SGX Nifty down 80 points; here's what changed for market while you were sleeping

Equity markets ended flat after two days of rally amid uncertainties around the US debt ceiling negotiations. Analysts say markets have gained momentum in the last three sessions and are gradually inching higher towards 18450–18500 levels.

"We expect sector rotation to continue, with midcap particularly gaining strength. On the global front, investors would watch for Japan, UK, Europe and US PMI data that will be released late on Tuesday," said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal.

Option data suggests an immediate trading range in between 18150 to 18500 zones.

Here's breaking down the pre-market actions:

STATE OF THE MARKETS

SGX Nifty signals a negative start
Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange traded 82.5 points, or 0.45 per cent, lower at 18,376.50, signaling that Dalal Street was headed for negative start on Wednesday.

• Tech View: Considering that the Nifty is around the upper boundary we can expect some weakness in the near term as the Nifty shall retest its supports. Overall, we still believe that the Nifty is in a consolidation mode and the range of consolidation is likely to be 18000 – 18400. In terms of levels, 18420 – 18450 shall act as the immediate hurdle while 18170 – 18150 is the crucial support zone to watch out for on the downside.
• India VIX: India VIX, which is a measure of the fear in the markets, rose 0.28% to settle at 12.60 levels.

US stocks dip
Wall Street stocks finished sharply lower on Tuesday and short-term Treasury yields shot up as investor jitters grew over a lack of progress in U.S. debt limit talks.

Asian stocks decline
Asian stocks declined Wednesday as negotiations over raising the US debt ceiling remained at an impasse, sapping sentiment for risk taking.

Oil rises
Oil prices gained on Wednesday after U.S. oil and fuel supplies tightened and as a warning from the Saudi energy minister to speculators raised the prospect of further OPEC+ output cuts.

Dollar hovers near 2-month high
Brent crude futures rose 86 cents, or 1.1%, to $77.70 a barrel by 0007 GMT, while the U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) gained 88 cents, or 1.2%, to $73.79 a barrel.

The U.S. dollar held near a two-month high on Wednesday on safe-harbour demand as negotiations over raising the U.S. debt ceiling dragged on with no imminent resolution in sight.

Stocks in F&O ban today

1) Indiabulls Housing Finance

2) Delta Corp

Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95% of the market-wide position limit.

FII/DII action
Foreign portfolio investors net bought about Rs 182 crore on Tuesday. DIIs too were net buyers in Indian equity markets at Rs 397 crore.

Rupee
The rupee traded in a narrow range and settled for the day 2 paise higher at 82.82 against the US dollar on Tuesday, amid a muted trend in domestic equities.

Corporate results
LIC, Hindalco Industries, Nykaa, Cummins India and a slew of other companies will announce their quarterly results today.