Rupee pulls back from 64 per dollar, Sensex down over 200 points, Nifty at 5,300 points

The partially convertible rupee was trading at 63.92, down 79 paise, against its previous close of 63.13 on alleged intervention by the Reserve Bank of India.

At 9:45 this morning, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex was at 18,044.53, down 262.99 points or 1.44 per cent. It touched a high of 18,143.12 and a low of 17,970.98 in trade today. The Nifty was at 5,323.55, down 91.20 points or 1.68 per cent. The latter had touched a high of 5,353.45 and a low of 5,306.35 in trade earlier in the day.

Selling pressure, however, has ceased for the moment on the Nifty.

The Asian markets were under pressure on concerns surrounding U.S. Federal Reserve's decisions to reduce its stimulus. The Nikkei 225 fell 1.34 per cent, the Hang Seng was down 1.48 per cent and the Strait Times was 0.79 per cent lower.

The S and P BSE Midcap Index was down 1.24 per cent and BSE S and P Smallcap Index slipped 0.52 per cent.

Among the sectoral indices, the S and P BSE Healthcare Index fell 2.27 per cent, the S and P BSE Auto Index was down 2.11 per cent, the S and P BSE FMCG Index was 1.91 per cent lower and the S and P BSE Bankex declined 1.81 per cent, the Economic Times reports.

IndusInd Bank BSE -2.18 % (4.78 per cent), Sun Pharma (4.44 per cent), Axis BankBSE -0.85 % (3.61 per cent), M and M (3.51 per cent) and Bank of BarodaBSE -2.19 % (3.47 per cent) were among the top Nifty losers.

Jindal Steel (0.87 per cent), Ranbaxy LaboratoriesBSE 1.72 % (0.64 per cent), Sesa Goa (0.46 per cent), Tata PowerBSE -0.07 % (0.40 per cent) and Jaiprakash Associates (0.16 per cent) among the gainers pack.

The market breadth was negative on the NSE with 296 gainers against 804 losers.