Markets slip in red; Nifty trades below 9,600 ahead of Fed outcome

The S&P BSE Midcap was little changed, while the S&P BSE Smallcap (0.2%) gained marginally

The benchmark indices were trading flat on Wednesday taking lead from mixed trend in Asian markets after Wall Street notched another all-time high ahead of US Federal Reserve's policy outcome. 

At 11:34 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 31,056, down 47 points, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 9,581, down 25 points. 

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Midcap and S&P BSE Smallcap indices lost 0.5% and 0.2%, respectively.

"We reiterate advising booking profits once the Nifty approaches the resistance zone of 9,700-9,720 levels. For the today's session, 9,580 would be seen as immediate strong support level for the index," said Angel Broking in a technical note.  

Sectors and stocks

Nifty Metal index (down 1%) shed the most, led by losses in Jindal Steel, Hindalco and Vedanta which shed up to 2% on the NSE. 

Wipro was the top loser on Sensex and Nifty and slipped nearly 2% to Rs 254.50 after the country's third largest software services firm invested $809,690 (about Rs 5.12 crore) in management and IT consulting firm Drivestream.

Among gainers, Dr Reddy's gained over 2% to Rs 2,682 after the company received Establishment Inspection Report (EIR) from USFDA for its active pharmaceutical plant (API) at Miryalaguda indicating the successful closure of the agency’s audit. The stock was the top gainer on Sensex.

RBI identifies 12 mega defaulters

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday said its internal advisory committee (IAC) had identified 12 accounts that covered about 25% of the banking system’s non-performing assets for immediate resolution under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

The gross bad debt of the Indian banking system as of March was at Rs 7.11 lakh crore, which means the 12 accounts would be responsible for about Rs 1.78 lakh crore.

The central bank did not give the names of the borrowers.

Fed meet outcome awaited

The US Fed is scheduled to announce its monetary policy decision later today at the end of a two-day policy meeting. Fed may also provide more clues on how it plans to reduce its holdings of more than $4 trillion in Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities.

Economists polled by Reuters overwhelmingly see the US central bank hiking its benchmark rate to a target range of 1% to 1.25% this week, though expectations for further rate increases are fading.

Fed Funds futures put the odds of a rate hike tomorrow at over 90%.

Global markets

Asian shares turned mixed as investors everywhere awaited clarity on Fed's future path for US policy after a likely rate rise later in the day.

Economic data out of China showed retail sales and industrial output topped forecasts in May, but a miss in urban investment reinforced views the world's second-largest economy will soon start to lose some momentum as lending costs rise and the property market cools.

The market reaction was tepid with Shanghai stocks easing 0.5% and South Korea off 0.2%.

Moves elsewhere were also cautious with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan up a fraction and Japan's Nikkei ahead by 0.1%.

Wall Street had been in a more confident mood overnight notching record closing peaks for all the major indices. The Dow rose 0.44%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.45% and the Nasdaq 0.73%.

(With inputs from Reuters)