Mumbai: Taking a breather after a four-day rally, markets eased from record highs on Friday as investors stayed on the sidelines amid mixed cues. Caution set in as participants awaited a clutch of macroeconomic data before making their next move, brokers said.
The 30-share Sensex slipped 63 points to end at 30,188.15, while the broader NSE Nifty finished 21.50 points lower at 9,400.90. Both the benchmarks had soared to record highs in the previous two sessions on sustained buying by both domestic and foreign investors.
For the week, the Sensex ended up by 329.35 points (1.10%) while the Nifty gained 115.60 points (1.24%). “Bulls are taking a breather after yesterday’s all-time high. Some caution was seen before the important economy data of CPI and IIP,” said Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services.
Skymet’s warning of weak monsoon also put the brakes on the recent rally, which was triggered by IMD’s forecast for a normal monsoon this year, brokers said.
After resuming higher, the 30-share Sensex advanced to the day’s high of 30,299.74. However, it succumbed to profit- booking and fell to 30,111.45, before finally settling at 30,188.15, down 62.83 points, or 0.21%.
Likewise, the 50-stock NSE barometer Nifty finished lower by 21.50 points, or 0.23%, at 9,400.90 after shuttling between 9,437.75 and 9,372.55.
Meanwhile, FIIs bought shares net worth Rs 1,306.71 crore yesterday, as per provisional figures issued by the stock exchanges.
Global cues were mixed as Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.39%, South Korea shed 0.45% and Taiwan declined 0.15%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, however, rose 0.12%. In Europe, Paris CAC 40 was down 0.07%, while London’s FTSE rose 0.15% in early deals. Back home, 16 scrips in the 30-share Sensex pack ended lower, while the remaining 14 finished in green.
Major losers were Asian Paints 3.04%, Axis Bank 2.80%, ICICI Bank 1.23%, Adani Ports 1.20%, HDFC 0.96%, Power Grid 0.94%, ITC 0.85%, Tata Steel 0.83%, NTPC 0.78% and M&M 0.54%. However, Infosys rose 2.12%, Hero MotoCorp 2.11%, Cipla 1.00%, Sun Pharma 0.81%, Tata Motors 0.70%, TCS 0.50% and Coal India 0.45%.
Among the S&P BSE sectoral indices, consumer durables fell 0.98%, finance 0.89%, bankex 0.89%, power 0.81%, healthcare 0.66%, utilities 0.61%, FMCG 0.46% and industrials 0.29%. On the other hand, IT rose 1.16%, realty 0.81%, teck 0.68% and auto 0.12%. The BSE Mid-Cap index provisionally fell 0.69%, while the Small-Cap index shed 0.80%. Market breadth remained negative as 1,784 stocks ended lower, 993 closed higher while 182 ruled steady. The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 3,871.81 crore, lower than Rs 4,031.10 crore registered during the previous trading session.