Rupee inches near 56; Nifty holds 5100 and cement stocks plunge

Indian markets made a flat-to-positive start tracking quiet trade across Asia ahead of Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. Globally, investors are waiting for the outcome of Federal Reserve statement that will be announced later in the day. Moreover, the US markets rallied on Tuesday on hopes that additional fiscal stimulus is forthcoming from the Federal Reserve while, all the Asian counters barring Chinese Shanghai were trading in the positive terrain at this point of time.

BSE’s Sensex regained its crucial 16,900 mark, supported by most of the index heavyweights along with broader indices. The BSE Sensex opened at 16,903.96; about 44 points higher compared to its previous closing of 16,859.80, and NSE Nifty is hovering around the 5,100 mark. On sectoral front, consumer durables witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by metal and power while, software and technology remained the few losers on the BSE sectoral space.

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The rupee opened stronger against the dollar on Wednesday, but inched near the 56-mark later. It had opened stronger as global risk assets gained on hopes the Federal Reserve will extend its US bond buying programme at the end of its policy meeting later in the day.At 9:40 am, the rupee was at 55.99 to the dollar, lower than Tuesday’s close of 55.95.

Meanwhile, cement stocks were battered in early trade as market-men expected the Competition Commission of India to pass an order penalizing cement companies for cartelization. All Ambuja Cement, ACC and Ultratech Cement edged lower in the trade.

Ambuja Cement down by 3.09%, ACC down by 1.78%. The competition watchdog could impose a fine of 5-8% of the past three years’ average turnover, according to a financial newspaper. India’s Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has probed the top three cement manufacturers and has shared its findings with the CCI.

The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks. The market breadth on the BSE was positive.

Technical analyst Sudarshan Sukhani of s2analytics.com expects Nifty to breakout its 100 points trading range of 5,040- 5,140 going ahead. “This range has kept the Nifty locked for the last nine trading days. It’s going to breakout one way or the other, so a breakout from this range will be the bigger trade,” he said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

Reflecting slowdown in the economy and erosion of investor confidence, FDI in India has declined by 41 per cent to $ 1.85 billion in April.

Stocks in news

Educomp Solutions spurted 8.72 percent at Rs 149 on BSE after the company said it has tied up funding worth $155 million through external commercial borrowings to pay off existing foreign currency convertible bonds on due date.

Six months before he is due to retire, Tata Sons Chairman Ratan Tata has got a unique gift from Tata Consultancy Services, the most valuable company in his group. The TCS board approved a special compensation of Rs 5 crore over and above the Rs 3-crore commission due to him for the last financial year.

Mahindra Satyam has opened a new delivery centre in Fargo. The Company intends to develop Fargo as a near-shore delivery location, offering innovative solutions in Business Processes and Infrastructure Management Services sector and IT Services.

Welspun Energy is in talks to sell stake in Company.Reports stated that the company is planning to raise $150-200 million for investments in wind energy farms.

Bharat Light, Mytrah Energy are in race to buy DLF’s wind power business. Reports stated that the board of DLF has already approved the divestment and the company has sought shareholders’ approval for the scheme this week.

Bajaj Auto will ramp up production of its Pulsar and Discover bikes over the next quarter before going flat out from October.

ONGC has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China’s China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) to explore business opportunities together.

BHEL said that it has commissioned a 500 MW unit for fourth stage of Vindhyachal Super Thermal Power Project in Madhya Pradesh.

Tata Motors has declared a three-day block closure at its commercial vehicle plant at Pune to align the production of vehicles with demand.