Posted on Friday, 4th December 2009 by admin

Indian stock markets ended lower on Monday as a rebound in the US dollar hurt metal stocks. Weakness in oil & gas stocks including RIL and tepid overseas markets also dragged the markets lower.

The Sensex ended down 118 points at 16,983 while Nifty finished at 5,066, down 42 points.  Expectations about a rate rise in the US have strengthened the dollar after the US jobless rate unexpectedly dropped to 10 per cent for November.  The dollar rebound hurt the metal stocks as well as gold prices. The BSE metal index was down 3.3 per cent with JSW Steel slumping over 6 per cent. Sterlite Ind and Jindal Saw were down over 4 per cent while Tata Steel and Hindalco were off over 3 per cent.

Heavyweight RIL, whose bonus shares began trading today, fell 3 per cent. RIL stock was under pressure due to year-end profit-taking by funds, said Upendra Kulkarni, director & CEO of Fortress Financial Services.

IT stocks TCS, Wipro and Infosys were up moderately as the dollar gained.

Bharat Sheth, president of institutional sales of Techno Shares & Stock Broking, said traditionally December has been a muted month for markets. FII action may remain subdued as the year comes to a close, he said.

The dollar strength may not sustain for a long time and there is a lot of interest in emerging markets like India, he added.

Asian markets were mixed on Monday, with a weaker yen lifting Japanese stocks to a six-week high, while a drop in the US unemployment rate failed to spur buying in a region that has rallied massively this year. European shares were lower in early trade.

Japanese investors were heartened by the dollar’s recovery above the 90-yen line from 14-year lows below 85 yen a week ago, as well as encouraging news about the American economy — a major export market.

Similar Posts:

Share

Tags: Dollar, Dollar Rebounds
Posted in Business Investing | Comments (0)

Leave a Reply