Sensex ends 150 points higher; Fed meet in focus

Markets ended on a strong note after an extremely volatile trading session this Wednesday, on back of significant buying witnessed in the realty and bank spaces.

Trading was choppy intra-day ahead of the today’s Federal Reserve Open Market Commitee meet that will help determine the pace and quantum of stimulus tapering by the US central bank.

“Market has factored in tapering by the US Federal Reserve to the tune of $10 billion.

"So any level up to $10 billion should not come in as a surprise for the markets,” said Ashu Madan, chief operating officer, Religare Securities.

The 30-share Sensex rose 158.13 points at 19,962.16 and the 50-share Nifty added 49.25 points at 5,899.45 levels.

Domestically, the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy this Friday -- the first under the new governor, Raghuram Rajan -- will be very crucial amid expectations that the central bank may hold rates steady.

The broader markets were marginally higher with mid-caps and small-caps gaining 0.1-0.4 per cent on the BSE.

The market breadth was positive. Out of 2,503 stocks traded, 1,215 stocks advanced while 1,124 stocks declined on the BSE.

FIIs

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) have bought shares worth $1 billion in the past eight trading sessions following RBI governor Raghuram Rajan's recent announcements, a Deutsche Bank report said.

According to the global financial services major, FIIs have recouped around 25% of the outflows seen over the June-August period, when the country witnessed its sharpest bout of FII outflows since the global financial crisis.

They were net buyers by $912.92 million in the last eight sessions, according to data from the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

RUPEE

Rupee continued to trade strong in late trades amid dollar flows from foreign banks.

At 3:50PM, the partially convertible rupee was trading at 63.13 per dollar against yesterday’s close of 63.37

on the Interbank Foreign Exchange.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stocks rose, with the regional benchmark index trading near a four-month high, before the Federal Reserve decides later today whether to slow its $85 billion of monthly asset purchases.

Japan’s Nikkei rose 1.3% to 14,505, Singapore’s Straits Times gained 0.6% at 3,201, China’s Shanghai Composite index was up 0.3% at 2,191 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.3% to 23,117 today.

European shares also traded higher. CAC gained 0.2% to 4,152, Germany’s DAX gained 0.2% to 8,615 while UK’s FTSE was up 0.1% to 6,578.

STOCK MOVERS

Domestically, all the key sectoral indices gained with realty, banks, FMCG, consumer durables, oil & gas, healthcare indices leading the gains on the BSE.

The gainers included counters such as NTPC surging 3.6%, Tata Power gained 3.5%, Dr Reddy’s rose 2.6%, SBI was up 1.7% on the BSE.

The laggards were BHEL declined 4.4%, Hero MotoCorp fell 2.8%, Sesa Goa was down 1.8%, Mahindra and Mahindra fell 0.4% on the BSE.

The key notable movers included counters such as MindTree which rose 5.5% extending Tuesday’s nearly 2% gain, after the company announced a partnership with SAP America to enable customers execute their Cloud strategies on SAP's cloud applications like SuccessFactors and mobile platforms.

Shares of gold finance companies such as Muthoot Finance and Manappuram Finance are under pressure second day in a row after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued gold loan guidelines.

Muthoot Finance dipped 6.6% while Manappuram Finance tanked 5% on the BSE.

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories added 3% , extending its previous day’s nearly 4% rally, after the company secured the approval of the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to launch injectible medicine azacitidine.

SKS Microfinance surged 8% after the company said it has received A ratings for Rs 2,000 crore of bank facilities from a leading rating agency, which could help it enhance credit availability and reduce cost of borrowings.