Share Market: Equity benchmark indices fell in early trade on Thursday in line with weak trends in global markets amid lack of any breakthrough in US debt ceiling talks. However, later both the indices Sensex and Nifty became volatile and were oscillating between higher and lower.
BSE’s 30-share Sensex fell 75.1 points to close at 61,698. 68 in early trade after starting the day on a weak note. The NSE Nifty fell 31.05 points to 18,254.35 in early trade. But later the Sensex closed down 25.46 points at 61,748.32 and the Nifty closed down 16.25 points at 18,270.05.
In sectoral indices, energy, IT and financial services were trading in the negative zone on Thursday morning. Telecom and Auto indices are trading in the positive zone in the morning.
From the Sensex pack, Tata Motors, State Bank of India, Mahindra & Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Wipro, IndusInd Bank, HDFC, Infosys, Tata Steel, Axis Bank, Tata Consultancy Services and Reliance Industries were the major laggards.
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ITC, Nestle, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bharti Airtel, Power Grid and Larsen & Toubro were among the gainers. In Asian bourses, Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong declined, while Tokyo was trading in the green.
How have Asian and European markets fared?
In Asian markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng tumbled 391 points, Japan’s Nikkei gained 165 points, China’s Shanghai lost 21 points and Thailand SET and Philippine Stock Exchange were trading in the negative territory at the domestic market open on Thursday.
In the European market, CAC, BEL, Deutsche Börse and Amsterdam Exchange were trading in the positive zone; FTSE 100, FTSE 250 were trading in the positive zone.
The US market closed down on Wednesday. “Markets are overshadowed by the uncertain Fed stance and ongoing talks about US debt ceiling,” said Prashant Tapase, Senior Vice President (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.
“The key factor weighing down the markets in the near term is the lack of success in the US debt ceiling standoff,” said K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
Brent crude is seeing a decline
Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude fell 0.05 per cent to USD 78.32 per barrel. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers on Wednesday, buying shares worth Rs 1,185.84 crore, according to exchange data.
The Indian rupee (INR) opened 10 paise lower against the US dollar on Thursday as safe-haven dollar increased demand amid concerns over the US debt ceiling. The INR currency opened higher at 82.76 per dollar as compared to the previous close of 82.66.
(with inputs from agencies)