Weak Rupee takes Sensex lower; Banks hit

Markets edged lower in the late-morning session this Wednesday after the Reserve Bank of India turned unexpectedly dovish in the monetary policy review which made the rupee slide below the 61/dollar.

At 11:30AM, the 30-share Sensex traded lower 109 points at 19,239 and the 50-share Nifty declined 45  points at 5,709  levels.

The rupee was also trading weak in late trades due to month-end dollar demand from importers. The partially convertible currency was trading at Rs 61.03 compared with previous close of Rs 60.49 against the dollar.   

Meanwhile, Asian shares dropped on looming fear over tapering of the stimulus ahead of today’s Federal Reserve monetary policy.

Japan’s Nikkei declined 1% to 13,734, Singapore Straits Times fell 0.3% to 3,237, China’s Shanghai Composite index was up 0.4%  at 1,997 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was tad up 0.03% to 21,960 today.

Among the key sectoral indices , FMCG, metal, PSU, realty, bankex, power indices dropped while IT sector gained on the BSE.

The gainers included counters such as Wipro rising 2%, Bharti Airtel gained 7.5%, D Reddy’s rose 3.2%, Tata Power was up 1.8% respectively on the BSE.

The laggards were NTPC declining 6%, GAIL and ONGC shed 3.5-4%, ITC dropped 3%  on the BSE.

The key notable movers included counters such as Bharti Airtel that has surged 3.3% at Rs 332, in otherwise weak market, after reporting a consolidated net profit at Rs 689 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2013 (Q1), down 9.6% from year ago, roughly in line with average analyst estimates.

YES Bank has tanked over 14% to Rs 299, also its 52-week low on BSE, on PTI reports that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that it is seized of the ongoing boardroom battle at private lender and may make necessary changes in the required norms on appointment of directors on bank boards, if needed.

The broader markets traded lower with mid-caps and small-caps falling nearly 2 per cent on the BSE.

The market breadth was negative. Out of 1,909     stocks traded, 1,342 stocks declined while 465stocks advanced on the BSE.