Sovereign ratings upgraded; Sensex up by 8 pts

Mumbai, Aug 1: A day marked by negativity through all the sessions at the BSE was in for a surprise, when the investors sentiment took a U-turn after the International credit ratings agency 'Fitch Ratings' upgraded India's sovereign ratings to investment grade.

The BSE sensitive index closed 7.78 points up at 10,751.66 from the previous close in the last hour of the trade after trading almost whole day in the red. Most of the indices are still in the red even after a positive close.

The sensex swung 131.48 points reaching a high of 10,777.47 and a low of 10,645.99 points.

Fitch upgraded India's long-term foreign and local currency debt to 'BBB-' from 'BB+', with stable outlooks. The short-term foreign currency debt rating was also raised to 'F3' from 'B' and the country ceiling was upgraded to 'BBB-' from 'BB+'. ''This upgrade reflects Fitch's view that fiscal consolidation is at last taking hold in India, reinforced by the impressive growth story and India's strong external balance sheet,'' said Paul Rawkins, senior director in Fitch's Sovereign team in London. ''Public finances are still weak, but they are no longer an insuperable constraint on this rating,'' he said.

Major indices which closed in the red wereMidcap down 0.47 per cent, Smallcap down 0.36 per cent, Auto down 0.60 per cent, Bankex down 0.83 per cent and Metals down 1.32 per cent to 7693.25 points.

All the indices to close in the green were- Teck up by 0.24 per cent, PSU up by 0.09 per cent, Capital goods uup 0.89 per cent, Consumer Durable the only segment to sustain the positivity through out the day, was up 0.65 per cen to 2725.95 points, FMCG was up by 0.05 per cent to 1881.56 and IT up 0.22 per cent to 3959.64 points.

Major Gainers on the index were- BHEL up by 2.86 per cent to Rs 2103.55, Bhati Airtel up by 2.12 per cent to Rs 390.95, L&T up 1.71 per cent to Rs 2248.75, ACC up by 1.34 per cent to Rs 854.20, HDFC up by 1.26 per cent to Rs 1189.60, ITC was up by 1.10 per cent to Rs 169.35, Wipro up by 0.87 per cent to Rs 495.55 and NTPC up by 0.69 per cent to Rs 116.05.

Besides the lsoere were Hindalco down by 2.20 per cent to Rs 157.60, HDFC was down by 1.86 per cent to Rs 780.25, Cipla was down by 1.74 per cent to Rs 231.90, Gujarat Ambuja was down by 1.58 per cent to Rs 103.05, HLL was down by 1.51 per cent to Rs 228.75, Reliance Communications was down by 1.31 per cent to Rs 259.30, Hero Honda was down by 1.29 per cent to Rs 696.10 and Reliance Energy was down by 1.04 per cent to Rs 448.05.

The breadth in the broader market was in the favour of 1299 declines as against 1106 advances out of total 2491 scrips that traded on the BSE.

UNI

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