Markets drop on stimulus-exit fears

Indian stock markets ended lower this Wednesday tracking negative closing in most of the Asian bourses as investors feared that the US Federal Reserve may soon scale-back stimulus after world’s biggest economy showed signs of growth recovery.

The 30-share Sensex dropped 68.16 points at 18,664.88 and the 50-share Nifty fell 23.15 points at 5,519.10 levels.

The broader markets ended firm with mid-caps and small-caps gaining over 1 per cent on the BSE.

The market breadth was positive. Out of 2,432 stocks traded, 1,249 stocks advanced while 1,042 stocks declined on the BSE.

FIIs DATA

Foreign institutional investors bought Rs 2.13 billion worth of local shares on Tuesday, exchange data showed, while domestic institutions were net sellers of Rs 3.24 billion of shares.

RUPEE

Indian Rupee, the worst currency of Asia this year, remained weak today on back of aggressive dollar buying by the banks.

At 4PM IST, the currency traded at 60.96 a dollar from Tuesday's close of 61.80 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange Market.

The sub-committee of Financial Stability and Development Council would meet in Mumbai today to assess the impact of liquidity tightening steps taken by the central bank in recent weeks.

Reports suggest that the government may relax borrowing rules for debt-laden Indian companies including doubling the amount a firm can borrow overseas to $1.5 billion.

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GLOBAL MARKETS

Globally, Asian shares dropped to 2-week low after the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher said the central bank is closer to slowing bond purchases that have stoked global equity gains.

Japan’s Nikkei dropped 4% to 13,824, Singapore Straits Times was tad higher 0.1% to 3,229, China’s Shanghai Composite index was down 0.6%  at 2,046 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 1.5% to 21,588 today.

European markets traded weak. France's CAC declined 0.2% to 4,023, Germany's DAX dropped 0.6% to 8,248 while UK's FTSE shed 1% to 6,542.

Investors are now keenly awaiting the meeting of the Bank of England for interest rate guidance. BoE Governor Mark Carney will today talk about how the central bank plans to continue providing stimulus to the economy.

In his first press conference since taking office in July, Carney will give details of policy makers’ view on interest rates in the future and the institution of thresholds to govern quantitative easing.

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GAINERS/LOSERS

Domestically, among the key sectoral indices,  FMCG, capital goods, auto, IT sectors declined while oil & gas, power and PSU indices gained on the BSE.

The gainers included counters such as Sterlite Industries rising 5%, SBI  gained 4.4%, Tata Power added 8%, Tata Steel was up 4.5% while Jindal Steel rose 4.3% on the BSE.

The laggards were HDFC declining 3%, ITC dropped 2.3%, Tata Motors dropped 3% while Larsen & Toubro was down 2% on the BSE.

STOCK MOVERS

The key notable movers included counters such as Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) which fell 10% at Rs 299 on BSE, despite of the company’s clarification that it has a strong debt-free balance sheet with a networth in excess of Rs 1,200 crore as on June 30, 2013.

Strides Arcolab soared nearly 17% to Rs 811 after the company received tentative approval from the US health regulator for anti-AIDS combination drug. The benchmark index S&P BSE Sensex has fallen 4% during the same period.

Tilaknagar Industries  gained 16% at Rs 55, on reports that the breweries and distilleries company is in discussions with global giants such as Suntory Holdings and Pernod Ricard to sell 15-20% stake in the company.

Lupin dipped 7% to Rs 827.70 after reporting 43% year-on-year (yoy) jump in its consolidated net profit at Rs 401 crore for quarter ended June 30, 2013 (Q1 FY14), mainly due to higher other income. The pharmaceutical company had profit of Rs 280 crore in year ago quarter.