Sensex ends marginally lower amid volatility; autos rally

The Sensex witnessed consolidation throughout the session and closed with modest loss, after two-day of rally. The volatility could be on account of F&O expiry on Thursday. Weak global cues also weighed on the markets. The sell-off in oil & gas exploration, power, metal, FMCG, select capital goods and banking & financial companies' shares kept the markets lower.

However, buying in telecom, technology, auto and oil marketing companies' shares along with L&T, Cipla and Ambuja Cements capped the losses to some extent.

Heavyweight Reliance Industries slipped 0.8% on profit booking, after a sharp run-up on Monday. ITC also fell over 1.8%.

However, Bharti Airtel bounced back 2.6% as it saw buying interest at lower levels. It had tumbled over 4% yesterday. Infosys was up over 1% as according to sources the company is in talks to acquire Europe based Ciber Novasoft and the deal value is likely to be between USD 200-300 million.

Sandeep Bhatia, ED and Head of Sales of Kotak Institutional Equities expected consolidation in telecom space by 2010-end. He said ITC could outperform in short-term while the stock could see some headwinds around budget time. He also expected banks to report good growth in H2.

Auto stocks continued their rally in today's trade as well. Maruti, Hero Honda and M&M gained 2.1-2.6%. Bajaj Auto and Tata Motors were up 0.6-1%. However, Ashok Leyland fell 2%.