Key benchmark indices extended gains and hit fresh intraday high in mid-afternoon trade. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was currently above the psychological 20,000 mark, having alternately moved above and below that level in intraday trade. The Sensex and the 50-unit CNX Nifty, both, hit 1-1/2-week high. Indian stocks edged higher on expectations that the US government's partial shutdown and US political impasse could lead to the US Federal Reserve postponing tapering of monetary stimulus to the US economy. The rupee edged higher against the dollar. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. The Sensex was up 145.52 points or 0.73%, up close to 215 points from the day's low and off close to 5 points from the day's high.
The market moved into the positive terrain after opening lower. Volatility continued as key benchmark indices recovered after paring initial gains after hitting fresh intraday high in morning trade. The Sensex hit over one-week high. The 50-unit CNX hit 1-1/2-week high. The market slipped into the red and hit fresh intraday low in mid-morning trade after a private survey showed that services activity shrank at the fastest pace in more than four years last month. The Sensex fell below the psychological 20,000 mark after regaining that level in morning trade. The market regained positive terrain in early afternoon trade. Key benchmark indices extended intraday gains in afternoon trade. The Sensex regained the 20,000 level. The market extended gains and hit fresh intraday high in mid-afternoon trade.
Indian stocks rose in choppy trade today, 4 October 2013, on expectations that the US government's partial shutdown and US political impasse could lead to the US Federal Reserve postponing tapering of monetary stimulus to the US economy. The longer the US federal government remains shut, the bigger the negative impact on US economic growth. Investors are worried that the US political impasse could lead to the US government defaulting on its debt. Failure to raise the debt limit has "the potential to be catastrophic," the US Treasury Department warned in a report on Thursday, 3 October 2013, that said credit markets could freeze and the value of the dollar could plummet. Due to the shutdown, the monthly US nonfarm-payrolls report for September 2013 won't be released on Friday as scheduled. Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said on Thursday, 3 October 2013, that the shortage of "data would tend to make me somewhat more cautious" about reducing the pace of bond purchases. Less data is not helpful in gauging where the economy is and where it's going, Lockhart said in Atlanta. If the shutdown lingers until the next Fed policy-setting meeting on Oct. 29-30, it would be very hard to make a decision, he said.
The US Federal Reserve is buying $85 billion in Treasury and mortgage debt each month, and has pledged to keep its benchmark interest rate near zero as long as the jobless rate remains above 6.5% and the inflation outlook doesn't exceed 2.5%. Fed's bond-buying program has been a source of liquidity for most Asian and emerging markets this year.
The market sentiment was boosted by data showing that foreign funds were net buyers of Indian stocks on Thursday, 3 October 2013. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 997.21 crore on Thursday, 3 October 2013, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee strengthened against the dollar tracking global dollar weakness. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 61.44, compared with its close of 61.735/745 on Thursday, 3 October 2013.
More From This Section
At 14:20 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 145.52 points or 0.73% to 20,047.59. The index jumped 149.93 points at the day's high of 20,052 in mid-afternoon trade, its highest level since 23 September 2013. The index fell 68.90 points at the day's low of 19,833.17 in mid-morning trade.
The CNX Nifty was up 27 points or 0.46% to 5,930.70. The index hit a high of 5,950.45 in intraday trade, its highest level since 23 September 2013. The index hit a low of 5,885 in intraday trade.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 1,161 shares rose and 1,052 shares fell. A total of 165 shares were unchanged.
Among the 30-share Sensex pack, 19 stocks rose and rest fell. Tata Motors (up 3.25%), Bharti Airtel (up 1.59%) and Coal India (up 1.52%), edged higher from the Sensex pack.
Metal stocks reversed intraday losses. Tata Steel (up 2.59%), Sail (up 1.92%), Sesa Sterlite (up 2.21%), Hindalco Industries (up 2.69%) and Bhushan Steel (up 2.69%), gained.
But, Jindal Steel & Power fell 0.56%.
Most IT stocks gained. TCS rose 0.97%.
HCL Technologies rose 0.19% to Rs 1,106 after hitting record high of Rs 1,119.35 in intraday trade today, 4 October 2013.
Wipro rose 0.28% after the company after market hours on Thursday, 3 October 2013, announced the changes in the top deck of the organisation. The company announced the appointment of Senior Vice President Shaji Farooq as the global head of its Banking, Finance Services and Insurance (BFSI) strategic business unit. Shaji, who is currently leading the company's Advanced Technologies Service Line and Go-To-Market transformation initiatives, will take over from Senior Vice President Soumitro Ghosh, who will now head Wipro Infotech, the India and Middle East business.
With the growth momentum picking up in the US and European economies, the financial services industry presents significant opportunities. Shaji's long experience with the BFSI sector in the past stands him in good stead to shape Wipro's strategy for this vertical and help seize emerging opportunities. He will continue to be based in New York.
A Wipro veteran of 25 years, Soumitro Ghosh has played varied roles including his current position as the global head of BFSI. A founding member of the BFSI Strategic Business Unit, he has played a significant role in building this vertical and making it the largest BU of the company today. Soumitro will now power the India & Middle East businesses to maintain Wipro's leadership position in these markets. Soumitro will continue to operate from Bangalore.
G K Prasanna, will take charge as the Senior Vice President & Global Head for Global Infrastructure Services (GIS) in addition to his current role as SVP & Global Head for Product Engineering Solutions (PES). GKP, who has been with Wipro for more than 25 years, is an acknowledged authority on the IT Infrastructure Services business. He was the head of Wipro's Technology Infrastructure Services business between 2000 through 2009 and is credited with launching several innovative service delivery models.
Jeffrey (Jeff) Heenan Jalil, who has held several leadership roles including Head of Sales for Manufacturing in Europe, Chief Sales & Operations Head for Europe, and most recently, Vice President and Global Head for Telecom Equipment Vendor and Media Verticals will assume the position of Vice President & Global Head of Advanced Technologies.
Commenting on the organizational re-alignment, T K Kurien, CEO & Executive Director, Wipro said, "Our strategy of driving a significantly higher degree of customer engagement and hyper growth has been paying dividends. In order to sustain this momentum, our leadership team has spent considerable time reviewing market opportunities, and sharply defining the focus areas that would fuel our growth ambition. The exercise reaffirmed our conviction in our chosen strategy. We are committed to better aligning our internal organization with our clients' needs and to make investments in driving predictability and automation in our delivery."
Shaji, Soumitro, G K Prasanna and Jeff will report into Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, T.K. Kurien, Wipro. These appointments will be effective 1 January 2014.
After a sterling career of over 24 years with Wipro, Anand Sankaran, currently Senior Vice President for Global Infrastructure Services and Wipro Infotech, has decided to pursue a career outside of Wipro. Anand has played a significant role in growing these businesses and Wipro thanks Anand for his contribution and wishes him the very best in his future endeavors, Wipro said in a statement.
But, Infosys fell 0.77%.
Activity at Indian services companies shrank at the fastest pace in more than four years last month, a survey showed on Friday, 4 October 2013. The HSBC Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), compiled by Markit, slipped from 47.6 in August to 44.6 in September, its weakest since April 2009. That marked its straight third reading below 50, the threshold between growth and contraction. It showed firms were less optimistic about the future and were cutting staff as new business dries up. Services sector accounts for nearly 60% of India's economy. The PMI's new business index fell to 45 in September from 46.6 in August, the weakest reading since February 2009 and the third month running that demand has declined.
An HSBC Markit manufacturing survey released early this week showed that the factory activity shrank for a second month in September.
European shares were mostly lower on Friday, 4 October 2013, as the US government shutdown entered its fourth day amid budget wrangling in Washington. Key benchmark indices in Germany and UK were off 0.23% to 0.24%. France's CAC 40 was up 0.07%.
Asian stocks fell on Friday, 4 October 2013, as concern grew that the US political impasse could lead to the government defaulting on its debt, sparking a recession. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Indonesia fell 0.12% to 0.94%. Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted rose 0.07%. Markets in mainland China are closed till 7 October 2013 for National Day holidays.
The Bank of Japan kept its monetary policy unchanged on Friday following its meeting, and said in an accompanying statement that the economy is recovering moderately. In terms of the inflation outlook, the central bank noted that consumer prices excluding fresh food is in the range of 0.5% to 1%, and that inflation expectations appear to be rising on the whole. The Bank of Japan has set a 2% inflation target, which it aims to reach by 2015.
Trading in US index futures indicated a recovery of US stocks at the opening bell on Friday, 4 October 2013. Trading in US US index futures indicated that the Dow could gain 24 points at the opening bell. US index futures rose after House Speaker John Boehner indicated on Thursday that he is willing to work with Democrats to pass an increase in the borrowing limit.
US stocks dropped on Thursday as investors worried that a budget stalemate in Congress would become entangled with much more critical legislation to raise the federal borrowing limit. The standoff between congressional Democrats and Republicans to pass an emergency funding bill, which has led to a third day of a partial US government shutdown, continued with little sign of progress toward a solution. US President Barack Obama said late Thursday he has canceled plans for a weeklong trip to Asia amid the budget debacle
The failure of US lawmakers to avert a government shutdown fueled concern they won't be able to agree on raising the nation's $16.7 trillion debt limit later this month. The Treasury Department warned that a federal default could lead to a recession as bad as the 2008 financial crisis or worse. "Not only might the economic consequences of default be profound, those consequences, including high interest rates, reduced investment, higher debt payments and slow economic growth could last for more than a generation," the Treasury said in its report. "In the event that a debt limit impasse were to lead to a default, it could have a catastrophic effect on not just financial markets but also on job creation, consumer spending and economic growth -- with many private-sector analysts believing that it would lead to events of the magnitude of late 2008 or worse, and the result then was a recession more severe than any seen since the Great Depression," the department said.
A report on Thursday showed fewer Americans than forecast filed applications for unemployment benefits last week. Jobless claims rose to 308,000 in the week ended Sept. 28, from a revised 307,000, the Labor Department said. US payrolls data won't be released as scheduled today because of the government shutdown. The department said that an alternative date for the September payrolls report and jobless rate hasn't been scheduled.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) holds a two-day policy meeting on 29-30 October 2013. On 18 September 2013, the Fed surprised economists and investors with its decision to delay scaling back its stimulus amid concerns about the strength of the economic recovery.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News