Sensex, Nifty off day's high; Tata Steel, Axis, ITC laggards

Moneycontrol Bureau12:58 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks were volatile ahead of expiry of July derivative contracts and outcome of two-day Federal Reserve's policy meeting.The Sensex was down 9.23 points at 27967.29 while the Nifty was up 4.35 points at 8595. About 1142 shares advanced while 1332 shares declined on the BSE.12:40 pm Europe opens: European stocks opened higher ahead of the latest monetary policy decision from the US Federal Reserve.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index begun Wednesday 0.18 percent higher with all sectors in positive territory, bar travel and leisure, oil and gas and food and beverages.

European markets are awaiting the latest decision from the Federal Open Market Committee which is scheduled to conclude its two-day meeting with its statement on monetary policy at 1400 ET. Traders do not expect the Fed to raise interest rates, but will watch for indications on the timing of the next hike.12:30 pm Yen depreciates: The yen fell, pressured by expectations of further monetary easing by the Bank of Japan and amid media reports that the Japanese government will soon unveil a USD 265 billion stimulus package.

Trading in the yen was choppy, with traders taking cues from various headlines regarding Japan's economic stimulus package.

The yen fell after Japan's Fuji TV said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was planning to announce a stimulus package with a headline figure of around 27 trillion yen.

Abe was later quoted by Jiji news agency as saying the stimulus package, to be announced next week, would total more than 28 trillion yen ($265.48 billion), including 13 trillion yen of "fiscal measures".

That would be bigger than earlier reports of a possible headline figure of around 20 trillion yen.12:15 pm GDP growth forecast: A good monsoon can help add "a percentage point" to India's GDP growth in the current fiscal, from 7.6 percent in 2015-16, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya said today expressing confidence in crossing the 8 percent mark.

"I am very optimistic particularly encouraged by the monsoon. Monsoon will deliver this time. We can expect some pretty robust agriculture growth," Panagariya told reporters on the sidelines of a conference of chief secretaries and planning secretaries here.

"If the agriculture growth does pan out on those lines...that adds up a percentage point to the growth. That really makes crossing 8 percent quite probable. We should cross 8 percent in 2016-17," he added.

Indian economy grew 7.9 percent in March quarter and recorded a five-year high growth rate of 7.6 percent for the 2015-16 fiscal on robust manufacturing growth.Also read - Bharti Q1 profit seen down 18%, currency pressure in Africa may hit12:00 pm Market Check: Equity benchmarks erased morning gains to trade flat with a positive bias in afternoon trade. The broader markets also came off day's high.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 24.44 points at 28000.96 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 14 points to 8604.65 while the market breadth was negative as about 1318 shares declined against 1122 advancing shares on the BSE.ITC, Reliance Industries, Infosys, Axis Bank, Tata Steel and Lupin were laggards. Dr Reddy's Labs tanked 9.5 percent on downgrades by brokerage houses post Q1 earnings. ICICI Bank, HDFC, Tata Motors, Maruti, TCS and SBI were were gainers.