Markets continue lacklustre trade in afternoon session; BSE Midcap up 1%

Benchmark indices continued to be tepid in the afternoon trade as investors awaited Federal Reserve rate decision due tonight. The Nifty50 index had logged its fresh all-time high of 9,123 in the previous session. At 1:22 pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 29,432, down 10 points, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 9,094, up 7 points. In the broader market, the BSE Smallcap and BSE Midcap indices outperformed the frontline indices to rise 1% and  0.7% respectively. About 1,349 shares advanced against 936 declining shares on the BSE. Meanwhile, extending gains for the third consecutive session, Rupee continued trading at highest level since Nov 2015. The currency rose by another 38 paise to 65.44 on sustained offloading of the US dollar amid heavy foreign capital inflows. Commodity Trading Tips 

IT stocks were the main laggards in today’s trade on surging rupee. BSE IT was down 1.7% dragged by TCS and Infosys were trading 2% lower in the afternoon deals, making them the top losers on BSE Sensex. Idea Cellular soared over 12% at intraday after reports stated that US-based ATC was close to completing a buyout of the firm’s tower business. Amtek Auto also rose as much as 4.1% at intra-day to a more than one-week high after media reports that company's Chairman and founder Arvind Dham has began exploring options to sell assets he owns. Shares of PVR fell nearly 6% at intra-day as investors turned wary of Karnataka government’s decision to cap multiplex rates to Rs 200 maximum. United Spirits (3%) United Breweries (3%) and GM Breweries (4.7%) gained following Karnataka governements announcement of lifting VAT on wine, beer and hard liquor along with abolition of additional excise on liquor. RIL, SBI, Tata Motors and HeroMoto Corp were the biggest movers on BSE Sensex while TCS, Infosys, HUL and Wipro were the main losers on the index. Nifty Trading Tips  


Globally, Asian stocks consolidated recent gains on Wednesday before a US central bank policy meeting that could signal how much monetary tightening to expect during the remainder of the year, with an immediate rate hike fully priced in by markets. Japan's benchmark Nikkei average was down 0.14% while stocks in mainland China and Korea declined 0.13 and 0.2% respectively. Future & Option Trading Tips