Volatile Markets close flat

Nifty reclaims 8,350; Rupee breaches 65 mark

Mumbai: It was a rollercoaster ride on markets on Thursday while indices ended with marginal gains. Following rupee down, pharma shares gained and rate cut expectations raised the bank stock. However, the monsoon sessions ended without passage of key laws, land or GST.

Sensex closed up 37 points at 27,550 and Nifty ended up 6 points at 8,356. Meanwhile, the broader markets have shown divergent trend with midcap and smallcap indices closing 0.2 per cent and 0.8 per cent, respectively. Post devaluation of yuan, rupee started melting. The rupee breached 65/dollar for the first time on Thursday. Analysts anticipate the Indian currency would further depreciate.

On sectoral front, the healthcare and bank indices gained about 0.7 per cent each, while metal index was the biggest loser with losses of 2.7 per cent. The prices of bank stock up with the renewed buying interest expecting rate cut in the next meet. The shares gained up to 1.5 per cent include Axis Bank, SBI, HDFC Bank.

From pharma space, the shares of drug companies gained up to 3 per cent as the rupee fall would fetch more export revenue. The shares include Lupin, Cipla and Sun Pharma.

On the other hand, metals continue to lose in the post devaluation of yuan with Hindalco, Tata Steel, Vedanta down up to 10 per cent.

The gainers: Mahindra and Mahindra, up 3.27 per cent at Rs 1,340.30; Cipla, up 2.63 per cent at Rs 725.55; Lupin, up 2.23 per cent at Rs 1,757; Axis Bank, up 1.54 per cent at Rs 566.60; and Coal India, up 1.52 per cent at Rs 377.10.

The losers: Vedanta, down 9.26 per cent at Rs 103.35; Tata Steel, down 6.22 per cent at Rs 233.60; Hindalco Inds, down 5.21 per cent at Rs 90.90; Bharti Airtel, down 3.36 per cent at Rs 384.35; and Gail, down 1.70 per cent at Rs 332.55.