Sensex edges lower, Nifty inches up in lacklustre trade

The benchmark Sensex today edged down to close at 28,442.71 in lacklustre trade while smallcap and midcap shares clocked sharp gains on good volumes. The NSE Nifty closed nearly 13 points higher at 8,537.65 supported by rise in bluechips, led by ONGC, BHEL and Cipla.

A mixed trend in global markets also weighed on the domestic stock market sentiment, equity brokers said. After surging to 28,504.65 points at the outset on emergence of buying, the BSE Sensex saw profit-booking at every rise. This pushed it back to touch day's low of 28,370.73 before ending 28,442.71, down 1.30 points.

The gauge has now lost about 250 points in three days. On the other hand, the 50-share NSE index Nifty after moving reacting to alternate bouts of buying and selling, ended 12.95 points, or 0.15 per cent higher at 8,537.65. It shuttled between 8,546.95 and 8,508.35 during the session.

Major losers, which surrendered early gains, include Dr Reddys, HDFC, Bharti Airtel, Hindalco and HDFC Bank. In broader markets, stocks of Bajaj Electricals, Havells and Surya oshni surged upto 15.70 per cent on reports that all government offices could soon have LED lights.

The BSE Smallcap and Midcap indices gained over one per cent each as retail investors bought shares, analysts said. Sectorwise, the BSE Auto index gained the most by rising 1.34 per cent, followed by Realty index 1.32 per cent, Power index 1.06 per cent and Oil & Gas index 0.99 per cent, among others.

However, IT index ended in negative zone with a fall of 0.19 per cent and Teck index shed 0.16 per cent. Meanwhile, provisional data showed that Foreign Portfolio Investors sold shares worth net Rs 106.82 crore in yesteday's trade.