Mumbai: The benchmark BSE Sensex on Thursday ended marginally lower by 28 points at 27,809.35 as blue-chips witnessed a mixed trend amid concerns over poor quarterly earnings and a diverse closing at other Asian markets.
Of 30 Sensex counters, 14 ended lower and 15 rose, while TCS settled unchanged. "In absence of any major cues, equity benchmarks consolidated in a narrow range and closed almost unchanged," said Jayant Manglik, President-retail distribution at Religare Securities.
Meanwhile, Citigroup today lowered its 2015-end Sensex target to 32,200 points, saying investors' faith in Indian markets is turning fickle amid a growing perception that the government has got "little logjammed" on various reforms. The 30-share index resumed higher at 27,885.36 and moved up to 27,911.44 in the early trade on increased capital inflows amid a mixed global cues.
However, on selling pressure at higher levels in the later half of the session dragged down the index to 27,712.73 before ending at 27,809.35, down 27.86 points or 0.10 per cent. Selling was seen mainly in key stocks such as Vedanta, HDFC, Cipla, ICICI Bank, ITC, SBI and Maruti Suzuki.
Also, the NSE Nifty ended 2.25 points or 0.03 per cent down at 8,421 after hitting the day's high of 8,446.35 and a low of 8,320.50 during the session. On Sensex, Tata Steel suffered the most by plunging 5.11 per cent after it reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 5,674.29 crore for the quarter ended March 31.
Other losers included, Cipla, Tata Power, ITC, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, NTPC, HDFC, Dr Reddy's, SBI, Maruti Suzuki and Infosys. Sectorally, BSE infra index suffered the most by losing 0.88 per cent, followed by FMCG 0.76 per cent, power 0.61 per cent, oil&gas 0.46 per cent, metal 0.39 per cent and bankex 0.15 per cent. The broader markets also fell with the BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices falling by up to 0.41 per cent.
Foreign Portfolio Investors bought shares worth Rs 123.49, while Domestic Institutional Investors bought shares worth Rs 103.58 crore yesterday, as per the provisional data. While Asian stocks ended mixed as a Chinese manufacturing gauge missed estimates, European stocks were little changed in their opening trade.
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