Markets end flat as RBI minutes weigh, post fourth weekly rise
MUMBAI: Stocks weathered yet another choppy session to end marginally lower on Friday as investors baulked at the prospects of higher interest rates after minutes of RBI’s last policy meeting indicated a shift towards a hawkish stance in June.
However, tech shares zoomed after the country’s largest software exporter TCS on Thursday reported a 4.4% growth in its consolidated net profit at ₹6,904 crore for the March 2018 quarter and guided towards a better show in fiscal 2019. TCS was the top performer in the Sensex pack with a gain of 6.76%, followed by Infosys at 4.02%.
The 30-share Sensex, after moving between 34,311.29 and 34,487.33, finally settled 11.71 points, or 0.03%, lower at 34,415.58. The broader NSE Nifty closed 1.25 points, or 0.01% down at 10,564.05.
Intra-day, it shuttled between 10,527.45 and 10,582.35. Both the key indices ended higher for the fourth straight week. The Sensex rose by 222.93 points, or 0.65% while the NSE Nifty gained 83.45 points, or 0.80%, during the period.
Release of the minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting after market hours on Thursday indicated that the Reserve Bank may shift to a hawkish monetary stance in June, which dented investor sentiment. Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth ₹624.99 crore on net basis, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities to the tune of ₹448.61 crore on Thursday, as per provisional data.
Sustained capital outflows by foreign funds, profit-booking in recent gainers and surging global crude prices were major factors behind Friday’s negative trend, brokers said.
“Market traded range-bound due to weak global cues and surge in oil price and yield while banks under-performed after RBI’s hawkish view in their minutes.
“IT index outperformed on account of strong set of earnings which in turn curtailed a fall in the market. Investors will continue to monitor the corporate results to confirm the earnings recovery while improvement in capacity utilisation and IIP growth of above 7% during the last two months is giving a positive impetus,” said Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services.
Yes Bank was the top loser among Sensex constituents, declining 3%, followed by ICICI Bank at 2.49%. Other laggards were Tata Steel, SBI, HDFC Ltd, NTPC, L&T, RIL, Adani Ports, Axis Bank, Asian Paints, IndusInd Bank, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy’s, ONGC, Maruti Suzuki, Power Grid and ITC, falling by up to 2.29%.