Opening bell: Markets trade lower; Sensex at 62,810.06, Nifty at 18,593.95

The markets on Wednesday opened lower with Sensex at 62,810.06, down by 159.07 points and Nifty was at 18,593.95 with a drop of 39.90 points. Sun Pharma, HCL Tech, Asian Paints, Tech Mahindra and Tata Motors were the top gainers whereas Bajaj Finance, TCS, ICICI Bank, Hindustan Unilever and L&T were the top losers.

Markets on Tuesday

Despite volatility, Sensex gained 123 points to end the day in the green at 62,969 points, buoyed by FMCG and financial stocks. At the same time Nifty managed to hold fort above 18,600 points, even as metal and pharma slipped into red territory.

Global markets

As US lawmakers opposed the deal to raise the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling the stocks on Wall Street closed mixed on Tuesday. The Nasdaq Composite rose by 41.74 points to 13,017.43, S&P 500 closed flat at 4,205.52 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell to 33,042.78 with a drop of 50.56 points.

With the US lawmakers opposing the deal to raise the debt ceiling the Asian stock markets on Wednesday were trading lower. Singapore's SGX Nifty saw a drop of 46 points at 18,684, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell by 260.26 points at 31,067.90 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped to 18,274 with a fall of 321.78 points. However, South Korea's KOSPI was comparatively flat with a gain of 2.72 points at 2,588.24.

Oil prices

Oil prices on Wednesday were higher after a steep fall on Tuesday amidst fears that if the US debt ceiling was not approved it could impact the demand. Brent crude futures went up by 11 cents to $73.82 per barrel and US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $69.54 per barrel with a gain of 8 cents.

Rupee

Indian rupee on Wednesday opened flat at 82.71 per dollar against Tuesday's close of 82.72.