Sensex inches lower...Banks fall; RIL, ONGC gain

For the second straight day, the Indian market remained more or less subdued, with the two key indices drifting lower at the end of a fairly listless session. The undertone remained jittery amid the overhang of the various scams and cloudy outlook on the global economy.



The Indian market started out on a lackluster note owing to indecisive global cues and lack of domestic triggers. The indices then retreated in late morning and early afternoon trade before rebounding from the lows of the day.

"The broader market was down throughout the day today even as the frontline counters managed to recover some of the lost ground by the close. In fact, if it wasn't for the gains in Reliance and ONGC, even the main indices could have seen much deeper cuts," says Amar Ambani, VP - Research, India Private Clients.

Banking stocks were once again singled out for some rough treatment amid concerns about margins after the RBI Governor reportedly asked lenders to cut NIMs and SBI hiked deposit rates without a commensurate increase in the lending rates.

On the other hand, Oil & Gas, Metal, IT and Power indices managed to post moderate gains. Select Pharma, Capital Goods and Auto stocks also gained.

The BSE Sensex closed at 19,934, down 46 points over the previous close. It had earlier touched a day's low of 19,824 and a day's high of 20,008. It had opened at 19,982.

On the other hand, the NSE Nifty lost ~16 points to end at 5,976 after hitting a day's low of 5,939 and a day's high of 6,001. It had opened at 5,995.

Hindalco, NTPC, Maruti, ONGC, Bajaj Auto, M&M, Bharti Airtel, RIL, ACC, Gail India, Ambuja Cement, Sesa Goa, Sun Pharma, HCL Tech, Reliance Infra and Wipro were some of the top gainers in the Sensex and the Nifty.

Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, SBI, DLF, PNB, Tata Motors, HUL, TCS, BPCL and JP Associates were the notable losers in the two main indices.

In global market action, markets in China and Hong Kong recovered by the close after a weak start, while stock indices in Japan closed in the red. Shares in Australia rose after the central bank refrained from another rate hike in today's polity meeting.

European markets opened steady but accelerated later even as Ireland prepared for a crucial budget vote in parliament and officials from the EU continued to discuss measures to quell the region's sovereign debt issues. Ireland’s ISEQ index was one of the strongest in the region.

US stocks futures were pointing at a higher start after US President Barack Obama announced an extension of Bush-era tax cuts.