Sensex slips in thin trading…Nifty below 5500

It was yet another boring trading day on the Indian bourses, with the benchmark stock indices ending slightly lower despite a steep drop in food inflation. The NSE Nifty ended below the 5500 levels as Metals, Banking, IT and Telecom stocks declined. However, select Realty, Auto, Capital Goods and Power stocks bucked the negative trend. In the broader market, select Mid-Cap and Small-Cap stocks managed to attract some buying.



The Indian markets moderated as investors turned cautious amid a renewed pick up in crude oil prices in the wake of relentless violence in Libya. Other Asian markets were also weak today amid downbeat economic data from Japan, China and Australia. Markets in Europe were hit by news that Moody’s has downgraded Spain’s debt rating by another notch, besides lowering the outlook to negative.

"Sentiment was also hit partially amid persistent concerns about the policy impasse under the UPA II and its impact on the economy and investor confidence. Inflation has moderated lately but it still exceeds the lower end of the RBI's indicative range. On the earnings front, there have been a few disappointments and meaningful upgrades are unlikely till the macro-economic environment improves," says Amar Ambani, Head of Research (India Private Clients) - IIFL.

The BSE Sensex lost 142 to end at 18,328 touching an intra day high of Rs. 18,430 and an intra day low of Rs. 18,261, while the NSE Nifty lost 37 points to close at 5,494.

It recorded the day's high and low of Rs. 5,516 and Rs. 5,468, respectively on the NSE.

The top losers on the BSE and NSE were Cipla, Tata Power, Tata Steel, Sesagoa, Dr Reddy, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Auto, and Hindalco, while Rel Capital, ONGC, Suzlon, DLF, Sail, Sun Pharma, Wipro, Rel Infra, Tata Motors, BHEL and Maruti were the gainers for the day.

In Europe equity markets were under pressure, the FTSE index was down by 0.8%, Dax index was down by 0.7% and CAC index was down by 0.8%.

Outside the frontline indices, the big losers in the broader market were IOB, NFL, Indian Bank and Jet Airways. On the other hand, gainers included MTNL, APIL, P&G and Crompton Greaves.