Indian equities close flat on mixed global cues, weak rupee (Roundup)

Indian equity markets closed on a flat note -- marginally in the green -- on Tuesday on the back of mixed global cues and a weak rupee.

However, value buying and inflow of foreign funds aided the key indices to pare some losses.

The wider 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) inched up by 2.80 points or 0.03 per cent to close at 9,316.85 points.

The barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 29,977.50 points, closed at 29,933.25 -- up 7.10 points or 0.02 per cent from the previous day's close at 29,926.15 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 30,017.82 points and a low of 29,911.44 during the day's trade.

The BSE market breadth was bullish, with 1,469 advances and 1,355 declines.

In terms of the broader markets, the S&P BSE mid-cap index was up by 0.19 per cent while the small-cap index rose by 0.53 per cent.

"Though Nifty traded in a narrow range, there was some stock/sector specific actions, mainly led by some metal and infra stocks, but the banking and PSU banking stocks cooled off and shifted into minor correction," Deepak Jasani, Head (Retail Research), HDFC Securities, told IANS.

"Major Asian markets have ended on a mixed note while European indices like FTSE 100, DAX and CAC 40 all traded in the positive."

Anand James, Chief Market Strategist of Geojit Financial Services, said: "With euphoria over French electoral outcome easing, dollar index has strengthened sharply, putting pressure on Indian rupee."

The Indian rupee weakened by 32 paise to 64.62-63 per US dollar from its previous close of 64.30-31.

In investments, provisional data with the exchanges showed that Foreign Institutional Investors bought stocks worth Rs 332.87 crore while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased scrips worth Rs 16.92 crore.

According to Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls, the equity benchmark indices witnessed a rangebound session on mixed global cues.

However, firm USD/INR futures prices pressurised the market sentiments at higher levels.

"Banking sector stocks faced resistance at higher levels throughout the session and traded with mixed sentiments, whereas aviation sector stocks extended previous session's gains on strong buying support," Desai told IANS.

Sectorwise, the S&P BSE capital goods index augmented by 335.92 points, the oil and gas index by 107.25 points and the metal index by 82.46 points.

On the other hand, the S&P BSE consumer durables index fell by 100.47 points, the banking index by 50.11 points and the healthcare index by 16.35 points.

Major Sensex gainers on Tuesday were: Larsen and Toubro, up 2 per cent at Rs 1,742.80; Adani Ports, up 1.56 per cent at Rs 347.65; Wipro, up 1.21 per cent at Rs 508.70; Axis Bank, up 1.21 per cent at Rs 517.30, and Tata Motors, up 0.82 per cent at Rs 426.70.

Major Sensex losers were: Hero MotoCorp, down 3.07 per cent at Rs 3,289.80; Lupin, down 2.25 per cent at Rs 1,250.70; Bharti Airtel, down 1.75 per cent at Rs 345.10; SBI, down 0.89 per cent at Rs 296; and Power Grid, down 0.86 per cent at Rs 208.15.

--IANS

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