Sensex, Nifty open flat, Rupee hits fresh record low of 70.82

The rupee weakened further by 23 paise against the dollar to trade at a life-time low of 70.82.

MUMBAI: The markets opened flat on Thursday with BSE Sensex opening just 1.83 points up at 38,724.76. The 50-share NSE Nifty fell 1.40 points to 11,690.50. 

The Sensex later recovered by 96.13 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 38,819.06 in early trade and the NSE Nifty declined 18.90 points to 11,673. 

Top losers include Axis Bank, Yes Bank, RIL, Kotak Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Asian Paint, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, ONGC, SBI, Adani Ports and HDFC Bank, falling up to 1.16 per cent. Major gainers were ITC, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma, PowerGrid, Tata Steel, NTPC, Coal India, Bajaj Auto and TCS, rising up to 1.30 per cent.

Meanwhile, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net of Rs 1,114.36 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net of Rs 1,415.87 crore yesterday, provisional data showed.

The rupee, meanwhile, weakened further by 23 paise against the dollar to trade at a life-time low of 70.82. At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the local currency opened a tad higher at 70.57 a dollar from its previous close of 70.59 but slipped to hit a fresh low of 70.82, down by 23 paise.

Forex dealers said besides strong month-end demand for the American currency, buying by importers, mainly oil refiners in view of surging crude oil prices and capital outflows, weighed on the domestic currency.

The dollar strength against its rival currencies overseas are also putting pressure on the rupee. The Indian currency had recorded a steep fall of 49 paise, to close at record low of 70.59 against the dollar in the previous session.