Sensex misses 10k by a whisker

STOCK REPORT

The stock market continued to shy away from the magical 10k mark even as the Sensex on Wednesday scaled another peak at 9,993.92 before profit booking by traders pulled it down to end 61 points lower amid slowdown in FII inflows.

Operators and day traders were seen booking profits at higher levels as the market gradually moved towards the 10,000 psychological level driven by robust economic growth.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) benchmark 30-share index (Sensex) opened firm at 9,959.24 and later rallied smartly to a new intra-trade record high of 9,993.92.

The Sensex, however, fell sharply to a low of 9,819.32 before ending the day at 9,859.26 from yesterday's close of 9,919.89, a net loss of 60.63 points or 0.61 per cent.

Bank shares bore the brunt of selling pressure. The negative impact in the sector could be gauged by a sharp fall of 145.22 points or 2.76 per cent in the Bankex.

Partly attributing fresh sell-off to a Rs 347.8 crore pull out by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) on January 30 after hefty inflows of over Rs 1,500 crore in the preceding two days, brokers said the market was expected to remain volatile before it reaches the important milestone.

Domestic mutual funds, which made fairly heavy purchases in the last couple of sessions, too were believed to have slowed down activity during the day.

The sentiment was also affected by a weak trend in Asian markets. The Nikkei ended down by 169.73 points, the Hang Seng by 10.84 points and the Kospi by 23.86 points.