The Indian rupee extended gains on Wednesday to hit a fresh 3-month high against US dollar. The rupee today marked 64 apiece US dollar after a volatile activity of three months. The domestic currency rupee gained 4 paise at 64 against US dollar on Wednesday at the interbank foreign exchange market today. Earlier yesterday, the rupee edged up by 20 paise to close at a three-month high of 64.04 against the US dollar following the victory of Narendra Modi led Bharatiya Janata Party in the state elections of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. However, on Monday, the rupee underwent a choppy trade and slipped by a whopping 70 paise as both Indian National Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party moved neck to neck as the counting progressed. But later in the day, when BJP vote count surpassed that of Congress, the rupee ended the day down by 20 paise only.
Meanwhile, India’s stock market opened higher on Wednesday with Sensex and Nifty hitting lifetime highs as investors continue to stay bullish over Narendra Modi’s BJP victory in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. At 10.15 am, Sensex was trading at 33,821.97 and Nifty was trading, each down by 0.04%. BSE Sensex gained 91.85 points or 0.27% to begin at 33,928.59 whereas NSE Nifty ticked up 31.2 points or 0.3% to start at 10,494.4 on Wednesday. Shares of India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki (India) marked a five-digit figure of Rs 10,000 for the first time ever, rising by 1.99% on BSE today. Other major gainers were ONGC, GAIL, Coal India and M&M. Within minutes of staring up, the key equity indices Sensex and Nifty retreated the morning gains and fell in red. Benchmark Sensex hit a day’s low of 33,807.8 and an all-time high of 33,956.31 while broader Nifty marked a lifetime high of 10,494.45.
In a major development on Monday, Narendra Modi led Bharatiya Janata Party won the assembly election in the states of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. The Congress was not able to defeat the incumbent BJP in Gujarat but it has certainly managed to bring down the ruling party seats to double digits in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state. The Bharatiya Janata Party continued its winning streak to book a sixth term but this time the saffron bearer has lost a phenomenal seat share. In the 2012 assembly election of Gujarat, Bharatiya Janata Party captured 127 seats out of 182, implying a seat share of 69.78%. But this time BJP has only managed to gather about 99 seats out of 182, implying a seat share of 54.39%.
Source: financialexpress.com