% at Rs 206.80 at 12:55 PM on Wednesday after falling 13% the previous day.

The broader markets traded negative with mid-caps and small-caps falling 0.3 per cent on the BSE.

The market breadth was negative. Out of 2,317 stocks traded so far, 1,305 stocks declined while 870 advanced on the BSE.