Nifty swings as US debt deadline nears

 

The National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty index traded extremely volatile in the afternoon session this Tuesday as investors remained apprehensive over developments in Washington ahead of tomorrow’s trading holiday at domestic bourses.

Two days to the deadline, Senate Republicans and Democrats were at loggerheads in raising US debt ceiling and end a partial government shutdown that enters its third week.

At 2:20PM, the 30-share Sensex rose 20 points to trade at 20,626 and the 50-share Nifty was up 1 point at 6,113 levels.  Indian financial markets will be shut tomorrow for a public holiday.

The broader markets traded lower with mid-caps and small-caps falling 0.5-0.6 per cent on the BSE.

The market breadth was positive. Out of 6,348  stocks traded, 1,356 stocks declined while 858 stocks advanced on the BSE.


RUPEE

Rupee gained some ground in e afternoon trades amid speculation of an intervention by the Reserve Bank of India.

At 2:20PM, the partially convertible rupee was trading at 61.47 per dollar against the yesterday’s close of 61.55 on the Interbank Foreign Exchange.


GLOBAL MARKETS

European stocks rose for a fourth day, amid optimism Senate leaders will forge a deal to reopen the US government and avoid a breach of the debt limit. US index futures were little changed, while Asian shares advanced.

China’s Shanghai Composite dropped 0.2% to 2,233, Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.2% to 14,441, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.5% to 23,336.


STOCK MOVERS

Domestically, the key sectoral gainers were IT, metal, oil & gas while bankex, consumer durables, PSU, realty and power indices dropped on the BSE.

The laggards were Tata Power fell 1.8%, HDFC Bank declined 1.5%, GAIL fell 1.2% while ICICI Bank was down 0.8% on the BSE.  

The gainers were Tata Steel rising 3.4%, Bharti Airtel gained 3.2%, Wipro added 2.6%, Hindalco Industries gained 1.5% while Infosys was up 0.8% on the BSE.