Stock markets: Equity benchmark indices climbed in early trade on Thursday amid unabated foreign fund inflows but later faced volatile trends after a record-breaking rally in the past few trading sessions. Investors preferred to stay cautious amid weak global market trends and record rally in equities.
The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 54.09 points to 65,500.13 in early trade. The NSE Nifty went up by 21.15 points to 19,419.65. Later, both benchmark indices faced volatile trends and were trading marginally higher. From the Sensex pack, Nestle, Power Grid, Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, UltraTech Cement, Larsen & Toubro, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Wipro were among the biggest gainers.
IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, Maruti, HCL Technologies and Hindustan Unilever were among the laggards. In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading lower.
US markets in negative
The US markets ended in negative territory on Wednesday. Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.21 per cent to USD 76.49 a barrel. "Negative sentiment across the global equities could see local benchmarks struggle in early Thursday trade, with profit-taking likely to continue after yesterday's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes meeting hinted that another rate hike in July is on the table.
"Other factors that could weigh on sentiment are US-China tensions, drop in industrial activity in China in June, and overbought technical conditions back home," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research) at Mehta Equities Ltd, said.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued their buying activity as they bought equities worth Rs 1,603.15 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
"US stocks ended lower on Wednesday with the S&P 500 snapping a three-day winning streak after the minutes of the Federal Reserve's last policy meeting showed almost all participants expected additional interest-rate increases after unanimously deciding to leave rates unchanged in June," Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC securities, said.
The BSE benchmark had dipped 33.01 points or 0.05 per cent to settle at 65,446.04 on Wednesday after a record-breaking rally. The Nifty eked out marginal gains of 9.50 points or 0.05 per cent to end at its fresh record high of 19,398.50.
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Rupee falls 20 paise US dollar
The rupee depreciated 20 paise to 82.45 against the US dollar in early trade on Thursday, weighed down by strength of the American currency in the overseas market and elevated crude oil prices. At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 82. 36, then fell to 82.45, registering a decline of 20 paise over its last close. On Wednesday, the rupee settled at 82.25 against the dollar.
Forex traders said the US dollar gained on safe haven demand amid risk aversion and rising expectations of a hawkish US Federal Reserve monetary policy in July. The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.03 per cent to 103.40.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell marginally by 0.23 per cent to USD 76.47 per barrel. Moreover, Brent Oil prices were trading higher at USD 76.63 on hawkish FED comments, traders said.
