Image Source : PTI Stock markets update — March 22
Benchmark equity indices tanked in early trade on Friday, surrendering their two days of rally, dragged down by IT stocks, weak trends from Asian markets and continuous foreign fund outflows. The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 413.36 points to 72,227.83. The NSE Nifty skidded 86.8 points to 21,925.15.
From the Sensex basket, HCL Technologies, Wipro, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services and Tata Motors were the major laggards. The BSE IT index fell by 2.85 per cent in the early trade. Sun Pharma, Titan, Bharti Airtel and ITC were among the gainers.
Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.71 per cent to USD 85.17 a barrel.
Rupee against dollar
The rupee declined 20 paise to 83.33 against the US dollar on Friday due to a stronger greenback in the global markets and dollar buying by importers. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened lower at 83.28 against the previous close of 83.13 to a dollar.
The unit moved in a range of 83.23 to 83.33 in morning deals. The local unit was trading at 83.33 against the dollar at 9.30 am, down by 20 paise from its previous close of 83.13.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, gained 0.72 per cent to 104.17 as concerns over the slowing global economy boosted demand for the greenback. The US dollar index had retreated from 104 levels on Thursday after the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) kept interest rates unchanged in the range of 5.25-5.5 per cent range.
(With inputs from PTI)
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