Mkts down on late profit booking

Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices pared their intra-day gains and ended lower on Thursday, pulled down by index majors ITC and State Bank of India after their fourth quarter earnings failed to cheer investors. After trading in the green for most part of the day, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined 128.90 points or 0.21 per cent to settle at 61,431.74. During the day, it hit a high of 61,955.90 and a low of 61,349.34. The NSE Nifty fell 51.80 points or 0.28 per cent to end at 18,129.95.

“Nifty closed lower for the third consecutive day on Thursday, going against the positive global trends after giving up the opening gains,” said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities. “Markets traded volatile on the weekly expiry day and ended marginally lower. Firm global cues triggered a gap-up start, however, profit-taking in the select index majors trimmed the gains as the day progressed. It is a healthy consolidation so far, however, volatility across sectors is keeping traders on their toes,” said Ajit Mishra, V-P (technical research), Religare Broking Ltd.

“Domestic markets underperformed Asian peers as profit-taking entered for the third straight session, with investors maintaining risk-on sentiment in the wake of a sharp spike in valuation following the recent upsurge. Bearishness is also seen due to caution over the US debt-ceiling deal and signs of slowing demand in China,” said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued their buying activity as they bought equities worth Rs 970.18 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.