Sensex winning spree halted; markets up for second week

Mumbai: The benchmark BSE Sensex on April 10, snapped its five-day winning spree by losing a marginal 5.83 points to settle at 28,879.38, dragged down by profit-taking, particularly in banking and capital goods stocks. The 50-share NSE Nifty, however, extended its winning run to the sixth straight session. Both the indices have now ended in the green for the second-straight week.

Caution prevailed ahead of the key economic IIP data for February to be released after trading hours and beginning of the fourth quarter earning season next week, brokers said. For the next week traders will be looking at macroeconomic data, including CPI and WPI to be released on April 13 and 14, respectively. On April 9, the BSE Sensex opened a shade higher at 28,889.27 and advanced to the day's high of 28,907.81 in early trade on sustained foreign capital inflows.

On emergence of profit-booking it slipped into the red and touched a low of 28,756.75. "Markets opened almost flat and remained sideways with mild bearish mood throughout the day," said Hiren Dhakan, Associate Fund manager at Bonanza Portfolio. The Sensex finally settled lower by 5.83 points or 0.02 per cent at 28,879.38. However, the 50-share NSE Nifty managed to end in positive zone for the sixth consecutive day with a marginal rise of 2.05 points or 0.02 per cent at 8,780.35.

Intra-day it moved in the range of 8,787.40 to 8,733.60. Firm trend in global markets and fresh buying by foreign funds restricted the Sensex fall to a major extent. Infosys, SBI, RIL, SSLT, Dr Reddy's and Bharti Airtel were among the major gainers, while HDFC Bank, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Cipla, Axis Bank and Hero MotoCorp ended in the red. Although Sensex fell for the day, the total market breadth remained strong as small-cap and mid-cap counters rose by 1.10 per cent and 0.39 per cent, respectively.

Meanwhile, global credit rating agency Fitch ratings on April 8, announced India's sovereign credit rating at 'BBB-' with a stable outlook. Some of the blue-chips and side-stocks were in the limelight as nine out of 12 sectoral indices closed with gains while bankex, capital goods and healthcare indices finished lower.