Therupee staged a smart rebound from its low towards the fag-end trade on dollar selling as well as suspected intrusion by the Reserve Bank to end steady at 63.39.
Fund houses have been barred from being net sellers or holding net short positions at the scheme level in commodities.
Equities in India saw record FPI inflows of $16.8 billion in November and December, taking the benchmark indices to new highs.
The much-talked-about sale of Ambuja Cement and ACC by Holcim Group will see the single-biggest outflow of foreign capital from the country if the two cement firms are acquired by Indian investors. The deal, valued at nearly $10.35 billion, will put in the shade Cairn Energy Plc's exit from India in 2010, when it sold Cairn India to Vedanta Group for $4.48 billion. According to various reports, big business groups such as AV Birla, JSW Group, and Adani Group are in the fray to acquire Holcim's assets in India.
The 50-share NSE Nifty slipped below the 10,200-mark by falling 47.20 points, or 0.46 per cent, at 10,192.95 after hovering between 10,169.85 and 10,296.55.
In spite of the high number of exits, Reliance group firms of both brothers continue to be darlings of small investors
While the market may remain volatile this year, analysts expect equities to deliver positive returns by outperforming inflation and government bonds, supported by the fiscal stimulus in the US.
In a wide-ranging overhaul of rules to make India an easier, safer and attractive investment destination, Sebi on Tuesday unveiled a new set of streamlined entry norms for foreign investors, while putting in place checks against any wrongdoings by the company promoters.
Dealers say foreign investors are now taking keen interest in lower-rated corporate bonds, too
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) turned net buyers in October after being net sellers in the previous month. In October, FPIs bought shares worth nearly Rs 8,430 crore ($1 billion) against net selling of Rs 13,405 crore ($1.6 billion) in September. Positive flows during three of the previous four months have pushed the domestic markets towards fresh all-time highs. At present, the Sensex and Nifty are less than 2 per cent shy of breaching record highs logged in October 2021. A rally in equity markets in the US and Europe is in hopes that the Federal Reserve may go soft on rate hikes after its November meeting.
Infosys was the top Sensex loser along with other index heavyweights ITC and HDFC.
Losses largely came from the metal index, followed by power, infrastructure, realty, PSU, oil and gas, capital goods, FMCG, healthcare, auto and banking.
The rupee had lost 21 paise on Tuesday's trade.
Sale of dollars directly by the RBI can help but only temporarily for a day or two before it will be back to a volatile market.
Insurance behemoth LIC on Tuesday said it has garnered a little over Rs 5,627 crore from anchor investors led primarily by domestic institutions ahead of its mega initial public offering (IPO). Anchor Investors' (AIs) portion (5,92,96,853 equity shares) was subscribed at Rs 949 per equity share, the insurer said in an early morning filing to exchanges. Out of the allocation of about 5.9 crore shares to AIs, 4.2 crore shares (71.12 per cent) were allocated to 15 domestic mutual funds through 99 schemes, the filing said.
Stock markets in structural bull run but there can be bouts of volatility says Ravi Gopalakrishnan, head, equities, Canara Robeco Mutual Fund
Domestic mutual funds (MFs) and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have been net buyers of stocks in August. Domestic fund houses have continued to invest in stocks, propelled by the success of various new fund offers (NFOs) and strong flows into equity funds. MFs had purchased stocks worth more than Rs 8,300 crore until August 23, according to the data provided on the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) website. Jimmy Patel, MD and CEO at Quantum AMC, says: "The surge in equity investments by MFs is because of two key reasons. One, equity NFOs are getting a strong response from investors, and fund houses need to deploy that money in the markets.
In the Sensex pack, Hero MotoCorp, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Auto, Maruti and M&M were the top gainers, spurting up to 2.66 per cent.
State-owned oil companies such as HPCL, BPCL, IOC, ONGC and OIL plunged on worries that the government may ask them to share the burden of higher petrol and diesel prices.
Shares of Yes Bank tanked over 15.52 per cent. Other losers in the Sensex pack included Tata Steel, Maruti, SBI, RIL, Tech Mahindra, ONGC, Vedanta, Bajaj Finance, Hero MotoCorp and TCS, falling up to 3.66 per cent.
Rupee hits new low at close against dollar.
Subdued Asian and European markets due to escalating trade war between the US and China mainly led to caution on domestic bourses, brokers said.
On Friday, the rupee fell to its 26-month low at 66.89.
Swiss brokerage UBS joins European banking peer HSBC in shutting down its offshore derivative business
On the macroeconomic data front, PMI data on manufacturing and services sector will also influence trading
In the case of Indian equities specifically, all eyes will now be on the next RBI monetary policy scheduled for September 29.
The broader NSE Nifty managed to end higher for the second day at 10,426.85, up by 5.45 points or 0.05 per cent after shuttling between 10,478.60 and 10,377.85, intra-day.
'The IPO market is cooling off and getting a reality check.'
Among the Sensex firms, Bajaj Finance emerged as the biggest gainer by climbing 2.95 per cent. Tata Motors, Bajaj Finserv, IndusInd Bank, Sun Pharma, Mahindra & Mahindra, State Bank of India, Larsen & Toubro, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Maruti, Reliance Industries and Bharti Airtel were the other major winners. HCL Technologies, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Tech Mahindra and Titan were among the laggards.
The 30-share Sensex jumped 310.77 points, or 0.89 per cent, to end at a new peak of 35,081.82, breaking its previous record of 34,843.51 reached on January 15.
The NSE Nifty settled at 10,454.95, down 121.90 points, or 1.15 per cent.
Top gainers in the Sensex pack include Yes Bank, TCS, Infosys, IndusInd Bank, HCL Tech, Bharti Airtel, HDFC, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Auto, ICICI Bank, Vedanta, Hero MotoCorp, ITC, Bajaj Finance, M&M and Tata Steel, surging up to 3.24 per cent.
The rupee has dropped by 49 paise or 0.75 per cent in four days.
The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday (local time) raised interest rates by 75 basis points (bps) or three-quarters of a percentage point in the boldest move since 1994.
Overseas investors have pumped in $6.3 billion in Indian equity markets in three months ended September on attractive valuations, opening-up of the economy and resumption in business activities, says a Morningstar report. This comes following a net inflow of $3.9 billion in June quarter and a net withdrawal of $6.38 billion in March quarter. Apart from inflow, the value of FPI investments in Indian equities swelled further during the quarter under review largely on the back of robust net inflows, coupled with a strong performance of the Indian equity markets.
The rupee on Tuesday tumbled by 32 paise to close at 64.17 on fresh dollar demand from importers.
In a bid to make primary markets more efficient, the Securities and Exchange Board of India on Saturday said listing time gap would be reduced further from 6 days after the IPO currently, while listing will be allowed for security receipts issued by asset reconstruction company.
Around 75 per cent, or 372 stocks, that are part of the BSE500 are trading at least 10 per cent below their all-time high levels, despite the index hitting a record high 20,515 points on the BSE in intra-day trade on Wednesday, surpassing its previous high of 20,390 touched in March 12. The index, which accounts for 93 per cent of BSE listed companies' market capitalisation, has gained 8 per cent from its recent low of 18,983, touched on April 19. In comparison, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex gained 6 per cent over the same period, but is still nearly 4.5 per cent away from its all-time high of 52,517 that it hit on February 16.
Covid-19, US yields, dollar to weigh on equity flows in the near term.
The rupee firmed up by 15 paise to close at 62.36 per dollar on fresh selling by banks
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