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Nifty pares gains; Hindalco, BPCL, IDEA down

31 Mar 10 03:10 PM
ET
MUMBAI: Benchmarks drifted in the negative terrain as traders continued to book profits. Negative Asian markets also dampened sentiments. Gains in auto and power stocks were offset by losses in oil&gas and metals space.

“We expect a flat to slightly positive opening. On the whole, the trend will remain lackluster till the first batch of earnings start kicking in. Though the small-cap and mid-cap counters may remain abuzz one should resist the temptation of buying into illiquid, fundamentally weak stocks. Thursday heralds a new fiscal year. Having completed “year-end” commitments, it will be time to do proper due diligence of your portfolio.

A cooling was due for some time now. Once the key indices touched new 52-week highs it was only a matter of time. Interestingly, the market breadth, which had been negative for a few sessions, turned in favour of the bulls,” said India Infoline report.

At 10:50 am, National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was at 5255.15, down 7.3 points or 0.14 per cent. The broader index touched a high of 5293.90 and low of 5250.65.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was at 17580.16, down 10.01 points or 0.06 per cent. The 30-share index hit a low of 17560.76 and high of 17699.50.

BSE Midcap Index was up 0.22 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index moved 0.68 per cent higher.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Auto Index was up 0.64 per cent and BSE Power Index gained 0.61 per cent. BSE Oil&gas Index moved 0.59 per cent lower and BSE Metal Index declined 0.52 per cent.

Hero Honda (1.76%), Bharti Airtel (1.51%), M&M (1.34%), DLF (1.23%) and Tata Motors (1.07%) were the top Nifty gainers.

Hindalco (-1.63%), BPCL (-1.55%), IDEA (-1.50%), Jindal Steel (-1.39%) and IDFC (-1.11%) led the decline.

Market breadth was positive on the BSE with 1467 advances and 920 declines.

US stocks ended in the green after data showed some stabilization in the economy. The Dow Jones industrial average edged up 0.11 per cent, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index closed flat and Nasdaq Composite Index moved 0.26 per cent higher.

Japan's Nikkei average showed some buying activity on expectations of some recovery in growth next fiscal. However other indices were witnessing profit booking. Nikkei 225 was up 0.29 per cent, Shanghai Composite was down 0.53 per cent, Strait Times slipped 0.61 per cent and Seoul Composite declined 0.44 per cent.