Sensex recoups from day's low to end flat; Fed eyed

India’s benchmark index, Sensex ended on a flat note after a volatile trading session as investors braced for the US Federal Reserve policy meeting with caution.

The 50-share Nifty index, however, ended weak with Bank Nifty bearing the maximum brunt after the Reserve Bank of India turned unexpectedly dovish in the monetary policy review yesterday which made the rupee slide below the 61/dollar.

The 30-share Sensex ended lower 2.6 points at 19,345.70 and the 50-share Nifty declined 13 points at 5,742  levels.

The broader markets ended lower with mid-caps and small-caps falling nearly 1 per cent on the BSE.

The market breadth was negative. Out of 2,370     stocks traded, 1,392 stocks declined while 837 stocks advanced on the BSE.

FIIs DATA

Overseas investors have pulled out around Rs 18,400 crore across both the equities and debt markets.

The outflow of foreign money from the debt market was higher compared to the equities markets during the month. FIIs moved out close to Rs 12,000 crore in debt, while equities saw outflows of about Rs 6,000 crore in July.


RUPEE

Indian rupee fell to as low as 61.17 to the dollar in today’s trade on month-end dollar demand from importers.

At 4PM, the partially convertible currency was trading at Rs 60.86 compared with previous close of Rs 60.49 against the dollar.   

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian shares ended lower on looming fear over tapering of the stimulus ahead of today’s Federal Reserve monetary policy.

Japan’s Nikkei declined 1.4% to 13,668, Singapore Straits Times fell 0.7% to 3,221, China’s Shanghai Composite index was up 0.2%  at 1,993 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.3% to 21,883 today.

The Fed will release its post-meeting statement at 1800 GMT which may hold details related to tapering of stimulus and markets have two major reports this week.   

GDP data on Wednesday is expected to show growth slowed to an annualised pace of 1.0% in the second quarter from 1.8% in the first, while payrolls data on Friday is forecast to show a fall in the jobless rate.

Meanwhile, European shares recovered in late trades. France’s CAC gained 0.04% to 3,988, Germany’s DAX gained 0.09% to 8,277 while UK’s FTSE was up 0.6% to 6,614.


GAINERS/LOSERS

Among the key sectoral indices , FMCG, realty, bankex, power indices dropped while IT, metal and consumer durable sectors  gained on the BSE.

The gainers included counters such as Wipro rising 4%, Bharti Airtel gained 7%, Dr Reddy’s rose 4.7%, BHEL was up 3.6% respectively on the BSE.

The laggards were NTPC declining 5%, HDFC Bank shed 2.5%, ITC  dropped 2.5% while Cipla was down 2% on the BSE.


STOCK MOVERS

AVT Natural Products zoomed 20% to Rs 31.60, bouncing back over 26% from day’s low, after it board approved the issue of bonus shares in the ratio of 1:1.

NTPC slipped 5% , extending its previous day’s 3% fall, after reporting a marginal 1% year-on-year (yoy) growth in net profit at Rs 2,527 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2013 (Q1), due to low demand for electricity. The power major had profit of Rs 2,499 crore in a year ago quarter.

YES Bank tanked over 7% to Rs 323.80, also its 52-week low on BSE, on PTI reports that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that it is seized of the ongoing boardroom battle at private lender and may make necessary changes in the required norms on appointment of directors on bank boards, if needed.