Sensex recoups from day's low; metals shine

Markets recovered from intra-day losses and touched day's high amid expectations that the government may soon announce measures to curb currency drop.

At 2:40PM, the 30-share Sensex gained 59 points at 18,792 and the 50-share Nifty rose 12 points at 5,555 levels.

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Updated at 2:20PM IST

Indian stock markets pared early losses in the afternoon session this Wednesday on back of recovery seen in the broader indices and local currency amid expectations that the government may soon announce measures to curb currency drop.

Rupee traded at 61.14 a dollar from Tuesday's close of 61.80 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange Market.

At 2:20PM, the 30-share Sensex dropped 34 points at 18,697 and the 50-share Nifty fell 18 points at 5,523 levels.

Reports suggest that the governmnet may relax borrowing rules for debt-laden Indian companies including doubling the amount a firm can borrow overseas to $1.5 billion.

Globally, Asian shares dropped to 2-week low after the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher said the central bank is closer to slowing bond purchases that have stoked global equity gains.

Japan’s Nikkei dropped 4% to 13,824, Singapore Straits Times was tad 0.03% to 3,225, China’s Shanghai Composite index was down 0.6%  at 2,046 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 1.5% to 21,588 today.

European markets traded weak. France's CAC declined 0.17% to 4,025, Germany's DAX dropped 0.4% to 8,268 while UK's FTSE shed 0.26% to 6,587.

Domestically, among the key sectoral indices,  FMCG, capital goods, auto, IT sectors declined while oil & gas, power and PSU indices gained on the BSE.

The gainers included counters such as Sterlite Industries rising 3%, SBI  gained 2.7%, Tata Power added 2.6%, Coal India was up 2.3% while Jindal Steel rose 2.5% on the BSE.

The laggards were HDFC declining 3.3%, Bajaj Auto shed 3%, ITC dropped 3% while Larsen & Toubro was down 2% on the BSE.

The key notable movers included counters such as Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) that is locked in lower circuit for fifth day in a row, down 10% at Rs 299 on BSE, despite of the company’s clarification that it has a strong debt-free balance sheet with a networth in excess of Rs 1,200 crore as on June 30, 2013.

Strides Arcolab has soared nearly 20% to Rs 833 after the company received tentative approval from the US health regulator for anti-AIDS combination drug. The benchmark index S&P BSE Sensex has fallen 4% during the same period.

The broader markets traded firm with mid-caps and small-caps gaining 0.6-0.7 per cent on the BSE.

The market breadth was flat. Out of 2,238 stocks traded, 1,009 stocks declined while 1,083 stocks advanced on the BSE.