Equity market gains with Nifty closing over 11,000; rupee recovers from record low
Mumbai, July 20: Hopes of political stability as the current government seemed confident of winning the trust vote in parliament lifted investor sentiments in the Indian equity market.
The Nifty 50 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) reclaimed the psychological level of 11,000 points.
According to market observers, recovery in the Indian rupee after it touched a fresh all-time low of 69.12 per dollar earlier in the day also supported investor sentiments.
Index-wise, the broader Nifty50 of the NSE closed at 11,010.20 points -- higher by 53.10 points or 0.48 per cent -- from its previous close of 10,957.10 points.
The barometer 30-scrip Sensex on the BSE, which had opened at 36,377.03 points, closed at 36,496.37 points -- up by 145.14 points or 0.40 per cent -- from its previous session's close of 36,351.23 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 36,567.34 points and a low of 36,335.61 points during the intra-day trade. The BSE market breadth, however, was tilted towards the bears with 1,437 declines and 1,135 advances.
"Market recouped yesterday's losses supported by recovery in rupee and continuing positive momentum in IT and Pharma stocks, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.
He further said the earnings season will pick up pace in the coming weeks and as a consenses market is expecting 14.7 per cent earnings growth for Nifty50 index stocks.
HDFC Securities' Head of Retail Research, Deepak Jasani said: "Investors were also awaiting the outcome of a no-confidence motion against the NDA government."
On the currency front, the rupee closed at 68.85, appreciating by 20 paise from Thursday's close of 69.05 per dollar.
Investment-wise, provisional data with exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors bought scrip worth just Rs 310.27 crore and the domestic institutional investors sold stocks worth Rs 50.73 crore.
Sector-wise, the S&P BSE IT index gained the most, by 216.77 points, followed by the captial goods index, up 162.36 points and the healthcare rose by 143.15 points.
On the contrary, the S&P BSE auto index declined by 96.19 points, the oil and gas index was down 94.49 points and the metal index fell by 64.93 points.
The major gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma, up 2.72 per cent at Rs 559.90; Infosys, up 2.42 per cent at Rs 1,348.35; Reliance Industries, up 2.23 per cent at Rs 1,128.55; ICICI Bank, up 1.84 per cent at Rs 266; and Axis Bank, up 1.36 per cent at Rs 534.45 per share.
The top losers were Bajaj Auto, down 8.73 per cent at Rs 2,841.10; Vedanta, down 2.74 per cent at Rs 202.60; Hero MotoCorp, down 2.48 per cent at Rs 3,373.15; ONGC, down 2.20 per cent at Rs 157.85; and Kotak Mahindra Bank, down 1.24 per cent at Rs 1,333.45 per share.
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No govt protection, claims actress who accused CPI(M)'s Mukesh of sexual abuse
Kochi (PTI): A 51-year-old Malayalam actress who had levelled sexual abuse allegations against several male actors, including CPI(M) MLA M Mukesh, on Friday said she was not keen on pursuing her complaints due to "lack of support and protection from the Kerala government".
The complainant also alleged "carelessness" on the part of the state government and said she was "mentally exhausted" and therefore, not keen on taking the complaints forward.
"I would like to tell everyone that due to the government's carelessness and lack of protection for a woman who has come forward like this, I have suffered more than I can handle. I am mentally exhausted. They are not helping or protecting a woman.
"Therefore, I do not want to pursue the cases. It is not because I have compromised with anyone," she told reporters.
She claimed that she was made an accused in a POCSO case following her complaints against the actors, also including Maniyanpilla Raju and Idavela Babu, and the government did nothing to protect her.
"I am innocent. I want justice. I want the POCSO case against me to be probed thoroughly and quickly. If I commit suicide, the government will be responsible for it," she said.
The Muvattupuzha police had registered the case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, against the woman actor based on a complaint lodged by her relative.
According to the police, the incident occurred in 2014. The relative has alleged that she was a minor at the time of the incident and that the actor was running a sex racket.
The actor had vehemently denied the allegations and claimed that the woman relative owed her some money, and these allegations were to shift attention from her complaint against the high-profile actors.
The actress' allegations against the actors came in the wake of the disclosure of the Justice Hema Committee report which revealed instances of harassment and exploitation of women in the Malayalam cinema industry, prompting calls for action against the guilty.
The Justice Hema Committee was constituted by the Kerala government after the 2017 actress assault case.
The complete report was placed before the Kerala High Court which directed that it be handed over to the special investigation team (SIT) that was constituted to probe complaints of sexual abuse in the film industry.
Subsequently, 26 FIRs were registered by the SIT in connection with the revelations in the report.
