The first sign of weakness in Nifty will be a close below 5,960

The market today witnessed a volatile session with no proper direction. During today’s trading session the indices moved in a narrow range (Sensex 188 points, Nifty 54 points). This was the smallest range since 26 September 2013.

The indices opened marginally lower, Sensex at 20,229 while the Nifty at 6,001. The Sensex hit the intra day high and low in the morning session itself while the Nifty after hitting its low in the morning session recovered to hit the high in the early noon session. Sensex hit a high of 20,324 while the Nifty hit a high of 6,034.  The indices hit a low of 20,136 and 5,980. Sensex closed at 20,273 (up 24 points or 0.12%) while the Nifty closed at 6,021 (up 14 points or 0.22%). The National Stock Exchange (NSE) recorded a lower volume of 55.96 crore shares.

Except for Bank Nifty (down 0.45%); Finance (down 0.21%); FMCG  (down 0.03%) and Media (down 0.03%) all the other indices on the NSE ended in the green. The top five gainers were Auto (1.82%); Smallcap (0.86%); PSU Bank (0.86%); Nifty Junior (0.72%) and Metal (0.58%).

Of the 50 stocks on the Nifty, 29 ended in the green. The top five gainers were Tata Motors (5.55%); Ranbaxy (3.32%); NMDC (3.30%); Lupin (2.68%) and Grasim (2.07%). While the losers were Tata Power (2.74%); Hindalco (2.38%); Kotak Mahindra Bank (1.63%); Hindustan Unilever (1.48%) and Bajaj Auto (1.48%).

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had yesterday projected the domestic economic growth at 3.8% in FY14 against 5.6% forecast in July. The IMF today clarified that "For India, we wish to clarify the basis on which our forecasts are produced. To be comparable across countries, the IMF world economic outlook projections are done at market prices, which differs somewhat from the factor cost definition used by the government and most analysts". However, today,  India's Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram has said the country still has the potential for achieving a growth rate of more than 5% this fiscal year.

US indices closed mainly in the green on the back of signs of progress in ending deadlock in Washington after news that US President Barack Obama would meet House Democrats and House Republicans. House Republican and Senate Democratic leaders are open to a short-term increase in the $16.7 trillion debt ceiling, according to congressional aides who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Brazil's central bank on Wednesday raised the country's baseline lending rate once more by half a point. But the central bank also mentioned that it will slow the pace of rate hikes going forward.

Except for Shanghai Composite (down 0.94%), Hang Seng (down 0.36%), Seoul Composite (down 0.07%) all the other Asian indices ended in the green. Nikkei 225 was the top gainer, up 1.12%. Taiwan's markets were closed for a holiday.

Japanese core machinery orders rose 5.4% in August from the previous month, the government said Thursday, on a recovery in capital spending by businesses and increased demand ahead of a planned sales-tax hike. That came after a 0.03% decline in July, and was the first rise in three months.

European indices were trading in the green.  US Futures were trading a percentage higher.

In Europe, Bank of England's (BoE) monetary policy announcement is due later in the global day today, 10 October 2013. The BoE is expected to keep rates steady at 0.5% as the central bank has tied any changes in rates to a drop in the unemployment rate to 7%. Also, the bank is expected to retain the £375 billion quantitative easing program.