Indian equities in Wednesday's trade opened with minor cut tracking mixed Asian markets. At the start, Sensex was down 0.09 per cent or 75.36 points at 83,004.3, while the Nifty traded down by 0.08 per cent or 19.1 points at 25,399.45.

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Sectorally, IT stocks turned out to be the laggards, while realty and oil & gas stocks remained upbeat.

Within the Nifty pack, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj twins, Shriram Finance and Ultratech Cement, while laggards included Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Wipro, TCS and LTIMindtree.

Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities said, "As Modi 3.0 completes 100 days with Nifty and Sensex up 8%, all eyes are on whether the Federal Reserve will cut rates by 25 or 50 basis points."

 Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, "The significance of the Fed rate decision expected tonight is evident from the wait and watch market mood across the globe yesterday. Perhaps more important than the Fed action would be the Fed commentary and the message."
 
An ideal and possible outcome would be a 25 bp rate cut with a dovish message indicating a series of rate cuts. Good retail sales data along with a weakening labor market point to such a possibility, added Vijaykumar.
 
India’s August trade data indicate stagnant exports and rising imports. The consequent rising trade deficit can weaken the INR, if the trend persists. This means exporters like IT will benefit. Pharma, Chemicals and Textile exporters too will benefit.

 Vijaykumar suggests the time is  favourable for reducing the exposure to mid and small caps and increasing the exposure to largecaps. This strategy will play out well in the medium to long run.

Asian markets

Most Asian stocks traded in a tight range as investors widely looked upon to the Fed meeting outcome later today where the US central bank is seen to trim interest rates. Trading volume also remained thin given the trading holidays in  Hong Kong and South Korea, while Chinese markets moved little.