Business News

Mumbai: India's equity benchmark indices ended lower in a late sell-off on Monday, giving up all of early gains, as traders cut their bullish bets, taking cues from the drop in US futures at open."Monday's market decline was largely influenced by global cues, with Dow futures dropping more than 200 points. In line with this, domestic markets also experienced a downturn," said Dharmesh Shah, head of technical research at ICICI Direct. "Profit-taking was observed around the 20-day moving average (DMA) at the 22,600 level and a close above this level could take the Nifty towards the 23,000 mark."NSE's Nifty fell 92.2 points, or 0.4%, to close at 22,460. It made an intraday high of 22,676. BSE's Sensex declined 217 points or 0.3% to end at 74,115. Both the indices fell nearly 1% from the day's high. All sectoral indices on the NSE ended lower on Monday except for the Nifty FMCG index. Foreign portfolio investors remained net sellers of equities worth ₹485 crore on Monday but their selling was lower than what has been in recent weeks. Domestic institutions were buyers to the tune of ₹264 crore.Shah said that the 22,100 level is a strong support for the index and as long as the Nifty holds above this level, he anticipates a pullback in the index.Nifty Midcap 150 dropped 1.4% and Nifty Smallcap 250 fell 1.9% on Monday.

Mumbai: The Indian rupee fell sharply Monday, sticking to the recent script of wild swings in either direction, ending the trading day nearly half a percentage point lower on dollar demand from oil companies, dealers said. Maturities in the non-deliverable forwards (NDF) market also pressured the currency that has been buffeted by foreign fund sales of local equities since late September.At 87.33/$1, the rupee's decline was worth nearly 50 paisa, compared with 86.87 per dollar at the end of trading the previous day.The rupee had opened at 87.22 per dollar, and other Asian currencies also weakened even as the dollar index was 103.7, LSEG data showed. Asian currencies were pressured due to weak economic data from China, traders said."The rupee weakened because of an increase in dollar demand from oil companies, as Indian companies have started buying oil from the US," a trader at a private bank said.118865211India committed to procure more oil and natural gas from the US when Prime Minister Narendra Modi met US President Donald Trump in February. Subsequently, the US exported about 3,57,000 barrels per day of crude to India in February, compared with exports of about 2,21,000 barrels per day last year, Reuters said."After a stronger close on Friday, the rupee slipped to 87.20/$1 levels in the NDF market. After that slip, there was some short covering done because of which the rupee opened weaker," said Anil Bhansali, head of treasury, Finrex Treasury Advisors.