Equity indices recover to trade marginally lower

Mumbai: The domestic equity indices bounced back from the intra-day lows and traded marginally lower around Tuesday’s pre-noon session, as investors took to short covering.

Market sentiments were still subdued as the Congress party was seen taking the lead in the Assembly elections in the three key states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, but the indices pared losses due to short covering and buying at lower levels, analysts said.

The Sensex fell over 500 points on Tuesday morning as investor were spooked on the surprise resignation of RBI Governor Urjit Patel on Monday evening.

At 11.25 a.m., the Sensex traded at 34,907.94 points, lower by 51.78 points or 0.15 per cent from the previous close.

It has touched an intra-day high of 34,917.45 and a low of 34,426.29 points so far.

The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange traded at 10,486.15 points, lower by 2.30 points or 0.02 per cent from the previous close.

“Markets would swing till around noon based on leads positions in MP, as the other four states are showing clear winners,” HDFC Securities’ Retail Research Head Deepak Jasani told IANS.

On Monday – the previous trade session – a global sell-off along with a rise in crude oil prices suppressed the key Indian equity indices deep into the red.

Consequently, the NSE Nifty50 had ended lower by 205.25 points or 1.92 per cent to 10,488.45 points, whereas the Sensex closed at 34,959.72 points — lower by 713.53 points or two per cent — from its previous session’s close of 35,673.25 points.

On the currency front, the Indian rupee weakened to 72 against the US dollar from its previous close of 71.34.

“Election results are not going the way of BJP. However, rupee has recovered from the opening losses as central bank intervention may be occurring,” said Anindya Banerjee, Deputy Vice President for Currency and Interest Rates with Kotak Securities.

“We could see more volatility today and USDINR can trade within a wide range of 71.70 and 72.50 on spot.”

[source_without_link]IANS[/source_without_link]