Post Market Commentary

Frontline shares yo-yoed within a narrow range in negative territory on Tuesday due to weak global cues and devoid of any uplifting domestic triggers.

"Traders who bought scrips last week when the Nifty fell below 5500 levels are now booking profits. Others are not really participating as the immediate to near term direction is not clear. I expect this lacklustre movement to continue till the F&O expiry on Thursday, after which more clarity will probably emerge," said Suresh Kumar Iyer, technical analyst at Asit C Mehta Investment Interrmediates.

Expecting limited movement in index stocks, Iyer advises traders not to go long till Nifty crosses 5790.

National Stock Exchange's Nifty today closed 0.59 per cent or 33 points lower at 5,698.15. The index touched an intra-day low of 5655.60 and high of 5743.55.

Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex ended down 0.62 per cent or 120 points at 19127.73 after dipping to an intra-day low of 19,019.33. The high was 19,211.58.

Bharti Airtel (down 3.32%), ICICI Bank (2.18%), Reliance Energy (1.91%), Maruti Suzuki (1.5%), NTPC (1.53%) and Hindalco (1.52%) were the major index losers.

Top Sensex gainers were BHEL (up 2.6%), Bajaj Auto (2.54%), State Bank of India (1.38%), Tata Consultancy Services (1.2%) and Wipro (1.12%).

Even as action in frontline was minimal, select non-index stocks rallied. Ashok Leyland (up 16.65%), TVS Motor (12.24%), Chennai Petrochemicals (11.16%), Bongaigaon Refineries (8.71%), Indian Oil (5.79%), Orchid Chemicals (5.55%) and Apollo Tyre (4.24) topped the list of BSE gainers.

Realty stocks also ended significantly higher, driving the BSE Realty Index up 1.24 per cent, the biggest sectoral gainer of the exchange. Phoenix Mills climbed 4.69 per cent, HDIL was up 3.5 per cent, Indiabulls rose 2.94 per cent and Mahindra Gesco advanced 2.22 per cent.

Asian shares also ended in the negative with the Hang Seng and Straits Times down 1.51 per cent and 1.34 per cent respectively. The Nikkei, however, bounced back from early lows and ended half a per cent higher.

European indices traded in-line with Asia. London's FTSE lost 0.36 per cent, Germany's DAX shed 0.53 per cent and France's CAC was 0.28 per cent lower.