India : Markets to open weak; jitters from Fed’s rate hike to be felt

Indian markets on Wednesday ended on a disappointing note as cautiousness prevailed ahead of the US Reserve’s outcome. Among the individual stocks, Coal India tanked over 4 per cent followed by ONGC, Power Grid, Cipla and ICICI Bank. On the flip side, Axis Bank gained over 3 per cent followed by Reliance Industries, Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors.  Finally, the NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, ended lower by about half a per cent to settle at level of 8182.45, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s sensitive Index-Sensex tumbled about ninety four points and closed at 26,602.  European stocks finished lower on Wednesday, stepping away from their best levels in 11 months, as investors anticipated interest-rate increase by the U.S Federal Reserve. The CAC 40 was down 0.73 per cent while London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.28 per cent and Germany’s DAX was down 0.35 per cent.The U.S. stocks fell in choppy trade on Wednesday, led lower by energy and utilities, after the Federal Reserve raised rates for the second time in a decade. The FOMC raised its target range from 0.25 per cent to 0.5 per cent to a range of 0.5 per cent to 0.75 per cent. The committee now expects three rate hikes in 2017, two or three in 2018 and three in 2019. The Dow Jones industrial average closed about 119 points lower. The S&P 500 dropped about 0.8 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.5 per cent.Asian stocks apart from Japan, fell after the U.S Federal Reserve raised interest for the second time in a decade and pointed to a faster pace of increase that was previously expected, a stance that sent the dollar shooting up against other currencies. Nikkei 225 is trading up by 0.19 per cent. On the other hand, Hang Seng is trading lower by 1.55 per cent and Shanghai has witnessed cut of 0.71 per cent on Thursday morning.At 7:54 am, SGX Nifty Index fell 0.65 per cent at 8,131.50, indicating a weak start for Indian equities as investors react to the US Fed’s commentary overnight that hinted at faster rate hikes next year than what markets are expecting.