Indian stock indices, Rupee largely steady on Friday morning

MUMBAI: Indian stocks and rupee traded largely steady this morning, with risks of a downside in line with global benchmark US markets. At the time of writing this report, Sensex traded at 61,771.83 points, up just 21.23 points or 0.034 per cent, whereas Nifty traded at 18,328.90 points, down 15.00 points or 0.082 per cent.

Among the Nifty 50 stocks, Asian Paints, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Infosys, and Cipla were the top five gainers, whereas Eicher Motors, Apollo Hospitals, Mahindra and Mahindra, Britannia, and Hero Motocorp the top losers, National Stock Exchange data showed. "There are no major global or domestic triggers that can move the markets decisively as of now. Therefore, the market is likely to meander around the current levels...Also, there is no trigger to push the market decisively into sharp correction territory. The texture of the market continues to be Buy on Dips," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Meanwhile, the rupee opened at 81.57 against the US dollar as against the previous session's close of 81.65. The rupee has relatively strengthened in most of the recent sessions against the global benchmark dollar as the US dollar index has weakened substantially. The latest weakening of the US dollar is a positive for other currencies.

Barring the latest appreciation in November, the Indian rupee had been, however, weakening over the past several weeks to hit fresh new all-time lows. In October, the rupee breached the 83 mark for the first time in its history. So far this year, the rupee has depreciated around 8-9 per cent.