Indices take a breather..Nifty back above 8,700 mark

The Indian equity market fluctuated between gains and losses and closed higher on Wednesday. The domestic market snapped a two-day losing streak. Basic Materials, consumer durables, utilities, banking, power, industrial and telecom stocks led from the front, while IT, energy and teck stocks were among the major loser.

On the economic front, India's wholesale-price index (WPI) rose 3.74% in August, quicker than the 3.55% increase in July. IIP fell 2.4% in July 2016 over the same month last year. Industrial production expanded 2.1% in June 2016 over the year-ago month, while consumer price index (CPI) for August 2016 slowed to 5.05%.

Among the 50-stocks of Nifty, Bank of Baroda, Yes Bank, Tata Motors DVR, UltraTech Cement, Axis Bank, SBI and Tata Motors were among the gainers on NSE, whereas Bosch, Coal India, ONGC, TCS, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Eicher Motors were among the losers today.

Finally, the BSE Sensex ended with a gain of 19 points at 28,372. The BSE Sensex opened at 28,345 touched an intra-day high of 28,416 and low of 28,259.

The NSE Nifty closed with a gain of 11 points at 8,727. The NSE Nifty opened at 8,711 hitting a high of 8,740 and low of 8,689.

The India VIX (Volatility) index was down 3.13% at 14.7625.

Out of 1,474 stocks traded on the NSE, 439 declined and 982 advanced today.In the broader markets, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices each ended over 1%.

The rupee was trading up 2 paise at 66.90 per US dollar.

Sensex, Nifty volatile; Metal, FMCG drag

The BSE Sensex opened 8.05 points down at 28,345.49, whileNifty50 index opened 4.95 points down at 8,710.65.

At 9:29 AM, the S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 28,375 up 21 points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 8,725 up nine points.

The BSE Mid-cap Index is trading up 0.63% at 13,033 whereas BSE Small-cap Index is trading up 0.58% at 12,632.

Asian Paints, Axis Bank, SBI, ICICI Bank, Hero MotoCorp and RIL are among the gainers, whereas Tata Steel, Coal India, Tata Motors, ITC, TCS, HDFC Bank and HDFC are losing sheen on BSE.

Some buying activity is seen in realty, teleco, oil & gas, pharma, consumer durables and banking sectors, while metal and FMCG sectors are showing weakness on BSE.

The INDIA VIX is down 1.90% at 14.9500. Out of 1,831 stocks traded on the NSE, 406 declined, 1,028 advanced and 397 remained unchanged today.

A total of 17 stocks registered a fresh 52-week high in trades today, while 10 stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE.

The rupee opened lower by eight paise at 66.99/$ against US Dollar Wednesday as against the previous close of 66.91/$.  

US stocks have fallen sharply on Tuesday. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.41% to end at 18,066.75 points and the S&P 500 lost 1.48% to 2,127.02. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.09%  to 5,155.26.

Asian markets are lower this morning. Shanghai Composite and Nikkei 225 slippeed are trading in red, while Hang Seng is marginally up.

CPI for the month of August fell sharply to 5.05% yoy from 6.07% in July due to a steep fall in food prices. WPI number for August will be closely eyed today.

India’s June-September monsoon rains could start withdrawing from the north-western region of the country in the next 3-4 days, the weather department said.