Nifty ends with modest loss amid volatility

Equity benchmarks ended with moderate losses after showing smart recovery in late trade due to short covering. But the Nifty managed to claw back above 6100 level, led by Reliance Industries, SBI, Wipro, Infosys, Hindalco, DLF, Reliance Communications, Maruti and L&T along with healthcare companies' shares.

However, metal, private financial, auto, cement and power companies' shares along with ONGC, Bharti, BHEL and TCS witnessed selling pressure.

Overall it was a part of profit booking as the Nifty rallied upto 6200 level. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained quite supportive; they have consistently been net buyers to the tune of more than Rs 37,500 crore (including provisional data of October 7) since September. However, domestic institutional investors were net sellers of just Rs 16,000 crore since the same period.

Most part of this week has been dreary with scrawny or in fact no gains. But, Rashesh Shah of Edelweiss Capital is optimistic as he sees a strong market momentum at present which is expected to continue. However he is quick to add that whether we touch an all-time high or not will depend on the global liquidity scenario.

There is a lot of interest in the Indian story, and we see more portfolio allocations in India in the next two-three years. "A lot of investors are still under-invested in India and they are still trying to get a gauge of how to play India. In the next two-three years, there is going to be more and more portfolio allocations to India," he explains.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 20,250.26, up 65.06 points or 0.32% and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 16.85 points or 0.28% to settle at 6,103.45. Even the broader indices ended 0.3-0.5% lower. However, the Nifty October futures ended 39 points premium, as per provisional data.