Sensex down 18 points; investors cautious ahead of Q1 earnings

Failing to retain intra-day gains, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) benchmark Sensex finally ended on a flat note today -down 18 points at 18,727 - due to selling pressure on banking, PSU and health care stocks as investors remained cautious ahead of the first quarter corporate results.

However, brokers said that continued buying by foreign funds in some heavyweights capped the fall. Besides, globally, Asian markets showed signs of recovery, although European markets remained weak on debt concerns after Moody's cut Portugal's ratings.

A dip in ICICI Bank, SBI, ONGC, Tata Power and HUL was offset by a rise in RIL, HDFC, L&T and Tata motor.

Brokers said investors, concerned that the high interest rates regime will crimp corporate earnings, were picking up stocks in the midcap and small cap sectors.

The BSE 30-stock index, Sensex, resumed weak and moved erratically in the 141 point range of 18,823.45 and 18,682.60 before concluding at 18,726.97, down 17.59 points or 0.09 per cent.

The broad-based NSE 50-issue Nifty eased by 6.65 points or 0.12 per cent to 5,625.45.

Meanwhile, FIIs continued to buy, picking up shares worth Rs825.52 crore yesterday as per the provisional data.

"Investors are sticking to a ‘wait-and-watch’ approach in the run up to the latest corporate results. The only positive factor is the turnaround in FII flows. At the same time, local funds have been net sellers," said Amar Ambani, Head of Research, IIFL.

Meanwhile, state-owned oil marketing companies like BPCL, HPCL, ONGC, Oil India and IOC closed down as global crude oil prices have moved up again over the past few days.

In Asia, key indices from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan finished in the green, although China, Hong Kong and Singapore were down. European stocks displayed a feeble trend in afternoon deals. The CAC was down by 0.46 per cent, the DAX by 0.28 per cent and the FTSE by 0.51 per cent.

Overall, 18 of the 30 Sensex counters closed with losses while others settled with gains. Reliance Com was the top loser from the pack with a fall of 2.46 per cent, followed by Tata Power (2.02 per cent), ICICI Bank (1.98 per cent), Hero Honda (1.63 per cent), Jaipra Asso (1.52 per cent), SBI (1.16 per cent), ONGC (1.14 per cent), HUL (1.10 per cent), Wipro (1.10 per cent), Sterlite Ind (1.01 per cent) and REL Infra (0.84 per cent).

However, Tata Motors rose by 1.54 per cent, HDFC (1.23 per cent), Hindalco (1.07 per cent), L&T (0.85 per cent) and RIL (0.77 per cent).

Among the sectoral indices, Bankex dropped by 0.93 per cent, BSE-PSU (0.44 per cent) and BSE-Healthcare (0.44 per cent), while Consumer Durables firmed 1.39 per cent and Capital Goods by 0.51 per cent.

Second-line stocks continued to attract retail investors and outperformed the Sensex. Total market breadth at BSE remained favourable as 1,462 stocks closed in the positive terrain, while 1,393 ended in the red.

The total turnover declined further to Rs2,674.27 crore from Rs2,846.76 crore yesterday.