Markets open lower on profit-booking

Markets opened on a negative note as investors took a pause after shares benchmark indices posted their biggest single-day gain since May 2009 yesterday.

Risk appetite remained positive on hopes of global growth recovery after upbeat data from China and as fears over US military strikes on Syria receded.

At 9:20AM, the 30-share Sensex fell 91 points at 19,903 and the 50-share Nifty declined 34 points at 5,863 levels.

China’s consumer inflation stayed below target for an eighth month. The consumer price index rose 2.6 per cent last month, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday, matching the median forecast of a survey.

Meanwhile, Syria accepted a Russian proposal on Tuesday to give up chemical weapons and major western powers began working on a United Nations resolution to create a process for ensuring it happens

The broader markets were mixed with mid-caps falling 0.02 per cent while small-caps gaining nearly 0.3 per cent on the BSE.

The market breadth was flat. Out of 675 stocks traded, 334 stocks advanced while 315 stocks declined on the BSE.


RUPEE

The rupee gained ground today after the slew of reforms announced by the central bank last week coupled with strong trend in emerging market currencies.

At 9:20AM, the partially convertible rupee was trading at 63.76 per dollar against the yesterday’s close of 63.84 on the Interbank Foreign Exchange.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Most Asian stocks rose as the President Barack Obama pulled the U.S. from the brink of a military strike against Syria. Energy producers led declines.

Japan’s Nikkei gained 0.6% at 14,513, Singapore’s Straits Times declined 0.3% at 3,114, China’s Shanghai Composite index rose 0.3% at 2,245 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.3% to 22,908 today.


STOCK MOVERS

Domestically, the key sectoral indices gainers were healthcare, IT, Power, Metal while banks, capital goods, FMCG indices dropped on the BSE.

The gainers included counters such as Maruti Suzuki gaining 1.6%, Bharti Airtel added 1.4%, Hindalco Industries rose 1.3% on the BSE.

The laggards were BHEL falling 2.5%, HDFC and HDFC Bank declined 1.3% each, HUL fell 1.6% on the BSE.