Sensex gains on CAD boost; US shutdown weighs

Markets opened on a positive note this Tuesday while rupee gained against the greenback after country’s current account deficit for the first quarter fell in line with market expectations.

At 9:20AM, the 30-share Sensex gained 75 points at 19,456 and the 50-share Nifty rose 17 points at 5753 levels.

India’s current account deficit rose to 21.8 billion (4.9% of Gross Domestic Product) for the first quarter ended June 2013. Economists said the rise CAD figures for Q1 were on expected lines. The reading for the second quarter (July-September 2013) is expected to be better due to growth in exports in July-August plus drop in import of gold.

Global risk appetite was, however, frail on concerns over political dysfunction in US as lawmakers struggled to keep the government offices running ahead of today’s budget default.

The broader markets traded tad higher with mid-caps and small-caps adding 0.2 per cent on the BSE.

The market breadth was positive. Out of 731 stocks traded, 499 stocks advanced while 199stocks declined on the BSE.


FII flows

Foreign institutional investors sold Indian shares worth Rs 5.19 billion on Monday, exchange data shows.


RUPEE

Rupee strengthened in trades today after the current account deficit (CAD) for April-June quarter was in line with what the Street expected.

At 9:20AM, the partially convertible rupee was trading at 62.52 per dollar against the yesterday’s close of 62.62 on the Interbank Foreign Exchange.


GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stocks swung between gains and losses as investors awaited a potential shutdown of the U.S. government and a report showed confidence among large Japanese manufacturers increased before Prime Minister Shinzo Abe unveils plans for an economic-support package.

Japan’s Nikkei rose 1.2% to 14,627, Singapore’s Straits Times added 1% at 3,194. Markets in Hong Kong and China are shut today on account of China’s National Day.


STOCK MOVERS

Domestically, the key sectoral were banks, consumer durables, realty, oil & gas, PSU, FMCG on the BSE.

The laggards were NTPC falling 0.1% and Tata Motors dropped 0.1% on the BSE.  

The gainers were BHEL rising 1.2%, ICICI Bank rose 0.9%, Tata Power gained 0.6% while Tata Steel added 1% on the BSE.