Markets Witness Rangebound Trade

The Global Markets gives out mixed clues this morning. Most U.S. stocks fell, pulling the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index down from a four-month high, as investors bought Treasuries amid speculation the Federal Reserve will purchase more government debt to buoy the economy. European stocks fell, as selloffs in Nokia Oyj and Deutsche Bank AG overshadowed debt sales by Ireland, Spain and Greece and investors awaited the latest policy statement from the U.S. Federal Reserve. Healthcare and finance stocks in This morning Asia rose, driving the MSCI Asia Pacific Index higher for a fourth day, overshadowing declines by Japan’s exporters after the dollar weakened against the yen. In commodities, Oil traded little changed near $75 a barrel in New York after falling as an industry report showed an increase in U.S. crude stockpiles and analysts estimated the nation’s refineries operated at their lowest rate in five months. Gold, little changed, may gain after climbing to a record yesterday as the Federal Reserve said it was willing to ease monetary policy further to boost the U.S. economy, sending the dollar to a six-week low. Copper climbed for the first day in three as a weaker dollar bolstered the appeal of commodities as alternative investments. Zinc, nickel and lead also advanced. After a positive opening, the markets have pared its initial gains and have moved into range bound movement. The Sensex is at 20,036. up 34 points and the NIfty too has pared its gains and is at  6013, up four points. There was some upward movement in the broader markets though. The main gainers are the Metal and Consumer Durables indices while the main draggers are the IT and Teck indices. Market breadth is negative with 1,139 advances against 1,572 declines. The Sensex trades in red at 19,940.15 declining 61.40 points or 0.31 percentage points. Nifty trades at 5986.95 declining by 22.10 points or 0.37 percentage points.