Indian equities

"USDINR spot closed 5 paise lower at 79.81, thanks to FPI inflows and corporate flows. However, with global situation remaining challenging, with US Dollar Index and USDCNH both in uptrend, USDINR may continue to see dip buying," said Anindya Banerjee, VP, Currency Derivatives & Interest Rate Derivatives, at Kotak Securities Ltd.

At the close, Sensex ended 54.13 points, or 0.09 per cent, higher at 59,085.43, and Nifty ended 27.45 points, or 0.16 per cent, at 17,604.95. A total of 2,118 shares have advanced, 1,290 shares have declined, and 138 shares remained unchanged. IndusInd Bank, NTPC, ICICI Bank, Power Grid Corp of India, and Kotak Mahidra Bank remained major gainers on the BSE. BSE Cap Goods and BSE Private Bank index surged the most.

"USDINR spot closed flat, as RBI intervention and FPI flows kept the dollar demand well filled. Rupee has been an outperformer against a basket of emerging market and developed market currencies, since mid-August. Fall in oil prices and FPI flows have helped. However, upside risk remains intact as US Dollar Index and USDCNY remains in uptrend," said Anindya Banerjee, VP, Currency Derivatives & Interest Rate Derivatives at Kotak Securities Ltd.

Currently, the Nifty Bank index is trading at 39,656.15, as compared to 35,481.70 on December 31, 2021. According to the data compiled by Geojit Financial Services showed, the top three banks that have outperformed the index were Bank of Baroda with YTD returns of 47.90 per cent, Federal Bank with 21.20 per cent, and IndusInd Bank with 21.10 per cent.

At Interbank foreign exchange market, rupee ended at 79.67, as against 79.44 close on the previous trading session against US dollar. "It was largely range bound within the range of 79.58 to 79.70. Overall demand was there by importers and corporate outflows," said CR Forex, MD, Amit Pabari. By the closing of market trading hours, Brent crude oil prices were trading at $94.83 a barrel in the international market.

At close on Thursday, Sensex ended 37.87 points or 0.06 per cent up at 60,298.00, while Nifty ended 12.25 points or 0.07 per cent higher at 17,956.50. Kotak Mahindra Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Bharti Airtel and Ultratech Cement, among others, were the major gainers on the BSE. About 1,900 shares advanced, 1,494 shares declined, while 146 shares remained unchanged on Thursday.

But, further appreciation of rupee can be capped by the corporate outflows lined up in this week. At the interbank foreign exchange market, rupee ended at 79.44 as against 79.66 close on the previous trading session on Friday against the US dollar. Indian financial markets were closed on August 15 and 16 on account of Independence day and Parsi New year.

At close, Sensex ended up 417.92 points or 0.70 per cent at 60,260.13, and Nifty ended 119.00 points or 0.67 per cent higher at 17,944.25. About 2,019 shares have advanced, 1,405 shares declined and 132 remained unchanged. BSE midcap ended up 0.64 per cent, whereas BSE SmallCap and BSE LargeCap closed 0.53 per cent and 0.71 per cent, respectively.

At close, Sensex ended up 379.43 points or 0.64 per cent at 58,842.21, while Nifty closed up 127.10 points or 0.72 per cent at 17,825.25. About 1,995 shares advanced, 1,553 shares declined, while 157 shares remained unchanged on Tuesday. Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki India, Asian Paints, Hindustan Unilever, Ultratech Cement and HDFC, among others, were the major gainers on the BSE.

"Indian equity markets have seen a fair amount of ups and downs over the last two years, largely on account of the Covid-19, the lockdowns that were put in place to restrain it, and its consequent impact on the global economy," the blog said. The Nifty 50 sank to a low of nearly 7,500 points in March 2020 post which it started its upward climb to more than 18,500 points in October 2021.