 "Nifty opens above 7,950 as Fed keeps interest rates unchanged")
Markets have commenced the session on a higher note after the US Fed Reserve decided to keep the interest rates unchanged on concerns about weakness in US economy and other emerging markets.
At 10:15 am, the Sensex was higher by 428 points at 26,393 and the Nifty gained 131 points at 8,030.
Among broader markets, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are up almost 1%. Market breadth is positive with 942 advances and 196 declines.
According to Angel Broking's report, “The trend deciding level for the day is 25,929 / 7,889 levels. If NIFTY trades above this level during the first half-an-hour of trade then we may witness a further rally up to 26,042 – 26,119 / 7,924 – 7,949 levels. However, if NIFTY trades below 25,929 / 7,889 levels for the first half-an-hour of trade then it may correct towards 25,851 – 25,739 / 7,864 – 7,828 levels."
In the currency front, the rupee strengthened by 32 paise to 66.14 against the US dollar in early trade today at the Interbank Foreign Exchange after the American currency tumbled against major world currencies as the Federal Reserve decided again not to increase interest rates.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 337.27 crore on Wednesday, 16 September 2015, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.
Indian equity, forex, money and commodity markets were shut yesterday on account of Ganesh Chaturthi.
GLOBAL MARKETS
Asian shares fell on Friday after the Federal Reserve held off on raising interest rates, reviving concerns about weakness in both the US and global economies.
The dollar was on the defensive, having fallen more than 1% after the Fed's decision, while US bond yields plunged, erasing their sharp rises in the past couple of days.
The Nikkei average fell nearly 2% and MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.2%.
Major Wall Street indexes gave up a 1% rally to end lower, with the S&P 500 index losing 0.3%. S&P futures dipped 0.2% in the Asian morning.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen said the outlook abroad has appeared to become less certain, adding that recent falls in US stock prices and a rise in the value of the dollar already were tightening US financial market conditions.
Yellen said she wanted to see more improvement in the US labour market and expressed concern over weak inflation.
Referring to the global outlook, Yellen explicitly said the central bank was focusing on the slowdown in China and emerging markets, saying one key issue is whether there might be a risk of a more abrupt slowdown in China.
SECTORS & STOCKS
Sectors like Banks, Capital Goods and Realty are trading higher by almost 2% each. Infact, all the sectoral indices are trading in positive zone. Bank Nifty has surged over 3% at 17,496 levels.
The top gainers from the Sensex pack are Axis Bank, SBI, ICICI Bank, ITC, Lupin, Wipro, Hero Moto and Tata Steel.
Seeking to further relax foreign investment norms, the government is considering increasing the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in private banks to 100%, from the existing 74%.
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has sent a proposal to hike the FDI limit in the private banking industry to the Department of Financial Services for its comments, sources said.
Tata Steel will sell shares in automaker Tata Motors worth up to $188 million, according to a term sheet of the deal seen by Reuters on Friday. Shares of Tata Steel are up almost 1%. However, Tata Motors has slumped by over 2%.
Shares of Infosys are up nearly 1% at Rs 1,112 on the Bombay Stock Exchange after the IT major in a release announced that Qantas Credit Union has selected Infosys Finacle to improve its customers's digital experience, as part of their business transformation strategy.
With Reuters input
