Losses in banking, energy and infrastructure shares outweighed gains in automobile and metal shares
- At 2:52 pm, the Sensex traded 170.49 points - or 0.41 per cent - lower at 41,511.05, while the Nifty was down 46.05 points - or 0.38 per cent - at 12,225.75.
- Thirty one stocks on the 50-scrip index traded lower at the time. Yes Bank, Reliance Industries, SBI, Adani Ports and Nestle - trading between 1.59 per cent and 3.70 per cent lower - were the top percentage laggards on the Nifty.
- On the other hand, top gainers on the benchmark index were Zee Entertainment, Vedanta, Dr Reddy's, Maruti Suzuki India and Bharat Petroleum, up between 0.87 per cent and 3.98 per cent at the time.
- Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and SBI were the top drags on Sensex.
- Last Friday, Fitch Ratings cut its growth forecast for India to 4.6 per cent for the current financial year from the previous estimation of 5.6 per cent after factoring in significant deceleration in past few quarters due to credit squeeze and deterioration in business and consumer confidence.
- Analysts expect some volatility in the markets in the near term. "On (the) domestic front, market (is) likely to stay rangebound while FIIs (foreign institutional investors) flows, trade deal and domestic reforms (are) likely to set the momentum going ahead," Motilal Oswal Financial Services analysts wrote in a report.
- Foreign institutional investors were net purchasers to the tune of Rs 338.86 crore in the Indian capital markets on Friday, data from the NSE showed. Domestic institutional investors, however, pulled out a net Rs 285.41 crore.
- Investors will track the RBI's special Rs 10,000-crore open market operation (OMO) on Monday. Such steps are taken by the central bank when the proceeds from sale of short-term securities are used to buy long-term government securities or bonds, in a bid to bring down interest rates on long-term securities.
- Meanwhile, equities in other Asian markets were flat but still near 18-month highs amid thin trade ahead of the holidays. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was steady after rising 1.4 per cent last week and over 5 per cent so far this month. Japan's Nikkei climbed 0.1 per cent after reaching a 14-month top last week. It was ahead by 2.3 per cent for the month so far.
- The S&P BSE Sensex index had ended 7.62 points higher at 41,681.54 on Friday and the broader NSE Nifty benchmark settled up 12.10 points at 12,271.80, as the markets gave up most of intraday gains but still managed to register record closing highs.
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