Indian stock indices continue to rally; value of rupee appreciates

MUMBAI: Indian stock indices are on a roll as they rallied during eight out of the nine past sessions. At 9.37 am this morning, Sensex traded at 59,892.18 points, up 348.22 points or 0.58 per cent,whereas Nifty traded at 17,770.30 points, up 113.95 points or 0.65 per cent. Good second quarter earnings and high trading volumes during Diwali, which is considered auspicious by investors community, somewhat gave fuel to the financial markets.

"Financials, select autos and capital goods are well set to continue their recent rally," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services. Also, a relative weakness in US dollar index is a positive for Indian markets as foreign portfolio may again become net buyers here, Vijayakumar added.

Foreign portfolio investors have withdrawn funds worth Rs 5,416 crore from Indian stock markets so far in October and become net sellers for the second straight month amid the strong US dollar index, weak rupee, and tightening of monetary policy world over. In September, they sold Rs 7,624 crore worth of equities in India. So far in 2022, they sold Rs 174,205 crore on a cumulative basis.

Meanwhile, Rupee appreciated substantially this morning to open at 82.15 per US dollar, against Tuesday's close of 82.72. On Wednesday, the markets were closed on occasion of Diwali-Balipratipada. Last week, the rupee breached the 83 mark for the first time in its history. So far this year, the rupee has depreciated around 11-12 per cent, market data showed.