Markets swing between gains and losses

Markets traded volatile after a positive start this Monday on back of slight profit-taking in the software exporters amid caution ahead of the US Federal Reserve policy meeting and RBI policy review next week.

At 10:10AM, the 30-share Sensex rose 7 points to trade at 20,890 and the 50-share Nifty was up 3 points at 6,192 levels.  

The Fed is expected to keep its bond-purchasing program until March next year because the shutdown probably slowed fourth-quarter US growth and also interrupted the flow of data, according to market experts. The policy is scheduled on October 30.

Meanwhile the Reserve Bank of India in its Oct 29 meet may hike interest rates to support currency after Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation climbed to 7-month high of 6.46 per cent.

The broader markets traded firm with mid-caps and small-caps rising 1 per cent on the BSE.

The market breadth was positive. Out of 1,223 stocks traded, 876 stocks advanced while 301 stocks declined on the BSE.


RUPEE

The rupee opened negative this morning on back of month-end dollar demand by the importers.

At 10:10AM, the partially convertible rupee was trading at 61.52 per dollar against the Friday’s close of 61.27 on the Interbank Foreign Exchange.


GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stocks rose, with the regional benchmark index extending its advance from a five-month high, amid speculation the Federal Reserve will delay stimulus cuts.

China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.5% to 2,204, Singapore’s Straits Times rose 0.1% to 3,195, Japan’s Nikkei was up 0.8% to 14,677, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.6% to 23,475.


STOCK MOVERS

Domestically, the key sectoral gainers were capital goods, auto, banks, healthcare and realty while IT, consumer durables and FMCG indices declined on the BSE.

The laggards were TCS falling 1.6%, ITC declined 1%, Jindal Steel fell 1.1% while Infosys was down 0.5% on the BSE.  

The gainers were Larsen & Toubro rising 3.8%, Maruti Suzuki gained 3%, Hindalco Industries added 2.7% while Mahindra and Mahindra was up 1.7%.

The key notable movers included counters such as Federal Bank that has surged 12% to Rs 80.10 in early morning deals on BSE after reporting a better than expected 5% year on year (yoy) growth in net profit at Rs 226 crore for the quarter ended September 2013 due to lower provisioning for bad loans. Analyst on an average analyst estimates of Rs 149 crore for the quarter.