Asian cues, Fed meet keep markets subdued, auto stocks' dip

MUMBAI: Negative global cues, along with US Fed's rate setting meet, kept India's equities market subdued on Wednesday.

The benchmark equity indices opened flat and started to fall from the first few minutes of trade.

Among sectors, metal and telecom stocks gained while auto and realty sectors fell.

The S&P BSE Sensex closed at 52,443.71, lower by 135.05 points, or 0.26 per cent, from its previous close.

The NSE Nifty50 ended the day's trade at 15,709.40, lower by 37.05 points, or 0.24 per cent, from its previous close.

"Nifty broke the 15,635 support but bounced back to close marginally in the negative for the day. The selling in the markets got arrested once the Hongkong and Chinese markets reversed their weak trend this morning showing signs of stability after three days of sharp weakness," HDFC Securities' Head of Retail Research Deepak Jasani said.

"Global markets show some stability ahead of US Fed meet. Broad market, however, shows weakness as per the weak advance decline ratio. Nifty can now stay in the 15,635-15,797 band for the next 1-2 sessions."

LKP Securities' Head of Research S. Ranganathan said: "Markets opened weak and we saw a bout of panic selling as the Chinese fiasco and crackdown made the street nervous even as smart investors sensed the emerging opportunity in a democratic set up here."

"Broader markets saw interested in buying across pockets like Paper, Steel, and Home Textiles. Markets, however, recouped most of losses in late afternoon trade despite persistent weakness in financial stocks."

Geojit Financial Services' Head of Research Vinod Nair said: "Jitters over Chinese clampdown and wariness over ongoing Fed meeting outcome, continue to disturb the domestic market. However, as the global markets gained ground after the recent sell-off, losses were trimmed by the end of the day. Due to a weak start to the sector earnings, pharma stocks continued to trade in bear's grip while banking, auto and realty stocks were feeble too."

"Globally, the Fed's comment on economic recovery, inflation and monetary policy may provide hints about tapering, which will determine the mood of the market in the near future." (IANS)

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