Wall Street's key indexes edged higher on Wednesday as investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s policy decision, with the Israel-Iran conflict now in its sixth day.Market participants are keenly watching Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks for insights on how the central bank plans to address persistent inflation risks. The Fed is widely expected to keep interest rates steady in its meeting later today.
European shares declined on Wednesday as investors awaited the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision, with ongoing tensions in the Middle East adding to market uncertainty.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed 0.4% down, at a near one-month low.
The Nifty remained volatile throughout the day as updates related to the Israel-Iran conflict and the possibility of U.S. kinetic intervention weighed on global sentiment, said Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities, adding that anticipation ahead of the upcoming Fed meeting contributed to the instability in the Indian market.
On the technical front, the Nifty closed below the crucial support level of 24,850. However, a positive surprise from the Fed could lift both global and domestic markets, helping them shake off prevailing negativity, said Rupak De.
"On the upside, a decisive reclaim of 24,850 may trigger a rally towards 25,000 and higher, while a failure to move back above this level could drag Nifty down towards 24,500," said De.
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Hindustan Zinc (Rs 6,476 crore), BSE (Rs 2,616 crore), Vishal Mega Mart (Rs 1,894 crore), HDFC Bank (Rs 1,777 crore), IndusInd Bank (Rs 1,759 crore), GRSE (Rs 1,014 crore) and Reliance Industries Ltd (Rs 956 crore) were among the most active stocks on BSE in value terms. Higher activity in a counter in value terms can help identify the counters with highest trading turnovers in the day.Vodafone Idea (Traded shares: 30.08 crore), Vishal Mega Mart (Traded shares: 14.85 crore), Hindustan Zinc (Traded shares: 14.20 crore), YES Bank (Traded shares: 7.09 crore), Sagility India (Traded shares: 5.83 crore), Suzlon Energy (Traded shares: 4.92 crore) and JP Power (Traded shares: 4.42 crore) were among the most actively traded stocks in volume terms on NSE.
Shares of IndusInd Bank, Reliance Power, RBL Bank, Authum Investment, Avenue Supermart, Vedant Fashions and Escorts were among the stocks that witnessed strong buying interest from market participants.Over 75 stocks hit their 52 week highs today while 61 stocks slipped to their 52-week lows.Stocks which witnessed significant selling pressure were Inventurus Knowledge, Hindustan Zinc, MMTC, Max Healthcare, Ramco Cements, Saregama India and AstraZeneca Pharma India. The market sentiments were bearish. Out of the 4,115 stocks that traded on the BSE on Wednesday, 2,448 stocks witnessed declines, 1,532 saw advances, while 135 stocks remained unchanged.
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(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of the Economic Times)
