Market closes lower amid volatility; Nifty settles at 8,153.60

Towards end of the trading hours, Sensex and Nifty both lost points it had gained in the afternoon hours of trade. Both indices closed in red, Nifty ended at 8153 while Sensex ended losing more than 80 points. Nifty sectoral indices end on a mixed note wherein Nifty PSU Bank had gained 0.75%, followed by Nifty IT which gained 0.66% while Nifty Pharma and FMCG were worst hit, down 1.88% and 0.87% respectively.

Majority of the Asian indices, with the exception of Japan, ended on a weaker note due to the US Federal Reserve's hawkish outlook on interest rates. Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended at 22059 down 1.77%, Singapore's Straits Times ended at 2930 down 0.79%, China's Shanghai Composite ended at 3117 down 0.73%, however Japan's Nikkei 225 closed at 19273 up 0.1%, the only index to end in green.

On the other hand, the European benchmark indices were up in early trade after the US Central bank announcement where it had raised its policy interest rate by 25 bps and indicated three hikes next year. The banking stocks were the lead gainers across Europe, as market participants saw the US rate hike as a positive for the financial sector, which has been struggling with low yields for close to almost 8 years. CAC-40 was trading at 4797 up 0.60%, DAX was trading at 11304 up 0.53% and FTSE 100 was trading at 6936 down 0.19%. The US Nasdaq was trading at 5436 down 0.50%

The BSE Sensex ended with a loss of 84 points at 26519. The benchmark indices opened at 26497.71, touched an intra-day high of 26737.86 and low of 26407.58.

The NSE Nifty was down 29 points and closed at 8,153. It opened at 8,128.40 points, hitting a high of 8,225.90 and low of 8,121.95.

The India VIX (Volatility) index was down 5.65% at 15.6. The BSE Midcap closed at 12240.8 and Smallcap indices closed at 12143.4, both closing marginally up.

Out of 1470 stocks traded on the NSE, 701 declined and 697 advanced today.

A total of 21 stocks registered a fresh 52-week high in trade today, whereas 15 stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE.

At the close of day, Axis Bank, TCS, ONGC, IndusInd Bank, M&M, Bank of Baroda, HCL Tech, PowerGrid were the top gainers while Sun Pharma, Tata Motor DVR, NTPC, Grasim, Ambuja Cement, Tata Motors, Bosch were among the losers on NSE.

The Indian Rupee was trading at 67.82 per dollar. Gold was trading at Rs 27,156 per 10 gms and silver was trading at Rs 40,565 per kg.

Buzzing Stocks:

Bajaj Auto up 1% on launch of  Bajaj Dominar 400 cc bike.

Rallis India H1 FY17 EPS jumped 42% YoY and demonetisation is likely to exert pressure on H2 FY17 performance. Promising progress in new molecule development in CRAMS, and opportunity for sharp earnings growth over next 3-5 years.

Ramco Systems up 8.5% as GoAir upgrades Ramco Aviation Suite V5.5 to V5.8 across 23 locations to experience power of Mobility and Anywhere Apps.

Infosys stocks up +1.53%, Company makes announcement on investment plans in ideaForge.

Indian Oil Corp sought up to 80,000 tonnes of 40ppm sulphur diesel for delivery in late December.

Nifty trading over 8200, Sun Pharma down

The S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 26678 up 75 points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 8,203 up 21 points. A total of 16 stocks registered a fresh 52-week high in trade today, while 14 stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE.

Out of 1882 stocks traded on the NSE, 484 declined, 1027 advanced and 371 remained unchanged today.

The BSE Mid-cap Index is trading up 0.36% at 12285, whereas BSE Small-cap Index is trading up 0.68% at 12200.8.

Some buying activity is observed in Information Technology, Bank, Auto, Metal, Capital Goods sectors, while Healthcare, Oil & Gas, FMCG, Energy are showing slight weakness on BSE.

TCS, HCL, M&M, PowerGrid, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Auto, Infosys are among the gainers, whereas Sun Pharma, Tata Motors, BPCL, Ultratech Cement, Bharti Airtel, Dr Reddy are losing sheen on NSE.

The INDIA VIX is down 6.73% at 15.4.

The SGX Nifty 50 December futures were marginally up today.

Buzzing Stocks:

Infosys stocks up +1.53%, Company makes announcement on investment plans in ideaForge.

An overwhelming majority of shareholders of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) voted to oust Cyrus Mistry as Director from the company’s board at the company’s extraordinary general meeting (EGM) held in Mumbai.

The US drug regulator has flagged serious problems with the testing programmes at drugmaker Sun Pharma's manufacturing facility at Halol.

Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India are pushing ahead the government's broad agenda to move towards cashless economy, at a time when demonetisation has crippled cash payments due to inadequate cash in the system. 

Bajaj Electricals has entered into a strategic alliance with the UK-based firm Gooee to create lighting products and solutions on the Internet of Things (IoT) platform.

NTPC has lined up investments worth Rs 26.48 bn for developing three coal blocks in Odisha.

Lupin has received approval from the US health regulator to market its Desoximetasone ointment, used for providing relief from inflammation and itching in a skin disease.

Indian Oil Corp sought up to 80,000t of 40ppm sulphur diesel for delivery in late December. 

Welspun India Ltd announced its foray into flooring solutions with an investment of Rs6bn to set up a manufacturing facility for carpets, area rugs and carpet tiles at Anjar in Kutch district of Gujarat.

Wipro chief executive has split the information technology (IT) major's India and Middle East (West Asia) business in two. And, carved a separate hyper automation group by consolidating the Artificial Intelligence (AI) assets such as Holmes that would be headed by its chief technology officer, K R Sanjiv. 

NTPC has decided to replace over 25-year-old power plants totaling 11GW capacity in the next five years at an investment of Rs 500 billion.

Market rebounds on IT support; Nifty above 8200, Sensex gains.

The market has opened lower tracking global markets reacting to Federal Reserve's interest rate. The Sensex is down 165.32 points or 0.6 percent at 26437.52 and the Nifty is down 53.20 points or 0.6 percent at 8129.25. About 198 shares have advanced, 701 shares declined, and 28 shares are unchanged.

 Tata Motors, ITC, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma and Hero MotoCorp are losers in the Sensex. Among gainers are Adani Ports, Cipla, Infosys and Dr Reddy's Labs. 

Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter point and signaled hikes could come next year at a faster pace than some expected. The Fed's decision to raise rates comes as President-elect Donald Trump, who will be sworn in next month, is seen cutting taxes and increasing spending on infrastructure.

 Fed Chair Janet Yellen indicated the central bank was, at the margins, adapting to Trump, as some committee members began shifting fiscal policy assumptions to slightly faster growth and lower unemployment. 

The Indian rupee has opened at 67.76 against the US dollar, down 33 paise from previous close after the Federal Reserve hiked interest rate and its commentary was more hawkish than expected. 

Mohan Shenoi of Kotak Mahindra Bank says as expected, US Federal Reserve hiked Fed Funds rate by 25 bps overnight. 

He sees the trading range between 67.70 and 68 against the US dollar for the day. 

Asian shares and currencies struggled on Thursday. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 surged 0.91 percent, likely due to a weaker yen which is near an 11-month low against the dollar. Across the Korean strait, the Kospi opened down 0.31 percent. 

US stocks fell the most in two months Energy stocks weighed the most on the S&P 500 after a sharp drop in US crude oil prices. The Fed's decision to raise rates comes as President-elect Donald Trump, who will be sworn in next month, is seen cutting taxes and increasing spending on infrastructure. 

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 118.68 points, or 0.6 percent, to 19,792.53, the S&P 500 lost 18.44 points, or 0.81 percent, to 2,253.28 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 27.16 points, or 0.5 percent, to 5,436.67. 

Among asset classes, US crude prices fell nearly 4 percent, the most since mid-July, on renewed concerns about an oil glut sparked by rising U.S. crude inventories in storage.