Rupee hits Sensex, Nifty; IT, pharma stocks gain - NDTV

Indian markets fell sharply on Monday tracking the Indian rupee, which hit a record low breaking past the 61 mark against the dollar. The BSE Sensex traded with over 250 point cut, while the Nifty traded below the key 5,800 mark. The rupee fell to a record low as an emerging markets selloff after strong U.S. jobs data laid bare the currency's vulnerability and dependence on capital inflows to fund its record current account deficit. The rupee traded at 61.03 as of 11.15 a.m., breaching the previous low of 60.76 hit on June 26. It had closed at 60.225/235 on Friday. Foreign investors have sold Rs 47,622 crore in debt and shares since the start of June, as per regulatory data. The selloff in equity markets was led by banking stocks, with the Bank Nifty on the National Stock Exchange falling nearly 2 per cent. Banking stocks have large weightage on the benchmark indices and a sharp selloff in banking stocks pulls the entire markets down . Siddharth Teli of Religare Capital Markets told NDTV banks will not have a direct impact of the weak rupee, but the sharp depreciation in the currency is clearly a sentiment dampener. "The Reserve Bank's ability to cut rates is limited at this point of time. For PSU banks, there are no signs of respite. Q4 numbers were bad on the back of asset problems and given that PSU banks have been cutting rates, margins would be under pressure in the first quarter too," Mr Teli added. Private lender ICICI Bank traded with over 2.5 per cent cuts. State Bank of India, the country's biggest lender, traded 1.3 per cent lower. Eleven stocks traded higher on the Nifty led by IT stocks such as HCL Tech and Infosys. IT companies' margins are expected to rise because a falling rupee is good for exporters. Drug makers including Dr Reddy's, Sun Pharma and Cipla also gained because they earn a substantial revenue from export of drugs and stand to gain when rupee fal ls. Among bluechips, Bharti Airtel gained after the mobile carrier said it has repaid Rs 6,796 crore of debt. Reliance Communications gained nearly 9 per cent after the company said it will spin off its real estate business into a separately listed unit. (With inputs from Reuters) via Business - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNGn-VcbLeAmp6asoe5U9GRjz4S1AQ&url=http://profit.ndtv.com/news/market/article-rupee-hits-sensex-nifty-it-pharma-stocks-gain-324186

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