Nifty settles below 8600 mark; lowest in 9 weeks

The Indian stock market closed lower by 1.5% after a two-day holiday, as Federal Reserve minutes boosted the case for higher U.S. interest rates.

Post September 29, this was the steepest drop witnessed by the domestic market, when post the minutes of the Fed meeting last month, several officials said a rate hike was needed “relatively soon”.

The Sensex hit its lowest level in more than 13 weeks. The Niftyhit its lowest level in 9 weeks. Sentiments dampened mainly in reaction to the latest US Fed meeting minutes, suggesting a rate hike in December and further worsened with decline in Asian counterparts, after China reported noticeable contraction in export figures. 

Finally, the BSE Sensex ended today’s trading with a loss of 439 points at 27,643. It opened at 28,043, touched an intra-day high of 28,043 and low of 27,643.

The NSE Nifty closed with a loss of 135 points at 8,573. It opened at 8,672, hit an intra-day high of 8,682 and low of 8,541.

Among the 50 stocks of the Nifty, ONGC, Infosys, Maruti Suzuki, Cipla, Hero MotoCorp, BPCL, Eicher Motors and Asian Paints were among the gainers, whereas Bank of Baroda, Adani Ports, Idea Cellular, Aurobindo Pharma, HDFC, Tata Power and Hindalco were among the losers today.

Heavy selling was witnessed in realty, banking, telecom, metal, finance, auto, consumer durables and pharma stocks. Only IT index closed up.

The India VIX (Volatility) index was down 7.98% at 15.4250. Out of 1,504 stocks traded on the NSE, 1,190 declined and 280 advanced today.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices closed in the red.

The rupee was trading down 38 paise at 66.91 per US dollar.

On the economy front, Industrial output remained negative for the second month in a row, contracting by 0.7% in August due to aslump in manufacturing, mining and capital goods segments.

On the global front, Asian markets closed lower. China's September exports fell 10% from a year earlier, far more than markets had expected, while imports unexpectedly shrank 1.9%. Hang Seng and Nikkei 225 closed lower. Shanghai Composite ended marginally higher.

In Europe, the CAC 40 and DAX and FTSE 100 are trading in red.

Metal stocks fell 2%. The stocks have come under pressure reflecting weakness in global metal prices after exports to the world's biggest metals consumer China fell more than expected in the month of September. SAIL tanked 4%, while Hindalco slipped 3.5% on the BSE.

TCS dropped 2.2% to Rs 2328 on the BSE. The IT Company will announce its Q2 numbers today.

Cyient soared 11.5%. The company reported a net profit of Rs 97.2 crore for quarter-ended September, compared to Rs 74 crore previous quarter. Net sales came in at Rs 913 crore versus Rs 834 crore, quarter-on-quarter.

Infosys surged 2.2% to Rs 1052 on the BSE. The IT Company will announce its Q2 numbers tomorrow.

IndusInd Bank erased morning gains and closed marginally lower on the BSE. The bank reported a 26% YoY increase in net profit to Rs 704.26 crore for the quarter ended September 30.

Zee Ent slipped 3.7%. Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd reached an agreement to buy Reliance Broadcast Networks Ltd, as per media reports.

Cipla closed marginally higher by 0.22% at Rs 582 after the U.S. United States Food and Drug Administration gave a clean chit to the pharmaceutical major’s Indore plant.

Sunil Hitech Engineers surged 7.5% to Rs 406.80 after its board approved 1 for 1 bonus shares and also approved issuing one crore convertible warrants to the promoters and non promoters.

IL&FS Engineering and Construction climbed 2.5%. IL&FS Engineering and Construction Company Ltd (IL&FS Engineering Services) has bagged a Rs 162.58 crore pipeline contract in Bihar from GAIL (Gas Authority of India Ltd).

Sun Pharma slipped 1.8% to Rs 740. Sun Pharma is recalling 31,762 bottles of bupropion hydrochloride extended-release tablets in the US, used for treatment of major depressive disorder, as per media reports.

MT Educare tumbled 4.9% after the company is in talks with private equity firms and structured finance funds to raise as much Rs 150 crore, according to two people with direct knowledge of the development, as per media reports.

Blue Dart tanked 4.2% after the logistics company reported a 21% decline in its net profit to Rs 42.8 crore for the quarter ended September.

A total of 61 stocks registered a fresh 52-week high in trades today, whereas 20 stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE.

Nifty struggles below 8650, Sensex drags; Tata Motors, HDFC down

Selling continues on Dalal Street as the Sensex is down 270.22 points or 0.9 percent at 27812.12. The Nifty is down 86.30 points or 0.9 percent at 8622.50. About 872 shares have advanced, 1509 shares declined, and 100 shares are unchanged. 

Infosys, ONGC, Cipla, Asian Paints and M&M are gainers while Tata Motors, HDFC, Adani Ports, ICICI Bank and TCS are losers in the Sensex. 

Gold prices rose as the US dollar pared early gains and equities plunged on Chinese trade data that stoked concerns about the health of the world's No.2 economy. The climb in bullion came despite signals from the US Federal Reserve minutes that the central bank could raise interest rates in December. 

Asian stocks stumbled to three-week lows and US stock futures and Treasury yields fell after China's September trade data showed a sharp decline in exports.

Nifty falls below 8,650 mark

The domestic market drop most since since September 29 after the minutes of the Fed meeting of last month showed several officials saying a rate hike was needed “relatively soon”.

The Sensex is trading below its crucial support level of 28,000, while Nifty breaks below its crucial support level of 8,650.

At 9:30 AM, the S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 27,835 down 247 points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 8,641 down 74 points.

The BSE Mid-cap Index is trading down 0.80% at 13,407 whereas BSE Small-cap Index is trading down 0.61% at 13,171.

Cipla, Infosys, ONGC and Hero MotoCorp are among the gainers, whereas RIL, ICICI Bank, M&M, HDFC, Tata Motors and HDFC Bank are losing sheen on BSE.

Some buying activity is seen in IT sector, while realty, banking, finance, utilities, auto and telecom are showing weakness on BSE.

The INDIA VIX is up 3.15% at 14.7350. Out of 1,841 stocks traded on the NSE, 1,031 declined, 391 advanced and 419 remained unchanged today.

A total of 39 stocks registered a fresh 52-week high in trades today, while nine stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE.

Asian markets opened flat after seeing huge gyrations in the last 3 days as strength in the US$ which hit 97.7 or a fresh 4 month high led to profit booking in equities. This along with rise in bond yields on the US 10 year treasury paper which hit 1.76% or also a 4 month high as odds of a Fed rate hike in December hit 68%. With uncertainty also rising on the US elections due on 8th November investors chose to raise cash & equities globally bore the brunt of the same.

Wall Street marginally higher after minutes of the last US Federal Reserve policy meeting indicated a December rate increase was still on the cards. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 15.54 points, or 0.09% to 18,144.2, the S&P 500 gained 2.45 points, or 0.11% to 2,139.18 and the Nasdaq Composite dipped 7.77 points, or 0.15% to 5,239.02.

Oil prices struggled after falling 1 percent overnight after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries reported its output hit an eight-year high in September, offsetting optimism over the group's pledge to restrict output.

On the economy front, India’s Industrial production during August contracted by 0.7%, painting a bleak picture of economy. The decline in output is attributed to yet another contraction in capital goods. Output of capital goods declined by a steep 22.2%, registering de-growth for consecutive ten months. On cumulative basis, capital goods output has declined by 19% during the first eight months of this calendar year, when compared with growth of 8.5% during the same period in 2015. Growth in consumer durables slowed as well, impacting traction in consumer goods segment.