Market Live: Sensex, Nifty volatile ahead of FOMC decision; Reliance leads

12:00 pm WPI inflation: India’s wholesale inflation slipped to 2.17 percent during May as compared to 3.85 percent in April, according to data released by the commerce ministry.

Wholesale inflation rate, measured by the wholesale price index (WPI), is a marker for price movements in bulk buys for traders and broadly mirrors trends in shop-end prices.

The index portrays new series of WPI data released by the government last month, with 2011-12 as the base year, replacing existing the base year of 2004-05.

11:45 am PSU banks consolidation: Four public sector banks (PSBs) have made presentations about their consolidation plans to the Finance Ministry, according to a media report that said these four banks are Canara Bank, Dena Bank, Syndicate Bank and Vijaya Bank.

NITI Aayog was also asked to provide plans for the consolidation of the PSBs as the government wanted to have 4-5 banks of SBI size.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters yesterday that the government is actively working on the consolidation of banks.

11.19 am Market Check: Benchmark indices continued to be choppy in late morning trade, with the Nifty hovering around 9600 level ahead of Federal Open Market Committee’s interest rate decision.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 4.97 points at 31,098.52 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 13 points to 9,593.90. About 1,278 shares declined against 1,000 advancing shares on the BSE.

Ahead of the FOMC meet, economists and traders expect the central bank to raise rates. As per the CME Group’s FedWatch Tool, nearly 100 percent of traders believe that the US Fed will announce an increase in interest rates tonight.

Reliance Industries was top gainer among Sensex stocks, up 2.6 percent followed by ICICI Bank, TCS, Tata Motors, Dr Reddy’s Labs and L&T while HDFC, ITC, Asian Paints and Wipro were down 1-2 percent.

10:50 am MF charges: DSP Black Rock Mutual Fund has modified the exit load structure of DSP BlackRock Equity Savings Fund with immediate effect, the fund house said in a notice today.

The fund house will now charge exit load for switches and systematic transfer plan (STP) made to DSP BlackRock Balanced Fund and all open-ended equity schemes of DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund.

Earlier, the scheme did not charge any exit load for switches or STP made to any other schemes of the fund house.

10:26 am Buzzing: Shares of Raymond lost nearly 4 percent intraday as investors turned wary of the market regulator’s actions on the company.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has initiated a preliminary enquiry against the company over corporate governance lapses relating to the sale attempt of JK House.

The watchdog gave notices to the company’s Board and its audit and remuneration panel for not complying with listing, obligation and disclosure requirements.

The regulator has questioned Raymond’s board and audit committee as to why the information about the tripartite agreement relating to JK House was not disclosed to the stock exchanges and investors over the last ten years. The agreement was signed in November 2007 between the company, Pashmina Holding and each of the sub-lessee.

SEBI has also raised concerns on payment of remuneration in form of commission to non-executive directors. Usually, companies do not pay any fees other than sitting fee and profit-based commission calculated on pre-disclosed performance criteria.

10.05 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks were marginally under pressure amid volatility as investors remained cautious ahead of outcome of Federal Reserve meeting tonight.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 1.79 points at 31,101.70 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 14.25 points to 9,592.65.

The market breadth was also negative as about 1,057 shares declined against 867 advancing shares on the BSE.

“The Federal Reserve is expected to result in rate hike of 25 bps,” Motilal Oswal said. This would be fourth rate hike in this cycle, third in last six months and Fed has managed market expectations quite well so far.

We haven’t seen any major market tantrums despite three rate hikes that have already happened and current hike is also largely factored in, the research house feels.

According to Motilal Oswal, the language of Federal Reserve, however, could offer some scope of surprise. It believes markets are likely to see a dovish hike rather than a hawkish hike. This means that while a rate hike will happen, the Fed will tone down the language to suggest that the next rate hike may not happen very soon, the research house said.

It believes that after this hike, a third rate hike this year will happen only in December.

9:44 am Buzzing: Nifty PSU Bank index gained nearly half a percent in morning trade after the Reserve Bank of India announced steps to speed up NPA resolution process by identifying 12 accounts that can be immediately taken up under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

Syndicate Bank, Bank of Baroda, State Bank of India and Oritenal Bank of Commerce gained upto 1.5 percent.

“12 accounts totaling about 25 percent of the current gross non-performing assets of the banking system would qualify for immediate reference under IBC,” the RBI said.

9:28 am Earnings growth: Ridham Desai of Morgan Stanley said broad market revenue and net profit growth gained pace at 10 percent YoY and 20 percent YoY, respectively. Earnings growth was the fastest since June 2013, he added.

Even as corporate India witnessed EBITDA margin compression, net margins expanded during the quarter, he said.

Desai expects revenue growth acceleration to persist in the coming quarters. He sees FY18 YoY earnings growth for Sensex of 18 percent and for the broad market of 20 percent.

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9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks started off Wednesday’s trade on a flat note as investors await the outcome of two-day Federal Reserve policy meeting due tonight.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 28.79 points at 31,132.28 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 2.85 points to 9,609.75. About 596 shares advanced against 364 declining shares on the BSE.

Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, TCS, Infosys, Lupin and Dr Reddy’s Labs were early gainers while Asian Paints, HDFC, ITC, HDFC Bank and Tata Steel were losers.

Stressed assets stocks like Videocon, Bhushan Steel and Electrosteel Steels fell more than 5 percent while Hexaware declined 4 percent on a media report that revenue from EY declined.

Raymond was down 3 percent as SEBI initiated enquiry on company while tyre stocks fell further, Ceat and Balkrishna Industries down 1 percent each.

The Indian rupee opened flat at 64.34 per dollar today against previous close 64.33 a dollar.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity feels the rupee will appreciate and may test 64.20/dollar. Trading range for the spot USD-INR pair for the day will be 64.20-64.50/dollar, he said.

Equities in Asia were mixed as oil prices fell after a surprise build in US stocks and as markets awaited the release of economic data from China. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.1 percent and South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index slipped 0.18 percent.
Oil prices fell after data showed a build in US crude stocks and OPEC reported a rise in its production despite its pledge to cut back. Brent crude futures were at USD 48.37 per barrel, down 0.72 percent, from their last close. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at USD 46.05 per barrel, down 0.88 percent.