Rupee slump, high oil prices halt 6-week march of equity indices
Mumbai, Sep 8 : The Indian equity market snapped its six-week-long gaining streak during the September 3-7 period as the rupee fell to record low levels, coupled with high crude oil prices and decline in the global markets.
However, gains in the indices by the end of the week helped curb losses. Three out of the five sessions were negative during the period.
The rupee breached 72 a US dollar-mark for the first time. However, towards the week-end it recovered marginally following intervention by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), analysts said.
Investor sentiments in the global markets were subdued due to high crude oil prices and persistent US-China trade tensions.
On a weekly basis, the S&P BSE Sensex closed at 38,389.82 points, lower 255.25 points or 0.66 per cent from its previous close.
Similarly, the wider Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange on Friday ended at 11,589.10 points, down 91.4 points or 0.78 per cent from the previous week's close.
Heavy selling pressure was witnessed from Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) both in cash and futures segments, said Rahul Sharma, Senior Research Analyst at Equity99.
However, towards the fag-end of the week, market recovered from early losses. Domestic indices rose for the second consecutive session on Friday on gains in auto, metal and technology stocks, according to Prateek Jain, Director, Hem Securities.
Value buying and recovery in the rupee from its lows in the later part of the week helped the indices rise on Thursday and Friday, thereby partially paring weekly losses.
Auto stocks gained after Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday announced that the government would do away with permits for commercial vehicles run on alternative fuels.
On the currency front, the rupee touched a record low of 72.11 per US dollar on Thursday, though it recovered to end the week at 71.73 per dollar -- 73 paise weaker from the previous week's close of 71 per dollar.
The rupee remained subdued for most of the week due to a rise in crude oil prices and a similar weak trend among its global peers.
In terms of investments, provisional figures from the stock exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors sold scrips worth Rs 789.60 crore and the domestic institutional investors bought stocks worth Rs 1,167.85 crore in the past week.
Figures from the National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) showed that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) divested Rs 504.03 crore, or $70.06 million in the equities segment during September 3-7.
Sector-wise, the top gainers during the week were pharma, IT, metal and energy indices and the major losers were public sectors, FMCG and media indices, said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC securities.
The top weekly Sensex gainers were Wipro (up 7.43 per cent at Rs 324.05), Bajaj Auto (up 6.47 per cent at Rs 2,924), Tata Motors (DVR) (up 4.11 per cent at Rs 148.05), Tata Motors (up 3.89 per cent at Rs 277.50) and Reliance Industries (up 2.88 per cent at Rs 1,276.75 per share).
The major losers were Hindustan Unilever (down 7.96 per cent at Rs 1,638.95), Yes Bank (down 5.81 per cent at Rs 323.45), State Bank of India (down 5.50 per cent at Rs 291.85), ONGC (down 4.33 per cent at Rs 172.15) and Maruti Suzuki (down 4.01 per cent at Rs 8,732.55 per share).
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SIT to be set up to identify forest, revenue land as per SC directions: Karnataka Minister Gowda
Mangaluru (Karnataka) (PTI): Karnataka Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda on Saturday said a SIT will be constituted at the district level to identify forest and revenue land and submit a report in compliance with directions of the Supreme Court.
Speaking after inaugurating the Mulki taluk Administrative Centre 'Praja Soudha' near here, the minister said the long-pending issue of classification of forest and revenue land has caused hardship to farmers and the government is taking steps to resolve it on priority.
Joint surveys are being conducted to demarcate forest and revenue land in areas earlier granted to farmers, he said, adding that instructions have been issued to all deputy commissioners in the state to expedite the process.
Gowda said many farmers had faced problems as land granted to them earlier had not been formally regularised. The government has now taken up the task of completing the process. A special investigation team (SIT) will be constituted at the district level to identify forest and revenue land and submit a report in compliance with directions of the Supreme Court, he added.
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Between 2018 and 2023, plotting was completed for 1,948 beneficiaries in the district, while in the last two years, plotting under the 1-5 scheme was carried out for 60,943 beneficiaries, he said. Of these, 23,620 farmers have been issued pahani documents.
He said title deeds have been distributed to 2.20 lakh beneficiaries under the regularisation provisions of certain sections relating to house sites.
Under the e-Pouthi campaign, about 60,000 legal heirs have been granted mutation of land records that were earlier in the names of deceased persons, the minister said.
He also said a special drive has reduced cases pending for over two years in Tahsildar courts from 10,774 to 130, while similar cases in Assistant Commissioner courts have been brought down from 73,624 to 2,299.
Land records are now accessible online round-the-clock, eliminating the need for people to visit offices for certified copies, he said, adding that nearly 73 crore pages of revenue records across the state have been scanned at taluk offices in the past two years.
Gowda said taluk administrative offices have been named 'Praja Soudha' to bring governance closer to people. An additional Rs 1.60 crore has been sanctioned for compound construction and other facilities at the Mulki centre.
State Health and Family Welfare Minister and Dakshina Kannada district in-charge minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said efforts are being made to boost investment and tourism in the district.
He said the recent state budget has announced a Global Capability Centre for the district and steps will soon be taken to implement it.
A sum of Rs 70 crore has been sanctioned for a new OPD block at Wenlock District Hospital, while discussions are underway with three private medical colleges to strengthen clinical services at taluk hospitals in Moodbidri, Bantwal, Vitla and Belthangady.
Lok Sabha member Brijesh Chowta urged the revenue minister to resolve forest and revenue land issues in Puttur, Sullia, Kadaba and Belthangady taluks and said approval has been given for development of the national highway from Talapady to Kundapur with service roads on both sides.
