Sensex in red despite CAD at 3-yr low; rupee at 62

The Indian market has opened on a tepid note today. The BSE Sensex down 63 points at 20831, Nifty down 21 points at 6196.

Jindal Steel , GAIL , Wipro , Sun Pharma and TCS are early gainers in the Sensex. On the losing side are HDFC twins, Hindalco , NTPC and Sesa Sterlite.

The rupee opened flat at 62.29 per dollar on Tuesday as against previous day’s closing of 62.31 per dollar.

[caption id=“attachment_1247755” align=“alignright” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption]

India’s current account gap narrowed sharply in the September quarter, thanks to steps to curb gold imports, the latest in a run of positive signs for a sluggish economy.

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According to Bloomberg data, the CAD figure is lowest since 2010.

On Friday, data showed that Asia’s third-largest economy grew at a faster-than-expected pace of 4.8 percent in the September quarter, although growth remains near decade lows.

Tirthankar Patnaik of Religare feels a sharp relief in Q2 would translate into a sub-3 percent current account deficit (CAD) for the fiscal. “Receipt of FCNR (B) deposits worth USD 26 billion, so far, should also reverse the deficit seen on the capital account in Q3,” he told CNBC-TV18 in an interview.

However, he remains cautious on India’s balance of payment and the rupee, particularly after the RBI shut the dollar window for oil marketing companies.

Global equities slip with the Dow and S&P 500 retreating after an eight-week winning stretch ahead of the key jobs data this week. Europe too ended lower as Asian markets are soft. Nikkei, meanwhile, gained on supportive Bank of Japan comments.

Stocks in news:

Wipro is up 0.62 percent. The company hasacquired Opus Capital Market Consultants for USD 75 million.

Bharti Airtel is down 0.35 percent. EGoM will meet today to take up M&A policy

A check on the auto stocks - Ashok Leyland down 1.8 pct, M&M down 0.7 pct, Bajaj Auto down 0.5 pct, Maruti down 0.3 pct.November car sales saw another slump with market leaderMaruti Suzuki India Ltd(MSIL), arch-rivalHyundai Motor India Ltd(HMIL) as well as diesel biggies Mahindra & Mahindra (M& M) and Tata Motors reporting a drop in sales.