)
Markets ended lower on Wednesday, amid weak European cues, as investors turned cautious and booked profits ahead of the release of Fed minutes later today and Infosys' first quarter earnings on Friday.
The 30-share Sensex ended down 145 points at 19,294 and the 50-share Nifty ended down 42 points at 5,817.
The rupee was trading tad higher at 60 versus its previous close of 60.14 as dollar demand from importers was offset by selling from foreign banks.
Japan's benchmark share index, the Nikkei, ended 0.4% lower, amid a volatile trading session, after China's dismal trade data raised worries of a slowdown in the world's largest economy and the yen firmed up against the US dollar. However, shares in China recovered from their day lows to end up 2.7% on expectations that its central bank may announce easy monetary policy to boost growth after exports declined for the first time since January 2012. In June, exports stood at $ 174.32 billion and imports totalled $ 147.19 billion with a trade surplus of $ 27.13 billion, according to the data released by the General Administration of Customs today.Among other shares in the region, Hang Seng gained 1.1% and Straits Times ended up 0.4%.
Stocks in Europe were marginally down as investors turned cautious ahead of the minutes of the Fed meet last month to be released later today and on comments from an ECB policymaker on Tuesday that the bank plans to keep interest rates low for more than a year. The CAC-40, DAX and FTSE-100 were down 0.3-0.4% each.
The BSE Oil and Gas index was the top sectoral loser on the BSE down 1.8% followed by Auto, Realty, Capital Goods, Power, Metal and FMCG indices.
Reliance Ind ended down nearly 2% at Rs 856 on talk that the government has directed them to supply outstanding gas at the old rate of $4.2 per mmBtu. PSU exploration major ONGC ended down 1.8% down at Rs 297.
FMCG shares also witnessed profit taking after recent gains. ITC ended down 0.4% while Hindustan Unilever ended 1.6% down after the stock turned ex-dividend today. The company paid a final dividend of Rs 6/ per equity share for the last fiscal.
Other Sensex losers include, HDFC Bank, Tata Motors, Mahindra and Mahindra.
Software shares such as TCS, Infosys and Wipro were among the top Sensex gainers.
Among other shares, IndusInd Bank ended 1.2% lower after gross non-performing assets (NPAs) or the bad loans of the bank in the first quarter rose to 1.06% from 0.97% a year earlier.
Shares of MMTC ended locked in 5% lower circuit at Rs 68.45. The stock of state-owned trading company has tanked nearly 70% in past one month from Rs 218 on June 12, 2013 after the Government of India (GoI) fixed the share sale price at Rs 60 per share, a huge discount to prevailing market price.
Lupin ended up 2.7% after FIIs hiked stake in the company by 2% in the first quarter.
In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap index ended down 0.4% and the Small-cap index ended flat.
Market breadth ended marginally weak with 1,168 losers and 1,146 gainers on the BSE.
