Markets open flat, volatility spikes on expiry day

Markets open on a flat note this Thursday as investors preferred to stay on the side-lines ahead of the derivative contract expiry for September series today.

At 9:20AM, the 30-share Sensex fell 16 points at 19,839 and the 50-share Nifty declined 4 points at 5874 levels.

Risk appetite was also weak on concerns over political dysfunction in US as lawmakers struggled to keep the government offices running ahead of next month’s budget default.

Last week, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted to keep the federal government running, but withheld funding for the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare, global news report suggests.

The broader markets traded tad higher with mid-caps and small-caps adding 0.1 per cent on the BSE.

The market breadth was positive. Out of 515 stocks traded, 323 stocks advanced while 165 stocks declined on the BSE.


FII flows

Foreign institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 3.82 billion on Wednesday, exchange data shows. Domestic institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 4.73 billion.


RUPEE

The rupee gained ground today due to dollar sale by custodian banks. However, weakening concerns remain due to month-end dollar demand from importers.

At 9:20AM, the partially convertible rupee was trading at 62.16 per dollar against the yesterday’s close of 62.44 on the Interbank Foreign Exchange.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stocks fell for a third day, trimming the biggest monthly advance on the regional benchmark index since January 2012, as industrial and health care companies retreated.

Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.3% to 14,670, Singapore’s Straits Times fell 0.5% at 3,192, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.5% to 23,083 while China’s Shanghai Composite index was down 1.2% to 2,171.


STOCK MOVERS

Domestically, the key sectoral losers were metal, PSU, FMCG, capital goods indices while auto, healthcare, banks, realty led gains on the BSE.

The laggards were NTPC dropped 1.3%, Hindalco Industries declined 0.7%, TCS fell 0.6%, Dr Reddy’s was down 0.6% on the BSE.  

The gainers were Maruti Suzuki gaining 1%, BHEL added 0.7%, Infosys rose 0.5% while Sun Pharma was up 0.5% on the BSE.