Equity market turns choppy after initial gains

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto, NTPC and Tata Steel, while the major losers were the State Bank of India, Reliance Industries and Axis Bank. - Reuters

Dubai - Among the sectoral indices media is up by 2.70 per cent, metal is up by 1.42 per cent and IT is up by 1.07 per cent.

A Staff Reporter

Published: Mon 17 Aug 2020, 12:26 PM

Last updated: Mon 17 Aug 2020, 2:46 PM

Amid volatility the key Indian equity indices faltered after opening in the green on Monday, with the BSE Sensex trading with minor gains.
At 10.22 a.m., the BSE Sensex was trading at 37,938.44, lower by 61.10 points or 0.16 per cent from the previous close of 37,877.34.
It even fell below the previous close during the intra-day trade to touch an intra-day low of 37,734.14 points. It opened at 38,062.07 and has so far touched an intra-day high of 38,119.38.
The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange was trading at 11,206.95, higher by 28.55 points or 0.26 per cent from its previous close.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto, NTPC and Tata Steel, while the major losers were the State Bank of India, Reliance Industries and Axis Bank.
Following the mixed global market cues Indian market is trading little higher. NIfty50 and BSE Sensex both are up by 0.30 per cent.
"In Nifty50 gain is led by NTPC which is up by 2.25 per cent and Zee Entertainment is up by 2.10 per cent. NTPC reported net profit at Rs 28.90 billion in June quarter up by 1.88 per cent on Y/Y basis. Among the sectoral indices media is up by 2.70 per cent, metal is up by 1.42 per cent and IT is up by 1.07 per cent," said Vijay Valecha, chief investment officer of Century Financial.
Meanwhile, Indian rupee opens marginally higher at 74.87 per US dollar to quote at Dh20.40 against Friday's close of 74.90 per dollar, amid flat trading seen in the domestic equity market.
On August 14 the rupee ended lower at 74.90 per dollar against Thursday's close of 74.84.
"INR is appreciated by 0.065 to 74.8250 after depreciating by 0.08 per cent to 74.8740 in previous session against US Dollar amid positive domestic market cues and weak Dollar," addeed Valecha.
India foreign exchange reserve increased to record $538.2 billion from $534.6 billion as on August 7.
Abhishek Goenka, Founder and CEO, IFA Global, said: "Recent price action in USDINR despite significant inflows seems to suggest the central bank is continuing to relentlessly shore up it's reserves further. Asian currencies are stronger against the USD. Rupee is likely to continue to trade sideways. Likely range for today is 74.79-75.00."
- With inputs from IANS, sandhya@khaleejtimes.com