Key benchmark indices edged lower in early trade as Asian stocks fell after minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting signaled US stimulus may be reduced in coming months and as a preliminary gauge showed that China's manufacturing activity decelerated this month. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 146.07 points or 0.71%, off 90.20 points from the day's high and up 27.26 points from the day's low. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. The US central bank currently buys bonds worth $85 billion a month in a bid to hold interest rates low and encourage economic growth in the world's biggest economy. Fed's bond-buying program has been a source of liquidity for most Asian and emerging markets this year. In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar in early deals.
Index heavyweight and cigarette major ITC fell in early trade. Another index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) also declined in early trade. Bank pivotals dropped in early trade.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 80.40 crore on Wednesday, 20 November 2013, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
At 9:25 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 146.07 points or 0.71% to 20,489.06. The index lost 173.43 points at the day's low of 20,461.70 in early trade. The index fell 55.87 points at the day's high of 20,579.26 in opening trade.
The CNX Nifty was down 42.55 points or 0.69% to 6,080.35. The index hit a high of 6,097.35 in intraday trade. The index hit a low of 6,068.80 in intraday trade.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On BSE, 679 shares declined and 399 shares gained. A total of 43 shares were unchanged.
The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 122 crore by 09:25 IST.
Among the 30-share Sensex pack, 25 stocks declined and rest of them gained.
Index heavyweight and cigarette major ITC fell 1.01% to Rs 317.70.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) lost 0.95% to Rs 855.40.
Bank pivotals dropped in early trade. HDFC Bank fell 1.57%.
ICICI Bank lost 1.3%. ICICI Bank early this week said that the bank acting through its Dubai branch, priced an issuance of 5.5 year fixed rate notes of an aggregate principal amount of $750 million. The notes were sold under the Rule 144A/Reg S format. The notes carry a coupon of 4.8% and were offered at an issue price of 99.609.
State Bank of India fell 1.14%
Asian stocks fell on Thursday, 21 November 2013, after minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting signaled US stimulus may be reduced in coming months and as a preliminary gauge showed that China's manufacturing activity decelerated this month. Key benchmark indices in Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Indonesia and South Korea fell by 0.43% to 1.2%. Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 1.27%.
China manufacturing activity growth slipped to a two-month low as export orders swung to a decline, according to preliminary results from HSBC's monthly gauge of the sector, released Thursday. The "flash" version of the HSBC/Markit China manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index eased to 50.4, compared to last month's 50.9 reading.
The Bank of Japan kept its policy rates and asset-purchasing program unchanged Thursday, as widely expected. The decision, which came just three weeks after the central bank's previous policy statement, was unanimous. It also made no changes to its assessment of the economy, which it said "has been recovering moderately" as "exports have generally been picking up." It also cited gains for businesses' fixed investment and corporate profits.
US stocks fell on Wednesday after the minutes of the Federal Reserve's October meeting minutes signaled the central bank is on track to slow down its $85 billion a month bond bond-buying program that has boosted the equity market. Central bank policy makers "generally expected that the data would prove consistent with the committee's outlook for ongoing improvement in labor-market conditions and would thus warrant trimming the pace of purchases in coming months," according to minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee's Oct. 29-30 meeting.
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