Nifty gains 124 points as Rupee recovers

Ends the August F&O series on a high tracking gains in RIL, HDFC and ITC

Markets ended higher on Thursday, following the expiry of August derivative, tracking a rebound in the rupee after the Reserve Bank of India decided to provide dollars directly to oil companies.

The ones leading the gains in today's trade were oil & gas major Reliance Industries along with HDFC, ITC, TCS and HDFC Bank.

The Bombay Stock Exchange’s 30-share Sensex closed at 18,401 up 405 points. The National Stock Exchange’s 50-share S&P CNX Nifty closed at 5,409 up 124 points.

In the broader markets, the midcap index advanced 1.5% and the smallcap index gained 0.7%, both underperforming as compared to the 2.2% gain seen on the BSE benchmark index.

Global Markets

Asian shares recouped some of the two previous sessions' steep losses as fears abated that US-led forces would soon launch a military strike on Syria, and oil prices retreated from a six-month peak.

Emerging market currencies stabilised after their recent battering, with the Indian rupee coming off a record low after the central bank moved to provide dollars directly to oil companies, offering the currency some relief.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 1% after falling 2.2% in the previous two sessions. Japan's Nikkei share average advanced 0.8% in light trade, helped by the safe-haven yen giving up some of the recent gains that had taken it to a three-week high against the dollar.

European shares too started trading in the green ahead of consumer price data. FTSE 100, CAC and DAX were up 0.1-0.4%.

Rupee

The rupee gained against the dollar today after the Reserve Bank of India announced measures late Wednesday to curb rupee fall through dollar flows.

At 1600 hrs, the partially convertible rupee was trading at 67.31 per dollar against the Wednesday’s close of 68.80/81, when it hit a record low of 68.85.

Sectors & Stocks

All the sectoral indices closed in the green with gains of atleast 0.4%. Oil & Gas, Metal, FMCG, Capital Goods and Auto indices added 2-3% and were the top sectoral gainers.

Power, Bankex, Health Care, Teck, Consumer Durables and PSU indices, too were up 1-1.8%.

The only losers among the Sensex-30 were Coal India down 1.6% along with SBI, Tata Power, Tata Steel, Infosys and Cipla which lost 0.3-0.6%.

Metal names like Sesa Goa, Hindalco and Jindal Steel were up 2-13.5%.

From the financial space, HDFC, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank gained 1.3-5.7%.

Reliance Industries up 4.2% was top gainer from the Oil & Gas pocket along with Gail India and ONGC up 2% each.

FMCG heavyweights, ITC and HUL were also up 2% each.

Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Auto were the movers in the auto segment, adding 0.6-2.6%.

Bharti Airtel, Dr Reddys Lab, NTPC, BHEL and L&T which added 2.5-4% were the other notable gainers.

The market breadth was very positive owing to the strength in broader markets. 1,275 stocks advanced while 989 stocks declined on the BSE.