Sensex closes marginally lower amid volatility; banks dip

The Sensex closed marginally lower after seeing consolidation throughout the session. It was a quiet session for the markets as traders looked cautious after recent run up and as global cues were mixed.

The sell-off in heavyweights like Reliance Industries, SBI, ICICI Bank, L&T, TCS, SAIL and Bharti Airtel forced the Sensex to close just below the 17,000 level. However, buying in realty, select FMCG, telecom, pharma, metal and power stocks along with Infosys capped the losses to some extent.

The broader indices outperformed the benchmark indices due to rally in shipping and select technology shares. The BSE Midcap Index was up 0.3% and the Smallcap was up 0.8%.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 16,998.78, down 51.87 points or 0.3%, after witnessing swing of 140 points between 16,958.41-17,098.79. The 50-share NSE Nifty was down 0.15% or 7.55 points, to settle at 5,054.70; it witnessed swing of nearly 38 points.

Deven Choksey of KR Choksey Securities said the Nifty may range between 4,900 and 5,150. "One will have to closely watch the current levels at around 4,990-4,970 and if that breaks then possibly we may end up seeing a level of about 4,900 or even lower than that. But as of now the range stays between 4,900 and 5,150 as far as Nifty is concerned."

However, Trader Atul Suri said the markets could make a new intermediate high with the Nifty hitting 7,050 levels in one-two years. It has very good support at 4,550 levels, he says, adding, ''I have set the Nifty intermediate stop loss at those levels.''