Nifty ends with modest losses; financials, autos slip

20 Jul 2010

The benchmark Nifty closed marginally lower on Tuesday, after witnessing consolidation for the sixth consecutive session around 5350-5400 level. Indices may be eyeing for earnings of heavyweights.

Vibhav Kapoor of IL&FS said the markets were still in the range. "The range is probably just expanding a little bit on the upside every two-three months by 2-3% points. So, 5,400 in April could become 5,450 or 5,500 now in July. But, overall, the market still continues in that range, which it has been for the last nine months."

Fall in European markets and US index futures pulled the markets down in last half an hour of trade. CAC, DAX and FTSE were trading 0.7-1.3% lower, at the time of closing on Indian equities. Dow and Nasdaq futures were down nearly 1% each.

On the one side, financial and auto companies' shares along with Reliance Industries, Infosys, Reliance Communications, HUL and Cipla were witnessing selling pressure while realty companies' shares and stocks like Wipro, Sterlite Industries, L&T, NTPC and ABB capped those losses to major extent.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 17,878.14, down 50.28 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 18.45 points to 5,368. The Nifty July futures ended at 16 points discount, as per provisional data.

Goldman Sachs numbers might be the trigger for banking & financial space, which dragged the markets down in late trade. ICICI Bank, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank and IDFC declined 1.3-1.8%. PNB, HDFC Bank and SBI were down 0.2-0.4% while only Axis Bank gained 0.6%.