Market cautious ahead of Fed policy outcome

Asian shares ended higher on global growth recovery optimism

Markets traded flat in a range of 10 points in afternoon trades on Wednesday as investors cautiously awaited the outcome of US Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision due later in the day.

Risk appetite was also frail after the Reserve Bank of India made further rate cuts conditional on government moves to control fiscal deficit.

At 2:10PM, the Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share index Sensex rose 30 points and traded at  20,016.30 while the National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty gained10.10 points  at 6,060.70.

In the results calendar, Balrampur Chini and Titan Industries are scheduled to release their third-quarter results today while Bharti Infratel, ICICI Bank, Godrej Consumer Products, Lupin, Punjab National Bank, Siemens, Shobha Developers, Tata Global Beverages, Trent on Jan 31

 

Asian shares ended on a positive note. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.7% to 23,822, Taiwan's Weighted index gained 0.4% to 7,832,  Singapore's Straits Times inched up 0.64% to 3,284 while China's Shanghai Composite gained 1% to 2,382 and Japan's Nikkei surged 2.3% to 11,113.

US Federal Reserve ends a two-day policy meeting on Wednesday with investors focusing  on the statement for any clues regarding a pull back from its aggressive easing stimulus.

Meanwhile, European markets traded flat. France's CAC gained 0.08% to 3,788, Germany's DAX  was up 0.05% to 7,852 while UK's FTSE was down 0.15% to 6,329.

Back home, oil & gas, consumer durables, metal, banks  rose while barring capital goods, auto, power and FMCG sectors, declined on BSE.

Among key Sensex stocks, Cipla rose 2.4%, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank gained 0.4% and 1% respectively, Hindalco and Sterlite Industries gaine 1%  and 1.7% and Tata Steel notched up 2%, Reliance Industries  gained 2% on BSE.

Among losers,  GAIL fell 3%, ITC fell 1%, Larsen & Toubro and BHEL  dropped 1% and 0.4%,  Infosys fell 0.2% on BSE.

The broader markets are flat with mid-caps  tad up by 0.03% while small-caps  dropped 0.2% on BSE.

The market breadth was weak. Out of 2,829 stocks traded, 1,500 stocks declined compared to 1,190 advances on BSE.