 "Sensex flat; Manappuram up 20% after RBI eases gold lending rules")
The market has opened marginally higher. The Sensex is up 40.25 points at 20769.63, and the Nifty is up 7.10 points at 6181.70.
Coal India, ICICI Bank, Maruti Suzuki, NTPC and Sesa Sterlite are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the top losers in the Sensex are Hindalco, Axis Bank, ONGC, Tata Power and Bharti AIrtel.
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Reuters[/caption]
The rupee opened weak by 14 paise at 62.21 per dollar versus 62.07 Wednesday. The dollar hovers at seven-week highs against a basket of major currencies early this morning, having risen for a second session after an upbeat private-sector jobs report drove US short-term yields and market rates higher.
Ashutosh Raina of HDFC Bank said that, “Markets have remained very range bound amidst very thin volumes. Expect sideways movement to continue, till more data gives clearer direction to the markets. Expect the rupee to range between 61.50 - 62.50/ dollar for some more time.”
In the US, stocks finished mixed on Wednesday following the prior day’s jump, with volatility still in play after minutes from the Federal Reserve had central bankers viewing the benefits of monetary stimulus as diminishing over time, and a report on payrolls was better than anticipated. US treasury yields also topped 3 percent before receding a tad.
Asian markets were trading almost flat in early morning trade. Japan’s Nikkei was down 1.2 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, Singapore’s Straits Times remained flat. China’s Shanghai Composite was up half a percent up. In commodities, crude prices rose in early Asian trade, recovering from a six week-low in the previous session when a large build in crude stock piles at the contract’s delivery point in Cushing, Oklahoma, weighed on the market.
Stocks in news:
Manappuram is up 19.80 percent. The Reserve Bank has allowed NBFCs to lend up to 75 per cent of the value of metal from 60 per cent at present.
Tata Steel is up 0.18 percent. Tata Steel got 0.2 mt rail steel supply order from French company.
Banks are among the top Nifty losers - Axis Bank down 1.5 pct, Bank of Baroda loses 1.4 pct, IndusInd Bank down 1 pct, SBI down 0.9 pct