FII flows boost stock markets for a second day; rupee gains

The stock markets continued the rally for a second day today with share prices gaining further on sustained capital inflows from foreign funds, giving a leg-up to the rupee as well.

The rupee remained firm for the third day in a row and gained as much as 31 paise at 62.80 per dollar in late morning trade at the interbank foreign exchange market on sustained foreign capital inflows into the equity market.

The rupee resumed higher at 62.85 per dollar against the weekend's level of 63.11 per dollar and hovered in a range of 62.92-62.76 per dollar before quoting at 62.80 per dollar at 10:40 am.

The Bombay Stock Market sensitive index Sensex firmed up further for the second consecutive day by gaining 352 points in late morning trade on persistent buying.

The National Stock Exchange benchmark Nifty also rallied over 1.6 per cent on the back of a strong rupee indicating FII inflows.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 352.34 points (1.73 per cent) at 20,751.76 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was up 99.05 points (1.64 per cent) at 6,155.20 at 11:15 am.

Shares of banking, capital goods, IT, tech, realty and FMCG sectors moved up on good buying enquiries.

Gains were visible across all the broader sectors while the rally was led by bank (2.57 per cent), capital goods (2.44 per cent), oil & gas (2.01 per cent) and FMCG (1.78 per cent) indices.

ICICI Bank, L&T, HDFC Bank, ONGC and ITC were the top five Sensex gainers in the late morning trade.

The Nifty opened at 6,111, up 55 points while the Sensex opened at 20,571, up 172 points.

FIIs bought shares worth a net Rs970.03 crore last Thursday as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

Markets elsewhere in Asia were also trading higher in their early trade following cues from the US markets. Key benchmark indices in Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Japan and South Korea all gained.