 "Markets muted in early trades")
Markets have have been directionless in the past two weeks and this session has been no different, albeit with a slightly negative bias. The Sensex is at 22,418, lower by 24 points and the Nifty is at 6708, down six points, with banking amd metals exerting some pressure on the indices. There is outperformance on the broader market front, though; the midcap index is at 7400, higher by 30 points and the smallcap index is at 7549, up 16 points.
The markets have been trading sideways in the past two weeks, given that the market participants have been shying away from making fresh commmitments ahead of the fast approaching D-day next Friday. The decrease in volatility, as manifested by Tuesday's fall in VIX and the resultant decline in options premiums, as also fall in overall volumes only re-inforce the prevailing caution. However, given the negative cues from the global Street, this directionless session should qualify as a reasonable start to the day. One may recollect that the BSE Sensex had risen for a consecutive session on Tuesday to its highest close in a week, as blue-chips such as Reliance Industries gained after foreign investors snapped a five-day selling streak in index futures.
On the global front, US stocks had declined broadly overnight, closing at session lows, with AIG pulling financial shares lower after disappointing earnings and as a slide in Twitter took down other names in the technology and internet space. Traders also kept an eye on developments in Ukraine, where supporters of Russia and of a united Ukraine are accusing each other of tearing the country apart. The Dow Jones fell 129 points or 0.78%, to 16,401, S&P 500 lost 16.94 points or 0.9%, to 1,867 and Nasdaq Composite dropped 57.296 points or 1.38%, to 4,080. US Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen's congressional testimony is scheduled later in the day.
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As a result, the Asian equities declined in early trades on Wednesday. China's Shanghai Composite was down 0.57% or 11.50 points at 2,016. Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.84% or 185 points at 21,790. Japan's Nikkei tumbled 2.22% or 320 points at 14,136. Singapore's Straits Times declined 0.48% or 15 points at 3,230. South Korea's Seoul Composite fell 0.40% or 7.85 points at 1,951. Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted shed 0.47% or 41 points at 8,870.
On the economic front, the rupee opened marginally higher at 60.04 per dollar versus 60.11 on Tuesday. The dollar fell against the currencies of major US trading partners, especially the euro.
Metal and banking stocks are having a weak session of trade. Hindalco has weakened by 1.1% at Rs 136 to top the losers list on the BSE and Tata Steel has lost 0.6% at Rs 398. In the banking space, Axis Bank has shed 0.7% at Rs 1526, ICICI Bank has lost 0.4% at Rs 1269 and HDFC Bank has lost 0.3% at Rs 717.
On the other hand, ITC has build on its momentum for the third consecutive session, gaining 0.5% at Rs 350 to top the gainers list on the BSE. Pharma stocks are seeing buying interest; Cipla has gained 0.4% at Rs 393 and Sun Pharma has added 0.3% at Rs 627
The market breadth is positive. Out of 1041 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 564 advancing stocks as against 434 declines.