Indian equity markets trade flat on first demonetisation anniversary, rupee off to a weak start

Key Highlights

• Sensex opened 0.14% higher at 33,417.35 points.
• Nifty 50 0.11% up at 10,361.95 points.
• Indian rupee opened weak at Rs 65.13 per dollar.

Key Indian equity markets opened flat on Wednesday with little change to the indices as the nation observed one year anniversary of demonetisation of higher currency notes.

The 30 scrip BSE Sensex opened 46.59 points or 0.14% higher at 33,417.35 points while the bigger 50 scrip Nifty 50 index opened 11.80 points or 0.11% up at 10,361.95 points.

Markets closed lower on Tuesday with Sensex plummeting 360 points to close at 33,370.76 and Nifty that fell below the 10,400 mark on rising geopolitical concerns. NSE Nifty 50 Index dropped 1% on Tuesday, its steepest decline in more than a month, paced by a plunge in shares of Lupin.

The Indian rupee opened weak at Rs 65.13 per dollar. At 0921 hours the rupee was trading at Rs 64.80 per dollar.

The rupee fell sharply by 38 paise to 65.06 against the US dollar on Tuesday on the back of higher crude oil prices.

Among the stocks to watch today Bharti Airtel will be in focus as an investor from Qatar plans to sell stake in the company, according to a Bloomberg report.

Lupin shares opened higher on Wednesday after falling 17% to Rs 890.10 on BSE Sensex after receiving a warning letter from USFDA to Goa and Pithampur Unit-II sites.

Shares of the company were trading 11.60 points up or 1.35% higher at Rs 872.10 at 0930 hours on BSE Sensex.

Aviation major, IndiGo’s shares fell during early trade session after the federal government ordered a probe into a passenger assault video by the company’s staff. Shares of the company dropped 1.94% or 23.45 points to Rs 1185.95 at 0930 hours on BSE Sensex.

On the one year anniversary of demonetisation, the government said it will begin ‘phase 2’ of digital transactions from January 2018.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, “The published figure of “currency in circulation” for half year ending September, 2017 is Rs.15.89 lakh crore.  This shows year on year variation of (-) Rs.1.39 lakh crore; whereas year on year variation for the same period during last year was (+) Rs.2.50 lakh crore.  This means that reduction in currency in circulation is of the order of Rs.3.89 lakh crore.”

Further he added, “In an overall analysis, it would not be wrong to say that country has moved on to a much cleaner, transparent and honest financial system.”