Flat trading amid unabated FII outflows

Equity benchmark Sensex pared early gains to end lower on Tuesday, pressured by selling in index majors Reliance Industries (RIL), Powergrid and ICICI Bank amid a mixed trend in global equity markets. Besides, continuous foreign fund outflows also dented investor sentiment, traders said. However, strong buying in HDFC Bank, Infosys, NTPC and TCS restricted the decline.

In a highly volatile trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined 68.36 points or 0.10 per cent to settle at 66,459.31. During the day, it hit a high of 66,658.12 and a low of 66,388.26. The NSE Nifty fell 20.25 points or 0.10 per cent to end at 19,733.55.

“There was caution amongst the investors as markets exhibited a range-bound trend and ended marginally lower ahead of the RBI’s monetary policy next week. Markets would continue to look for global cues, as the recent rally was too fast-paced, with valuations getting expensive. Markets will continue to select bouts of profit-taking even as the overall undertone remains bullish,” said Shrikant Chouhan, head (research-retail), Kotak Securities Ltd.

“After opening with a positive note, the market showed intraday zig-zag moves within a narrow range for the better part of the session,” said Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.