Sensex turns negative amid rangebound trade

Key benchmark indices are trading lower amid a rangebound session; losses in IT stocks such as TCS amid heavy profit booking offset the gains in oil & gas counters. Broader markets too fell flat in afternoon trades erasing gains clocked earlier in the day.  

At 02:28 PM, the 30-share Sensex was down almost 76 points or 0.3% at 20,471 while the broader 50-share NSE Nifty was down 33 points or 0.5% trading at 6,055 levels.  

The strengthening spree of the rupee continued in afternoon trades due to dollar sale by exporters. However, month-end dollar demand is approaching, which may keep the rupee under pressure.

At 02:31pm, the rupee was trading at Rs 61.44 compared with previous close of Rs 61.85 per dollar on Tuesday.

Global risk appetite remains robust as US Senate leaders announced a deal to prevent the United States from defaulting on its debt and end the government shutdown. US legislators produced a last-minute deal to lift the U.S. government's borrowing limit and dodge a potentially catastrophic debt default.

Capping weeks of political brinkmanship that had unnerved global markets, President Barack Obama quickly signed the spending measure, which passed the Senate and House of Representatives after Republicans dropped efforts to use the legislation to force changes in his signature healthcare law

Asian markets finished mixed as of the most recent closing prices. The Nikkei 225 gained 0.83%, while the Hang Seng led the Shanghai Composite lower. They fell 0.57% and 0.21% respectively

European markets are weak today with stocks in France off the most. The CAC 40 is down 0.67% while Germany's DAX is off 0.61% and London's FTSE 100 is lower by 0.32%.

Back home, Axis Bank today posted a net profit of Rs 1,362.3 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2013 as compared to Rs 1,123.5 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2012, a gain of 21%.  

Domestically, the key sectoral gainers were oil and gas, FMCG and consumer durables were the major gainers while IT, TECk and Capital goods remained the major laggards.

Top laggards on the BSE are TCS down 4.3%, Tata Motors down 4.1% and L&T down 3.2%.

The gainers were Bajaj Auto rising 2%, Bharti Artel gained 1.7%, HUL was up 1.5%, Tata Steel added 1.5% while ONGC gained 1% on the BSE.

The key notable movers included counters such as Shares of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and HCL Technologies are trading lower by over 1% each on the bourses on profit bookings after reporting September quarter earnings.

TCS is down 3% at Rs 2,159 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The stock opened at Rs 2,240 and hit a low of Rs 2,148 so far. A combined around 783,444 shares change hands on the counter so far on BSE and NSE.

Bajaj Auto is trading higher by 2% at Rs 2,167 in early morning deals on BSE after reporting a better-than-expected 13% year-on-year (yoy) growth in net profit at Rs 837 crore for the second quarter ended September 2013 (Q2), boosted by export gains from rupee depreciation. The company had profit of Rs 740 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Market breath is weak as 1156 stocks advanced against a decline seen in 1165 stocks on the BSE.