RUPEES Vs DOLLERS

Rupee settles at 54.22 Vs dollar The Indian rupee tumbled by another 72 paise to settle the week at one-month low of 54.22 against the Greenback following weakness in the local equities amid sustained dollar demand from importers and some banks, mainly oil refiners. Market extends losses for 3rd week, ends below 19,500 The BSE benchmark Sensex extended losses for the third consecutive week by slipping 27 points to end at 19,468.15 due to persistent selling pressure from operators in view of fall in industrial output and rise in retail inflation. Dismal corporate earnings by some bluechip companies also dented the market sentiment. Shares of realty, capital goods, power, metal and consumer durable declined sharply on heavy selling pressure. Growth in industrial output contracted by 0.6 percent in December mainly due to muted activities in manufacturing and mining sectors. Retail inflation remained in double digits at 10.79 percent in January, driven by higher prices of vegetables, edible oil, cereals and protein-based items. However, WPI inflation dropped to a three-year low of 6.62 percent in January but the data failed to spur rate cut hopes. The BSE benchmark Sensex resumed higher at 19,517.59 and moved in a range of 19,723.01 and 19,381.82 before ending at 19,468.15, a loss of 26.62 points, or 0.14 percent. The 30-issue index has lost 635.38 points, or 3.16 percent, in the last three weeks. The NSE 50-share Nifty also declined by 16.10 points, or 0.27 percent, to settle at 2013's lowest closing level of 5,887.40. The benchmark has lost 187.25 points, or 3.08 percent, in the last three weeks. Brokers said the broader market continued to remain in the negative territory with second-line stocks attracting profit-booking by retail investors ahead of the Budget. "After disappointing IIP numbers but easing of WPI inflation rate, investors are in a state of uncertainty regarding rate cuts in near future," said Nidhi Sarswat, Senior Research Analyst, Bonanza Portfolio Ltd. Meanwhile, global rating agency Moody's said pursuing policies to boost private investments and curbing inflation can help India trim Current Account Deficit (CAD), which hit a record high of 5.3 percent of GDP in September quarter. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued their buying spree during the week, pumping in a net Rs 2,567.30 crore, including the provisional figure of February 15, in Indian equity markets. Major losers during the week were Maruti Suzuki (7.28 percent), Jindal Steel (6.39 percent), Larsen (4.33 percent), Bajaj Auto (3.42 percent), Wipro (3.07 percent), Hero Motocorp (2.81 percent), Tata Steel (2.78 percent), SBI (2.32 percent), RIL (2.23 percent), Dr Reddy's Lab (2.08 percent), Sterlite Ind (1.98 percent), BHEL ((1.61 percent) and Bharti Airtel (1.51 percent). Gainers included Tata Motors, which firmed up by 6.48 percent followed by Sun Pharma (5.66 percent), HDFC Bank (3.88 percent), Coal India (3.10 percent), ONGC (2.66 percent), HUL (2.01 percent), M&M (1.64 percent), NTPC (1.36 percent) and TCS gained 1.26 percent. Among the major indices the BSE-Realty dropped by 5.39 percent followed by BSE-CG 3.98 percent, BSE-Power 2.79 percent, BSE-Metal 1.61 percent and the BSE-CD fell 1.04 percent. The BSE-Small and Mid-cap indices underperformed the Sensex by a wide margin, dropping by a whopping 3.73 percent and 3.18 percent, respectively. The total turnover at BSE and NSE fell to Rs 10,144.22 crore and Rs 53,329.49 crore, respectively from the last weekend level of Rs 11,279.44 crore and 57,529.99 crore.