The bullish trend in Indian stock indices continued for the third straight week as the benchmark index Sensex breached 60,000 after several weeks. At 9.41 am, Sensex traded at 61,086.05 points, up 339.46 points or 0.56 per cent, whereas Nifty traded at 18,121.70 points, up 109.50 points or 0.61 per cent.
Among the Nifty 50 stocks, Dr Reddy’s, NTPC, Divi’s Labs, Adani Enterprises, and Apollo Hospitals Enterprise were the top five gainers this morning. “Today, markets are likely to start the new month on an optimistic note supported by steady foreign flows coupled with drop in crude oil prices.The US markets ended lower yesterday as investors focus turned to the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting this week (November 1-2),” said Mohit Nigam, Head – PMS, Hem Securities.
Market sentiments will get a boost as production of eight infrastructure industries that comprise the core sector recovered to grow at 7.9 per cent in September – a three-month high – owing to a favourable base and double-digit growth in output of fertilisers, cement, and electricity, Nigam of Hem Securities said. However, declining foreign exchange reserves is a concern among investors.
India’s forex reserves have been depleting for months now because of RBI’s likely intervention in the market to defend the depreciating rupee. India’s foreign exchange reserves during the week that ended on October 21 fell to a new over two-year low of USD 524.520 billion, a drop of USD 3.85 billion from the previous week.
India’s forex reserves had declined by around USD 100 billion ever since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February when imports of energy and other commodities got costlier globally. Over the past 12 months, the reserves declined by around USD 115 billion on a cumulative basis.
