New Delhi: Dragged by weak global cues after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen congressional testimony, Indian market opened at lower levels. The Sensex is down 79.05 points or 0.3 percent at 23679.85 and the Nifty slips 24.15 points or 0.3 percent at 7191.55.
BHEL, ICICI Bank, Coal India and Maruti are losers while Dr Reddy’s, SBI, Tata Motors, TCS and Hero are top gainers in the Sensex.
The Indian rupee opened lower by 10 paise at 67.95 per dollar versus 67.85 Wednesday. The dollar was broadly lower after comments from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen gave investors no reason to change their minds that the next rate hike will be a long time coming.
As whispers mount that the Fed could implement negative interest rates as a way to goose economic activity, Chair Janet Yellen said the central bank has not completely researched whether that would be legal. Speaking during her semi-annual congressional testimony, Yellen said the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) discussed charging banks to hold excess reserves at the Fed but never fully researched the issue.
Oil prices remained volatile as overnight OPEC data pointed to a larger oil supply surplus on the world market this year, as the likes of Saudi Arabia pumped more to make up for reduced drilling by non-OPEC countries that have been hurt by lower prices. (ANI)