Sensex Today | Share Market Live Updates: Sensex, Nifty in green; rupee up

The rupee appreciated 3 paise to 83.13 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday, tracking positive cues from domestic equity markets and a weak American currency against major overseas rivals.

However, forex traders said the Indian currency remained under pressure due to selling of equities from foreign institutional investors amid volatility in crude prices.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic currency opened at 83.17 and touched the highest level of 83.10 against the greenback. The unit later traded at 83.13 against the dollar, registering a rise of 3 paise from its previous close.

On Friday, the domestic currency settled at 83.16 against the dollar. Forex markets were closed on Monday on account of Christmas. PTI

Rupee turns flat at 83.16 against US dollar in early trade.

Shares of Infosys fell 2% after the company said that an unnamed global company, which had signed a $1.5 billion deal focused on artificial intelligence solutions, decided to terminate the MoU with the IT giant.

Nifty was up 15.50 points, or 0.07%, at 21,364.90 in the early trade

Sensex was up 17.32 points, or 0.02%, at 71,124.28.

S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 open flat after the weekend and Christmas holidays.  

Markets up in pre-open trade. Both Sensex and Nifty open in green after the Christmas weekend.

Reliance Industries Ltd and Walt Disney have signed a non-binding term sheet to merge their Indian media operations, according to a report by the Economic Times.

NSE Nifty 50 is likely to start with slight gains, tracking gains in some Asian stocks. GIFT Nifty was trading at 21,423.50 as of 8:04 am, indicating the NSE Nifty 50 will likely open above its Friday’s close of 21,349.40.

Both the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex lost about 0.5% last week, snapping their longest weekly winning streak in six years as some investors booked profits.

Still, the blue-chip indexes have gained 12.65% and 12.07% over the last seven weeks, helped by strong domestic macroeconomic data, a return of foreign inflows, and moderation in oil prices, reports Reuters. Asian stocks started the week higher, with MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rising 0.18%.

US stocks gyrated to a mixed close on Friday as investors headed into the Christmas holiday weekend. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 18.38 points, or 0.05%, to 37,385.97, the S&P 500 gained 7.88 points, or 0.17%, at 4,754.63 and the Nasdaq Composite added 29.11 points, or 0.19%, at 14,992.97. For the Nasdaq and the Dow, it marks the longest streak of consecutive weekly gains since the beginning of 2019.

The Indian rupee will take cues from Asian currencies and US Treasuries, and is likely to remain rangebound in the year’s last trading week shortened by the Christmas holiday. The rupee ended 0.17% stronger at 83.14 against the dollar on Friday, aided by strength in its Asian peers and dollar sales by large foreign banks, reports Reuters. The dollar index fell to a low of 101.42 on Friday, its weakest level since late July, and notched a weekly loss of over 0.8%. Despite the dollar index remaining under pressure amid rising bets on rate cuts in the United States, the rupee ended the week lower by 0.16%.

Gold prices inched higher in holiday-thinned trade. Spot gold was up 0.2% at $2,056.80 per ounce, as of 0118 GMT. Spot silver rose 0.3% to $24.23 per ounce, while platinum was steady at $970.63. Palladium climbed 0.8% to $1,212.34. U.S. gold futures were steady at $2,068.60 per ounce.

The dollar was trying to find a floor on Tuesday in holiday-thinned trade, pressured by signs that inflation in the world’s largest economy is cooling that will likely give the Federal Reserve room to ease interest rates next year.

The yen meanwhile steadied near its recent five-month peak on the prospect that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) could soon mark an end to its ultra-easy policy. For most of 2022 and 2023, the policy has kept the Japanese currency under pressure as other major central banks globally embarked on aggressive rate-hike cycles.

Currency moves were largely muted in the day after Christmas, with markets in Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong still out for the Boxing Day public holiday.

Against the greenback, the euro slipped 0.06% to $1.1019, but was not too far from a more than four-month top of $1.1040 hit last week.

Sterling was little changed at $1.2701, while the Australian and New Zealand dollars were huddled near their recent five-month peaks.

The dollar index languished near a five-month low of 101.42 hit last week, and was last at 101.65. Reuters

The GIFT Nifty is trading at a premium of around10 points over Nifty Futures’ Friday close, indicating a start in the green for the Indian market.

India’s currency, debt and equity markets were closed on Monday, 25 December, for the Christmas holiday. Nifty 50 climbed 0.44% to 21,349.40 on Friday, while the S&P BSE Sensex added 0.34% to 71,106.96. The benchmarks snapped a seven-week winning run, their longest in six years, as profit booking at record high levels earlier in the week weighed. Indian markets are expected to start flat as many of the Asian markets are closed for the extended Christmas holiday on Boxing Day. Oil prices were little changed in the early trade on Tuesday. Markets in Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia and New Zealand are closed.