Sensex closes over 100 points up, rupee at 2-week high

Indian markets ended in the green for a third straight day today with Sensex ending over 106 points up at 20,898.01 and the Nifty rising 42 points to 6218. Even the Indian rupee rose to a two-week high of 61.96 against the USDas worries about the economy eased after a private survey showed the country’s manufacturing sector returned to growth last month.

The HSBC Manufacturing PMI, compiled by Markit, rose to 51.3 in November from October’s 49.6, the highest since March and its first time above the watershed level of 50 that divides growth from contraction in four months.

The HSBC report came after data on Friday showed the country’s economy grew more-than-expected in the July-September quarter.

The rupee was last at 62.05/06 after gaining to as high 61.9650 against the dollar, its highest since Nov 19. It had closed at 62.44/45 on Friday.

Sanjeev Prasad of Kotak Institutional Equities says unfavourable poll results may lead to a short-term correction. “If you look at the fundamentals of the industrial cycle I think it is still very weal. We need to fix a lot of issues before we see the investment cycle starting to recover. The first important thing to keep in mind is that the balance sheet of most of the companies in infrastructure sector are shot to pieces,” he told CNBC-V18.

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Ranabaxy was the biggest Nifty gainer today, up 6 percent whileSun Pharma ( up 4.3 percent), Jindal Steel (up 4.9 pct), L&T (gained 2.6 percent) were the top Sensex gainers.

Tata Steel gained after promising manufacturing data at home and in China eased concerns about slowing economies.

Tata Steel provisionally rose 1.8 percent. Larsen and Toubro provisionally gained 2.6 percent on its plans to monetise assets in a key unit.

The Reserve Bank of India said on Monday state-run oil companies were now sourcing their entire dollar demand in markets, but added it would consider re-opening a special swap window on “rare days” of strong greenback demand, Reuters reported.

With inputs from Reuters