Markets end lower amid volatile trading

STOCK REPORT

Key share indices ended down after a volatile session on Friday, as investors booked profits ahead of the weekend and before US jobs data for September to be announced later on Friday.

However, dealers said the slide on Friday was a short-term correction and insisted that the market undertone remains bullish.

"The market (earlier) rose on strength in capital goods and Reliance Industries. They are expected to post good quarterly (Jul-Sep) earnings," said a dealer with Mafatlal Securities.

"Foreign institutional investors were active on Friday in large-cap stocks with good market cap as their toplines are expected to be well protected," she said.

The BSE Sensex on Friday closed nearly flat at 17,773.36, down 3.78 points from Thursday, after touching a lifetime high of 17979.18.

The Nifty ended at 5185.85, down 22.80 points, or 0.4 per cent, after moving between 5164.50 and 5248.55. CNX Midcap Index and S&P CNX 500 Index ended down 1 per cent each.

The turnover on both the exchanges was roughly Rs 279.90 billion, compared with Rs 264.60 billion on Thursday.

The market did not react to higher-than-expected inflation rate for the week till September 22, which was at 3.42 per cent versus 3.23 per cent a week ago.

The shares of capital goods companies were the top gainers on expectations of robust July-September quarter earnings, dealers said.

Larsen & Toubro was up 6 per cent at Rs 3,090, Bharat Heavy Electricals went up 3 per cent to Rs 2,154, while ABB rose 2 per cent to Rs 1,383.

"Capital goods companies have their order books full for three years. So their quarter-on-quarter performance is expected to be very good," said a dealer.

Most oil and gas shares also gained, led by heavyweight Reliance Industries, up 3 per cent at Rs 2,493.

Oil retailers Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum rose nearly 1 per cent each to Rs 378 and Rs 271 respectively on news the government may approve an issuance of oil bonds worth Rs 240 billion next week. Power stocks were laggards.

GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals rose by 2 per cent to Rs 1,104 on buying at lower levels.

Power shares were laggards as investors booked profits. The sector had run-up ahead of Power Grid listing on Friday.

Tata Power fell 5 per cent to Rs 944, while Reliance Energy fell 3 per cent to Rs 1,438. The stock was the worst hit on Nifty.

Suzlon Energy bucked the weak trend in the sector and rose nearly 1 per cent to Rs 1,650 after it's arm bagged a 155 mw order from Brazilian company Service Instalacoses E Sistemas Integrados.

CNX IT index was down 1 per cent, as the rupee remained steady against the dollar despite the Reserve Bank of India's move to hike the ceiling on market stabilisation scheme.

Infosys Technologies fell by 1 per cent to Rs 1,983, while Satyam Computer Services was down 2 per cent to 445.