Disappointment from the US Fed and the absence of any domestic triggers resulted in the market snapping its four-day winning streak and close marginally in the red today. On a low volume of 44.70 crore shares on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the Nifty broke its positive trend today. Yesterday we had mentioned that if the day’s low of 5,213 on the Nifty holds we may see the gains continuing, else a correction is due. The index is now seen moving in a range of 5,190 and 5,245, which has to be broken for further direction.
The market saw a gap down opening following weak global cues as the US Federal Reserve, at the end of its two-day meeting, decided to keep rates unchanged and refrained from announcing any new growth-boosting measures. The development led the US indices lower overnight. Similarly, markets in Asia were in the red in morning trade today.
On the domestic front, the Nifty opened eight points down at 5,233 and the Sensex resumed trade at 17,246, a fall of 11 points from its previous close. While the opening figure on the Sensex was its intraday high, the Nifty hit its high in initial trade itself with the index at 5,237.
Profit booking saw the indices move further southwards in morning trade. The benchmarks fell to the day’s lows around noon. At this point the Nifty was at 5,210 and the Sensex dropped to 17,157.
A positive opening of the key European indices, ahead of the European Central Bank meeting, supported the gains in the noon session back home. However, selling resumed once again as nervousness was seen in Europe as the markets were fluctuating between gains and losses on doubts of the ECB announcing any positive moves.
Pressure in oil & gas and banking stocks saw the market snapping its four-session winning streak today. The Nifty closed 13 points down at 5,228 and the Sensex lost 33 points to settle at 17,224.
The advance-decline ratio on the NSE was 797:601.
The broader markets outperformed the Sensex today, as the BSE Mid-cap index rose 0.23% and the BSE Small-cap index gained 0.47%.
The top gainers in the sectoral space were BSE Consumer Durables (up 1.14%); BSE Power, BSE Capital Goods (up 0.69% each); BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods (up 0.67%) and BSE TECk (up 0.05%). The losers were led by BSE Oil & Gas (down 0.96%); BSE Bankex (down 0.36%); BSE Metal (down 0.31%); BSE Realty (down 0.26%) and BSE Auto (down 0.16%).
NTPC (up 3.78%); BHEL (up 1.25%); Jindal Steel (up 1.06%); ITC (up 1%) and Bajaj Auto (up 0.63%) were the top gainers among Sensex stocks. The key losers were Tata Motors (down 1.80%); ONGC (down 1.25%); Cipla (down 1.13%); Sterlite Industries (down 1.09%) and Tata Power (down 1.05%).
The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were—Cummins India (up 6.79%) and United Spirits (up 5.68%).
The top two A Group losers on the BSE were—Cairn India (down 2.13%) and HPCL (down 2.09%).
The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were—Kale Consultants (up 20%) and Prime Property Development Corporation (up 19.96%).
The top two B Group losers on the BSE were—Sambandam Spinning Mills (down 15.31%) and Cimmco (down 10.16%).
The star performers on the Nifty were 3.81%); BHEL (up 1.50%); Axis Bank (up 1.25%); SAIL (up 0.99%) and Jindal Steel (up 0.93%). Cairn India (down 2.40%); Tata Motors (down 2.13%); BPCL (down 1.79%); Tata Power (down 1.60%) and Cipla (down 1.53%) were the main losers on the index.
Markets in Asia settled mostly lower on the US Fed’s decision to keep rates unchanged. Investors are now eagerly watching the ECB’s move for further direction. Last week, ECB president Mario Draghi asserted that European policymakers would do everything to prevent the Eurozone from collapsing.
The Shanghai Composite declined 0.57%; the Hang Seng dropped 0.66%; the Jakarta Composite tanked 0.90%; the Straits Times fell 0.49%, the Seoul Composite lost 0.56% and the Taiwan Weighted shed 0.03%. On the other hand, the KLSE Composite added 0.06% and the Nikkei 225 rose 0.13%.
At the time of writing, the European markets were recouped early hiccups and were seen in the positive and the US stock futures were also in the green.
Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of shares amounting to Rs441.46 crore on Wednesday, whereas domestic institutional investors were net sellers of stocks aggregating Rs172.97 crore.
Legacy Iron, the Australian arm of NMDC, has finalised the purchase of two of six highly prospective tenements in Queensland where there are strong indications of quality coking and thermal coal mineralisation. It is the first corporate transaction undertaken by Legacy since India's largest iron ore producer NMDC acquired a 50% stake in the company in December 2011. NMDC declined 2.18% to close at Rs185.90 on the NSE.
Private lender Yes Bank today said it has raised around Rs1,181 crore through a dual currency syndicated loan facility from foreign markets. The facility has a maturity of one year and will be used for general corporate purposes and trade finance, the private lender said in a statement. The stock fell 0.41% to close at Rs364 on the NSE.
Ashok Leyland, the Hinduja Group flagship, has won the top exporter gold award from Engineering and Export Promotion Council India (EEPC)-Southern region under the “Large Enterprise” category. The company has bagged the award for third consecutive year. The stock jumped 4.31% to settle at Rs23 on the NSE.
