Volatile mkt ends on cautious note

The stock markets were volatile ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's first quarter review of the monetary policy tomorrow and failed to hold on to initial gains.

A cautious mood set in after the Chinese central bank announced further liquidity tightening measures.

The Sensex, which had witnessed one of its biggest falls on Friday, recovered earlier in the day on the back of robust quarterly results by top companies such as Reliance Industries and Hindustan Unilever.

The Sensex went up 217 points in the afternoon and touched a high of 15,451.81 points, but ended at 15,260.91, only 26.34 points (0.2 per cent) above Friday's closing. The broad-based S&P CNX Nifty dipped 5.14 points (0.1 per cent) to 4,440.05 points.

Foreign institutional investors today sold shares worth Rs 1,117 crore, while domestic institutions bought shares worth Rs 854 crore.

Of the 30 Sensex stocks, 17 advanced while 13 declined. Bank and FMCG stocks gained the most while realty and metals continued their downturn.