Sensex off lows, F&O expiry keeps market volatile

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Markets pared intra-day losses in the late-afternoon session this Wednesday on back of buying witnessed in pharmaceutical stocks amid spike in volatility ahead of Thursday's derivative expiry of September contracts.

Global investor sentiments, however, remained weak on concerns over political dysfunction in US as lawmakers struggle to authorize more borrowing plan ahead of next month’s default.

Risk appetite was also frail on looming uncertainty over US Federal Reserve’s plan to cut stimulus package after investors were caught on the wrong foot last week by Fed’s decision to hold bond-buying plan.

At 2:30PM, the 30-share Sensex fell 84  points at 19,837 and the 50-share Nifty declined 28 points at 5,864  levels.

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 reports suggest.

The broader markets fell with mid-caps and small-caps falling 0.2 per cent on the BSE.

The market breadth was positive. Out of 2,318 stocks traded, 1,261 stocks declined while 896 stocks advanced on the BSE.


Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) flows

Foreign institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 210 million on Tuesday, adding to Monday's sales of Rs 259 million.


RUPEE

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

At 02:30PM, the partially convertible rupee was trading at 62.65 per dollar against the yesterday’s close of 62.77 on the Interbank Foreign Exchange.


GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stocks fell for a second day, paring the biggest monthly advance since January 2012 for the regional benchmark index, after US consumer confidence slumped in September to a four-month low.

Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.7% to 14,620, Singapore’s Straits Times fell 0.2% at 3,205, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.1% to 23,209 while China’s Shanghai Composite index was down 0.5% to 2,198.

European markets also opened lower. France’s CAC declined 0.1% to 4,192, Germany’s DAX shed 0.1% to 8,656 while UK’s FTSE was down 0.1% to 6,562.

STOCK MOVERS

Domestically, the key sectoral losers were realty, banks, oil & gas, FMCG, PSU indices while power, capital goods, healthcare led the gain on the BSE.

The laggards were Reliance Industries declined 3%, HDFC Bank fell 2.8%, HUL and ITC fell nearly 2% each on the BSE.  

The gainers were BHEL surging 7%, Hindalco gained 3%, Tata Motors added 2.6% while Sun Pharma rose 1.7%  on the BSE.