Rupee Advances; Forex Reserves Rise

Chandrasekhar Atreya
04 Oct, 2010
New York City

Indian stocks closed higher but declined from the highs. Rupee closed at five-month high and automakers reported a surge in sales in September. India

[R]5:00 PM Mumbai – Indian stocks closed higher but declined from the highs. Rupee closed at five-month high and automakers reported a surge in sales in September. India’s foreign exchange reserves increased to $291.6 billion. Adani Group is looking to participate in the Brisbane port privatization.[/R]

Stocks in Mumbai trading closed higher after automakers led the gainers on a sustained rise in sales in September. Rupee edged higher as exporters converted most of their revenues.

The BSE Sensex added 0.15% or 30.69 to close at 20,475.73.

Indian rupee strengthened to its highest level in more than five-and-a-half months on Monday, supported by sustained foreign portfolio investments and gains in other regional peers.

The partially convertible rupee was at 44.31 per dollar after reaching as high as 44.2525, record since April 15 and 0.4% above Friday’s close of 44.47 to a dollar.

India’s second largest two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto reported Monday record motorcycle monthly sales in September of 314,515 units, 26.24% rise from sales a year ago.

The company’s exports surged 26.37% to 101,960 units from 80,681 in September 2009.

Ashok Leyland said Monday total vehicle sales for September rose by 90% to 10,363 units. Domestic sales rose 98% to 9,513 units, while exports rose by a third to 850 units, India’s second-largest truck and bus builder said in a statement.

India’s foreign exchange reserves rose by $3.86 billion in the week ended September 24. The reserves rose by $3.86 billion to touch $291.6 billion.

Indian stocks trading on the NYSE and Nasdaq together added over $23 billion to their cumulative market cap in September, with IT giants Infosys and Wipro accounting for more than half of the total gains.

American Depository Receipts are bought and sold on the American markets just like stocks and are issued by banks or brokerage firms.

A fortnight away from its mega IPO, state-owned Coal India Ltd embarked on an ambitious Rs 3,000 crore plan to wash almost half of its output to improve the quality and garner rates at par with international market rates.

The company proposes to set up 20 coal washeries with an annual production capacity of 111 million tons and commission them successfully by 2017. The average ash content in Indian coal is 35% to 38% and washing reduces it to 7% to 8%.

Adani Group is expected to lodge in a bid for A$2 billion privatization of Australia’s state-owned Port of Brisbane, The Australian newspaper reported Monday.